[Responded] 588 - Oracle Chamber - First Contact & Dalogue notes

The dialogue with the Oracle timed out several times when I took time to read. It felt much faster / more often than with other NPC

Speaking to the Oracle for the first time it replies on the keyword :

• "Ultima Futura Automaton"
  ...The simple answer is that I am an artificial construct, an intelligence crafted from mathematical formula and electrical storage. Yet as this world weaves the magic and physical, ...
  I am not a native speaker but the above sentence sounds incorrect / incomplete. Shouldn't it be either "weaves magic and physics" or "magical forces and physical laws" etc? "Magic and physical" would be mixing noun and adjective?
• "Strands of Reality"
  ...Much as you will never be able to return back to that which was, the home that you knew. Your journeys have been one way.... (more text button)
  [11/13/2017 21:14:34] Ultima Futura Automaton: I was directed by the Titans to determine if a return could be found. To date, I have failed.
  The order of the text is illogical. The "To date, I have failed" is in contradiction to the statement "Much as you will never be able to return back....". For a machine pure logic should be applied and the only correct statement is that "To date I have not found a way that will allow you to return...". Unless we go into semantics and the "the home that you knew" refers to a place in time and space that does not exist anymore as time passed there.
  
• "Created to do"
  Ultima Futura Automaton: The Shroud of the Avatar, of course. Your destiny, visible to all. The next chapter of the prophecy, the next verse of your life. But that is not now. For now, you must do what you will. Farewell.
  This answer doesn't make sense on the question "What were you created to do"?

Also the Oracle does not react to keywords like "British", "Titans", "Sequanna", "Arabella" etc. If she would give at least the same answers / reactions to keywords as in the confirmatory dialogue....

Last but not least - the Questlog / Journal contains detailed instruction what page and lense can be found in what ruin.... the dialogue doesn't give these specific hints. It would be much more elegant when the oracle just hints to Obsidian places and recommends a book on obsidians / geography that can be found in a library to make the connection....
In the dialogue the "lenses" are called "Obsidian eyes" - not lenses.

The dialogue on the pages is also confusing as the Oracle mentions two pages being hidden from her sight ("There are two pages as yet hidden to me - your search for those must begin in the Epitaph of the Obsidians, and the glory of the Titans - this city, Brittany.") but in the Quest Log the information for all pages is the same (Page Title + Place to look for)


11/13/2017 21:30
Title:
Reproduction Rate:
Blocker?
Details:
Steps to Reproduce:
User Specs:
OS: Mac OS X 10.11.6
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4790K CPU @ 4.00GHz (8) System RAM: 16384
GPU: AMD Radeon R9 M295X OpenGL Engine GPU RAM: 4096
SotA.EarlyAccess.QA.OSX.64.588.Date.11.12.17
Area: OracleTemple/StageOne
Area Display Name: Oracle Temple
Loc: (-0.1, 1.7, 4.9)
Debug: T3JhY2xlVGVtcGxlfFN0YWdlT25lfCgtMC4wOTUsIDEuNzMxLCA0Ljg3MSl8KDAsIDEsIDAsIC0wLjAxNCl8MTc0LjI3Nzd8MTcuMTIwNDV8Ny4xNTgzMzY=

 

We intentionally do not give branches in the final dialog as it is supposed to be fairly linear.

 

Ok, although imho this reduces immersion.
Any chance to address the other topics / inconsistency in the dialogue and log?

 

I would strongly argue against that, unless you typically punctuate important milestones in your life with digressions on asking after minor unrelated details.

As for your other point: the Oracle does not know precisely where the last 2 pages are but gives you hints, which are listed in the journal entries. The Brittany page is already quite difficult to find without a walkthrough, we're not going to intentionally make it even more difficult.

 

re hints: I was not suggesting to remove the hints but pointing out, that the log (supposedly written by the Avatar) contains more information than verbally conveyed by the Oracle. This could be handled by more text at the cost of usability or for example by the Oracle providing a scroll with details on her research. Of course this is not critical or deal-breaking, I just found it odd.

Re milestones: As most casual Avatars will have spent months if not years on Novia until they reach that point in the story I don't think it is inappropriate or a waste of time to ask the Oracle for more info on the Titans, other Outlanders or the Obsidians. At least I would change the default "no answer" dialogue to something that relays the Oracle's unwillingness to discuss other topics.