Syldras wrote: »

I'm still a bit speechless, to be honest. In this thread we were discussing intricacies like cultural and moral differences, how we'd expect the motivations of characters to be understandable, or how trope-y writing can be avoided, and then we get a conversation that goes...

Altmer: "The Wormcult!!!!"
Vestige: "What's the Wormcult?"
Altmer: "Necromancers! Hopefully the Stirk Guys will save us!"
Vestige: "Who are the Stirk Guys?"
Altmer: "*explains*"
Vestige: "I am a Stirk Guy, did they do something that I missed while I was away?"
Altmer: "They were founded. Oh, there's the Writhing Wall, btw."
Vestige: "The Writhing Wall? Where?" *huge wall visible in the background*
Altmer: "The Shrinking Wall is in the East!" *points north*

I honestly didn't go to Azah after that, I took a long walk along the bay...

I took a tour of the city, talking to npcs and reading any books left lying about. Much more interesting than the Midconjurer. There's one book by the daily quest givers in the city that's worth a read; it's about the various colleges of Sunport.

Syldras wrote: »

It's possible we have another such situation this time. Maybe not as obvious, but... as I said I took a walk around the harbour, and there's a boat house with a lorebook on a workbench... It might make a few things less surprising. Then again, I don't expect big surprises anyway, to be honest.

I wonder if that's the one I read before talking to the Midconjurer. Did it happen to mention Maomer? If not, then I need to take another walk and look for more books.

Syldras wrote: »

metheglyn wrote: »

I really wish they had given us another dialogue option, so when he talks about the Order of the Black Worm, we could say something like, "That's why I'm here; what's the plan?" Just something so it doesn't seem like we haven't been paying any attention to anything anyone ever told us.

That's the saddest thing in my opinion: It wouldn't even be that hard most of the time. Just reword a few things and the dialogues would be okay.

I really am wondering about the reasoning behind these dialogue choices (or lack thereof). Is it time constraints? Budgetary? Or perhaps they really, really want us to take a specific conversational path; they want to guarantee we get the information we might not if we had another choice to make.

Syldras wrote: »

metheglyn wrote: »

I took a tour of the city, talking to npcs and reading any books left lying about. Much more interesting than the Midconjurer. There's one book by the daily quest givers in the city that's worth a read; it's about the various colleges of Sunport.

I'm going to explore the city later today. Really hoping that the dialogues will be better than the first one.

metheglyn wrote: »

I wonder if that's the one I read before talking to the Midconjurer. Did it happen to mention Maomer? If not, then I need to take another walk and look for more books.

Yes, it was about envoys of King Orgnum.

Ok, that book, along with some conversations I had with city npcs, and the book about the Sunport colleges, stirred up some ideas in my mind. I'll go into it in a pm, because I don't want to detract from this thread with possibly wild theories.

Syldras wrote: »

metheglyn wrote: »

I really am wondering about the reasoning behind these dialogue choices (or lack thereof). Is it time constraints? Budgetary? Or perhaps they really, really want us to take a specific conversational path; they want to guarantee we get the information we might not if we had another choice to make.

I honestly don't get it. There should be no big time difference, it's not even that more difficult most of the time. They could convey info more indirectly or just give us a small extra dialogue option in case we need a short explanation about some group or artifact or whatever once more. Or just put the info they want to give us into clauses. Instead of "The Worm Cult is here!" - "What's the Worm Cult?" - "The Worm Cult is..." they could shorten the whole thing to "The necromancers of the Worm Cult are here!" - omitting the whole asking part. I think most people will already remember then, others might not even care for specifics, for them knowing it's about necromancers might be sufficient. And if there's more to explain they could make it an extra dialogue option - an optional one - after that.

Yeah, I don't get it, either. I've been trying to figure it out, because it hasn't always been like this. It's like they aren't writing for people who like story anymore. It's for people who like to fast click through conversations--basic information on repeat so that even the least attentive person will get the gist of it all.

Syldras wrote: »

metheglyn wrote: »

Ok, that book, along with some conversations I had with city npcs, and the book about the Sunport colleges, stirred up some ideas in my mind. I'll go into it in a pm, because I don't want to detract from this thread with possibly wild theories.

Or you might put it into the Wormblood thread, so the Bosmer might read it too. I leave that up to you.

Oh, shoot, I didn't think about that, and I already sent the pm. But I can copy it over to the thread, so you don't have to reply in pm. Of course, right now I have to go make dinner, so I'll do that after.

Syldras wrote: »

metheglyn wrote: »

It's like they aren't writing for people who like story anymore. It's for people who like to fast click through conversations--basic information on repeat so that even the least attentive person will get the gist of it all.

Indeed. But I think you can't really write a story-driven game like that, because it will annoy the players who are here for stories and lore and dislike just that writing style. I think there's a big percentage who has started playing ESO because they liked the lore from the singleplayer games.

I agree. The longer it goes on, the more annoyed I get. I'm one of those "here for the lore and the world" people. In fact, I didn't even start playing ESO when it first came out because I was convinced the Elder Scrolls world wouldn't work in an MMO.

I did a little wandering without pursuing the main quest, and came upon the quest giver outside the public dungeon. The conversation with him was pretty well done and the Vestige did not sound like a fool and there wasn't a bunch of repetition. So hopefully it's not all, "Worm cult. Worm cult? Yes, worm cult."

Well, we're used to the Vestige always asking (or having to ask) the stupidest questions.

But what also surprised me a bit was the amount of different races that roam the "cursed" island, and yet in the prologue, everyone was so astonished that this completely unknown island should exist ("we must immediately search all the tomes for the smallest clues - any clue could lead us there!").
In my opinion, it would have been much more convincing if the prologue hadn't been so exaggerated or overdramatized – more along the lines of: yes, there is this island, a few native peoples and various settlers, fishermen, and sailors live there, but not much of anyone from the mainland comes there or talks about it.
That would have been much more convincing than the drama of the "completely unknown island" where you encounter half the races of Tamriel as settlers...

metheglyn wrote: »

I did a little wandering without pursuing the main quest, and came upon the quest giver outside the public dungeon. The conversation with him was pretty well done and the Vestige did not sound like a fool and there wasn't a bunch of repetition. So hopefully it's not all, "Worm cult. Worm cult? Yes, worm cult."

I'll see. I really hope it is like that! That first dialogue yesterday really felt like I had a teleportation mistake and ended up on the Shivering Isles instead of Solstice.

Lugaldu wrote: »

But what also surprised me a bit was the amount of different races that roam the "cursed" island, and yet in the prologue, everyone was so astonished that this completely unknown island should exist ("we must immediately search all the tomes for the smallest clues - any clue could lead us there!").
In my opinion, it would have been much more convincing if the prologue hadn't been so exaggerated or overdramatized – more along the lines of: yes, there is this island, a few native peoples and various settlers, fishermen, and sailors live there, but not much of anyone from the mainland comes there or talks about it.
That would have been much more convincing than the drama of the "completely unknown island" where you encounter half the races of Tamriel as settlers...

Yes, I had the same thought, even without having seen many people yet. I had just been told by the confused Altmer that the island is settled by Argonians and a group of Altmer that arrived later, and that seafarers avoid the island because they think it is cursed - and just a few steps away I was told about a "Nord village"?! I haven't been there yet, but how does that make sense?

It feels like the writers want to include all of Tamriel's cultures, be it for idealistic or commercial reasons (fearing that a chapter with only Argonians and Altmer might not be interesting for anyone not interested in them, which means they might not buy the content), but honestly, from a story perspective this might make no sense. On a remote island it might make sense that only one culture is present there, just like (I love that example, so I use it frequently ) if you make a movie taking place completely inside a German submarine in WW1, you will not find women, Asian people or wheelchair users in it. Not out of spite, but because it's just not realistic for the story. I wish with design decisions they would think of a plausible story, including a plausibly environment and demography, first.

Syldras wrote: »

I had just been told by the confused Altmer that the island is settled by Argonians and a group of Altmer that arrived later, and that seafarers avoid the island because they think it is cursed - and just a few steps away I was told about a "Nord village"?! I haven't been there yet, but how does that make sense?

It feels like the writers want to include all of Tamriel's cultures, be it for idealistic or commercial reasons (fearing that a chapter with only Argonians and Altmer might not be interesting for anyone not interested in them, which means they might not buy the content), but honestly, from a story perspective this might make no sense. On a remote island it might make sense that only one culture is present there, just like (I love that example, so I use it frequently ) if you make a movie taking place completely inside a German submarine in WW1, you will not find women, Asian people or wheelchair users in it. Not out of spite, but because it's just not realistic for the story. I wish with design decisions they would think of a plausible story, including a plausibly environment and demography, first.

I think they had some kind of "Viking" village in mind, in the style of L'Anse aux Meadows. But it still doesn't fit... If there had only been that village and nothing else on the island, it would make more sense, but it also occurred to me that they were determined to include another (popular) tribe at all costs.

The random side-quests are and always have been better than the main zone quests. It's just the way ESO is.

metheglyn wrote: »

I haven't come across a funny side quest yet, but that's not surprising since I've only done one in full (Corelanya Manor). And I talked to the Argonian outside Deetra Grotto but didn't have time to complete the quest. However, I found the dialogue pretty good and I did enjoy the Corelanya Manor quest.

Deetra Grotto is not one of the funny quests (actually it's even the only serious one I've encountered so far, which made me wonder whether they kept most side quests rather funny, as a counterbalance to the rather serious main story?), but there's one with an, uhm, slightly confused-seeming man when you walk to the North-West. I also came across a very weird random encounter there, and just now I had been hiking to the Nord village, which is also a rather lighthearted story, mostly. Or not just lighthearted, but especially the first part was almost... I don't know... Maybe I'm missing some cultural reference, a meme or so? I found it rather random, to be honest.

Surprisingly, the lorebooks in that village were really well-written (at least in German translation), the dialogues also seemed mostly okay (of course you could ask who the Stirk Fellowship, the Worm Cult and what ever were once more - but at least it was optional), and I actually somehow liked that place, design-wise.

metheglyn wrote: »

Although at least the two "choose your response" options we got with Azah seemed to fit better this time.

Yes, those seemed reasonable this time. I'm curious how others will look. I haven't come across more of them on Solstice yet.

metheglyn wrote: »

This is something I come across in narrative fiction quite often. It's really hard to pull off a genuine surprise or twist. In a game where PTS exists and people like to know ahead of time what's going to happen, it's probably even harder to keep anything under wraps. And since there are people who do just click through, maybe it's felt that the clues should be pretty clear so anyone can pick them up.

For me it's too clear. If you want your customers/players to experience a surprise, hints can't be too obvious. And that's the impression I have this time. I've come across two quests now, no, it's actually the very first two quests I ever came across on Solstice, and they both basically scream what Story Part 2 in winter will be about. Yet they officially act like it was a mysterious secret behind that wall.

metheglyn wrote: »

Funny how the first side-quests I did were not funny, and the first ones you did were. I'm sure I'll come across the Nord village soon enough: I have a package to deliver to them, after all, so maybe I should make that a priority. And at some point I'm bound to come across the alliance representatives. Probably.

I'm more or less on my way to them, I just explore everything that crosses my path; and I'm quite orderly when it comes to that, I walk every road and if there's something like a structure on the map a bit away from the road, I'll have a look too what it is. So generally, I did the most Northern part first (as far as it was possible), now I'm heading North-West. Funny thing, I've not been in Sunport yet, except for the harbour area in front of town.

metheglyn wrote: »

Yeah, if they do want to keep it a mystery, I don't think it's quite working. Unless all the hints we've received so far are false, and what's really behind there is something else entirely. I don't think they'd pull a stunt like that, but I am a little amused thinking of the possibility.
If they want people to be able to figure it out, it's possible they erred on the side of obvious rather than mysterious.

I'm wondering whether they really think the players don't get all those very obvious "hints"? Or do they have no intention to keep is mysterious or surprising anyway? If it's the first, it leads me back to the question what idea they have of the playerbase. But that's a question I return to quite often. Every time actually when I get the impression they assume the player can't keep the simplest facts in mind for a few minutes, so they have to repeat them several times within a very short dialogue.

An attempt to mislead us through false clues so they can present us an actual surprise in Part 2? I don't think so.

metheglyn wrote: »

I'm not quite that orderly. I wander. I stop to fish. I look around at things and get pulled by a sight just over the hill. I know the main quest is meant to have a sense of urgency, but I'm not feeling it this time around. Gabrielle will be fine, no matter how long it takes me to find her.

On my orderly quest through Solstice, I mean Left-Half-Solstice, I've come across the first two of the "people got missing while travelling again" main quest npcs, and I was astonished that it was just a little talk so far, not "actual" quests where you would explore a place? That wasn't very spectacular. And one of these things included humour again. Which I don't say is bad per se, but it's noticeably more than it has been in the last few chapters, or generally in the history of ESO chapters, no?

Side quests had a little more content than the main quest so far, one took place in another of the many caves that seem to be there, and the other led me into an old Argonian village including their traditional pyramids. Beautiful place, but strangely, the quest was rather short (even if not as short as what I saw of the main quest so far) although the map seemed huge? It wasn't badly written, the voice acting in German was high quality (but that's usually not a problem; same with map design - most places look awesome, always did), it just felt strange that the quest was over so soon, in such a huge place. The other one in the cave was also rather short. Isn't that astounding, that people would take a lot of time to design and build such a huge place, but then the quest is over in a few minutes and there's not that much story or dialogue to it either?

A big difference to the Meridian temple ruins I visited earlier today, which not only felt extremely huge, but also the quest felt rather long to me... But maybe that was because there were certainly several hundreds of urns to steal from (I think I got around 440 lockpicks through those alone). Generally, there seems to be a tendency to build huge interiors this time. Or at least I have that impression. And some quests seem to match that - some less (although of course I don't know yet whether we might get there again during the main quest or only of the daily quests).

And with this, I've cleared over a third of the map now, in, like, three short evenings of wandering around a bit? Or was it already 4?

Isn't it funny, by the way, how everything on that island is huge? Huge seashells, huge sea urchin skeletons, huge bismuth crystals,... Feels like everything is oversized - or all characters are extremely tiny.

When it comes to funny vs. serious in writing: I also had my 2nd random encounter today which was also more on the funny side again. If you consider tricking a drunk cultist into eating soil to be funny, that is.

Syldras wrote: »

metheglyn wrote: »

I'm not quite that orderly. I wander. I stop to fish. I look around at things and get pulled by a sight just over the hill. I know the main quest is meant to have a sense of urgency, but I'm not feeling it this time around. Gabrielle will be fine, no matter how long it takes me to find her.

On my orderly quest through Solstice, I mean Left-Half-Solstice, I've come across the first two of the "people got missing while travelling again" main quest npcs, and I was astonished that it was just a little talk so far, not "actual" quests where you would explore a place? That wasn't very spectacular. And one of these things included humour again. Which I don't say is bad per se, but it's noticeably more than it has been in the last few chapters, or generally in the history of ESO chapters, no?

I finally "found" Gabrielle and was surprised there wasn't much to that part. She didn't even seem that concerned with a major revelation. Guess her mind is more on Darien than the current predicament.

There does seem to be, in general, more humor in the quests than there used to be. I did the Nord village quest, and though I wouldn't have called the entire thing "funny" it definitely had quite a few humor moments. But I guess that's usual for the Nord Cultural Exchange quests. At least these weren't quite as goofy as the previous ones have been.

Syldras wrote: »

Side quests had a little more content than the main quest so far, one took place in another of the many caves that seem to be there, and the other led me into an old Argonian village including their traditional pyramids. Beautiful place, but strangely, the quest was rather short (even if not as short as what I saw of the main quest so far) although the map seemed huge? It wasn't badly written, the voice acting in German was high quality (but that's usually not a problem; same with map design - most places look awesome, always did), it just felt strange that the quest was over so soon, in such a huge place. The other one in the cave was also rather short. Isn't that astounding, that people would take a lot of time to design and build such a huge place, but then the quest is over in a few minutes and there's not that much story or dialogue to it either?

A big difference to the Meridian temple ruins I visited earlier today, which not only felt extremely huge, but also the quest felt rather long to me... But maybe that was because there were certainly several hundreds of urns to steal from (I think I got around 440 lockpicks through those alone). Generally, there seems to be a tendency to build huge interiors this time. Or at least I have that impression. And some quests seem to match that - some less (although of course I don't know yet whether we might get there again during the main quest or only of the daily quests).

Oh, boy, I got urn fatigue in the Meridian temple! But my obsessive urn searching was worth it; quite a few hidden portfolios in those, which netted me some recipes I could learn (and a whole lot I already knew).

The quest itself was quite interesting, but when it came down to it in the end, I didn't have to make the choice I thought I was going to have to make. I did like to see the quest npc giving some thought to her faith/Meridia, and I really liked being able to tell her I don't worship any daedra--that wasn't one of the official new response options (it didn't have the icons) but it was another chance to play the quest true to my character.

I do sometimes wonder about large spaces that have relatively little player interaction. I haven't yet been to the other places you mentioned, but I suppose it is possible there will be more to do there later. We don't yet know what the event for bringing down the Writhing Wall will entail.

Syldras wrote: »

Isn't it funny, by the way, how everything on that island is huge? Huge seashells, huge sea urchin skeletons, huge bismuth crystals,... Feels like everything is oversized - or all characters are extremely tiny.

They want us to understand what it's like to go through life as a Bosmer.

Maybe there's something to it that we'll discover at some point. Like the stormy seas around Solstice tossed larger than usual things ashore. Though that wouldn't exactly account for the crystals. Or there's something about the island itself that causes everything to get oversized.

Syldras wrote: »

When it comes to funny vs. serious in writing: I also had my 2nd random encounter today which was also more on the funny side again. If you consider tricking a drunk cultist into eating soil to be funny, that is.

Not sure funny is how I would describe that, but it certainly isn't serious, either. I've only had one random encounter so far, and it involved a person trapped in a bubble of water and then an attack by hadolids. Halodids? Oh, you know, those creatures who now have magic. (In the basement of the mage guild in Solstice there's a guy guarding a hadolid corpse who will tell you all about it).

Syldras wrote: »

metheglyn wrote: »

There does seem to be, in general, more humor in the quests than there used to be. I did the Nord village quest, and though I wouldn't have called the entire thing "funny" it definitely had quite a few humor moments. But I guess that's usual for the Nord Cultural Exchange quests. At least these weren't quite as goofy as the previous ones have been.

I found the first part to be strangely arbitrary? That with the sloth? Or is that really some reference I don't get? If it's a meme or so... we could argue if it's really a good idea to include that if most people don't get it.

If it's a meme or other reference, no, I don't get it. It wasn't completely out of the blue to me because I had stopped to chat with the merchant who lost the hat before I got to the village and took up the quest. So when the magic hat was revealed, I could say, "Oh, that's what happened to it." However, it seemed to me the village had been troubled by the beast for longer than the hat had been missing, so in that respect it didn't make much sense.

Syldras wrote: »

metheglyn wrote: »

I do sometimes wonder about large spaces that have relatively little player interaction. I haven't yet been to the other places you mentioned, but I suppose it is possible there will be more to do there later. We don't yet know what the event for bringing down the Writhing Wall will entail.

There are military camps at some places in front of the Wall. If I had to guess, I'd say there will be enemy waves appearing somewhere around those spots during the event.

I love the Wall, by the way. Yes, I'm fully aware that it sounds strange, but those whispering voices are really soothing. Not creepy at all, really nice. Is there a way to get it as an mp3 file so I can enjoy "whispering souls of human sacrifices ASMR" as a sleeping aid?

I've seen one of the camps, and I figured it was for that event. I thought there might be some "gather materials" types of quests where we go to some of these spaces and chip away some bismuth crystals or whatnot. Enemy waves makes sense, too.

I guess I haven't been close enough to the wall to hear the whispering voices. I'll have to visit it with headphones on so I get the best effect. No idea how or if you can get that sound file, but if you can why not fall asleep to the whispers?

Syldras wrote: »

metheglyn wrote: »

Maybe there's something to it that we'll discover at some point. Like the stormy seas around Solstice tossed larger than usual things ashore. Though that wouldn't exactly account for the crystals. Or there's something about the island itself that causes everything to get oversized.

What ever it is, it must be the opposite of what causes this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insular_dwarfism

Interesting! That article does say that smaller species from the mainland who colonize islands tend to evolve larger bodies, so maybe that is what's happening.

Syldras wrote: »

metheglyn wrote: »

I've only had one random encounter so far, and it involved a person trapped in a bubble of water and then an attack by hadolids.

I also had that one meanwhile, plus another 4th one, which was, again, a more or less humourous one, where you have to play a narrative game about dangerous animals/creatures with some Nord (or actually it's not even narrative, you just have to name a more dangerous one each time, but the choices were rather obvious, so to lose the game, you'd probably have to choose the wrong reply on purpose).

I forgot I had come across the game with the Nord. So that's two of the random encounters I've seen. I see the guy in the water bubble all over the place, though. Since getting him out of it seems to kill him anyway, I just leave him now. At least while he's in the bubble, he hypothetically still has a chance to live. Once it's popped and the hadolids start swarming, it's all over for the guy.

emilyhyoyeon wrote: »

I'm curious of everyone's opinions on the delve side quest in Tainted Leel. (I think this is the on Syldras is referring to a few posts ago about it being short?)

(I agree that the delve quest seemed short, although for me I think it came mostly from the fact that I was really into the quest, location, NPC, etc that I wanted it to go on.)

For context, I always do the main story either last or slowly as I'm doing the zone's quests, leaving the end for last. I like starting out with delve quests, following them as I do the main city delve/world boss dailies. I also play the German localization.

When I did the Tainted Leel quest, I also had the city daily quest for it and was doing it at the same time. The NPC you help in Tainted Leel comments as you do the daily quest, which I thought was cool on its own; but also, I think his comments were good writing as well. He felt like one of the most real characters I've encountered in this game in a long time, especially because of the tone/way his feedback on this specifically was written.

he feels like someone actually suffering loss of the happier past

I thought the writing here was excellent for ESO. The content of the delve is a mature topic and it felt like it was taken as such. Reminded me of Zerith-var level stuff.

I did this quest a few days ago so I wish I could remember more specifics. I think I'll go back in on another character to redo it and get another look.

I just did this one, and found it quite well done. It did seem rather short, but delve quests tend to be, and I really would have liked it to go on. It definitely was a mature topic handled well. I liked the way you found out the story as you went, and it never came across as unrealistic (well, for the game world). It was easy to understand why things had happened the way they had; it made sense in a way quests sometimes don't.

It is such a large space, and so well done, the mix of Xanmeer and village, that it certainly deserves more quest attention. I do like that they have been making delves in different locations (not all caves), and I appreciate the varied scenery.

Syldras wrote: »

metheglyn wrote: »

If it's a meme or other reference, no, I don't get it.

I was still curious whether it might be a meme, so I googled it and... let's say I'm astonished how many pictures of sloths with wizard hats exist. I didn't find any explanation on where that might stem from, but I found it unusual (not sure if there are as many pictures of, let's say, elephants, donkeys or kangaroos with wizard hats - but whatever, I guess).

Well, ok. Sloths in wizard hats. Why not? *shrug*

Syldras wrote: »

metheglyn wrote: »

I've seen one of the camps, and I figured it was for that event. I thought there might be some "gather materials" types of quests where we go to some of these spaces and chip away some bismuth crystals or whatnot. Enemy waves makes sense, too.

I'm not sure how complex it will be... So far I don't have very high expectations, to be honest. Of course if it turns out to be more interesting than I expect, I'll acknowledge that.

I don't really have any expectations about it, since about all I know is that 1. it's happening and 2. there will be things for people on the continent to do towards it.

Syldras wrote: »

metheglyn wrote: »

I guess I haven't been close enough to the wall to hear the whispering voices. I'll have to visit it with headphones on so I get the best effect. No idea how or if you can get that sound file, but if you can why not fall asleep to the whispers?

It's beautiful. Is there a way to extract sounds as music files from the game? Is that even allowed? Should I ask a ZOS employee whether they might release a video with just that wonderful sound effect on Youtube? I would click it much more often than the chapter trailers. All of them even. And until I get that file, don't be confused if you see a Dunmer kneeling at the Wall pressing his cheek against it - it's most probably me

The image of you pressing your ear to the wall gave me a good chuckle.

I made a point to go listen to the wall. I can see how you would find it soothing/lulling, but for myself I doubt I could fall asleep to it. I think my brain would be kept too busy trying to figure out if there were actual words in there and trying to make it make sense.

As to the technical aspect of it: no idea. I bet someone on this forum knows the answer, though.

Syldras wrote: »

metheglyn wrote: »

Interesting! That article does say that smaller species from the mainland who colonize islands tend to evolve larger bodies, so maybe that is what's happening.

Island Bosmer must be huge.

Lol! Now that would be funny. We rediscover a lost island that Bosmer colonized back in early first era, and turns out they are taller than Altmer.

Syldras wrote: »

metheglyn wrote: »

I forgot I had come across the game with the Nord. So that's two of the random encounters I've seen. I see the guy in the water bubble all over the place, though. Since getting him out of it seems to kill him anyway, I just leave him now. At least while he's in the bubble, he hypothetically still has a chance to live. Once it's popped and the hadolids start swarming, it's all over for the guy.

That surely sounds like a reasonable decision. Although he respawns anyway, so in the end it doesn't feel impactful anyway, does it?

I also had another new random encounter now, with an Argonian cook. And by that I mean a cooking Argonian, not a Bosmer cooking Argonians.

Ok, now I'm starting to resent bubble guy for taking up all the random encounter slots.

On another note, I came across Keshu the Black Fin, and while talking to her about her mission, she asked me if I would be interested in helping out and added, as an incentive, that the Stirk Fellowship pays well. Since I'm a member of the fellowship, presumably I already know that, but she isn't the first side quest npc to act like I'm not in the fellowship. There was even a dialogue option (which I didn't take) where I could ask about the fellowship. Why is this? If the main quest has us being part of the fellowship, why are side quests treating us like chance-met mercenaries who just happen to be wandering around this incredibly difficult to travel to island?