What was Isabel doing when... (spoilers for later campaigns)

[Sikon]

...when Nicolai died his final death in Irollan? Sitting in Talonguard and watching Markal, who now didn't even have a legal ruler whose back he could stay behind?

Or better, what was she doing when Markal took command? Why did she even allow that, after seeing that Nicolai's revival didn't quite work as she expected? (Seriously, what did she expect?)

And why did the four heroes have to storm Talonguard and fight against her?

[Gaidal Cain]

Well, they said she was sitting there being crazy. But I don't know, I find the campaigns loose track of characters like this all the time. Some examples: We see Freayda during the intro of the last haven map, but then there's no mention of her until Markal wants to use her to go after Godric.

Biara is nowhere to be seen when Agrael is fighting elves, and then she somehow appears and tries to take the Hearth of the Griffin- what's up with all that? And why isn't Findan involved in the defense against Agrael?

To me, the maps they've used to tell the story is often odd. I would have combined the second and third Haven maps and then put another at the end showing how Isabel tries to come to grips with Nicolai's death while trying to assert control over the Griffin Empire. Then her falling into the sway of Markal actually might have made a bit more sense, if we really had seen what she was going through.

[Sikon]

Well, Biara can be assumed to have always been with Agrael, even following him to Tieru. Similarly, Freyda can be assumed to always follow Godric, and Alaron always-ish follow Findan.
Findan is more a diplomat and "poet" than warrior :p, he only entered the war when things got really lousy, and was only charged with protecting the Haven refugees because he used to be an ambassador there. Besides, Agrael's march through Irollan was swift, so the elves didn't have enough time to mobilize all forces. (They did have emerald dragons, though... plothole or just gameplay mechanics plus suspension of disbelief?)

To me, the maps they've used to tell the story is often odd. I would have combined the second and third Haven maps and then put another at the end showing how Isabel tries to come to grips with Nicolai's death while trying to assert control over the Griffin Empire.

Seconded. Perhaps it could work this way: after the player captures Ashwood, Inferno forces appear throughout the map with a new objective: defeat them. The Academy campaign, compared to that, was way compressed, poof and you have two countries liberated.

Apropos, seeing how you are sort of a storyline specialist, will you care to review my article about Isabel on Heroespedia?

[Gaidal Cain]

Well, Biara can be assumed to have always been with Agrael, even following him to Tieru. Similarly, Freyda can be assumed to always follow Godric, and Alaron always-ish follow Findan.

I'm OK that they're following them. What I'm missing is any lines for them. To give an example, there's a guy that comes in when Godric and Isabel are discussing something, only to say something like "demon forces have been spotted". That line should have gone to Freyda instead, just so that the charcter got some more screentime. Similarly for Biara- just give her some Dialogue with Agrael when he's complaining about the druids. It's like they were both written in after the rest of the story was done.

As for the article- wasn't she in fact raised by Beatrice (among others)? If so, that's the only thing I could spot that I would change. Well, that and the fact that her hair is far from black on the screenshot.

[DaemianLucifer]

Well thats what you get when you loose all the text just to put in some fancy cutscenes in order to speed up gameplay.

[Gaidal Cain]

I quite fail to see what that has to do with things. In both cases, you still need to make sure that chracters that are meant to be important for the story gets enough "screen time"- whether they're actually there themselves or only manipulating thinngs from afar a la Sauron- to allow the readers/players to develop some attachment to them. They should have had their story done way before starting on the maps and cutscenes.

[Bandobras Took]

...when Nicolai died his final death in Irollan? Sitting in Talonguard and watching Markal, who now didn't even have a legal ruler whose back he could stay behind?

I dunno. Maybe the Demon Sovereign moves around a lot more than anybody suspects, and was paying nightly visits to Isabel. Which would mean the whole kidnapping and rescue bit was an elaborate lie . . .