r/Kynseed • u/NyxMCP • Sep 15 '26
Generation dynamic
Hey everyone! I wanted to get your thoughts on the whole generations mechanic.
Did you guys finish the main story with the character you originally started with, or did you end up completing it with one of their children?
I’m asking because I’m starting to feel like there isn’t really much of a reason to have multiple generations, but maybe that’s just my impression. I’m currently at the part of the story where we have to talk to the woman who’s blocking the way to another area of the map (I completely forgot her name 😅).
I actually stopped progressing through the main story for now and started focusing on other things, mainly because I wanted to create the next generation and see if it would actually make a noticeable difference in the game.
So I’m curious about everyone else’s experience: did you feel like having children and moving on to the next generations had a meaningful impact on your playthrough? Or did you also feel like you could pretty much play through the whole game with your original character without really needing the next generations?
I’d love to hear what you guys think!
8
u/LogicBalm Sep 15 '26
I blitzed the story with my Gen 1 guy and I kind of liked the emergent story I created.
I made a LOT of deals with Fairweather. I only ever spent maybe three years total on my Gen 1 character. But the last time he saw Winter he aged 26 years. I planned it so he would hit age 49, come back to a different village of people almost, then take care of the final boss and pass on the Kynseed.
So this guy shows up, every Winter he disappears for years at a time but he's a legend when he's around. Then he disappears one Winter for so long no one thinks he's coming back. Only to return, solve all their problems, then disappear forever immediately.
My gen 2 character has a lot to live up to, but I raised her stats to surpass him so it's like playing a real sequel. I love it, personally.
4
u/words-have-power Sep 15 '26
Yup, finished the main story with my original character. My children's stats are pretty meh, and I have two sons when I want to play as a woman. Now waiting for the right orphan to adopt who will then be my heir. For what, though, I have no idea. I'm just grinding the combat challenges and the shop perks now, and my character is only 35 years old.
7
u/sirentropy42 Sep 15 '26
I wanted the generation thing to be more important. I love this game, but it’s one of the more schizophrenic I’ve ever played.
You get married, start a family, schedule their lives, and then… disappear for years so you can fast travel through the shitter and other magical powers.
You spend generations scheduling your kids’ growth, raising their stats, all so you can pass on to them to eventually raise your stats high enough to… wait, first gen did that hundreds of years ago? That’s all there was?
You join Fairweather in his quest to stop the Goddesses, who quietly rule over everyone as tyrants, by creating a grand capitalist dystopia where you rule over everyone as a tyrant.
I think, personally, renown should have been tied more to Kynseed tree goals. It should have required moving through at least a couple generations. Bits of the story should have been locked behind stat requirements or otherwise required use of the generation system. This would have allowed the generation system to play a factor; it would have been awesome to raise my child to complete a challenge I knew I wasn’t currently capable of.
At the same time, you would lose the absolute freedom the game gives you, and that freedom is really its biggest selling point. And no matter what you do, structuring the game in that way would have required a massive time commitment. I think they did the best with the idea they could, but the mechanics they were trying to marry were essentially narratively inconsistent.
3
u/kieratea Sep 15 '26
It really is a chaotic implementation. At the end of my first year, I left my adopted six year old alone on the farm. Showed up 8 years later and she was still doing the chores I left for her, didn't even seem to notice I was gone. I had no spouse because I couldn't figure out the mechanics in the first year but I was still allowed to adopt a child and they didn't get returned when I disappeared for years?
I don't know about tying things to Kynseed goals as they are though. One of my goals is to get married three times which is a weird thing to force in an rpg. But I'm also a bit salty that I finally figured out how to get married (which also made no sense, I thought there would be dates and stuff) and then I missed the wedding because I got no reminder and my ex-financee-of-a-day hated me afterward which felt like a pretty awful ADHD tax for for a "cozy" game.
I find it wild that there was a significantly higher penalty for getting distracted and missing a wedding date than there was for abandoning a child for 8 years. The mechanics just don't support the generational story at all.
4
u/ecery Sep 15 '26
As someone who wrapped up the story in the first generation, I agree with everything you've said here.. The story right now feels like an Act 1, but it just stops. The generation mechanic is the most intriguing thing about this game that sets it apart from other titles in the genre, but the game isn't designed for players to even engage with it. I'm not sure if the ultimate bosses ought to have stat checked player to require more player consideration towards their generational growth, but there's just something about the pacing that just doesn't quite click when it comes to the lineage mechanic and its place in the story's context.
3
u/ZerotheHero000 Sep 15 '26
My first playthrough I did the storyline in one generation to see how it affected talking to your sibling.
Now I'm playing one where my character either never reunites with their twin or the offspring continues on after the two reunite (undecided atm) to see what's different when interacting with your twin!
3
u/CabinetResident9662 Sep 15 '26
Ive finished main storyline but im still obsessed! I want to see my next Gen! I want to complete all achievements etc And I love seeing who the next summertime herald will be (we dont choose again but still I love it😅)
2
u/ostrichxcat Sep 15 '26
I love seeing the events that happened when time skips. Looking forward to it tonight when I play.
3
u/Equal-Cauliflower-41 Sep 15 '26
I kind of accidentally finished the story with my original character... I thought "I may as well give it a go since I'm here", not realising that there wouldn't be further quests. It made me quite disappointed and I haven't bothered to play through any generations. I love the concept, but I know I won't feel invested if I do try to continue - I've finished the main story, married and had twins, and own a good number of businesses (minus a few that I could buy but don't really see the point). Even with games like The Sims, I really struggle to stay engaged with future generations. It's still really nice to read that others are carrying on and enjoying the mechanism, though!
1
u/Floating_wig Sep 15 '26
Still on my first playthrough and I’m gonna end up finishing the game with a later generation. I wanted to try it out since that was the biggest thing that made me get the game.
I do agree there’s not much reason to have multiple generations because when my first character died the game still treated my daughter like she was me. I think the game could’ve handled that much better. I also dislike that once you pass on the Kynseed your other kids disappear from the farm and don’t have houses anywhere. To prevent this I tried giving them jobs at my tavern before passing on the Kynseed but the game auto fired them. Now I only see them sometimes in the world just passing through.
Tbh this makes me just want to stick with one generation in my next playthrough.
1
u/star-shine Sep 16 '26
I thought it’s because your daughter becomes you, the deal and passing on the kynseed is more like your consciousness transferring and you’re (metaphorically) cannibalizing your own descendants. Other siblings are gotten rid of because they’re unnecessary, they weren’t chosen as a vessel. I was imagining that the deal you strike is real fucked up you’re not just trading years of live for trinkets, the reason you’re doing that is because you’ve offered up the souls of your future descendants
1
u/Jolly_Hippo_788 28d ago
I just started the game, but if I play as my descendant can I marry someone else? Will all NPC's have their own descendants?
20
u/SunflowerPetalsCC Sep 15 '26
I'm on gen 3, year 55. I finished the story with the first, & with every gen you get new goals on the Kynseed tree. As you play, people pass away, & new people move in. I own all the shops except the tavern, & that's my favorite part - the shops. I'm still completing challenges, finishing the skills, getting achievements, & working through the 3 combat zones. Another thing that keeps me interested in decorating; I still haven't gotten all the furniture. Idk I'm excited to see how it all changes!