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I agree with what you say. Even though it is obvious that Malkur is in the right*, the premise just isn't explored in any satisfactory manner. For example, Erubor's motives are vague, at best. He only seems to be there to present the direct polar opposite view to Malkur.
The space for "each side to think about the consequences the other side is so afraid of", is rather limited, but it's there. It isn't until the end of Book 2 that we get a real idea of what is going on, and it isn't until half-way through Book 3 that we learn why everyone is playing "this Game of Stones". This is a terrific idea to use to fill out the second half of Book 3, as by the half-way point the game quickly falls apart and becomes an almost frantic scramble for that end-game battle. It would help us to learn about the motives of each side, to realize that both sides are striving for the same goal (to save Eschalon) but only differ on the means to that end. This makes Malkur's approach seem even more bizarre - he knows what must be done and what's at stake, yet he raises two armies and sends them rampaging across Eschalon, murdering and butchering people by the thousands in the process. Book 2 paints him as a selfish invidividual who only wants to return home, while Book 3's forced endgame dialogue shows that there's much more to it than that.
*To explain this point, I'm forced to spoil the games big time, so read at your own risk if you haven't played the games yet.
The space for "each side to think about the consequences the other side is so afraid of", is rather limited, but it's there. It isn't until the end of Book 2 that we get a real idea of what is going on, and it isn't until half-way through Book 3 that we learn why everyone is playing "this Game of Stones". This is a terrific idea to use to fill out the second half of Book 3, as by the half-way point the game quickly falls apart and becomes an almost frantic scramble for that end-game battle. It would help us to learn about the motives of each side, to realize that both sides are striving for the same goal (to save Eschalon) but only differ on the means to that end. This makes Malkur's approach seem even more bizarre - he knows what must be done and what's at stake, yet he raises two armies and sends them rampaging across Eschalon, murdering and butchering people by the thousands in the process. Book 2 paints him as a selfish invidividual who only wants to return home, while Book 3's forced endgame dialogue shows that there's much more to it than that.
*To explain this point, I'm forced to spoil the games big time, so read at your own risk if you haven't played the games yet.
It's a case of temporal physics. An upcoming planetary alignment will cause the great rift of Eschalon to erupt, spreading Candecium all across the land, killing every living thing on the planet's surface, with only life living deep underground surviving... namely, the Dwarves. Even they feel the effects of Candecium poisoning and slowly change and mutate and become the Orakur. They emerge on Eschalon 1000 years later with puny frail bodies, yet possessing a technological knowhow that allow them to travel through time. So in order to try to prevent the Candecium Cataclysm, they build a time machine, fueled by four gigantic Candecium crystals, and travel back in time to use their superior technological skills to save the day. Except... something goes wrong. The machine malfunctions, the Orakur don't end up when they're supposed to be. They spend centuries repairing their vessel, hide away the four Candecium crystals and wait until they're ready. During this "waiting period" Malkur realizes the truth... the Orakur can't prevent the Cataclysm, as they are a direct result of it. If the Orakur prevent the Cataclysm, the Orakur don't exist... so they can't prevent the Cataclysm and a temporal paradox is created.
The time machine "malfunctioning" as it sets off is due to Malkur's attempt to sabotage the Orakur's plans, by his own return to the future. Malkur MUST succeed in returning "home" to preserve the timeline and the series of events that creates the Orakur. The game all but states this out loud in that burst of exposition that is the second meeting between Malkur and the protagonist, yet the game spends all its time painting Malkur as the bad guy. And when the player is finally made to pick a side, the game ignores all of this and decides to not resolve it properly, to leave the end decision ambiguous. It should be more clear on the facts: Siding with the bad guys will get everyone killed, but a glimmer of hope remains for life on Eschalon through the Orakur. But if the player sides with the good guys, everyone will STILL get killed as the Cataclysm can't be prevented. It's a Lose-Lose situation, about as anti-climatic as an ending can get. A third option should have been made available where both factions work together to try to save as many as possible, a "true" ending of sorts that the player would have to work for by exploring Wylderan well enough. But Book 3 had to be rushed, so we're left with the skeleton of a decent ending that lacks content to hold it together.
The time machine "malfunctioning" as it sets off is due to Malkur's attempt to sabotage the Orakur's plans, by his own return to the future. Malkur MUST succeed in returning "home" to preserve the timeline and the series of events that creates the Orakur. The game all but states this out loud in that burst of exposition that is the second meeting between Malkur and the protagonist, yet the game spends all its time painting Malkur as the bad guy. And when the player is finally made to pick a side, the game ignores all of this and decides to not resolve it properly, to leave the end decision ambiguous. It should be more clear on the facts: Siding with the bad guys will get everyone killed, but a glimmer of hope remains for life on Eschalon through the Orakur. But if the player sides with the good guys, everyone will STILL get killed as the Cataclysm can't be prevented. It's a Lose-Lose situation, about as anti-climatic as an ending can get. A third option should have been made available where both factions work together to try to save as many as possible, a "true" ending of sorts that the player would have to work for by exploring Wylderan well enough. But Book 3 had to be rushed, so we're left with the skeleton of a decent ending that lacks content to hold it together.
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