like, listen. i know it’s probably just a game mechanic thing. but it’s interesting to me that every despair demon in the game does this—single rook out. and how you encounter a lot more despair demons the worse the situation gets. and every single time, without fail, rook is their primary target.

like. the potential juiciness of it all. rook who carries regrets and despair hidden behind a smile that no one can see behind until the regret prison. rook who has to keep up a brave face as the leader so that the team doesn’t collapse because someone has to make a decision.

So yeah, the way datv works is that Rook ALWAYS draws aggro unless you bring a warrior who can pull it away or Rook is too far to be targeted by an enemy. (I think also if there are too many enemies but… yeah Rook is primary target by default. I figured all this out because of that one dragon fight where it summoned minions that swarmed me and I booked it across the stadium and after a bit they turned around and went after my companions cause I left there radius. But there were still a couple stragglers that hunted me down. And the dragon didn't let me up either.)

But mechanic aside

It is absolutely one of those times where the mechanic is utilized by the narrative. It is very juicy. Because of all that was mentioned and the fact that despair is not one of the most common active demons. I cannot stress active enough. The lore with despair demons are that it is insidious, it lurks in the shadows and waits. It's a persistent predator that jumps when you're at your lowest and devours you. In world lore states they used to be categorized as a sloth demon because of the similarities until later.

So even factoring in the state of the world and how despair is a plenty. By lore and narrative, the mechanic lends so well to an aspect of the story that the game is trying to tell. Rook is in despair. Rook is actively pursuing a path despite it because every other outcome if they give in to that despair is worse.