Act V questions ( mild spoilers)

Is it my imagination, or is Act 5 much more structured, restricted and "rushed" than the earlier parts of the game? I really don't like not having access to any storage or vendors-- unless I'm supposed to just play through and no longer bother with collecting and selling and so forth. I also assume there will be no access to Vizima proper, thusly causing any outstanding quests to fail. I just have one anyway:

That is, is this as short an Act as it seems to be shaping up to be, and meant to be played mostly to advance/conclude the storyline?

I don't want the ending spoiled and I know there's an epilogue. I'm just curious about how pointless acquiring cash is or brewing tons of potions.

I know what you mean.



I'm at what I think is the last portion of chapter 5 and though the structure of the chapter has been tense with a sense of urgency and chaos not seen before in the game and as such has been really really great in the narrative sense, it has been overly frustrating not to have access to my stash. I learned from my catastrophic first encounter with the Beast to always carry my potions/oils on me but that leaves room for little else and being the collector that I am, it has been hard to constantly clean out my inventory to make room for the important/contract related items.

Having chosen a side in the conflict I have access to a quarter master for that side and I suspect that he should have been given the role that the inn keeper usually has, that of stash holder, but somehow he ended up being a mere weapons merchant.

Actually, you do have access to your stash, but through a different NPC!!

True, but only at the very beginning of the chapter. Once you enter Old Vizima. The doors are shut and you can't get back out again.

You meet the NPC again, before the epilogue I think.

Thanks for the input. I'll just throw my micromanaging/collecting impulses out the window and pursue the story, then. I've missed a few other things along the way, so next playthrough will benefit from all of this one's mistakes.

Really, a lot of this could be fixed pretty easily with 1) a larger inventory or 2) an event or short dialogue heads up

It's not just you. I liked it, though -- I experienced it as being swept up by the wave of events that my previous actions (in part) had set in motion.

Endgames usually are like that, you know -- in a sense, most of the game is preparation for the endgame; in the endgame, you use whatever it is you've collected until then. With this one, the transition was subtle and gradual: you get an accelerating pace of events until you get to a point where your options are severely restricted by them.

Yes, it took me a while to pick up on that --kind of why I posted. I was playing along getting the armor quest wrapped up and was about to run off to a certain confrontation when I got a niggling feeling that yes indeed "This is the end game--oh surely not"--partially because I'm in denial and just want the game to continue.

But it is a good thing when the game dynamics work, and in this case, as you say, there's a strong feeling of being inexorably pulled along not just by events or deus ex machina plot points, but by the inevitable results of your own decisions and your fated sort of place in things as well. There was a similar feeling in NWN2 also (though there it was much more obvious,) and for me that was one of the best parts of that game--that moment where the character is shown to have an unavoidable destination, when the devs just say--alright, time to make it all come together and face the music.

Speaking of the music, what do you all think of the soundtrack?

Act V really took control of the game. I agree with all your observations but to me it was very disappointing. After getting to the old manor, I felt like I lost control of my character and lost interest in continuing. I spent 50 or so hours getting there without rushing about and enjoying myself but right there the game changed. So much so that I restarted an Oblivion game rather than go back! Fortunately M&B saved me with an update so maybe that will keep me busy for a bit while I consider the situation.