Starting this off by saying i LOVE dd2, i think the gameplay is super fun and a major upgrade, but reynauld's shrines just made me give up in expecting a story rewrite that doesn't make me throw my hands up in confusion lol. i'm not expecting the most complex writing on religious conflict from dd, but i really wonder why they would make him spare the warlord? his original dd1 barks mostly center the ingame equivalent of christianity which tracks, he's a crusader. claimed this victory for the church and what not. If his shrines are supposed to be his regrets, why not have it demonstrate how far his faith took him so basically just have him kill the damn guy. it's very simple character writing to do with religious conflicts of course but it would be much more inline with everything we know of 1) the crusades, historically and 2) his own writing. I think it's all due to this big move away from having these characters just seem like absolute bastards, which is really curious to me. I thought that was the appeal of them, no? And in truth. i like reynauld better as a bloodthirsty man 🫡

I feel like I should start off by mentioning that while I am generally negative about DD2 in my posts, I recognize it's a perfectly enjoyable game and in many ways more accessible than the original. If you want to see your blorbos in gorgeous 3D and not think too hard about story implications there's no reason why you wouldn't like it even more than DD1.

However, as you say, it's like they missed the point of the character. Reynauld's shrines should be extremely simple to write. Show an ignorant fool going off to war in hope of glory and salvation, then give us a bit of the horrors by showing this nice family man killing blameless oponents. Instead we get his dark side painted in the lightest of strokes. Oh, he felt peace in the carnage of battle (I'm sure if you don't find a way to stay focused in a medieval melee you just die). Oh, he gave mercy an (extremely evil-looking) enemy to humiliate him (which still lets him keep the moral high ground if the worst he can do to an enemy is to spare his precious life).

These are meant to be the Crusades. Where is the religious intolerance, the brutal tactics, the massacre of civilians, the armies turning against those of their own faith to raid and plunder? You don't need to go all siege of Antioch, but going by the shrines you'd think Reynauld signed up to the honorable duty to protect the land from barbarians, not to a zealot army intent on military conquest. They not only completely defanged the character, with Reynauld in particular it's a solid 10 on the yikes scale because of the real life parallels he is meant to evoke.

Why are you writing a horror setting if you can't handle something as simple as "holy wars are an entirely fucked up concept"?

about dd2 dlc, what do you think about how they retconned the fucking crusades as 'defend your homeland from an enemy invasion' and painted the crusaders as good men who pillaged the enemy and distributed the loot to the poor? cause I think it's bullshit.

Oh, trust me, one of the main points of the Crusader Shrine rewrite will be about the shameless whitewashing of the Crusaders. It's bizarrely insidious how they re-coded the nature of the war Reynauld participated in.

I find it particularly outrageous and irresponsible considering the sort of discourse the real life Crusades evoke. "The Crusades were fundamentally a defensive war" is a real argument people make to justify islamophobia. I make this personal request to potential writers: if you are writing a fantasy setting and feel tempted to make uncomplicated heroic figures, do not make them crusader expies.

I will add that the Warlord would be much more interesting as a brutal former ally or leader of the Crusader army. To have present-day Reynauld turn against him would be a nice bit of character development and neatly avoids the idiocy of showing mercy TO THE DUDE WEARING EAR NECKLACE REYNAULD YOU FUCKING DUMB CRUSADING BIMBO---

I always thought Reynald's kleptomania was such an interesting character quirk since it's so unusual to see an honor bound knight have that in media, I wonder if he picked it up plundering the cities he crusaded against.

I feel like it has a lot of potential of funny or interesting stories of others finding out about it and trying to confront him about it lol

I appreciate Reynauld’s kleptomania from two different perspectives:

First, it lampshades the truth about the "noble knight" trope. A knight is bound by honor and loyalty? ...Yes, a little, most of the time, perhaps... But that allegiance is to his lord. To everyone else, a knight is as likely to indiscriminately kill, maim, plunder and destroy as any raider.

Crusaders are pilgrim soldiers of their faith? Kind of..... If you consider they are hoping to get plenty of land and booty along with the salvation of their souls. Reynauld’s likely inspiration, Renaud de Châtillon was a dishonest bastard who even engaged in piracy. I like that the game acknowledges that reality.

On the other hand, Reynauld’s stealing is presented to us as a mania, a pathological condition, not as a moral stance. We also know Reynauld is a very broken man who made many mistakes. It's not difficult to imagine his experiences in the crusades would have led to this compulsion. Taking things you don't need or even necessarily want, because something tells you you have to have that *right now*? I can think of a dozen situations a soldier goes through that could cause that sort of disfunction.

Reynauld isn't a knight in shining armor because there is nothing beautiful or romantic about his profession *and* because it destroyed his life and psyche.

Also it's funny.

i suffer (i chose to suffer)

what is a knight without a loyal steed~

i saw "a knight's tale" the other day, now i wanna draw reynauld on a horse again

drawing him in fancy jousting armour would be soo hot too ugh

i suffer (i chose to suffer)

hello sir touden~

It’s Wednesday, my dudes.

dude holding his bf’s head and playing cool

i have no brain byeee

paula, dost ye still love me at all?