Truth Quest Feedback

Hi @Lum the Mad Hi @Lord British, to day I had a look at the Truth Quest. Here are my notes I took while questing. Maybe it helps to see where something is missing.

Blood River:
Aerie Guards still send me to the Magistrate although I already spoke to him
Robert Townsend says his Name is Norman Townsend.
The Guards don't assist against the wolves fighting between them.
I received the Quest "Obsolete ID=465".
There is an elven letter about "the bone steel has to be given to the Satyr". I hope there will be further story about Elven-Satyr cooperation. (Post scriptum: I still didn't met Notus but still wonder who this elf was who wrote this letter...)
There is an Elven Diary about Human Attacks. But it seems there is a page missing. Page 1 and Page 2 don't fit to each other.
Nice elven song.
I couldn't find any further clue what happend. No survivor. No final not prior to the attack.
The Tree house is empty.

Aerie:
This is the first time I noticed the "can't find" key word. Why is this only present automatically in Aerie?

Falcon: I like her. Can we please be able to buy a bird from Falcon? Both only for deco or even a fighting falcon for taming (low level).

Ives Sinclar: When can we go on adventure with Ives?

Kyle Behrand: Everthing went quite well when I spoke to him until we started talking about bonesteel. Suddenly he run away like... what ever. Maybe because it was just midnight? I managed to talk to him later. So.. Bonesteel is from the Obsidian Wars and from the Titan Boreas himself. So not from the Satyrs? Lets see.

Yirka: A traveller without job? How does she live? She doesn't look like the wild hunter. She definitely is a traveller.. counting the moments she left our discussion without a further word buy running back and forth in the house. -.-

Vertas:
All civilists: Why is everyone wearing a skull staff?

Kiriad: Just a side note. He is speaking of "Many Avatars". Is that also true if I play the game offline? Help:... why has he heard that I have a dagger.. NSA?

Kiakis: He knows nothing about the Blood River? I received "?Homily of Perri the Unchained?" (including the exclamation marks) Maybe this is because its in runic? When Kiakis speaks about "an elf called Notus" I get the keyword "Chancellor" without knowing that Notus is a Chancellor.
Kiakis says that humans have cats as pets, like there would be no cats known to elves. But actually there is also a cat in Vertas.

Rorium/Scovus/Ariana: They currently dont buy or sell despite the text that I should just type buy. (Instead I get the answer "How much does it cost". Maybe because of the blood river event. But then the help text is wrong.

Scovus: blood river -> "writual" (miss spelling)

Benar: While its funny to tell him anything about the first dark lord and his gem of immortality, Benar should understand the words "I dont know". I hope later I can find some clues about what are the right answers.

Sinar: Everyone told me to speak with Sinar, because he studies avatars. But actually he is just another guard. Please correct this issue. Everyone has a bark text says "Avatar I want to speak to you". But she has nothing to say that has not been said by every one else identic. In general the NPCs should stop with their "generic instructions" after I spoke to Kiriad and Kiakis.

Quant: I was told he was at the "traders gate". But actually he was at the gate that was farest away from the traders and workers.

Quant/Sinar/Benar: Well everyone tells me to speak to everyone else. But actually non of them has to say anything relevant. No side quests, no help, no further interaction. The only nice thing are the funny emotes from Quant. Here you definitely have to add a lot before you allow me to move on to Janaford.

Vertas Human Settlement: The elves call them refugees, but they are a Banker, Town Crier , Public Vendor and Guild Registrar? I don't think we need the Registrar or Public Vendor. Instead add plot and real refugees.

Vertas Pass to Janaford: Well, the new player went to Aerie and Vertas without any fight nor any quest. How should he be able to pass the 5 skull pass, ever? There should be a quest that actively guides the new player to Janaford. And not only a "use once scroll" but better an easy dungeon below the hills. Kiakis should tell the player that he should not take the Vertas Pass but instead.. .xyz... and luckily one of the Quant/Sinar/Benar guys have some additional hints and keys...

Jaanaford:
Jenna Karttunen: WTF? I show the dagger to a random innkeeper (the first NPC I talk to) and she knows more about that then anyone else before? "yeah, thats boreas work. He is the Emperor of Artifice. No one told you before? Must be loosers." And she directly send me to the next city? This sounds a bit like the Monthly Hat-Quests. Please let her initiate some side quests. At least she indicates that there is another way to kiln then just dying through the pass. But why do I have to venture to Kiln, if Jenna already tells me that the dagger is from EtCeter?

Olivia Grace: She speaks about ancient knowledge but knows nothing about bonesteel compared to the simple Innkeeper. When asking for Help she starts to moan. That would only fit, if danger is near. Anyways I didn't got a quest entry from her. Is there a quest or is all her book talking just non-interactive fluff?

Ygritte and Erkenbrand: Seems like there could be a nice quest between these two. When can we expect one? Is she a thief? And he is the dealer? When will she be taken by the Satyr and Faun below the waterfall?

Vonda: Such a great locations. Great assembly of characters. And no story behind it? Maybe they know something about satyrs trading with bone steel?

Northwest BlackBlade Mountains:
Well, that "alternative" is way heavier than the nominal way. How should the player at level 5 get to Kiln this way?

Kiln:
I really like the Sewers and there is even a quest initiating it. But a 700 LP Water Elemental that constantly heals itself is nothing for me or a new player. So lets ignore it for the moment.

I really like the freaks. Chris and Neil should know something about Avatars, shouldnt they? They claim to come from a distant land. Anyways I want to have some adventures together with these guys.

So no one knows anything about bonesteel except for the faun. Not even the Smith. Well I spoke to the Faun there, who tells me that bonesteel is manufactures in Artifice. Nice. Journal doesn't notice. Well, then I will go there anyways.

Dion: Oh.. Thanks to SotaMap I found another Faun in Kiln. Maybe the first Faun should give a hint. Else no one will ever find this guy, because the game currently doesn't give you a reason to visit each and every house. He thinks he is in a different city. Somewhere in Vertas maybe? He tells me Jaanaforth is in the south. And that I should take the black blade pass to go to Etceter. Doesn't make sense as I am already in Kiln. He gives me a key for the Black blade pass. Well.. how did I passed it before... without key.. ?? And why does he say "you have the book, you are a friend"? The only book I can imagine is the book from Kiakis. But neither he nor me can read it. So why is he refering to it?

Etceter:
Oracle: I went to the Oracle. To get 500 Gold. (Is there another reason?) And suddenly she starts speaking with me about the Plot? What happened? She never did before. She should do this each time. Speak with me about all options of my current quests! Be the "do you need a hint?" guide!

Pilgrim: Again funny stories. Can we have some adventures with/about them?

Trelfall: She should link to the story about Perri.

Avitas, Harbormaster: He tells me I have to wait weeks before I can travel to Xenos. I can just take the next ship. Features missing for everyone who has no quest. At least with quest I can just pass because of the dagger. A bit too easy... No sidequest? I learned "taunt" but the Harbormaster didn't make the emote "taunt" in front of me...

Gellius: When I talk with him about the dagger, he wants to take it from me. In a nominal SP game, this would start a fight, I will die (level 5) and reload the scene. But this time.. nothing..

Miles Brown: Can we please speak with the father of his beloved? Can punch him in the face? Btw, he says he refuses to wear a blade since that day... But he has a sword in his hand.. -.-

Ship Capitain: Hu.. what the ****.. at 21:52, every single person at the beach is running into the city. All at once. If you want to keep that, let someone run to the beach and cry "Food is ready!" And well, even in the tavern, she doesn't want to talk to me. Not even some small talk. Poor me.

Kitra: I learned Boo from her. And 10-15 seconds later she makes the emote. Maybe I clicked the text too quickly because I got sleepy from the same text of each pilgrim. No side quests, just fluff.

Olivia: She does not introduce herself but I immediately see her name.

22:20 - After a half hour of fishing and a toilet brake, the NPCs come back. Lets see if the Ship Captain has anything interesting to say.

Ship Captain: In the second I speak with that lady, the quest for Etceter is finished. But why? She just greated me without further information. So there is a ghost ship - on the far dock - at new moon. I will check that later. Unfortunately its day now. Captain Steel uses the emote "spyglass" without extending the spyglass. -.- She tells me she can take me if I have enough money. But still she is not asking for a single coin.

Xenos:
Captain Steel: 22:29 and she again doesn't want to talk to me. Because she is already finished for today. -.-

Merchant: The guy that doesn't want to give me his name. I can ask him for Chancellor and he immediately knows that I am talking about Notus. Hm, I would have never come up with the idea to ask this random NPC about the elf notus. And what? That elf is now the right hand of Boreas? Why hasn't Kiakis told me about this before?

Kiakis: He is also here.. Well, why has he sent me this long way... ah, all fine, lets talk. At least he confirms that Notus is now working for Boreus.

Nice Scene here but after a few talks you recognise that the NPCs are just generic without any further story behind. Hmpf.

Elf Official: "I need to speak with you without a moments delay!"... and then.. He doesn't react when I talk to him. BLOCKER BUG... ok finish later.

Conclusion so far:
I see a red line of a story. But its missing any flesh. Its like when I draft the very basic storyline for my Pen&Paper group. It feels a bit like a Hat-Quest. One NPC is sending you to the next. No task on that way. And no chance for a new player to actually follow that quest line without abandoning it for a few months of grinding to be able to pass the passes. Still a lot to be done until Episode 1 complete.

 

I haven't played it through yet (since a few releases ago) but this is great, coherent feedback for the devs. Nice work!

 

I will do the same today with Courage. Lets see how far I can go on one day.

 

The only easy way to move around is to use the moongates, but they do not stay open for long and change based on the moon phases.

 

Sounds like a plan. But there is the need for an introduction quest for the moon portals and quicker changes of locations. No new player wants to wait half an hour doing nothing.

 

Unable conversation close ups box to have journal updated

 

Hi @Lum the Mad , Hi @Lord British, I finalised the truth quest. Here are my notes. I will process the Oracle quest later this weekend.

Few days later. There is a work around for Notus by deactivating the "conversation close-up". Unfortunately this only progresses the journal. No further chat for background information is available due to the bug. Onwards, to Artifice!

Journal Entry: "That I would be granted access. This seems a bit too easy." That feeling I have for a lot of quests. At least the journal feels the same.

Artifice:
Hu, 5 skull zone. Did I receive any XP on the path of truth? I can't remember. Luckily there a no enemies on the direct path to the entry. Anyways, nice small entry scene. I hope the loading times become better soon, as this is a way to small scene for the time waiting for it.

Sotirios: Hu, he says he is there to serve and protect me. A Satyr. Okay.... lets.. see.. .Artifice = Falsehood = make false my deprivation. I trust you. Each and every word. Doesn't know anything about bonesteel or the titan. But I assume even if he knew he wouldn't talk about it.

Realy beatiful with these flowers. The waters are also nice but where steam and waterfall mixes the transparency of the water (although behind the steam) is shown instead of the steam. To be fixed.
Interesting. Also the walls have Human Statues instead of Satyr. Seems the Satyr just took over this place. Must be because of the titan...

The Welcomer: No standard talk actions. Ok, he is trying to push me to go inside. Okay. But maybe he could tell me something about that register. And what is this lottery?
I still wonder how the Elf Notus, the Titan Boreus and these Satyrs fit to each other.

I know this is not a cut szene game, but entering the portal should be a cut szene. Would add some epicness. When I pass through one step and rotate the camera, I can see be behind the yellow door in front of a stone wall.

Halls of Artifice:
Pepys: Lower Floor, Outer Halls, Inner Halls, Keys.. huh, a bit confusing but its nice that he tries to warn me about the complexity. Lets explore.

Other Humans: Hm.. I don't remember these.. are they my lovers? That I should meet inside?

Avina: Ha, her cheer emote did fit quite well this time.
Pierce: Ah, nothing special. Just the clone of Avina. Another random NPC. This time I clicked faster so the emote was not fitting with the text.

Wealth without Limits:
The gate for "Wealth without limits". Hm, I cant even take the money that is lying around outside why should I go there? Only to see gold? "Take what you wish" the Satyr said.
Hu, suddenly everyhing is dark I was not that close to the gate. And it stays dark until I move further, buggy.
Empty chests and so much gold I can't take. Let me grap at least coins one by one. I assume no one will stay for more than 10.000 coins/clicks.
Nice, I would take that naked golden lady with the bow. And we should have these small chests also for housing. Nice. Also nice sword art, is that available in game?
Ha, at least I was able to take the ceramic plate. It turned from gold to ceramic in my inventory.
Greedy Pilgrims: Nice emotes. They fit quite well to the situation.
Okay, found a key in the special box. Lets see what I can use it for.
Again I teleport through the door prior to beeing really close. I guess this prevents camera issues as with the entrance of Artifice?

Halls of Youth:
I am really interested, how you will do this.
Huha, "You want to help? I have some delicious ideas." Oh yeah. I think you are still missing one or two multiplayer emotes.
Uh, the lady sleeping in the bed (Joyce Clements) is actually sleeping "INSIDE" the bed. Needs a fix.

Feast of Plenty:
Hey, why are there only men? Are only old men hungry?
I would like to have one or two of these chalice! They look nice and I guess wine out of these gives additional buffs.

General: Very nice decorated. Looks really good. Although I understand that most pilgrims are somehow brainwashed and it is just "a scene for impression", I still hope that you add also some flesh to the story of them. Maybe one can really have a date with one of them. Or has to fight about gold with another. Or there are still some doubts and real world issues...

So. three keys. How to proceed? Back to the entry, speak with Pepys. Take the golden door. Well I walked through 3 golden doors.... ... ... AAH! Pepys' door is the golden door. First, I thougth its the entrance from outside. Second, I couldn't see if it was golden or black as there is no light to the door.

Bastian (who calls a satyr bastian?): "Enlightenment" -> he asks if I am here for enlightenment. -> I anser "of course" (as it is an example answer) -> he doesn't understand "If you say so". Instead he only reacts on "Yes" that was not a given answer.

First Room:
Door: Whooohoo, you can peak through the lid of the door and see tormentor and victim. (Someone from the tech crew once asked if you still need to keep the first person mode running: a) yes , b) find another way how to peek through the door). Nice! She is missing some agressive emotes. Else, why should he fear her? And where can I sign for " I also wish to join that scene?" Why am I excluded? ^^

Loewtax: Notus is here? I just met him in Xenos. And there was not so much time in between. How did he passed me?

Next room:
Even more of this. Nice. This time the tormentor is a bit more "aggressive". Quite impressive scenes.

Third room:
Uh, now it becomes weird. So much blood and.. children. Uff. I think I stop that. Lets see if I can find a key. Nope.. Talk to the lady.. Nope.. Uff, that gives quite a bad feeling. Well done!

Fourth Room:
Again peeking through the lid. Uuh.. skeletons. Blood.. Lets see.. No one here? Ah, more children behind a doo.... ..aaaaarg.. You bastards! Again well done. And it was actually me! And I could have opened the door before.. Bad feeling.. No! It wasnt me! No!... I will be more careful the next room..

????:
Well... whos desire are these dead people everywhere?
Looks like a labyrinth.. ****.. was that a teleport? well now I am lost. Ok, try not to open SotaMap or it becomes to easy (checked, its not available there).
Three yellow portals later... okay.. write a map. These teleports are strange, as I am stoping.. waiting.. small fall.. there should be a better animation/effect on this. Especially the stopping without happening anything for a second is strange.
Finally it worked. That is a good one. More of these!

Notus:
He looks different than before in Xenos. So he run like hell and jumped into a new suit? He is offering me wine but I dont get one because I had already before.. Buhu, I want my wine!
"Tell me what do you think of it"? --> "I am confused" (official answer) --> "I'm not sure what you mean" ... not again. This seems to be a general bug for multiple choice answeres. Please check!
Arg, the children. You bastards!
Boa, nice story twist on that guy! ... So the Vertas elves betrayed me? I want to talk to them, as soon as I am out of here.

The hall of Boreus:
There should be new sound here. Sound of death and sorrow. The current sound is to playful.

Boreaus:
What a fucking story twist. Well done. More of that!

Hephaestus:
Arg, again multiple choice answers don't work if they don't include the keywords "yes" or "no". Boreas said I have to do things. And ... that thing is talk to a Faun? (I assume the faun is not as old as the last words of Boreas?... Why can "destiny" always be missused as argument for any random task?)

The Library:
So many bookshelfs. So huge. So empty with all truth lost... Nicely done.

Kiakis:
Why is he here? He send me out. Why was he faster? There need to be more "side quests" so that it actually feels like I was on my quest for a longer time.
Lucky for him, that he didn't knew about Notus and Artifice. Else I would punsh him in the face. But still, how did he came here?
Why is "two possibilities" not a keyword (directly after kiriad)? Shouldn't I get the journal entry to speak with Kiriad?

Faun:
"How did I get here". Ha, the same questions I wanted to ask you! Hm... but while talking it seems he is here for a longer time already... Perry is missing some emotes when he "is standing taller and his eyes are angry and fierce".
Book: I had the keyword "homily". But I never read the book and had no ingame/incharacter tutorial about how to read runic. So why should I know about Homily? Learning runic should be an early sidequest. There are still questionsmarks on that items name. Any why can a simple faun (who learns from a peasant) write runic, while an elf (a truth seeker) could not read runic?
Ok, now he allows me to go. But why was he here? Why can he command the kobold to unlock gates? Was he studying when Boreus was still here? Was he hiding in here when elves and satyrs destroyed and changed everything?

Golden Gate:
"A mysterious force field blocks your progress... ".. Ah.. thats the gate the kobold has to open?

Hephaestus:
Why is he suddenly seeing my dagger? Why not before? And why does this simple kobold know about trouble of sequanna? Shouldn't I tell him that I spoke with Perri. Independ of why at all Perrys was relevant to my truth destiny... He now says only "open door". Nothing about "which door" and "where to find"... hmpf.. Luckily I already found that door before.

Novia:
Exit directly to twin foothills? Thats quite fare away from Artifice.


Conclusion:
While the general truth questline is missing a lot of flesh, the end (Artifice) is really well done with nice twists.
That is said in the frame of the available engine features. Sometimes some well animated cutscenes with the propper sound (& voice) would help more than the current emote strategy. But I assume this is Episode 2-3

 

I think i found notus, but, to be honest, I cant tell the NPC will not respond (close up dialogue on or not) .. so I feel stuck here.. cos Notus is being annoying..

 

Notus is the elf in front of the pilgrims in Xenos.
Without close-up option, he should at least speak to you once, that is sufficient to progress the story.
You find more details on the bug and potential solutions here: https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...-truth-etceter-xenos.90716/page-2#post-823751

 

yep, thats the guy, he wont give me even first round of conversation it just does nothing any further clicks say you tried to talk to him already

 

Ended it recently.

I think Elfenwahn did a good feedback, i agree.

I have a lot if trouble finding the correct keywords sometimes.
And i thought sone Journal Entrys need some more "hints" especially the one that send you to Etceter.
I would have never found Avitas to made it to Xenos and make Notus speak to me without a spoiler.
Also Perri didnt give me keywords and i had to try and error a lot to make him talk to me with significant Infos.

I liked this Path the most.

No Hint about the Oracle Quest?
Have done all 3 Path now.

 

@Elfenwahn my problem is finally I can talk to the noble but now I apparently need to go back to eceter..... seriously I did that ages back, i dont want to have to go back again.. this quest is really beginning to P me off as theres no xp at any of the stages