I hope everyone had a good time, and I wish you all a great 2015 !
Now, I'll try to explain how I experienced my first walkthrough through the demo with a mercenary. It won't be the exact experience because I don't remember everything, but I'll try to make it as close as possible. I'll start each section with a comment by Vince, just to show that what seems obvious to those who know the story or have read some spoilers, are really not that obvious to people just starting the game. Then, I will try to convey my experience by showing what came to my mind.
I'm not saying my experience is *better* than what the other players might have experienced. I'm just trying to point out some of the things that I consider problematic.
About saving Gracius
Vince: You can't save Gracius, because you are not a hero who can save everybody.
Me:
1 - Well, I couldn't save him with this character. Let's see if I can outsmart the assassin with a character with higher perception. [Doesn't work]
2 - Ok, let's try a character with a higher streetwise skill. [Doesn't work]
3 - Ok, let's try a character with higher perception AND higher streetwise. [Doesn't work]
4 - Although I can't be 100 % sure, I guess I can't save the merchant. Fair enough, let's move on.
About the assassin
Vince: The assassin is there to test your built.
Me:
1 - Oh! There is an option to let him go. It's probably there for a reason. Maybe I'll meet him again later in the game.
2 - Is my decision going to have an impact on my relations with the Merchant's Guild and the Assassin's Order ?
3 - Am I just losing an opportunity to acquire skill points if I let him go ?
4 - OK. Let's fight. [Got killed]
5 - Well, that was close. Probably just bad rolls. Let's try again. [Got killed easily]
6 - OK. Let's try a new character. [Got killed]
7 - Well, no doubt about the bad rolls this time, I missed three times in a row when he was near death. Let's try again. [Killed the assassin]
8 - OK. I know I *can* kill the assassin, but I still don't know if I *should*. Fair enough, I can't know everything, so let's continue.
About Vardanis quest
Vince: This is an optional quest, that you can decline.
Me:
1 - This looks dangerous and unethical, but my experience with the loremaster taught me that the "good" path is not always the best. On top of that, the two most obvious reasons to refuse (it's unethical and/or it sounds suicidal) are not offered in the dialogue options. This can't be a coincidence: if they deny me these logical options to refuse, it's probably to encourage me to accept. I would also be very surprised that they make me fail twice in a row in my role as a protector (since I'm playing a mercenary and that's what mercenaries do). Let's do it. [Got killed]
2 - No wonder I got killed, I only had 8 hit points left. Maybe it's a sign that I shouldn't fight the assassin. Let's try again, with a healthy character. [Got killed]
3 - Stupid me ! I created a character with a high block skill, and forgot to equip my shield. Let's try again. [Killed the thugs, didn't save Vardanis]
4 - OK. I can kill the thugs. Maybe Vardanis got unlucky rolls. Let's try again. [Same result]
5 - OK. Let's try a different strategy. [Same result]
6 - OK. Let's try another strategy. [Same result]
6 - OK. Maybe the only way to save Vardanis is to refuse the quest (he probably won't go alone, and, thus, won't get killed.) But is this a good option ? If I refuse, am I just missing a precious opportunity to acquire more skill points ? Should I continue to try to save him ?
7 - OK. I'll refuse the quest. Maybe I'll meet Vardanis later if he is still alive. Same for the assassin: I'll let him live because I might see him later.
About Feng
1 - I won't accept to kill Cassius for now. I want to gather more information, to know what's my best option.
2 - Wait ! Cassius is not at the inn ! Why is that ?
3 - Let's see if he will be there if I agree to kill him. That would be cheating. [He's there. The game can cheat.]
[Not sure what I did here. I remember that I killed Cassius once to see if the fight was easy, but I think I didn't save that game, and ended up exposing Feng.]
Subsequent quests
1 - Went to the bandit camp, tried the combat approach. [Got killed]
2 - OK. Maybe this approach doesn't work, or maybe I just tried too soon. I'll do something else, and come back later, when I have more skill points.
3 - Go the outpost. Same result, same thoughts, same decision.
4 - [Not sure what I did there. I believe I did something for the Imperial Guards, but I'm not sure.]
5 - Go back to the bandit camp. [Same result]
6 - Back to the outpost. [Same result]
7 - OK. Maybe I just need more skill points. Let's start again, and kill the assassin and the thugs.
8 - I can't kill the assassin AND the thugs. I've tried 3 times. Should I try again or is it another "impossible task" ? (I'm still not sure if it was possible to save Gracius or Vardanis, and now, I'm not sure if it's possible to kill the assassin AND the thugs. Consequently, I still have no idea if the character I built is OK or not. I've played more than a day, and got almost no real feedback from the game. Mostly questions.)
9 - Made it back to the bandit camp and got killed again. (I still have no idea if it's because I suck at combat, because I tried too early or because it's impossible to use the combat approach here.)
10 - I take time to think about the experience as a whole:
I've played the mercenary path a whole weekend, and only ended up with more questions, and few answers. I am confused, I don't know if I failed by my own fault or by design. (Should I be able to save Gracius ? Should I be able to save Vardanis ? Should I be able to kill the assassin AND the thugs [and not only the assassin OR the thugs] ?)
Since I already played a walkthrough with a loremaster, I know it's possible to talk my way out of these events, but it still raises a new question: Do they really want a mercenary to talk his way out ? Probably not. But which fights should I choose ? Which ones are impossible ?
With all these questions, and this lack of answers, I realize I almost always ask myself "What do they want me to do" instead of "What should I do".
12 - OK. Let's have a look at some forums.
13 - So I go to the forums and here is what I see (mostly):
- You're whining, you want hand-holding. [No I want feedback, to learn.]
- You don't understand because you are a casual player, not a real RPG gamer. [Would I have tried so many different options if I was ?]
- It's your fault. The game is perfect as it is. [Yep! It's much more easier to blame me.]
And here are some more detailed answers:
- You can't save Gracius because you are not a hero who can save everyone. [Fair enough, that's what I suspected. Although I was still uncertain, I could live with that uncertainty.]
- The assassin is there to test your built. It's obvious. [It's far from obvious, as I've shown. It's certainly not to those who let him walk away thinking they could meet him again later.]
- The Vardanis quest is optional, you can decline it. [I did. However, I learned nothing by declining it, and only ended up with more questions.]
Do you see where I'm going ? None of these quests are bad or wrong when taken separately. But when you add them all up, right from the start, without providing enough feedback to the players, you can easily confuse them, because they bring more questions than answers.
When players begin a game, they try to learn how to play it. In order to learn, they need clear and sufficient information. It's OK to provide questions – the game would be extremely boring if you took away all the guesswork –, but you need to realize that many of the things that look pretty obvious to you, are not that obvious. If you provide more questions than answers, you just confuse your players. That's why there is a need for a learning curve.
Suggestions
About saving Gracius
I believe you could remove a bit of the confusion by providing the adequate gear right from the start instead of letting the players visit the merchant. The more options you give to prepare, the more players are likely to think they *should* prepare in order to save Gracius.
I believe that *in your head* this is to prepare for the subsequent fights, but this is not how it is *in the game*. In the game, the mercenary says he needs better gear to do what he was assigned to do: protect Gracius. He doesn't know about the visit to Cado.
About the assassin
Since the assassin is there to test the player's built, and since there is no point in letting him go away, I strongly believe you should make the fight mandatory. It would eliminate all the questions related to the assassin, and would also eliminate many questions related to the Vardanis quest, since most players will now find it very normal that they could not do everything, and, thus, won't be tempted to ask themselves if they *should*.
About Vardanis quest
The suggestions I made in a previous post are not as stupid or as irrelevant as you may think. By giving the players the opportunity to say they find the offer unethical (I'm listening, but I'm not sure I will like it) and/or fishy (I'm not stupid enough to think I can intimidate Cado in his own den), you won't give them the illusion that you deliberately deny them these possibilities. This is not hand-holding, it's giving the players the possibility to express their thoughts and react the way they want to. If you don't let them, they might think you are trying to force them to act differently than they would like.
I also suggest that you give skill points for refusing. It will let the players know it was a valid option, that can make them progress (by earning skill points). They won't wonder if it was just a missed opportunity.
About Feng
I'll repeat what I said in a previous post: if you want this to be a "would I kill an innocent or not" question, I believe you should remove the "I'll think about it option", and offer only yes or no options. That way, if it's a "no", Feng doesn't need to say where Cassius is, and if it's a "yes", the quest goes on the way it was designed.
I don't remember the rest well enough to offer more suggestions, but I believe that the "tweaks" I propose will contribute to eliminate some early questions, and thus, reduce the possible confusion. This could be done without major changes in the quests or the events (although it will make it harder to ask a job from Cado).
With more answers and less questions, I would have learned more from the game, and I would have been able to adapt. The way it is now, I played a whole weekend and was still left in the dark, learning almost nothing. This is what bothers me. I'm not asking to be able to save Vardanis easily, I'm asking for less confusion (better feedback), to help the players familiarize themselves with the game.
