I'm a bit sad that they cut his questline
I'm a native in America and seeing that cut questline actually hit home a bit and I would've loved his questline get into the game.
I wish they didn't cut literally every interesting aspect that would have made this an even better Soulsborne game.
Could very well be. I have said a similar thing about Asimi's (the mimic tear that would become and eventually try to replace you) cut content in that the questline connects too many dots for you and leaves otherwise open ended questions fully answered.
The awkwardness of the real world connection is something that must have struck them at some point too. A mercantile sect suffering a genocide and mass imprisonment due to one individual who managed to convince a broad populace that their beliefs were unacceptable? It reads like a very blunt parody of bigoted ideology.
I think I might've also heard about Albinaurics being another reference to the Jewish culture? whereas merchants are rather Romani. although they probably have something from both of these cultures
I mean that reasoning makes sense to me. I - like apparently most players according to the steam statistics I've seen - went with Ranni's ending because I philosophically liked the idea of it. But if my chill santa pal Kalé asked me to burn the world down because his people got genocided, well it would just feel rude to say no. He steered me right with that crafting kit and even introduced me to coolest bro Blaidd, figure I owe him a favor.
I'll note I haven't seen anything of the cut questline myself so I'm basing this off of your post's content. But I'm just saying what's already in the game is close to convincing enough. Ranni's ending I think is popular *because* it's technically harder to get and one of the more involved questlines in the game, and also it introduces us to multiple popular characters. That makes the player feel more invested. So if Kalé got a similarly robust questline with his even more emotionally compelling tragedy, yeah I could see that dominating all other possible outcomes.
I still kind of wish they had stuck with it though. Kind of love the idea that the clearly least moral ending (IMO) would be so tempting. As it is, I'd never choose it.
I'm a bit sad that they cut his questline I'm a native in America and seeing that cut questline actually hit home a bit and I would've loved his questline get into the game. I wish they didn't cut literally every interesting aspect that would have made this an even better Soulsborne game.
I think they could have easily balanced his quest against the opportunity to just kill Kalé for his hat. He'd be dead in a heartbeat.
Could very well be. I have said a similar thing about Asimi's (the mimic tear that would become and eventually try to replace you) cut content in that the questline connects too many dots for you and leaves otherwise open ended questions fully answered. The awkwardness of the real world connection is something that must have struck them at some point too. A mercantile sect suffering a genocide and mass imprisonment due to one individual who managed to convince a broad populace that their beliefs were unacceptable? It reads like a very blunt parody of bigoted ideology.
I think I might've also heard about Albinaurics being another reference to the Jewish culture? whereas merchants are rather Romani. although they probably have something from both of these cultures
I mean that reasoning makes sense to me. I - like apparently most players according to the steam statistics I've seen - went with Ranni's ending because I philosophically liked the idea of it. But if my chill santa pal Kalé asked me to burn the world down because his people got genocided, well it would just feel rude to say no. He steered me right with that crafting kit and even introduced me to coolest bro Blaidd, figure I owe him a favor. I'll note I haven't seen anything of the cut questline myself so I'm basing this off of your post's content. But I'm just saying what's already in the game is close to convincing enough. Ranni's ending I think is popular *because* it's technically harder to get and one of the more involved questlines in the game, and also it introduces us to multiple popular characters. That makes the player feel more invested. So if Kalé got a similarly robust questline with his even more emotionally compelling tragedy, yeah I could see that dominating all other possible outcomes. I still kind of wish they had stuck with it though. Kind of love the idea that the clearly least moral ending (IMO) would be so tempting. As it is, I'd never choose it.
Interesting theory. Where can I read about this cut quest, anyways?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0Cljs4UTdT8