"Story Release" End of July? Continuing on the Path of Courage...

The is the third of four feedback segments I am writing to provide my opinion on whether the story is ready to be "released". This is a generalized commentary on the path of courage. I will provide more detailed feedback in the R43 feedback forum.

See the previous 2 commentaries here:
Path of Love
Path of Truth

My hope is that Shroud will have a quest line that really draws people into the game, not turn them away. In order to do this, I believe more time needs to be spent on them, and the end of July is too soon.

That being said, here are the general points about the Path of Courage:

1) As with the Paths of Love and Truth, this is a completely linear quest.

Spoiler

Some parts of the story are interesting, but it is really just a spectator sport. Perhaps the biggest tease that there might actually be a choice in the quest happens when you talk to Essen and Mara. But the reality is you can go to both Demig's and Ferig's camps and you must go to Demig's. It's still just a straight line story, not a choice. Can a main story line in a modern RPG can be considered sufficient without some form of choice or branching?

2) The story parallels another well-known fantasy story and thus is quite predictable.

Spoiler

Mara/Grannus = Wormtongue/King Theoden. Because of this, it is easy to interpret any reservations about Mara you hear when you finally meet her. The first is from Brigid, and there are others along the way before you actually meet Mara.

I will say the turnabout in expectations about Ferig was an interesting resolution, but that plays a small part.

3) The beginning in Highvale isn't resolved.

Spoiler

As far as I know, we never find out why elves attacked Highvale instead of the expected kobold attack. Gawain stated, "I was dispatched hither by Brigid to assay the defences of Highvale against an attack of the kobolds. Alas, there was naught any warning of the elven folk marching against us. We face attack from every side anon..." Are we to assume that this has something to do with the Vertas elves from the Path of Truth?

The problem is that scenes should never just be throwaway stops, and the ending of the story should make clear what Highvale was all about.

4) There is a big artificial hoop to jump through which is bugged and disjointed.

Spoiler

Brigid tells you to hire a boat in Harvest to go to Estgard. The dialogue with Khary never triggers the passage. Although the yellow is a kobold joke, which is fine, Khary also tells you certain items are contraband on Estgard. There is no consequence for carrying them, and it is never stated to be a joke either.

This whole part can be bypassed as I finally did by just showing up in Estgard.

5) There is only one way you as the avatar are important to the story.

Spoiler

Based on the dialogue with the Kobold king, you can assume that Demig needed you to fight through the entry to Skrekk, so that he could appear and make his challenge. Other that that, there are no important decisions or other battles to be fought. Could we not help take down Lady Mara at the end? Something to make the avatar role important?

6) The interaction with the kobolds is exceedingly disjointed.

Spoiler

Fighting your way through to the entrance to Skrekk has two problems.

First, for most players the fight to Skrekk necessitates a party's help. It's not scaled. It was too difficult for me at level 75. Grabbing a party for one part of the quest feels off when almost all the other parts are merely solo interactions with the NPC's.

Second, why would the kobolds inside Skrekk treat you differently than the ones without? The doorway to Skrekk seems to divide them into two separate kingdoms.

Side note: There is also the bug about the entrance to Skrekk giving you a message that you can't enter (based on dying to prevent running through), but allowing you to enter anyway.

7) There are still incomplete spots, dialogue inconsistencies and many bugs.

Spoiler

Take for example the following:

At the climax, something still needs to be completed:
Lord Ferig: (to you) [NOTE: fight is disabled for now. Ferig will kill Mara here.]

Essen dialogue inconsistency:
It is amazing the Essen knows the whole situation with Demig even though you are instantly transported back to Valhold. Or did the teleportation include a time dilation which would make the teleportation pointless?

Consider this dialogue incompatibility from Gawain. What was his mission?
Vyrin: (to Dying Knight) Brigid
Dying Knight: (to you) She was mine captain in Norgard. I was sent to bring her home. But I hast failed and need thou to complete mine mission. Take her mine amulet!
Vyrin: (to Dying Knight) mission
Dying Knight: (to you) I was dispatched hither by Brigid to assay the defences of Highvale against an attack of the kobolds. Alas, there was naught any warning of the elven folk marching against us. We face attack from every side anon...

Consider this inconsistency from Arabella of all people! Boreas can't be immortal if he's dead! Unless he's really NOT dead and he jumps our from behind the Oracle at the end of that path...
Arabella: There are three titans, immortal beings that personify the virtues! They are the Courageous Grannus, the Loving Sequanna, and the Truthful Boreas. They each hold a key you will need to speak to the Oracle in person. And your destiny rests upon your so doing!

And why is Arabella hanging out in the tavern in Resolute anyway? She is your important first introduction to the whole game. You expect her to have a mysterious, regal quality and here it's like her shift is over at the Isle of Storms so it's time for a beer! And why not Resolute even though she lives in Brittany. Hmmmm.

I will list out more details when I do specific commentary.

8) After having completed 3 of 4 segments of the story, where are the ethical dilemmas that are supposed to give me pause? The choices that have consequences?

9) Again you have to be concerned about keyword triggering, taking your mind out of the story.

10) You gain nothing valuable other than XP and the normal simple loot from killing monsters. Not even a Skrekk t-shirt souvenir.

With this post, again I am hoping that I will get proved wrong and the "story release" in July will be amazing. Other thoughts would be helpful. Am I crazy? Have your own perspective? See something I didn't?

ADDENDUM: From the R43 instructions, I noticed that the Path of the Oracle will still be missing substantial components in R43. There will only be QA for R44 to test the remainder. Is that really enough time to hammer out the bugs for a "release" at the end of July?

 

Most important part of this whole post in my perspective:

 

Thank you Vyrin for doing the legwork here.

 

I really, really hope this is addressed before the launch of single player offline. I've been saying this for years, but if the dungeons in SotA don't have epic loot in them (and I'm talking about actual awesome lore-based loot, not something crafted by Frankie MeatLoafwich) it might just be the biggest disappointment out of all the disappointments.

 

Hilarious Vyrin. Totally made my night and as always these posts are as poignant as ever.

I think we all hope that the current storyline not only gets the kinks worked out, but also becomes compelling and worthwhile. Unfortunately the ides of July are already upon us and I fear we are out of time...

 

Lol ya... i played throug once and now im waiten 3 more weeks to try agian.

No where near good enough to what i would call even note-worthy on the *adventure / story * front. Doesnt even make top 20 on my steam list in that regard.

Really hope LB looks objectivley at the story line and lack of quests.

And im going to say this as nicely as possible... but i do not in anyway, feel that who ever has been doing that part of SOTA .. has done 4 years of work.

I feel myself, with no experiance, could write up 20 side quests which allude to more time then the whole path quests.. in just a few sittings.

But hey.

I dont play SOTA for the story.

 

7) There are still incomplete spots, dialogue inconsistencies and many bugs.

THis is the place where my quest got hung up and they have yet to fix it. Was told they were going to fix it asap but hasnt happened yet. Was told they would progress my avatar once it was fixed. Hmmm still hasnt happened. So here i sit 4 months out and cant go any further. And now for some reason the Oracle is on the fence with me when testing for Truth. I completed both Love and Truth. Yet she says i am not folllowing the path of Truth when i answer one way..says i am when i answer another way. Fickle mechanical brat. But yes i am waiting to get the progression of Courage so i can move on to the next phase. We will see what happens after the next patch on Thursday.

 

According to the Travian Games press release, SotA has officially reached the Story Complete milestone.

Can anyone confirm this? Are the three storyline paths and final conclusion all complete and ready for prime time?

EDIT: Instead of hijacking vyrins thread I have created a separate one. Nothing to see here.