Beta 0.01 - Merlin thinks Arthur is dead etc RESOLVED

[amers1015]

Hi there Proleric!

First off, you must've worked your fingers to the bone on this module! Wow! So far, it's good...really good.
I'm hoping I'm putting this in the right spot...

SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!








I am having a few problems though:
-After I finish helping Robin & the rangers, I decided to spare the Legionairre Commander. Robin said something like "wise choice" and then Will killed him anyway. This would be fine given Will's disposition except that nobody acknowledged it. I was wondering if maybe I missed something there or did something wrong. It just seems like someone would say something about it, you know? Also, after Robin joins the party he talks to Lady Andersham about her little 'relationship' with Captain Kit who gets all angry that Lady Andersham "made a fool of him" even though it was made clear through two dialogue options that the Lady was married prior to her little um...encounter at the bordello with Kit. Maybe you'll be fixing this when you polish up the romance, but I thought I'd mention it just in case.

-The second problem I'm having is with Merlin. I finally managed to get to King Penric before he died and then I went to King Arthur who sent me to Merlin. I walked straight from Arthur's room to Merlin's to offer him help as the King requested and Merlin tells me I got there too late since the war is over and the King is dead. But I literally *just* talked to the King. So I'm wondering if that's a bug of some sort.

-Third, I do not have enough time. I'm riding horses everywhere and sailing as much as possible and I just don't have enough time! King Penric keeps dying before I can get to him (as does King Arthur) no matter what I do. And I can't seem to get back to Andersham to listen to the villagers' complaining. Any idea as to what I'm doing wrong? I hate that I'm missing so much! I'm not at all a fan of time limits (actually I hate them with a passion...they stress me out which is what I'm trying to avoid by playing NWN...but your modules are so well-done I'll play anyway.) so maybe I'm just overly frustrated due to my personal preference, but it does seem as though the time goes by way too quickly for Lady Andersham to get anything done. I guess my question is: is there any possible way to do ALL of the quests? Because I'm not having any luck in that department right now and will stop trying to do them all if that's not what you intended.

On the plus side: Excellent writing as always. The storyline is engaging, I actually *want* to know what happens. The new companions are great! I love Captain Kit, he's really very funny. I've honestly never used horses much before and am really enjoying it. I like how easy you've made it. Also, no crashes or anything like that. I'm having a really good time with this and look forward to playing the final version with the romances a bit more fleshed out.

[Proleric]

Great feedback! Thanks!

I took the liberty of changing the title of your post to mention the most important bug - hope you don't mind.

SPOILERS

I went to King Arthur who sent me to Merlin. I walked straight from Arthur's room to Merlin's to offer him help as the King requested and Merlin tells me I got there too late since the war is over and the King is dead.

That's certainly a bug, since Arthur clearly isn't dead! I guess you arrived after day 24, so Merlin is right to tell you that you're too late, but he's given the wrong reason. I'll have a look at that.

I decided to spare the Legionairre Commander. Robin said something like "wise choice" and then Will killed him anyway. This would be fine given Will's disposition except that nobody acknowledged it.

Quite right - that's the expected outcome if Will or Tuck are in your party, but it should be explained more clearly.

Also, after Robin joins the party he talks to Lady Andersham about her little 'relationship' with Captain Kit who gets all angry that Lady Andersham "made a fool of him" even though it was made clear through two dialogue options that the Lady was married prior to her little um...encounter at the bordello with Kit.

Spot on - I'll tidy that up.

I do not have enough time...

In testing, I confirmed that it is possible to do all the urgent quests with days to spare, regardless of whether you make Robin or Penric/Merlin your first priority.

You do have to ignore absolutely all distractions to achieve this, though - just focus on Faerie Hill, getting Penric's ships, rescuing Robin, and completing Merlin's quest (which you haven't seen yet). Other stuff (like the follow-up at Andersham after 2 days, or finding the 4 Treasures) can wait.

Clearly, minimising travel time is important. When riding, any companions who are encumbered or on foot will slow you down. Also, if you make Robin your priority but get diverted to Alba, it's quicker to sail to Port Royal in the Venus than to ride all the way from Alba to the Sudish (medieval roads leave a lot to be desired).

Actually, if you prefer to ignore the time pressure, there's little penalty - you miss out on Merlin's quest, and maybe rescuing Robin, but the loss of XP isn't fatal.

[amers1015]

Thanks for the response Proleric! I'll get back to this later this afternoon when I put my kiddo down for her nap!

As far as the time management goes, I'm going to start a new game and vow to not get distracted...well, I'm going to try anyway.... But it's good to know that I'm not missing out on any huge plot points by not making it to Merlin in time. One thing, if I'm understanding you the issue is travel time. So doing the Andersham Fairie Hill quest isn't going to make it impossible for me to also go to the Sudish AND see King Arthur. I was rushing through everything and paying more attention to the amount of time spent on each screen as opposed to travel time. A rookie mistake to be sure!

Also, one other thing...I can see why maybe you wouldn't want to do this, but I was thinking that maybe the quests that were urgent were listed as such in the journal. Otherwise it's hard to know which to do first and which can wait. I mean, I read the walkthrough and all but short of that I wouldn't have known which quests were on a time limit. (Although I did notice that some of the quest givers mentioned that it wasn't a huge priority which was helpful.)

I'll let you know if I come up with anything else! I'm having a great time playing!

Thanks again for the hard work!

[Proleric]

The Merlin and Will bugs are fixed in release 0.02.

The issue with Will was a minor bug, incidentally - thanks for finding it - an additional dialog line explaining his action was being suppressed by Robin's comment.

Captain Kit's reaction to your husband/wife will be tidied up in the final release.

[atons]

-The second problem I'm having is with Merlin. I finally managed to get to King Penric before he died and then I went to King Arthur who sent me to Merlin. I walked straight from Arthur's room to Merlin's to offer him help as the King requested and Merlin tells me I got there too late since the war is over and the King is dead. But I literally *just* talked to the King. So I'm wondering if that's a bug of some sort.

I don't have enough information regarding King Arthur, I want to know the whole story about him, can you give me a link?