Ep. 2 - What would you like in a new quest system?

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Vyrin, Jul 27, 2018.

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  1. Floors

    Floors Avatar

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    Perhaps they'll reveal more in Ep 2. I really enjoy ruins and past history, and considering this inherits Ultima I and III, I'd personally like to see a few touchstones included.

    What we have is pretty cool, but obviously rushed and needs more to it.
     
  2. Floors

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    You're forgetting about "Early Access". I guarantee Ep 2 will be doled out and fixed In Situ.
     
  3. redfish

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    Something else that I think needs to be baked more into the conversation system is emotes.

    I was thinking about this some when Chris mentioned how player created NPC conversation would most likely use XML, and I thought it would be important to build in triggers for the NPCs to use emotes, so we can have our NPCs emote. When I was last questing (which was a while ago, I admit), I didn't see much fluent use of emotes either; by which I mean smiling, frowning, laughing, crying, looking angry, etc., with certain conversational triggers.

    There's also I think a purpose to allowing players to use emotes in their NPC conversations, like salutes to guards to get certain responses, etc.
     
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  4. Vladamir Begemot

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    I agree, but the current system has some serious limitations.

    The biggest one is that the text is instantaneous and total when the keyword is clicked, and at the same moment the emote STARTS. So it is never synchronized with the event.

    Additionally the idles don't make me feel like I'm actually talking with someone, more like it is a shell of a being who, like a clockwork toy, gets activated when it is the toys turn to talk.
     
  5. redfish

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    I think something they can do is build in more conversational pauses with "press space to continue."

    Right now we get this when the text is too long, it pauses for a break so we can read everything without scrolling. However, it could also be used effectively as a means to sync emotes with conversational cues. An NPC can switch from a smile and a frown between two lines of text, and the player would have to move from one to another by pressing the space key.
     
  6. redfish

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    FYI it sort of worked that way in Ultima VII where the character portrait would change between lines of text (Spark crying vs smiling). People tend to compare the conversational system to older Ultimas like U5 and U6 because those were text input based and had a scroll. But there are lessons the game can learn from the U7 conversation system, too.
     
  7. Tiina Onir

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    I wanted to comment on this; If you have to read the book in order to mostly appreciate the story, that's a failure of the story. The game's story needs to be complete and stand alone. What from the books we need to know needs to be referanced well enough in-game that we aren't completely lost if we didn't read it.

    Honestly, I couldn't tell you what Arabella had to say because her dialogue was fairly lengthy and dialogue boxes have a tendency to just randomly close. That makes it really hard to really enjoy it.
     
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  8. Sol Stormlin

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    I fully agree, but I think it would be more memorable if she tells you information that will continue to crop up throughout the questline. One of the things I was confused with is the book I recieved after completing the quest. I don't even know where it is and I don't know how to get it back. Plus, what in the world was it talking about?
     
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  9. Kaffien

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    1. give player a quest
    2. if multipart, track said quest.
    3. maybe leave a blue light on the compass / map as a hint like it does now.
    4. Once quest is complete ... this part is verrrry important. Give player the reward of XP / gold / item whatever.
    Then clear the quest from the current task journal. move it to a previously completed are of the journal.
    5. Remove ANY and ALL markers from compasses and or maps. The quest is done we don't need them anymore!
    every time i see blue marker on the compass for an old quest it invoked and or provokes my rage or at least annoyance.
    6. An abandon button! so if it IS bugged we can end the quest and start over. The abandon button should trigger all those previous
    quest data clearing steps as well.
    7. Fix these basic things and then you can get fancy with new ep2 quests.
     
  10. Vladamir Begemot

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    Yes.
     
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  11. Spungwa

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    My main requirement for quest system is

    The ability to start a quest, not complete it, start multiple other quests, take a break from the game. Then still be able to work out where I left off each quest and continue and complete them without resorting to the web and forum spoilers.

    How to do this I don't mind, but with the current journal this is next to Impossible.


    Spung
     
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  12. ErikRulez

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    I would like a smooth transition. I know ripping out the old code without causing issues will be a large task.

    I would also like to be able to select a quest to pursue and be able to easily bring up the information on the quest chain and clues as what to do next.

    I would like the loose ends from old quests to be cleaned up... Go home Sir Patrick... you're free... its over, I have the scepter. I am starting to think he *likes* being in that cage and I have stumbled into something he and the kobolds have going on and made things awkward.
     
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