Finding Baldrick*: A Permanent Quest

Discussion in 'Recurring Player Events' started by Womby, Oct 20, 2016.

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  1. Sophi

    Sophi Avatar

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    Congrats to all participants, and especially to the winners!!
    As a beta tester of the quest I fully sympathize with the agony of the red herrings, lol

    However I find Womby's apologies about it a bit suspicious since the sound of his evil chuckles at my pain still echoes in my ears.... ;)

    Good work guys!
    and congrats to Womby for creating a very challenging and fun quest :D
     
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  2. LoneStranger

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    One question I had was with Ingrid. Were there two people named Ingrid at different points of time? One of them was the girl with the family who dug tunnels to escape; the other was the lady with the ... unfortunate ... gem 'accident.'
     
  3. Alexander

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    I noticed this too and was a bit confused by that. BTW, I really like the theme here and came back a few times just to look around some more. Very nicely done.
     
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  4. Womby

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    The two Ingrids are unrelated - and both completely irrelevant to the quest. :)
     
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  5. Womby

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    BTW I'll be leaving the quest up permanently, and am keen to hear suggestions on how I might improve it.

    I'm thinking of removing the food references and replacing them with a meaningful clue.
     
  6. Moiseyev Trueden

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    Are you wanting it harder or easier or just different?
     
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  7. Alexander

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    I liked the challenge as it is. The red herrings threw me off a bit, and it only encourages me to be a bit more thorough in the investigation next time. Please don't simplify this :)
     
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  8. Moiseyev Trueden

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    That's why I ask his intention. Difficulty swings in either direction are fairly easy to arrange.
     
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  9. Alexander

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    OK, I understand. Personally, it is fine as is, but if he does chose to make this a bit more challenging, at least I now understand how his mind works. I think making it easier would turn me off a bit. I had a lot of fun because I was actually challenged in a quest for a change. Ports quests are fairly simple to work through, such as the Kiln Cistern water valve puzzle.
     
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  10. LoneStranger

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    I think less red herrings would be better. More clues to rule out the red herrings would be great. Perhaps in this example make the food mean something. I approached it like those logic puzzles where certain clues or combination of clues help you narrow down the answer.
    I spent a lot of time trying to sus out the side stories, thinking that they would help me rule out some of the skeletons on the table. Figuring out who was in the six cells and noticing whether or not their skeleton was still there was something that I thought was important. It was mentioned a few times times, I almost went looking for clues in Desolis. Making quests/puzzles are very hard. I'm sure the feedback you get from this one and any next ones will make them more fun as time goes on.
     
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  11. Moiseyev Trueden

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    Oh, I love the difficulty of this one. The fact that so many of us posted how we got it wrong and what derailed us makes me so happy. It shows a great diversity of thoughts. I love something that challenges us subtly like this. I agree that making it too easy would not nearly be as fun and rewarding. What did it for me though was the extra-curricular stuff (the journals, the society, etc.). I love the small details that went into it, and wish those had played more of a part, as that encourages finding everything.
     
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  12. Alexander

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    Just thought of something. Perhaps a Sherlock Holmes style 'who done it' quest?
     
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  13. Moiseyev Trueden

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    Yeah, if more of the side messages had helped explain away some of the mis-information that would have been nice.
     
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  14. Alexander

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    I pretty much took the same approach as you did in investigating this, but the only real mistake I made here was not retracing the steps taken by Agent Mandrake by going to Solace Bridge, then following the trail through Midmaer Passage. Had I did this, I would have put it all together, and I wouldn't have been slipped up by the one red herring.
     
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  15. Alexander

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    And this was the charm of this quest. Again, Womby and team did an excellent job on this, and should be applauded for making our gaming experience that much more enjoyable.
     
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  16. Net

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    I liked the challenge.
    I was actually quite surprise that votes among various chests were quite equal. I admit I waited a bit with my response, partly because I was afraid if I am first to throw in my note people will just join me, and partly because I was still quite unsure what the correct answer is:p

    However, I think that this or some upcoming quest could have some optional hard to get clues. I would suggest that those clues could be used to rule out some posibilites
    For example an encrypted note that if players took time to decrypt it would tell them that Agent Mandrake is allergic to
    banana

    PS: Challenging quests are so much more rewarding when you succeed in them just because of the challenge and not because of the reward. And if you happen to get it wrong it will only make you more determined to succeed next time:)
     
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  17. Moiseyev Trueden

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    Yes a thousand times. Disappointed I got it wrong (not because I got it wrong, but because I was thinking in the wrong way). Thrilled to look forward to the next one to once more match my wits against the masters!
     
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  18. Berek

    Berek Portalarian Emeritus Dev Emeritus

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    Quit a challenge! Looking forward to seeing the next run!
     
  19. Doctor

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    *Sniff* *wipes a tear*

    The next quest will have to be:

    Finding K'raaak Kaaa : Doctor's one true love
     
  20. Womby

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    I'll study the comments and have a think about how to improve it without changing the difficulty. The next one will probably be a who done it, as suggested by @Alexander. I want the next one to be more complicated, but with fewer red herrings.
     
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