Replaying the Main Quest

Hm. I don't want to spoil anything, but from what I recall, the Necropolis thing did sorta make sense. Though, it might have fit the story a bit better if the scene was located up in Grunvald. I think ERG is only mentioned because it is a mountain pass, and so invaders coming from the north are going to come through that way. I never got the impression that ERG was the source of the invasion, though I can see how it could be interpreted that way.

It is kind of funny though, given the likely millions of undead that have been destroyed in ERG by players. Not many left to invade the Perennial Coast.

I like your point about Edvard/Kinsey, that makes sense. Bummer you haven't finished it, I'm hoping to get a few people active in this thread who are paying close attention to the story, to chat about theories and such.

 

Solace Bridge Outskirts: Completed?

The info on the overworld says I still have active/available quests there. Not going to fret too much about getting every single one. I have no more sparkles there, though. Good enough.

Did the ghost quests, after learning that i need to type "help." Kind of a bummer that the "Ritual Master" is bugged (It displays "Ebon Dawn Ritual MAster" Instead of "Mistress Valdis." If I were new to the game and didn't know any better, I'd have no idea the ghost quest was basically restoring the memories of the body Valdis was inhabiting.

Spoiler: Valdis Bug

Also got Bloody Bones' book. Off to Highvale!

 

Hadn't noticed this little easter egg previously. (Also didn't notice the near-perfect alignment of Dastard and the Sun when I took this pic, that's pretty creepy!)

Spoiler: Stan and Ollie Must be Around Here Somewhere

 

Battle of Highvale

• Interesting. I don't recall the lunar rift being all smashed up.
• I hate this renfaire faux-Shakespeare dialog. I hated it in Ultima, and I hate it here.
• Scene doesn't appear to have changed since the first (well, first for me, around R45) version.
• Do not recall Nena from before.
• It occurs to me, they're speaking of Norgard being at war with the elves for the last ten years, but then the whole quest seemed to abandon that plot and switched over to dealing with Kobolds. In general, the elves' story seems to be pretty glossed over.

It's a shame they didn't have the manpower to revamp this scene (and, presumably, Battle of blood River) like they did Battle of Solace Bridge. The new Solace Bridge was a very focused scene, which works better as an opening scene than this more unfocused scene. Certainly, the opening bit inside the fort is good, but once you get out, it's a big open empty area. The farmer is right there, but anybody who wants to go off exploring has a lot of nothing to run around in. Maybe someday, and then they can restore the original game opening where you get sorted into one of three scenes instead of automatically going to Solace Bridge.

 

It will always say available quests there because you can turn in the heirlooms quest (it's repeatable), but currently it is bugged and gives no rewards........(I just bug reported that).

If you don't have any blue markers currently in the scene, you probably did do everything. And also check my guide if you missed anything, but I think you found everything.

 

Highvale Outskirts: Part 1

• Ouch. Some pretty clunky language there, Captain Burnes. (And "Leftenant" Simone? Did whoever write this seriously not know it's spelled "Lieutenant?")
• Esmerelda asks you to check out some funky happenings, then pretty much explains the whole thing like she already knows what's going on.

 

Actually Leftenant is an old English naval saying for the Lieutenant on the left side of the Captain at quarters on a ship. It’s just used in the wrong context in that quest.

 

Hm. I did a quick Google before posting that, just in case, but I found no reference to the term as anything other than the British pronunciation of Lieutenant. Regardless, they are not on boat, so even if that is a thing, I'm not wrong.

 

Under Etymology, see the pronunciation section of this wiki. As you say it’s just British phrasing.

As per the above wiki link Lieutenant and Leftenant are the same word from the French words lieu meaning "place" as in a position and tenant meaning "holding" as in "holding a position".

 

I want to! It may be that I haven't been hanging about in the storyless scenes like you described, but for me the story hints, the backstory of the world, are possibly the biggest draw for me. The frustration comes, as I said, with apparent continuity errors and so many missed threads. But I'm going to try to finish up the main story in offline mode sometime soon. Assuming I can with no one to buy gear from, since my adventurer has no interest in crafting anything but the occasional fish trophy. :-(

It's said "Ritual Master" the entire time I've been playing, but I thought it was clear anyway that the Ritual Master was Valdiss (although Sigourney and Kinsey don't know this, since they haven't been reading along with me). On the other hand, I do obsessively read every word in game, and I know lots of players don't. It would be easy to miss, especially for someone who didn't find the MV book before confronting the Ritual Master. I am encouraged that you say she'll turn up again later.

What's the easter egg? I don't know who Stan and Ollie are. (Yes, I'm mostly clueless about popular culture.)

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Music_Box

 

The rift mysteriously fixes itself after you leave the Battle scene.

I love good Shakespearean dialogue. What the Norgardians speak is NOT good Shakespearean dialogue. Amazingly, some of it is less cringe-worthy now than it was a year ago.

Huh. I don't think I've ever heard anything about them being at war with the elves. I just assumed occasional skirmishes since the elves are hostile, but not anything organized.

Huh again. I've always thought Solace Bridge was the weakest of the three. I love the fact that, in Highvale, if you really are a brand-new player, you've got this safe zone inside the walls where you can take stock of things, explore your menus, figure out the mechanics, etc. before heading out into combat, and I equally love the big unfocused scene where I can scout out the positions of the elves from the walls before heading out to cut them down, then explore on my own while ignoring Floyd's harangues. I even love the fact that he is haranguing me. In Blood River, you can't explore two feet without being ganged up on by wolves, but I'll still take that over the tiny scene and railroading of Solace Bridge. I've heard it was bigger once; I wish I could go back and see the earlier version. If I'd been forced into Solace Bridge when I first started instead of the Isle of Storms then Highvale? I almost certainly wouldn't be here now.

 

Maybe I'm mistaken. I could swear though, when I did Solace Outskirts last time, that when she appeared after disrupting the ritual her nameplate read "Mistress Valdis."

Raising or lowering a piano to/from an upper story with a rope is a longtime comedy trope, which generally ends in the piano smashing to bits. Its not a direct reference to Stan and Ollie (the old timey comedy team Laurel and Hardy) though, that was just my joke. They had done a short called "The Music Box" Though, if I recall correctly, in that one they were trying to move it up a long flight of stairs that ran up a hill to a house.

(Looks like somebody ninja'd me on that.)

 

It was a single line from Gawain.

I wonder if all this dialogue ends up in the logs, I could actually dig through and grab quotes.

 

/datafolder

 

You probably could, but don't bother. I'm sure you're right -- it's been several months, perhaps even a year, since I went through there. And I probably will soon in offline. I do remember that some of Gawain's dialogue didn't quite make sense, about Brigid sending him there or something like that.

 

I guess it's all how you look at it. In Solace Bridge, you find the girl, escort her past undead, and meet Edvard at the boat. I found it a better first experience, since it's very focused.

 

Actually, I found it in \AppData\Roaming\Portalarium\Shroud of the Avatar\ChatLogs

Nope, I was very wrong, and should have payed closer attention. It was talking to Nena (another wounded knight in the fort) and she was referring to the Kobolds, not the elves. Or any quantity of balloons.

Either way, being able to go back through later and re-read the conversations will be super useful. Though, annoyingly, the logs also include all the Universe chats.

 

uh huh. the /datafolder command takes you to it without having to hunt.

 

Suuuure, make me look bad...