Originally posted by Blackmore:

at least Shadow's spiel of humans paying for their sins sort of works since humans and GUN were still around

To be fair, earth dragons (whom Merga's hatred is directed at) are also still around. In fact, Magister (ruler of one of the kingdoms) is an earth dragon and he suppresses information about earth dragon atrocities.

Though I do agree that Merga's actions are based on pure emotion, those emotions are based on the loss of her entire nation. So her tantrum is somewhat understandable.

Shadow was brainwashed?

Originally posted by IkOzael:

Shadow was brainwashed?

Have you not played Sonic Adventure 2?

Shadow had
his memory tampered by Professor Gerald. As a result, Shadow forgot Maria's final words and thought she wanted revenge, not saving humanity.

Originally posted by Blackmore:

So it's pretty obvious they were emulating Sonic Adventure 2 with this story and Merga is Shadow (from the past, revenge for death of loved one, most powerful warrior), but the difference was Shadow at least had the excuse of being brainwashed. Merga wants to kill everyone on the planet for revenge against people who are long dead; at least Shadow's spiel of humans paying for their sins sort of works since humans and GUN were still around. Shadow is naive and manipulated, whereas Merga feels more like a grown ass adult throwing a tantrum.

...She was literally the only (or one of the only) survivor of a genocide. What are you talking about.

Originally posted by Akesan:

...She was literally the only (or one of the only) survivor of a genocide. What are you talking about.

Didn't I just say? The race who killed her people are all long gone except for a few who weren't even alive at the time, so she's taking her revenge out on people that had nothing to do with it. Plus it's just an excuse anyway for her to grieve for Maria, er, I mean the princess who isn't even dead

Originally posted by Blackmore:

Originally posted by Akesan:

...She was literally the only (or one of the only) survivor of a genocide. What are you talking about.

Didn't I just say? The race who killed her people are all long gone except for a few who weren't even alive at the time, so she's taking her revenge out on people that had nothing to do with it. Plus it's just an excuse anyway for her to grieve for Maria, er, I mean the princess who isn't even dead

That doesn't mean she isn't justified in wanting to get revenge, especially when her race is still painted as the evil in that story. Also, Cordelia, isn't even confirmed to be alive. I don't get why people say the scene says it when all it does is show you the uncorrupted recording and that she was in a water dragon facility, which moreso implies that left something behind for Merga to me.

Originally posted by Akesan:

Originally posted by Blackmore:

Didn't I just say? The race who killed her people are all long gone except for a few who weren't even alive at the time, so she's taking her revenge out on people that had nothing to do with it.

That doesn't mean she isn't justified in wanting to get revenge, especially when her race is still painted as the evil in that story.

Actually, it kinda does. Instead of revealing the truth, she just wants to kill everyone (or at least most of people) - incidentally proving that she is just no more than a weapon. Heck, even Merga's allies didn't want total destruction and abandoned her when they learned about her real plans.

Originally posted by Loot Hunter:

Originally posted by Akesan:

That doesn't mean she isn't justified in wanting to get revenge, especially when her race is still painted as the evil in that story.

Actually, it kinda does. Instead of revealing the truth, she just wants to kill everyone (or at least most of people) - incidentally proving that she is just no more than a weapon. Heck, even Merga's allies didn't want total destruction and abandoned her when they learned about her real plans.

Yeah, that's the point. The whole finale is you trying to convince Merga to stop before she takes it too far. The Magister even straight up says she has every right to be angry.

Originally posted by Akesan:

Originally posted by Loot Hunter:

Actually, it kinda does. Instead of revealing the truth, she just wants to kill everyone (or at least most of people) - incidentally proving that she is just no more than a weapon. Heck, even Merga's allies didn't want total destruction and abandoned her when they learned about her real plans.

Yeah, that's the point. The whole finale is you trying to convince Merga to stop before she takes it too far. The Magister even straight up says she has every right to be angry.

She does mention a lines of dialogue like “You think that a mere apology can erase our suffering?” “To be remembered as slaves who rebelled against their masters and lost? Or the monsters that killed the world? What choice do I have as the one final breath of the water dragons?!” It’s obvious she’s blinded by rage towards a race that has many other species under its rule in one of the three kingdoms. With Magister still being the ruler and propaganda about her long-gone race already instilled in their minds, everything hit her like a freight train. Watching her race die, get sealed up, reawakening in a world where only one water dragon miraculously survived thanks to a certain Red Scarf. And with having four members on her team, it did feel like at one point, she did try convincing before believing that Avalice was beyond salvage for what it’s inhabitants were taught. (Aaa just wanted to go to space and Merga probably offered the supplies for it.) Only her long-lost love was able to convince her to stop through a corrupted recording. I can kind of feel Merga’s pain of higher ups taking what isn’t theirs and then deceiving everyone (Even after it’s death.), even after it was them who struck first. But when they retaliate, they get all the blame and continue living through a facade until something actually does happen to reveal the truth behind it all.

Another point to consider about Merga's rage
For the world, that war and everything was like centuries ago. For her, that same war never ended, and one could even make a joke that while we are playing Freedom Planet 2, Merga is playing Wolfenstein because she just woke up in a world built and ran by those who might as well be NZs from her perspective
And if the whole world is a lost cause, overrun by evil and build on lies? Might as well purge it all and at least get the last laugh by destroying the legacy of her most hated enemies. It all checks out, really

Huh?
Did you forget the ending to SA2? Shadow was the biggest hero in the whole thing he sacrificed his life to stop the threat. Even scumbag robotnic helped. This gal wants to kill everyone on the planet and she's a shadow rip off? That doesn't make any sense, sonics the one slamming into vehicles full of dozens and dozens of kids on the road. Shadow was a pure hero who was reasoned with by amy of all people. A girl sonic constantly ignores and treats her like a scumbag. Then shadow also had empathy for some young girl and it killed him inside to see her die or whatever. And you're comparing shadow to a guy who wants to kill everyone like Hitler? Why is this even a comparison shadow was a hero in SA2 probably the hero, that was the great big twist of the game. Shadows missions were also covert and didn't have anything to do with mass carnage unlike sonic and tails who were just like, lets destroy government property tails, Ok sonic! Let me get my mech with big ordnance. Meanwhile shadows only fighting the military and F16s. And if I remember correctly shadow was just released, went to get chaos emeralds, and never said his motive once. He never said he wanted to kill anyone, his motive was unclear. If anything maybe he just went along with robotnic and rogue just to belong. Rogue was a double agent and just as big a hero as shadow.

Originally posted by EvilChaosKnight:

Another point to consider about Merga's rage
For the world, that war and everything was like centuries ago. For her, that same war never ended, and one could even make a joke that while we are playing Freedom Planet 2, Merga is playing Wolfenstein because she just woke up in a world built and ran by those who might as well be NZs from her perspective
And if the whole world is a lost cause, overrun by evil and build on lies? Might as well purge it all and at least get the last laugh by destroying the legacy of her most hated enemies. It all checks out, really

So basically like Silver from 2006 who would kill Sonic because he'd be the responsible for all these death?

When someone took everything you liked away from you, and you have the power to destroy that someone and everything he/she loved, you will
You aren't like "Nah... bet he/she had his/her reasons. My life is pointless now, but so be it."
No, you look for a point, and be it revenge.

People are like "Revenge is terrible!" till it's all like "Death sentence to pedophiles!" and bla bla bla.
And if you have nothing to lose, you use your last time to make an impact somehow.

Originally posted by Ikagura:

So basically like Silver from 2006 who would kill Sonic because he'd be the responsible for all these death?

Gonna be honest, my familiarity with Sonic series and the characters from there is limited to GENS games, Sonic X anime I watched on TV 20 years ago, and that Sonic Mania. Oh, and memes, of course
So I'm gonna use a... closer to life example which may be quite uncomfortable

Let's say, you are a [NZ_disapproved_nationality] person fighting in against NZs in WW2 (let's keep it vague, and of course I'm not talking about New Zealand here :P ). The situation is looking grim, horrible things are happening all around, but you are also a renown a feared commando officer to the point the enemy knows you personally, and they fear/hate you for obvious reasons. Just as much as you hate them, of course, because duh
After years of fighting, at some point, during an operation "Fridge Prime or Bust" you end up getting tossed into a cryochamber. 200 years later, you wake up through some circumstances. You crawl out of long-forgotten ruins and you see a whole new world. There's some NZ imagery, but everyone is very friendly and benign, and everything actually looks nice. People are all more or less getting along, there are no traces of old hate or conflict. You scout around, and find out that current country leader bears the title of "Fuhrer", yet he isn't like the failed Austrian painter at all. He's wise and kind, but also still a fuhrer. Very conflicting
Then you find out that [NZ_disapproved_nationality] people, your kind, are extinct. Not only that, but they were exterminated as a form of "final solution" and are vilified as the cause of all evil, who tried to bring ruin to a wonderful nation through violence and so on. You know this is filthy propaganda lies from the war times (after all, you were there), yet everyone else is blissfully oblivious and eats it up. In fact, the state has done everything to bury the true history forever. Hell, they even still remember YOU, yes, YOU! As the worst monster of them all, who killed many valiant waffle-SS soldiers who were defending their fatherland. Yes, "valiant" ones "defending" - their history books say so!
Then you also find out your home country still exists, but now it's a backwater tourist/resort spot with its ingenious population (your people) fully replaced by folk from around the globe. In fact, it even has a museum dedicated to the history of [NZ_disapproved_nationality], except it's just more lies
But not all is lost. You find out that much of WW2 stuff was built to last, and you can recover many military assets. You also recover a long-forgotten superweapon of untold power, though it does need some repairs and a few extra components to be finished

So, here's a question for ya.
Do you just lie down, accept defeat and try to blend in? Do you try to let the truth be known while being painfully aware how it changes actually nothing? Keep in mind, that your only marketable skill is murder, you have no money, no connections, not even a formal registration. As far as you are concerned, you will be attacked/jailed on sight
Or do you use those military assets to try and destroy this nest of lies and villainy to make sure the legacy of your most hated enemies is burned and buried forever?
And remember, for these people WW2 and its horrors were 200 years ago. For you, it was yesterday

I think the whole thing is more alluding to the colonisation of America. The Water Dragons are the primitives with ancient traditions while the Earth Dragons are the Europeans with their more sophisticated technology. They effectively have a hostile takeover over the natives, enslaving them and when the slaves revolt and build up someone who can match their own they kill them off and on that ground found a new country that goes on to become one of the largest in the world.

Of course since this is a work of fiction the "powers" are literally superpowers in some cases with the Water Dragons having the ability to Dragon Boost and alter traits and the Earth Dragons carrying super advanced tech like magic ice staffs, flying robots that can project realistic holograms etc.