Jackalgirl

Wow, what a pain. I'm glad you finally got past it, though!

Right. You talk to him the first time during the quest to help out with the negotiations. But after that (depending on what you did, and whether or not the delegates survived), when you go to Laplace's Garden on Cloister, he's there, and ideally, you speak with him before you meet Ruth for the first time. I missed speaking with him, but when I went to go meet Ruth initially, he was standing outside the doorway to her main space (the room with the sensory deprivation chamber in it); when I spoke to him there, he mentioned that he'd wanted to speak to me before "...but no matter" and I didn't experience the problem where Ruth forgets that she's already met you, etc. I've seen other people reporting issues with this quest and there's an actual issue for this here: https://outerworlds2.obsidian.net/issue-tracker#k3VX6b0a-if-you-try-to-do-the-quest-an-equitable-arrangement-without-speaking-to-vicar-laureate-alden-levin-you-may-get-stuck-ar-126703 -- this was supposed to have been fixed in patch 1.0.6.0. Though if it's still happening for people (that is, if the actual problem is that progression is broken if you don't speak to Levin before meeting Ruth the first time), it might either still be broken, or maybe it's still broken for specific platforms.

Have you spoken to Vicar Levin? I think that this is an important part of the quest, and the issue tracker says that this has been resolved (that is, if you don't speak to him, it borks up the quest), but I've seen several people having similar issues and I'm wondering if it *hasn't* been fixed, or if the patch only works for certain platforms.

Forgive me if this seems like a super obvious question, but have you crouched and then jumped into the vent? I don't remember where the vent is positioned, but I find that for vents that are positioned high on a wall, I have to crouch first, then jump in (often after jumping on top of some other furniture). If you've already tried that and it hasn't worked for you, could you specify what platform you're using, and what game version you're seeing on the initial game menu?

"I gave U.N.I.A.C. the Actuational personality, and then handed over the Calcaduceus to Junior Seer Amaryllis, but her dialogue was wrong, she stated something like 'you were supposed to get your reinforcements up from Spireton but it looks like you didn't need them anyway'." For what it's worth, I noted this as well, on my XBOX Series S (game version 1.0.6.0 - 2313922.0 last tie I checked). I had activated the Spireton lift and just outside the doors, all of the reinforcements she was chiding me for not having called were in fact present and guarding the bridge. However, I didn't run into this bug -- that is, when I returned to Ruth, she praised my intervention and both Auntie's and the Order are my allies. For me, all animations and dialogue were appropriate to the scene (it wasn't as if I were meeting her for the first time). I otherwise completed all quests similarly to you (though I did talk Ruth out of frying her brains to interface with the Archive). Question: did you talk with Vicar Laureate Levin prior to meeting Ruth? I think I almost forgot to talk with him, but he was standing in front of her office when I first gained the opportunity to speak with her (and he lightly chided me about it, saying he'd wanted to speak to me beforehand but "no matter"). I'm wondering if interacting with him is somehow key to this quest.

Here is a (blurry: thanks, o rift) view of the point from which to jump. The reticule dot is centered on the gear you can jump on. I imagine if you're sufficiently deft in platform games (which I am not), you might even end up in the wall pooka where the maguffin is. I made it to the box opposite, and from there was able to hop up. (Note: I think that part of rift 1's catwalk is also permanently present - you can just see it to the middle right of the second image in my previous post. I think it has the same hierarchy issue as the blocking wreckage, but in this case the bug is helpful, because it gives you a point to jump from that's closer to the pile of boxes you need to land on. If Obsidian fixes these issues, you might not be able to do the jump, but since this will also fix the problem with the persistent wreckage, it should be possible to go ahead and complete the puzzle as originally designed.)

Also having this problem on an XBOX series S (version 1.0.6.0 - 2313922.0). Great suggestion about the hoversuit, but I'm not able to use it to hover in mid-air; for me, hovering won't work with the Zyranium suit unless there's something to push back (i.e., a nearby floor). The problem is that there are some colliders on the upper walkway that's associated with some rifted equipment in a partially-rifted state; sometimes the associated equipment is visible, sometimes it isn't (see attached images), but the colliders are there regardless of whether either rift is open or closed. It's possible to get over the blockage (you can crouch and jump and squeeze over the top), but the additional time it takes to do this makes it near impossible to get to the second rift and open it before the first rift closes (even while sprinting). Maybe someone with mad controller skills could make it in the approximately 38 seconds from the time you press X to open the rift (from which you need to subtract the "opening rift" animation sequence before you can actually start moving) to the point where it closes, but that someone is definitely not me. The way I found around it is thusly: Ignore the first rift. Just: o Take the elevator up to the third floor and follow the catwalk until you're blocked by the colliders. o Crouch, then jump. You'll be able to jump and crab-walk over the colliders. o Continue along the the walkway just before it breaks off (where the reconstituted cat-walk from the first rift would be) o Open up the second rift, take a running leap aiming for the stacked equipment against the far wall, double-jump to extend your jump. If you successfully land on the stacked boxes, you'll be able to hop up into the upper opening where the reconstituted locker with the sachet and get it, and get access to the vent up there (if you have a lockpick of 5 on "Normal" mode). I'm not familiar with Unreal Engine 5, but I am familiar (ish) with Resonite's FrooxEngine, and I suspect that the issue with the colliders is that something's not parented correctly in the rift's parent/child asset hierarchy. The colliders should be being deactivated whenever the rift is closed; instead, they appears to never leave the phase where it's still present, but imminently going to return to rifted state, and since their colliders are still active, this impedes access. Invisible assets (colliders still present tho) Here you can see them I've sent in a complete bug report via email.

LOL your email-box for support is full. I just wanted to let you know that the horrible incredibly-loud SFX that came with the Skeleton Crabble head in the Incognito was fixed by the gihugeous patch for XBox S the other day. Thank you. : )

As a quick aside: I am a soft-hearted person, so understanding that with sufficient speech I can save a character's life means that I am psychologically stuck on Paradise Island at present. Without a way to give a temp boost to speech (either by gear, comestibles, or Companion), I'm struggling to try to make the XP to get to the next level, and Law I do not want to start over or back up. So, it would be really nice, if you have options that are literally life and death for a character, to make it possible for a player to achieve that outcome.

I would say that if you continue to have problems with this, put it all in a write-up using the Contact Us button at outerworlds2.obsidian.net/issue-tracker -- you could reference AR-126155 (which is the original issue tracking number). Make sure you're providing your platform, and the fact that although AR-126155 has been marked as fixed, you still can't do it (and detail all the things you've tried). You should get a confirmation via email that your message has been received. Putting all the info (and referencing the tracking number) in a single report will help the devs out. In fact, if there's anyone else in the thread who's still having this problem, I'd recommend this too. More data == better results. : )

Temporary Stat Boosts I'd like to be able to temporarily boost a stat (e.g., Speech) to get me over the hump if I'm short and it gives me an opportunity to experience a different story. While I'm aware that there are some items in the game that will likely do this, they're difficult to suss out, and I seem to recall from The Outer Worlds that there were some food items that would do this. Companion Attire In the original Outer Worlds, I could equip the Companions with different gear. It looks like that in 2, you have specific set upgrade packs you can apply if you find them. I'd love to be able to go ahead and just equip them with different gear that I acquire during my adventurs.

Just to run through the things other folks have mentioned (to make sure you did all these): o Talked to the southern Fairfield gate guards so as to trigger the Drone quest o Killed all of the drones on the west side of the southern half of the island, not just in the Drone facility but in the hills to the northwest of Fairfield, and also possibly down towards the coastal path that leads to the Crabble Tower o If you're able (have the required skills/perks), disabled the drones (even if they're all destroyed) via the shut-down panel just inside (to the left) of the entrance of the Drone facility If you've done all these things and you can't find Inez, try talking to Ethel Tinsley (in Fairfield). I don't think this will make a difference, but I remember that I did this (assuming that that's where Inez would be). And if you've done that, too, I'm kind of stumped; probably waiting for the patch is a good idea, imo. There are a bunch of other side quests you can do around the island that you might not need Inez for, unless you've done them already. : )

Just out of curiosity: https://outerworlds2.obsidian.net/issue-tracker#4fXOqTjt-unable-to-complete-a-companion-quest-due-to-tristan-appearing-underground-on-the-incognito-ar-126589 I wonder if this is a repeat of the "infinite ladder" bug in The Outer Worlds that Taylor posted about? Is Tristan in the middle of some kind of furniture action (in particularly, has he entered the ladder) when the player starts speaking to another companion (and so he can't exit, and is climbing underground)?

I'm sure it will, that's awesome detail!

With respect to the "disappearing skeleton Crabble bug" that's being tracked (here: https://outerworlds2.obsidian.net/issue-tracker#OD3KJctv-skeleton-crabbles-corpse-can-disappear-underground-ar-122102 ), I did notice that there is one active crabble enemy that is trapped in the underground space around the Mysterious Cave on Paradise Island in my game (XBox S). Sometimes it will aggro on me and trigger the combat loop, but no combat is possible because, well, it's trapped under the ground colliders. I haven't tried shooting it anyway, though, which might be something to try, because I noticed (and reported) that when going after the Raptidon Matriarch, if you stay on the righthand-most ledge in the passageway just before the entrance to her den, Niles and Inez can shoot through at least three meters of solid rock and nickle and dime her to death because she won't chase you into the passageway. Note that I did have Inez mix the pheromones with Nebulium to make the matriarch woozy; not sure if this had an impact on what happened with respect to her not chasing us. As a cowered, this tactic pleased me, but I reported it as it might be a bit unbalanced. ; )

Possibly the audio issue you're describing is here: https://outerworlds2.obsidian.net/issue-tracker#xO8M8NaQ- I've seen another person report disappearing food, but it isn't in the Issue Tracker yet (for what it's worth).

What console/system are you using -- are you on PS5? (There was an update to the PS5 to get people their bonus packs, and I'm wondering if -- since one of the bonuses is a pet sprat -- that has something to do with it.)

For anyone having issues with this, it's being tracked in AR-126155: https://outerworlds2.obsidian.net/issue-tracker#VafUeB7L-players-unable-to-recruit-inez-ar-126155

I keep thinking that any data, all data, might be useful, because I keep thinking of Taylor Swope's hilarious thread on Twitter/X about the "Infinite Ladder" glitch in The Outer Worlds.

I pick up everything too, 100% get you on that. I will keep an eye on this also and report if it starts happening to me (on XBox). More data == a pattern that might get the devs to the solution quicker. : )

So it really sounds like recruiting Inez requires the "Diabolical Drones of Doom" mission, and you need to accomplish some key things: o You've got to talk to Trooper Faulker to trigger the quest (I'm betting you really need to do this first) o You need to complete the quest o You might need to destroy all drones in the area, not just the ones in the "Drone Corral" o And if you have the ability to deactivate the drones (your skills are high enough that you get that option), you need to deactivate the drones (even if you've destroyed them all). That last point was what I needed in order to get Inez to show up in the Town Hall, which then fired off the argument and gave me the ability to recruit her.

Ah, drat, I was hoping that would recursively fix the problem. It's still a good data point for the devs tho, I think. Thanks for trying!

No need to apologise! But thanks for providing. I'm not a dev or anything, but have spent most of my adult live involved in technical support or troubleshooting of one kind or another, so I know this info is helpful. If we, the users, can establish any kind of pattern to these things happening, then that might help the devs identify what part of the code/flow is having issues, and get them to a fix faster. : ) So thanks to you and MushRoomQueen -- we now know it's not platform-specific. If this keeps happening, and if you're able to discern any pattern, please post again! For example: o Does it seem to happen coincident to combat? If so: does your health bar status change at all? (My first thought is, "is the system is automatically consuming your food and drinks once you come out of combat to bring you to full health, instead of that being an action that you as a player are deciding to trigger?") o Do you have a sense of "it happens after x minutes/hours", such as, at some point, you think, "it's about time to check to see if my food/drink has disappeared again", because you've started to notice a pattern in time? o Did it seem to start happening after some point in the game? If so, do you recall what you were doing around that time -- did you complete a particular quest, for example? It's interesting that MushRoomQueen reported that this happened halfway through the tutorial. That's pretty early and an interesting data point, thank you. : )

Could you scroll up three (3) messages above your post, and see if getting a pet solves your problem? I don't know for sure that it will, but I'm hoping someone will give it a try and report back, because either way it might give the devs a hint as to where the problem lies.

What platform are you using -- PC, Xbox, PS5, etc.?