I am mostly just a stage for the players' choices. If there are psychopathic actions with more support than peaceful choices, chances are I'm going to pull them. The consensus requirement for really out-of-character actions is far, far higher or maybe once in a while the character will just say "No." Al wasn't exactly a shining beacon of heroism in the first place, but the
massive story derail was far what I thought would end up happening. I mean, allying with one of the dungeon bosses? Whoa.
As for the
turbo batshit murderfest, I'm trying really hard to avoid Word of God in this story, but I will say this: we would have somehow found out the consequences of breaking one of the "souls" at a later point anyway. Not just because of how unhinged the characters are but because the readers have been trying this entire time. The reason I urged you guys against breaking the Astral Influx was not because you'd perma-change character or something like that (if I was afraid of drastic story changes, I wouldn't have killed most of the main characters within the first week or so of the game's run). It was because we didn't have a backup plan and it was just way too early in the story to see what would have happened to the "soul's" owner (guess who).
Writing stories that bounce back and forth between lighthearted romps and blackhearted dramas is just what I do. Mushroom Kingdom Wars and Luigi Quest executed this perhaps very poorly because the players got too lost in one side of the story or another. This is effectively a fresh start for me, and for now the
turbo batshit murderfest is over (unless you feel like attacking someone with ~twice your HP). Obviously it's going to be sad for a while in general, but hey - if you knew what the Command Terminal was saying, it might cheer you up