Location abandonment

[Jarmo]

I aslo dont like 'use-once' locations. Problem with reusing them (eg. putting new quests in them) is that some people just dont know 'when' is time to go back to check if something is new. Best solution are 'Chapters'. Once you complete chapter 1 i would expect that it took some time and new quests/dialogues/stores should be presented to locations which we already 'solved'

 

I'd rather expect to get some kind of a hint when it's time to go see.

 

Say, I assume at the end of chapter 1 we've settled on the stronghold.

Would make sense that "makes the news", a bunch of people know where you are now.

 

So.. a message arrives with "you helped our village with kobold threat, now we have trolls!",

or something to that effect.

 

And then when get to the village, you also notice the crying lady in front of the crashed house

and the traveler who's wagon has lost a wheel, again.

 

And things work out from there...

[Chilloutman]

 

I aslo dont like 'use-once' locations. Problem with reusing them (eg. putting new quests in them) is that some people just dont know 'when' is time to go back to check if something is new. Best solution are 'Chapters'. Once you complete chapter 1 i would expect that it took some time and new quests/dialogues/stores should be presented to locations which we already 'solved'

 

I'd rather expect to get some kind of a hint when it's time to go see.

 

Say, I assume at the end of chapter 1 we've settled on the stronghold.

Would make sense that "makes the news", a bunch of people know where you are now.

 

So.. a message arrives with "you helped our village with kobold threat, now we have trolls!",

or something to that effect.

 

And then when get to the village, you also notice the crying lady in front of the crashed house

and the traveler who's wagon has lost a wheel, again.

 

And things work out from there...

 

 

yeah its not perfect, but I hope I will not be omnipresent figure in PoE universe eg. everyone sending me messangers with their new trouble. I would rather have like hint after end of chapter that say that it may be good to look for place I already been as things might changed there, or some new quest leading me back there

[Jarmo]

 I would rather have like hint after end of chapter that say that it may be good to look for place I already been as things might changed there, or some new quest leading me back there

 

 

Yeah, anything like that would work. Though I always prefer if the hint comes from within the game universe,

not a wink wink nudge nudge message from the developers. Much best if the fourth wall is left alone most of the time.

 

But anything rather than nothing. Popping in now and then to see if anything has changed is just about as silly as

talking to everybody in a new town, pressing them hard to see if they have any parental issues or skeletons in a corner.

[Sensuki]

Replaying BG2 atm and in many cases it has smart re-use of areas:

 

Umar Hills and Temple Ruins are used for a number of unrelated quests (Ranger and Paladin Stronghold quests mostly).

Edited July 9, 2014 by Sensuki

[Messier-31]

Replaying BG2 atm and in many cases it has smart re-use of areas:

 

Umar Hills and Temple Ruins are used for a number of unrelated quests (Ranger and Paladin Stronghold quests mostly).

 

Not to mention "the Bodhi accident"

[namelessthree]

A possible solution is what BG2 did. You progress in the main story or one of the companions' plot and that requires you to go back to one of these locations. That way you feel there is always something happening around even in some more stable-less central locations. Someone also mentioned Torment where you go back to certain locations only after you got some extra knowledge of how to open new paths or get info from characters there. It all comes down to the writing in the end and how the devs see those locations. 

 

Having a big central place where you get quests from like in BG2's Athlaka or Torment's Sigil  also helps to feel the world is alive. You always have something to do when you go back there and there is always at least one more NPC that reacts to some of your solved quests. It will be interesting to see how PoE deals with this issue. 

[Sensuki]

Anyway, the content for PE is finalized so we can only scrutinize what they've done and bring it up for a sequel.