The Eternal Conundrum of Open World (Open Seas in Deadfire's case) games - When to actually wander?

[Caeyrii]

Been having a really fun time (especially when not fiddling with the AI) returning to the game. So much fun-having times, in fact, that I have forgotten about why exactly am I in the Deadfire Isles in the first place! It has been this long since I've done a main quest (going to Hasongo):

It crept up to my brain recently to sort of start back again and first get to a narrative point that makes sense to ignore chasing Eothas. Compared to PoE1's dead babies and slow ascent to madness, the plot of 2 seem a bit more dire. 

I would think that going to Ashen Maw is a good enough point, but that locks quite a bit of content if I'm reading the wiki right. Would there be a better point to do things piratical?

To give an example, in FNV when you give back the chip to House, you can just say no to everyone and just be free. The dam isn't your problem until it is your problem. 

[Shai Hulud]

On 4/19/2023 at 4:25 AM, Caeyrii said:

Been having a really fun time (especially when not fiddling with the AI) returning to the game. So much fun-having times, in fact, that I have forgotten about why exactly am I in the Deadfire Isles in the first place! It has been this long since I've done a main quest (going to Hasongo):

It crept up to my brain recently to sort of start back again and first get to a narrative point that makes sense to ignore chasing Eothas. Compared to PoE1's dead babies and slow ascent to madness, the plot of 2 seem a bit more dire. 

I would think that going to Ashen Maw is a good enough point, but that locks quite a bit of content if I'm reading the wiki right. Would there be a better point to do things piratical?

To give an example, in FNV when you give back the chip to House, you can just say no to everyone and just be free. The dam isn't your problem until it is your problem. 

First time I played Deadfire I had like a year of playtime, everyone was L20, we had most of the gear, and I hadn't been to hasongo. Quit the game a few years, started playing again recently and actually finished.

Playing with Eothas Challenge kind of makes more sense narratively, because it's not like Eothas is going to wait for you to complete his goals... That gives you like 86 days or something like that, which is pretty tough if you do much exploring. 

Narratively it never really makes sense to ignore him...I mean he sort of implies he'll wait for you in ashen maw "he waits in fire" but he isn't really waiting for YOU, he's just sucking up souls from adra and you happen to show up. I think.

[Bosmer]

1 hour ago, Shai Hulud said:

Narratively it never really makes sense to ignore him...I mean he sort of implies he'll wait for you in ashen maw "he waits in fire" but he isn't really waiting for YOU, he's just sucking up souls from adra and you happen to show up. I think.

Yes, I think they really missed the chance to write some "stop signs" into the Eothas Main Plot.. some event (like Eothas needing time to recover for something or whatever) that would allow to explain why the Watcher and his crew has the time and need to deal with all the exploring and the sidequests (and DLCs..).

To be fair, that's my only negative point on the game and yeah the first one was better in that regard.

 

[Caeyrii]

14 hours ago, Shai Hulud said:

Narratively it never really makes sense to ignore him...I mean he sort of implies he'll wait for you in ashen maw "he waits in fire" but he isn't really waiting for YOU, he's just sucking up souls from adra and you happen to show up. I think.

Yeah, compared to 1, the plot was too urgent without an actual breathing room. Maybe after 'He Waits in Fire', I can sort of see him just chilling out with the guardian while waiting for you. It also makes sense to stop chasing after him after your talk in the quest since you get the remaining parts of your soul. Finishing the quest has the effect of halting faction questlines too though, at least, that's what I understood from the wiki.

[Shai Hulud]

7 hours ago, Caeyrii said:

Yeah, compared to 1, the plot was too urgent without an actual breathing room. Maybe after 'He Waits in Fire', I can sort of see him just chilling out with the guardian while waiting for you. It also makes sense to stop chasing after him after your talk in the quest since you get the remaining parts of your soul. Finishing the quest has the effect of halting faction questlines too though, at least, that's what I understood from the wiki.

Or maybe Eothas could have had some inner indecision and needed to talk to the watcher + the guardian at ukaizo before he decides to destroy the wheel (or not, depending if you could convince him). I think this could have been interesting and would also make the game less "Ahhhh head to ukaizo before eothas destroys the circle of life!"

I liked the plot on POE1 better, even pacing issues of Deadfire aside. The way the hollowborn crisis was tied to the gods' conspiracy, woedica, the way all this was reflected throughout the dyrwood, it just seems to fit a lot better. The Deadfire seems kind of an arbitrary choice for where this game takes place, also unless you have a ton of game knowledge about where everything is it feels very disconnected and confusing about what to do when and where to go and so forth.

He Waits In Fire only halts the earliest faction quests IIRC. Like you can still do Sayuka, Clearing Out Crookspur. I assume it's the same for the other factions. I haven't done the Huana line in a while (past Trade Secrets) but the prince always continues to ask me about Motare O Kozi late game. I'm unsure if I could still turn it in though. 

One way you can naturally delay things in the early game is to do the faction side quests before going to the palace, so you don't know to go to Hasongo yet. You would delay getting Maia and Pallegina but you have lots of other options for a full party. Then you'd only have to do the Huana line once you found out Eothas' location, and I think only Trade Secrets is necessary before He Waits in Fire, though I might be wrong about Motare O Kozi...

When to do the DLCs is tricky though. You can't do SSS or FS until after He Waits in Fire, which is kind of dumb because SSS is probably the easiest of them...

Edited April 22, 2023 by Shai Hulud

[Torm51]

My head cannon is that he walks really slow Lol so you have time but ya pacing is definitely off. My biggest negative for the game although I love it

Edited June 12, 2023 by Torm51