Walking off the beaten path is unintentionally spoiling parts of the story (minor story and companion spoilers)

[FearMonkey]

So I entered Defiance Bay and discovered that's how Act II starts. Me being the typical completionist OCD RPG player I decided to reload prior to that and explore the other parts of the Dyrwood before continuing on to Act II. This is standard operating procedure for me with RPGs. I never progress the story until I've realistically done everything I can up to that point. I know many other people who play this way so I don't think what I do is strange or odd as far as RPGs are concerned.
 
Anyway, so I decide to explore the Woodend Plains and encountered Sagani there. She joins my party. She tells me of her quest and we continue on. Eventually I find my way to Pearlwood Bluff where I find an echo of the person she's looking for. Some dialogue ensues and at one point she says to me "what about this Thaos character you're searching for?".
 
At this point I am confused. Who the hell is Thaos? Based on one of the dialogue options I can guess who he is, but my character shouldn't know that name yet. I certainly never mentioned it to Sagani so why the hell would she know this person's name? Immersion at this point is completely broken and I felt kind of spoiled at this point too.
 
So, if there are any developers reading this, couldn't you have put in a check to make sure I hit the part of the story where this person's name is revealed to me? Or maybe not have the echo there until I hit that part of the story. I shouldn't be (punished is too strong a word probably) taken out of the game like this just for wanting to explore the map before progressing the main story.
 
Thanks.

[Luckmann]

Since we are on the topic, I want to add that Hiravias makes references to you being what you are before he's even experienced it. This was.. odd as hell. He joined us, I started talking to him, and he knows a lot of things he couldn't possibly reasonably know yet.

 

I also experienced Pallegina referencing the thousand-yard-stare (I'm trying to avoid spoilers here, you all know what I'm talking about) before she's even seen me doing it yet. That was also odd.

Finally, I want to add that it's quite annoying that you cannot pick up Pallegina without starting Act II, while also having certain world states tied to the Acts. Had there been more CNPC:s and had those CNPC:s been spread out more evenly across the game and introduced at appropriate junctions, this would be less jarring, but as of now Pallegina appears to be the only one of the bunch.

Edited April 6, 2015 by Luckmann

[MReed]

I'm pretty sure you can't get Grieving Mother without starting Act II either.

 

But yeah, I agree -- there are a number of continuity errors revolving around companions, especially in regards to player initiated conversations.

[Justinian]

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/73940-bug-sagani-post-rest-dialog-triggers-early-resulting-in-spoilers/

[Kabyk]

I honestly thought I was just lazy and missed some dialogue when I had the exact same issue as you, OP. I remember someone, I think Aloth(?) asking me something along the lines of "Is Thaos weighing on your mind?" And I'm just sitting here going, Did I skip some dialogue earlier? I have no idea who Thaos is. I assumed I just didn't remember the name of the hooded guy when he told me. Then much later I finally get to Webb and she tells me "His name is Thaos" and I'm just like, Uh...yeah, I know. My companion told me.

[Enoch]

Since we are on the topic, I want to add that Hiravias makes references to you being what you are before he's even experienced it. This was.. odd as hell. He joined us, I started talking to him, and he knows a lot of things he couldn't possibly reasonably know yet.

 

I also experienced Pallegina referencing the thousand-yard-stare (I'm trying to avoid spoilers here, you all know what I'm talking about) before she's even seen me doing it yet. That was also odd.

 

Finally, I want to add that it's quite annoying that you cannot pick up Pallegina without starting Act II, while also having certain world states tied to the Acts. Had there been more CNPC:s and had those CNPC:s been spread out more evenly across the game and introduced at appropriate junctions, this would be less jarring, but as of now Pallegina appears to be the only one of the bunch.

 

Are there actually any world-state changes that happen with the beginning of Act 2?  I'm not aware of any, but I've had less time with the game than a lot of folks around here have.

Edited April 6, 2015 by Enoch

[FrankFore20]

I'm pretty sure you can't get Grieving Mother without starting Act II either.

 

But yeah, I agree -- there are a number of continuity errors revolving around companions, especially in regards to player initiated conversations.

you can get GM in Act I

[FearMonkey]

I'm pretty sure you can't get Grieving Mother without starting Act II either.

 

But yeah, I agree -- there are a number of continuity errors revolving around companions, especially in regards to player initiated conversations.

 

I got Grieving Mother to join my party before starting Act II.

 

I haven't encountered Pallegina yet.

 

I should also note I was level 5 when I got Grieving Mother to join my party.

[vril]

So I entered Defiance Bay and discovered that's how Act II starts.

 

Spoilers in the non-spoiler forums.

[FearMonkey]

 

So I entered Defiance Bay and discovered that's how Act II starts.

 

Spoilers in the non-spoiler forums.

 

And I said "minor story and companion spoilers" right there in my subject line.

 

You're welcome.

[lyin321]

 Haha.

 Sorry for laughting at your misfortune OP, but that is just too funny:)

Anyway (to not spoil too much) the devs can't remove the event there since it is logical for it to be there if you have talked to Sagani. But yes - there shouldn't be any talks unless they have met a certain requirements...but I guess the game have too many variables in it as it is (stats/abilities/faiths/....I don't know what to call them...origins?).

And maybe they hoped that the monsters will serve as natural barrier to explorers like you, but they give too many tools for us to get...unnatural strength:)) (buying party members).

....personally they eat me alive...

[grumbold99]

Yeah it's hard to comment on this without making it even more spoilerific, and it's the wrong forum for that.

 

File bug report(s) when you encounter this stuff so the developers can fix it faster.

[HozzM]

I got the Sagani conversation that mentions Thaos as well, I put a post (two actually) in the bug/tech support forum but I do not think it has been acknowledged.  

[FearMonkey]

Yeah it's hard to comment on this without making it even more spoilerific, and it's the wrong forum for that.

 

File bug report(s) when you encounter this stuff so the developers can fix it faster.

 

I guess I never considered this a bug and therefore didn't post it there. I did provide spoiler warnings though because I knew this wasn't a spoiler forum. If a mod wants to move the topic, they can. I would be perfectly fine with that.

[DocDoomII]

Well it kinda is a bug.

Either they didn't create any kind of plot progression check for those dialogues, or they are there and do not work.

[Matt516]

This is definitely a bug, or at best an oversight. There's no reason they'd do this on purpose - probably just some story progression flag that got set wrong or didn't get referenced.

[Rosbjerg]

Moved to Story section - spoiler away.

[DocDoomII]

Moved to Story section - spoiler away.

This is more for the technical support forum, really.

It's about dialogues that show up when they should not.

[Voss]

I honestly thought I was just lazy and missed some dialogue when I had the exact same issue as you, OP. I remember someone, I think Aloth(?) asking me something along the lines of "Is Thaos weighing on your mind?" And I'm just sitting here going, Did I skip some dialogue earlier? I have no idea who Thaos is. I assumed I just didn't remember the name of the hooded guy when he told me. Then much later I finally get to Webb and she tells me "His name is Thaos" and I'm just like, Uh...yeah, I know. My companion told me.

 

There are a couple of these.  I had a conversation with Durance about my vision of him with only half of his soul.  We'd just met, I hadn't had any of visions of him, half-soulless or not.  He was just a crazy guy at the side of the road, who somehow knew about me.

[76prophet]

Yep. Sagani has started interrupting my naps to talk to me about stuff that hasn't happened yet, which sucks. Among the companions I've found thus far...she is the most interesting and well written to me. Now I just want to send her for a time out to think about the grandfather paradox.

[Crucis]

People keep talking about Acts within the game and I'm left feeling confused.  Of course, I know what an "act" is within the context of a story or a play.  But within the context of PoE's storyline, I have no idea what events, quests, whatever define Act 1, Act 2, etc.  My party is at level 7 or 8 at this point, just to give you an idea of how far I'm into the game.  Don't remember whether it's 7 or 8 without getting into the game, but I think that it's close enough to give you a sense of where I am in the progress of the storyline.

 

Edit: I have Pallegina in my party, but have not yet been able to find a way yet to get to the Twin Elms region on the east side of the global map.

Edited April 6, 2015 by Crucis

[Stun]

People keep talking about Acts within the game and I'm left feeling confused.  Of course, I know what an "act" is within the context of a story or a play.  But within the context of PoE's storyline, I have no idea what events, quests, whatever define Act 1, Act 2, etc.  My party is at level 7 or 8 at this point, just to give you an idea of how far I'm into the game.  Don't remember whether it's 7 or 8 without getting into the game, but I think that it's close enough to give you a sense of where I am in the progress of the storyline.

 

Edit: I have Pallegina in my party, but have not yet been able to find a way yet to get to the Twin Elms region on the east side of the global map.

That's a good question/observation. The game does not literally number or label its acts. However, you know you've advanced to the next act when you get a text-scrolling still-screen and a narrator speaking that text (like the chapter intros in the BG games and the Icewind dales)

 

Anyway.... massive spoilers here now: You cannot get into the twin elms region until a very significant (and obvious) occurrence in Defiance bay. The game will then boot you out of defiance bay and place you on a bridge. You can then make your way eastward to twin elms.

[SeferZohar]

People keep talking about Acts within the game and I'm left feeling confused.  Of course, I know what an "act" is within the context of a story or a play.  But within the context of PoE's storyline, I have no idea what events, quests, whatever define Act 1, Act 2, etc.  My party is at level 7 or 8 at this point, just to give you an idea of how far I'm into the game.  Don't remember whether it's 7 or 8 without getting into the game, but I think that it's close enough to give you a sense of where I am in the progress of the storyline.

 

Edit: I have Pallegina in my party, but have not yet been able to find a way yet to get to the Twin Elms region on the east side of the global map.

 

 

The acts are phases of the main story line; they have well-defined transition points which are marked by a slide with a voiceover narration, like Stun says. The game does actually explicitly number the acts, though: if you look at your save games on the load menu it will say "Act 1", "Act 2" etc, and they're referenced in the game files.

 

The transition points are:

 

Act 1: Start of the game

Act 2: First entry to Defiance Bay.

 

Act 3: Leaving Defiance Bay after the deaths of Duc Aevar Wolf-Grin and Lady Webb.

 

 

Act 4: Entering Breith Eaman.

 

 

 

They're not a good way of judging your progress though since they don't have equal lengths at all (Act 4 in particular is the final quest of the game and nothing else).

[LadyCrimson]

I've been noticing stuff like this as well, and it's definitely a bit jarring. I don't mind a little bit of this type of thing happening but after a while it does start to push it in your face that apparently you were "supposed" to do things in a certain order or something. >.>  Feels like an oversight more than anything else.

[Crucis]

Guys, thanks for the replies on "acts".  PoE is more like BG1/2 here than IWD1/2, given that the IWD games were very linear in their storyline (and any side quests only existed within that linear progression) whereas the BG games were very non-linear.  Oh, the BG main story was linear, but all the various side quests could disguise the main story line from the rest of the things and have you going off in many directions, and not in the same order if you played the game multiple times.

 

As for getting to Twin Elms, I've been assuming that you can only get there through the cliffs area (don't remember its exact name) and only after it stops freakin' raining so that the water level in the river below the cliffs can receded.  And I'm assuming that it only stops raining here when some given event occurs, thus blocking access to that area before that event.  This is why I've been focusing on clearing out the various major and minor quests in Defiance Bay as well as working on the Endless Paths cave system from time to time.  Indeed, I think that I'll be heading back there for another round of dungeon crawling, since my PC has just learned that ancient language that I've heard helps you more easily succeed in the Endless Path's lower levels.