Talk:Daud/@comment-16533050-20190215111624/@comment-26199726-20190215140137

I guess our views differ, and for the most part, I can't honestly share most of your feelings.

You see Daud as petty and spiteful, I see him as a man determined to remove a (supposed) evil that has been untouchable for millenia. Honestly can't see what's petty or spiteful about it.

As to him being short-sighted ... well for one, doing the right thing isn't always about what comes of it in the end. And I wouldn't really see late Daud as a hardcore "ends justify the means" utilitarian - that was more Burrows' thing. And secondly, I bet Daud has frequently dealt with people who were plain evil but could rest easy in the knowledge that they were too important to be removed, that no matter what terrors they inflicted on their fellow man, no one would dare touch them because the consequences of their removal would just be too chaotic and unpredictable. Daud has always denied people like that this protection, and I don't think brushing that off as short-sighted, small-minded or spiteful does it justice.

And no, I don't think Dishonored was ever mainly about the protagonist and their journey. These aren't games about certain people, they were just the medium with which to explore a concept: For Dishonored, the validity of personal vengeance, for its DLCs, redemption and accountability, for Dishonored 2, the responsibility that comes with power. Death of the Outsider isn't empty there, in part wrestling with theological issues - what kind of all-powerful god ignores the terrible plight of man and why? -, leading to a revisiting of old themes: mercy, compassion, and forgiveness against vengeance and / or (as one may perceive it) justice.

As to Billie, I won't deny she comes off a bit flat, but she very definitely has an arc. Few things are as prominent as her gradual shift from unquestioning worship of Daud to questioning his mission, his motives and the things he's asked her to do, until she is finally able to decide for herself whether that's really what she wants or if there are things more important, like showing mercy to an abused victim and breaking the cycle of hatred. If that doesn't make you care, well, no one can force you.

Lastly, I too am definitely not a fan of DotO's abolishment of the Chaos system, the fact that very few choices have consequences any more, the vastly reduced set of skills that come only at set intervals with no player agency whatsoever, and a whole bunch of other stuff that to me reduced the replay value to almost zero. They tried some bold stuff, and some of it worked (really like things like hook mines and electric bursts), but I'm afraid most of it didn't.

But I have to say the story remains actually one of the higher points to me.