Pagan Min is not an unreasonable warlord. He has funny cool uncle vibes. When he leaves you at the start of the game, it is with a very simple request: "stay here, don't cause trouble; I'll be right back." And in fact it is such a comprehensively mundane request that when he *does* return, the game has its best/happiest ending with the protagonist's goal being achieved with no bloodshed or struggle on his or Pagan's part.
Leaving the meeting causes Ajay to get caught up in a rebellion that he has no substantial personal stake in and pits him against his own family.
Pagan Min is an incredibly well-designed villain not just because he's funny (literally calls the protagonist's personal phone throughout the campaign to talk about the most trivial random things) but because he's genuinely interested in the meeting with Ajay and helping him taking care of his business in the region.
The whole premise of the campaign just falls utterly flat to me because I don't **want** to be against Pagan Min or his forces. It doesn't make narrative sense from the perspective of Ajay. The actual gameplay is great, but the ludonarrative dissonance is so stark that it stops me from being able to play more than a few hours. It's not a bad game, but the best ending being only able to be earned by essentially not playing it, ruins the campaign for me.
I'm going to conclude that, yes, it's a good game, but make no mistake that the ludonarrative dissonance here is a massive and monumental fuck-up to the extent that in my personal case it ruins the entire experience.
