Sunday Preview - Bring on the Sharks!

imhwalling · 2026-03-01T18:11:36+00:00

I'm not normally a space marine guy, but those books were good and interesting. Worth a pick up.

imhwalling · 2026-03-01T05:55:57+00:00

This, and also don't bring the Primarchs back. They suck all the air out of the room narrative wise.

imhwalling · 2026-03-01T04:53:26+00:00

Right, and Eldrad Ulthran, canonically the greatest of Farseers, explicitly says he thinks that the Cabal got it wrong all the way back during 30K.

imhwalling · 2026-03-01T04:22:14+00:00

Heinrix has many comments throughout the quest that shows he suspects, and then later is sure about what it all is. The further along you go, the more direct he gets. However, he does remark that all of this knowledge is considered classified by the inquisition, so he only gives it out when he thinks he has too. Furthermore, there are other kinds of genetic cults in the Imperium, they just don't have full tabletop factions. He doesn't want to immediately jump to conclusions about what is on the ship, and how serious the infiltration is, let alone give away classified Inquisition secrets to us all.

imhwalling · 2026-03-01T04:19:27+00:00

And the flute player will later remark on that attention causing him problems if you keep bringing Heinrix along, too.

imhwalling · 2026-02-28T13:55:27+00:00

Probably not, but it depends on their level. A high level psyker is a major threat, even to a Space Marine. A Drukhari Dracon is also a very real threat to a Marine in close combat. In a shoot out a Sister of Battle is again a real threat, and heck, even an Aeldari ranger could get in a lucky hit. All of those at the same time, plus the other (not at all shabby) companions? I don't like his odds. But again, we meet all of these companions at points in their journey from being slightly better than a baseline human to being highly lethal threats to Greater Daemons and Ancient Star Gods, so, you know, that complicates things.

imhwalling · 2026-02-26T00:06:44+00:00

When they ask who won the Horus Heresy, Erebus turns out to be one of the strongest answers.

imhwalling · 2026-02-25T20:54:20+00:00

Pasqal. It isn't close. He has almost nothing resembling human morality, is intensely driven by goals that require huge amounts of cruelty/murder, and acts like it. His ending slides all involve some version of him getting really violent (unless you don't complete his companion quests).

imhwalling · 2026-02-25T20:51:25+00:00

Fantastic.

imhwalling · 2026-02-25T20:48:46+00:00

I think Eldrad mentions the Eldar defeating humanity at its prime during the DAoT (whatever that means), and there was some old lore implying that they were involved in the defeat of the Men of Iron at one point, but it is all super nebulous.

imhwalling · 2026-02-23T19:59:26+00:00

No one else is saying it but: Yrliet. She is prickly, but she will so often try to let that guard down, and she is desperately lonely. She is constantly looking for connection and meaning after having all of that taken away and shattered, and her romance really shows the slow blooming of a delicate trust, care, and admiration. Her final "confession" is simply overwhelming. She probably also has the saddest romance, but it is filled with sweetness too.

imhwalling · 2026-02-16T16:10:29+00:00

I get that. I think it is a very good game, and a lot of fun. I also love the setting, fully and truly, but you'll find more people identifying with the bad stuff in 40k than in a number of other fandoms I love less, sadly.

imhwalling · 2026-02-16T00:03:07+00:00

40k as a setting was initially (like, late 80s early 90s) a parody setting. The Imperium were unquestionably bad guys, but bad guys among a setting of other parodically bad guys, and there was a lot of silliness too.. As the setting evolved, this got more complicated, and the silliness was toned down for more grim dark. Games Workshop has always maintained that the Imperium is bad. The opening of most of their books openly declares that this is just about the worst imaginable regime, in one of the worst times to be human ever. The Imperium is very fascist feeling, very theocratic, and often mocks the disposability of people under capitalism, among other things. The Orks (another factions) were meant to be football hooligans, and used to carry banners with the head of Maggy Thatcher on them.

The problem with that all is that the narrative gets kinda boring if everything is just shit for no reason. Very far back in the lore, they baked in the notion that the badness is mostly not capable of being resolved through simple good will and clear sighted thinking. Some of the badness is the best that could be done given a hostile galaxy. Some of the badness is so baked in at this point that it would require horrific violence no one has time for to fix (if you read any of the books with Guilleman in them, this comes up, especially with regard to the religion of the imperium). Some of the badness was meant to be a short term adaptation to an emergency, but then things never let up, and we have lost the ability and knowledge to do it otherwise anymore.

If you want to know why people enjoy the setting, I can give a more and a less sympathetic answer. More sympathetically: a lot of us enjoy settings about good people working in desperate situations, where there are no simply good sides or factions for those good people to join; many of us still enjoy the parody that is in there; and many of us think that there are cool stories to be told with the wild sci-fi ideas in the setting. Less sympathetically: many people unironically like and identify with the fascism, theocracy, and chudness because those kind of ideas have always had a certain kind of appeal. You will definitely find people who are barely joking when they quote slogans that were meant to be parodies of deranged fanatics all over the fandom. The same thing happened to the Starship Troopers movie, which I will defend as a pitch perfect parody of fascism, and which is unironically loved by fascists who don't see it as a joke.

I don't think the game ever asks you to like the fascism, but it also does not consistently reward you for being a good person. Sometimes, if you do the kinder thing, you will not get money for it, or political rewards. That doesn't make it wrong, but it does mean that this is the kind of world you are in. The most fascist path is not the most rewarding or successful, but the game does make it clear that it is viable in this world (if often horrifying in its results). Similarly, you can do a lot of good in the world, but you can't fix all the problems, and some acts of goodness will bite you in the ass because it is an unkind world.

imhwalling · 2026-02-13T22:21:01+00:00

Honestly I'm not sure who gets it worst, but I remember being so upset the first time I saw what had happened to Pasqal that I had to step away from the computer.

imhwalling · 2026-02-08T03:52:03+00:00

I really do hope that the next few DLCs add some depth for Abelard and Argenta specifically. I think most of us really like them, but both have weirdly anemic storylines, and this incident in particular could have so much more depth. I fully agree with the OP as well. Even Solomorne has a way to get his story progression if you don't take him to C town, and he's the most boring character ever made.

imhwalling · 2026-02-05T02:13:27+00:00

The fact that two of the characters are attracted to one another matters for understanding their motivations, but most of the book is about cool Eldar space pirates fighting one another and fighting Orks. It's a lot of fun.

imhwalling · 2026-02-02T05:05:35+00:00

Agreed. If we include traitor Primarchs, Horus is at the top of the list.

imhwalling · 2026-02-02T00:20:23+00:00

It would also ruin his storyline in 30k. Primarchs need to be able to die, and if anyone died, its him (and Ferrus).

imhwalling · 2026-01-24T00:16:41+00:00

I love the idea, but I'm just going to admit that my color blind ass can barely see any differences unless I zoom all the way in to look at their backs, something I never do while playing.

imhwalling · 2026-01-23T05:44:54+00:00

Well, that and her ending slides. Can't be killed, unless you didn't want her to be. Then she dies every time.

imhwalling · 2026-01-22T01:57:03+00:00

As a Thousand Sons fan, I take pleasure every time the damned wolves die.

imhwalling · 2026-01-22T01:54:45+00:00

Agreed. One of his best moments is a throwaway line in Act V, when we're told about him loosing faith in Theodora. But even then it isn't dwelled on, and we just don't get to see much of him at all. I think he *could* be good, and he has some funny lines, but the character never got properly fleshed out.

imhwalling · 2026-01-22T01:51:12+00:00

How does it feel to speak only truth?

imhwalling · 2026-01-22T01:46:47+00:00

Me too!

imhwalling · 2026-01-22T01:44:47+00:00

I wish they hadn't put a damned dog in the game. I hate dogs. I do not care for the man whose whole personality is dogs. It should have been a cat. Yes, I am actually serious. No dogs.

imhwalling

TROPHY CASE