Heroica RPG - Quest Masters' Lounge

[Pyrovisionary]

So, #130, it'll defne my Heroica experience I think for a long time and it was, Thematically Sarge's biggest quest. I'll try and paragraph this well for ease of reading.

I never thought anything would beat #48's length, but I think #130 did this in world content as opposed to long complex battles. Alot of that 8 months was due to long update times and long response times. On your end you were busy, but on ours I think activity had booms and slumps around plot points, because after we were dumped in the city there really wasn't a clear goal. I think that's something that differs #130 from your standard openworld RPG, we had to wait for the plot to emerge instead of following up on some sort of sidequest. I think the way you teased us of the events going on in the conclave was well done - the sisters out on breaks in evenings that is. But this quest's real problem was that we had no real clear goal other than the vague "Find dirt on other aunts" , which when teamed with the vast quantity of sidequests, was very daunting. This took alot of processing and so I think party actions needed to be complex and our response times increased.

In conclusion I think every individual major plot point, Ulrica's escape/Periwinkle's capture, the dead sister at the shrine (I must applaud you for this moment actually, it made me the most angry with an enemy in any game I've played), the final Venomari battle, they were all very compelling, but they didn't string together into a coherent plot. We sorta stumbled from narrative point to narrative point, not knowing what to do or expect .

Battles were a mix. At the start they were more tailored to a full party battle royale, which never came as we split alot, so they were always challenging, interesting. But by the end you had the mix right, even if we did absolutely demolish the final battle, but I think that was the fact that our party was huge with the sisters added. I think we had the rather bad dice luck though this quest, except of course when lucky charm was being sang

What really made this quest was the sidequests. I can't imagine the amount of effort you put into writing these, because there were so many with such great detail. A few weren't very deep, for example the escaped zoo animals quest. But finding the werepanther's mother, and helping rex with his date, these were more than objective quests. We thought the cactus flower was "The right one" because it had the "Quest item" label, but really we had to use common sense to get to Rhiannon's heart. I am amused by the thought of the heroes emptying their pockets for loot to give her.

Mechanically it was the first of it's kind, simple but effective, and really allowed us to get the feel for the city. I fetl anxious when the time system made us use alot of time moving to and from regions in fetch quests, but it ended up working well enough. The fatigue system was fair but it really frustrated me when Sarge couldn't go avenge the dead sister because he had to sleep, but it was fair enough I guess .#

There were so many NPC's not many of the great characters (Zelda, the queen, Ovelia, Hyme, Zarissa, Ulrica, the duke, Peri, the list goes on) got much screen time. But the dialogue was convincing and the characters fleshed out to their max extent and very well at that. Rex got alot of screentime though, and he was as entertaining as he was an independent character, despite his "controlled by Zepher" status

OP loot, not complaining.

Party:

Eric - Well written, very original and consistent Character, Sarge's best friend . I have never laughed so hard as when Eric find's out he had been banging Sarge's daughter . I can't really add anything to say except that there was never a dull moment and I am glad to have spent Heroica's longest quest with Eric. Keep up the good work bro

Boomingham - I didn't understand Boomingham as a character until now. He's righteous to a certain extent, but he, as every man is, is overcome by his vices; alcohol, greed. There was never time for our characters to have a long chat, but I think they've grown a respect for eachother. A pleasure to play with you Zepher, I don't think Sarge will be the same for meeting Boomingham, if only at least because they will be political allies with the glorious sungold alliance . We're gonna win this war

Heckz - Sarge has no idea what to make of Heckz, and I don't think they synergised that ell as characters, which isn't to say that he's not one of the funniest and most interesting characters this game has. It was a shame you couldn't be active all the way Cutcobra, but hey, it was fun, right?

Jon - This was THE quest for Sarge. he found his daughter, found God and was cured. I think I wasted alot of opportunities, for example not roleplaying his dwindling supply of anti curse potions to the best extent I could, having him seemingly cured after he found Peri ( Though I was unsure how close we were to the end, so I didn't want to needlessly peak his condition too soon.), and the RP of the curse was inconsistent and not at all subtle. I think putting me in the party leader role forced me to participate more actively and hence RP more, so I thank you for that Sandy. and I think I've learnt alot from 8 months with some of the best roleplayers this game has It's been a good one guys!

[Palathadric]

I love the sheer energy that characters like Eric and Heckz give to a quest, even if they're not always present. It's amazing and has contributed to some of the best quests. It seems like every quest they go on just "becomes great reading" and that's amazing, especially when the quest is as long as this one. I really enjoyed following this quest and my thanks to Sandy for hosting it. It was so complex. I doubt there will ever be anything quite like it again, but great work all around. Erik and Sarge's chemistry is really coming along and we've seen them grouped together for quite a number of quests now. Boomingham is always great to read as well.

[Khorne]

Party:

Eric - Well written, very original and consistent Character, Sarge's best friend . I have never laughed so hard as when Eric find's out he had been banging Sarge's daughter . I can't really add anything to say except that there was never a dull moment and I am glad to have spent Heroica's longest quest with Eric. Keep up the good work bro

I love the sheer energy that characters like Eric and Heckz give to a quest, even if they're not always present. It's amazing and has contributed to some of the best quests. It seems like every quest they go on just "becomes great reading" and that's amazing, especially when the quest is as long as this one.

Thanks for the compliments, I love reading that people love reading Eric (inception ) .

My views on #130 are roughly the same as Pyro's. First off, WOW, THAT WAS SOME EPIC SHIT ! No, really, I loved it . There were some points at which the Quest seemed to drag on or got stalled and it turned made it feel maybe boring, but there was plenty of exciting other stuff to make this a positive experience. I understood you had a lot of personal stuff to deal with, Sandy, so I totally got why updates came slower towards the end. It was too bad, but I was glad the Quest didn't get cancelled (which I would've understood as well). So thanks fo this gigantic effort of yours that went into organizing and hosting this behemoth.

Like Pyro said, I too felt somewhat Lost In Space at first because I knew roughly what to do, but I didn't have any specifics. Do I need to go there, or there? Do I need to do this first, or that? Also, I didn't bother saving Salmanda's map to my hard disk, so I always had to go find the post where the map was in before I could decide on where to go . Once I got the hang of it, I did love the system and the freedom it gave us. It made Salmanda feel huge and bustling, alive with NPC's and stories. So much stories and sidequests, they too could be somewhat overwhelming at times. All in all, though, you made the traditional open-world RPG work on a forum/text-based system which is quite a feat in itself.

Sets and photography were stunning as always and really give the city and its people characters. That's one reason why I love Sandy Quests .

That's what I can say from the top of my head. Some other stuff might come up, but I had a good time! Thanks for hosting me on both #100 and #130, they were both amazing experiences.

Party:

Sarge - Sarge has come a reaaaally long way during Heroica. I remember Sarge being Eric's replacement in #42 and that the character was just a gruff, bad-mouthed bully. I could've never imagined that he'd turn into what he is today . I loved interacting with him on #100 and I loved interacting with him again here. Sarge is probably one of Eric's closest friends now, together with Boomingham and Hybros.

Boomingham - Boomingham is a great guy, a loveable fellow. I love how he got along with Rex and how you made Rex a "real" character too. I've spent several quests with Lawrence and he's really consistent, being somewhat of a paternal figure of authority in the party, but defintely one with some serious defects .

Heckz - I love Heckz. Seriously, that character is awesome. It's probably my favorite one from all of Heroica's PC's. I don't really have anything bad to say. Sucks that you weren't that active anymore at the end, because you were awesome during the rest of the Quest. Eric and Heckz wouldn't make very good friends and Eric sees Heckz more as personal entertainment to him, but Eric's a difficult person so don't let that get to you .

[Sandy]

How about we reopen the Fields of Glory, while waiting for more quests to arrive?

Experienced QMs with willingness to host can volunteer here, and I'll start a new private message chain with all the necessary info for hosting. I'm looking for 3-5 people to take turns in hosting.

[Palathadric]

I don't exactly speak from experience, but would it perhaps be easier if there were a group of QMs who ran the fields and they could alternate the rolling of battles, instead of just one "hosting" each fields run?

They could communicate by a group PM so that they don't double up on rolling battles.

[Sandy]

I don't exactly speak from experience, but would it perhaps be easier if there were a group of QMs who ran the fields and they could alternate the rolling of battles, instead of just one "hosting" each fields run?

They could communicate by a group PM so that they don't double up on rolling battles.

That's what we've been doing all along whenever the "main host" has been preoccupied. There has to be someone responsible for each run, though, otherwise it would be just a hot mess.

[JimBee]

That's what we've been doing all along whenever the "main host" has been preoccupied. There has to be someone responsible for each run, though, otherwise it would be just a hot mess.

I think Pala's comment has some merit. I wish I could do more to help but running fields battles for months at a time definitely burns you out. In the final battle of the Dastan Trilogy Zepher, Doc and I took turns running rounds.

[Waterbrick Down]

How about we reopen the Fields of Glory, while waiting for more quests to arrive?

Experienced QMs with willingness to host can volunteer here, and I'll start a new private message chain with all the necessary info for hosting. I'm looking for 3-5 people to take turns in hosting.

As mentioned a few months past, I'm available if you need more QM's for hosting. Edited February 5, 2016 by Waterbrick Down

[Asphalt]

How about we reopen the Fields of Glory, while waiting for more quests to arrive?

Experienced QMs with willingness to host can volunteer here, and I'll start a new private message chain with all the necessary info for hosting. I'm looking for 3-5 people to take turns in hosting.

I would be very happy to help with the Fields. But I am very limited in figs and materials. Is recycling previously used images allowed?

Edited February 7, 2016 by Asphalt

[Palathadric]

I believe everything from the Fields is already prepared as far as images and even stats (to some extent) are concerned.

[Flipz]

I would be very happy to help with the Fields. But I am very limited in figs and materials. Is recycling previously used images allowed?

Yeah, you don't need any building ability at all to run the Fields. While getting new MOCs for splash images for areas that don't have them would be nice, everything other than the Roaming Monster is something Sandy has made already (in terms of both stats and images), and even the Roaming Monster stays the same between runs until a party defeats it. It's mostly a matter of maintaining the stamina to run dozens of battles in a row, with only a day or two in between them.

[Asphalt]

I would be willing to give it a shot, though I would probably want to start with lower level PCs. Some of your guys' effects make my head spin.

Edited February 7, 2016 by Asphalt

[Sandy]

Yes, everything you need for the Fields hosting is preprepared. You'd only need to organize and roll the battles.

So far, WBD and Asphalt seem to be interested in the co-hosting duty. Anyone else?

[Palathadric]

My schedule can be so sporadic that though I don't mind throwing my lot in the hat, I'm not sure if I can be counted on for running a whole fields trip.

I'm not sure if that particularly helps.

[Kintobor]

Going on QM hiatus after 137 and 144, so count me out. What I'd like to see is some new blood when it comes to QMing, even if it's only once. I'd be more than willing to help new QMs construct a quest.

[Myrddyn]

I'm not able to co-host at the moment, but I'm sure I'll have more time at some point in the near future.

[Lind Whisperer]

I'm afraid I can't promise that much time - going through some rough patches.

Edited February 9, 2016 by Lind Whisperer

[Palathadric]

Thanks for hosting us, Asphalt! Updated very faithfully which is really nice for the Fields.

[MysticModulus]

Thanks for hosting us, Asphalt! Updated very faithfully which is really nice for the Fields.

Yes, good job Asphalt!

I actually think that the level of difficulty was good! Not to easy and not impossible! Ezeran rolled a lot of 5's in the second battle but on the other hand none of the healers got to use their specials.

Edited March 29, 2016 by MysticModulus

[Palathadric]

Asphalt, I was just editing my stats and noticed that Petaldan was 25 gold short.

He started with 55, but I bought potions worth 25 gold so that reduced it to 30, then from here to here it magically goes down a further 25 gold.

[Asphalt]

I remember thinking about that. I thought you started with 30 and then bought potions. Is it correct now?

[Palathadric]

Yes. Thank you.

[Flipz]

Let's get something clear: I really, really enjoyed this Quest; the vast majority of my complaints with it are going to fall under "too much of a good thing". That said, I do have a few critiques, so please bear in mind that despite them I really did enjoy this adventure.

First of all, just to get it out of the way: pacing. Incredibly frustrating? Yes, but it was totally out of Zeph's control, so let's move on.

...okay, I guess I can do better than that. This isn't just an issue we had on 139, it's an issue we've been having game-wide: updates in Heroica have been incredibly slow across ALL Quests, and it is definitely causing a major hit to game quality. Battles taking 24 hours per Round? That's cool, it gives plenty of time for players to respond and strategize (IF they respond and strategize--more on that later), and gives QMs plenty of time to manage the game's increasingly tough and complicated battles. What's not cool is regular conversations lasting weeks and months at a time. One thing that's incredibly frustrating for me as a player is when I can't maintain a solid grasp on my own character's thoughts and emotional state, resulting in my character behaving even more inconsistently than usual (i.e. changing moods and tones and viewpoints incredibly quickly mid-conversation). A lot of this comes from delays in conversation, making it a lot easier to lose track of what's already happened and what has and hasn't been said amidst the business of real life Even one extra roleplaying update in a day would have helped a lot in both overall pacing and in helping us keep things fresh in our minds, and this criticism applies to pretty much every single Quest in the game from 130 onward, with the sole exception of Endgame's Quests.

That said, I'm also really disappointed in the playerbase not picking up the slack when it comes to roleplaying and interaction. One post per 24 hours is a bare minimum, and a good QM can keep a Quest rolling all right with once-a-day updates so long as they play their cards right; not so much for PCs. PCs live and die on activity and interaction, and not being active and invested in the Quest and your fellow players is doing an active disservice to everyone present. At the very least, if you know you're going to be inactive, warn everyone, but at least try to take some initiative. This is a roleplaying game, and yet there's precious little roleplaying going on anymore; during the week it often feels like we have four copies of the Fields of Glory running, and that's incredibly disappointing to me.

I guess while I'm on the subject of roleplaying, three minor nitpicks with 139: we lost the Guffington NPCs pretty much completely, aside from Chauncey and maybe Daneeka pre-reunion. Other than that, they were technically there but sort of just went totally silent a couple of months into the Quest. I would have liked to have seen more of their opinions on and reactions to the events happening around them, but I do understand how difficult juggling that massive number of NPCs can be. Second nitpick: there were a TON of times where we got a recap of the plot up to that point, only we weren't the ones getting the recap, we were the ones giving it. It got a bit repetitive and tiring, especially towards the end in Etheria, and I think Arthur pretty much expressed my thoughts directly at the end when he tried to do the long-winded recap he's known for and just utterly failed out of exhaustion. I'm still don't recall 100% how things happened over the past 9(!) months, and unless someone wants to give me a recap it'll probably be another month or two before I'm recovered enough to go back and re-read everything.

The third minor nitpick isn't really a nitpick so much as a "yeah, I get why this was done this way, but imagine what could have been!" I was pretty sad in the beginning when I discovered I wouldn't be able to go to Duplovia and Baltarok as well as Xu and Dastan; that said, I completely get why it had to happen this way, and I think that in the end the Matthias-Dyric-Guts combination worked incredibly well (well...at least from a roleplaying standpoint, not so much in terms of balance, unfortunately ). The biggest downside of the split is that Arthur got to spend so little time overall with Dyric, which is a legitimate shame, since Dyric is one of the few characters who plays consistently well with Arthur every single time.

...aaand I guess that's going to bring me into my other huge rant, so again, disclaimer: I actually really liked this Quest, even though I'm doing a whole terrible lot of complaining about it. I promise I'll gush about what I did like after this.

I hated this party. Not the players or their characters, mind you (with one exception), but the combination, at least on the East side. I mentioned how well I think the West party worked; the East party was, in my opinion, a train wreck. Hybros and Arthur should have played off of each other wonderfully, they've always got on well in the Hall, but this time around something was missing from our interactions, and I could never quite put my finger on it. I'll chalk it up to tiredness, both of us got pretty exhausted on this Quest it seems. I was actually rather enthused about spending time with Hoke and Torc, since it's the first time since 103 they've been together and they're both Dragoons now, but then the rivalry popped up with Hoke seemingly randomly deciding "Chauncey Must Die" and Purpearl joining him. The rivalry led to some great moments (our conflict on the airship after Dastan was fantastic), but antagonistic relationships are always pretty draining, and I feel like we just didn't have enough space away from each other to really let us relax, at least until Etheria where we had both more space and more characters to act as a conversational buffer. It was a remarkably similar experience to having a huge argument with a friend the day before you go on a cross-country road trip together; it leaves everyone feeling awkward while you're trapped in a small, confined space with them for hours and hours and hours on end.

And finally, Purpearl. All I can say is: what the hell? You barely participated, ignored all kinds of attempts I made to interact with you, posted late when you managed to post at all, and then basically stood with Hoke in fighting us on actually completing the darn thing. For every other PC on this Quest I can remember at least one memorable moment in which they left an impact on the plot, a moment in which the Quest would have been totally different if that character had been replaced by someone else; with Purpearl, I saw nothing. Maybe your PM side-Quest in Dastan was rich and deep and wonderful, but by its nature I saw exactly none of it and you certainly never brought it up around Arthur. It's a real shame, prior to this Quest I'd say that Arthur and Purpearl had a really positive in-character relationship, but I think our differing out-of-character attitudes towards the game and respectful conduct within it have soured any chance of that in-character relationship ever being explored; I don't think I'd ever want to Quest with you again, and after watching the disaster that is 136 I know I don't ever want to Quest under you.

While I'm here, some self-criticism: People complain a lot about how inconsistent and Mary Sue-ish Arthur is; 139 has been by far his worst Quest in terms of that, especially in trying to manage his relationship with Miirym. I think I like the place they're in now, but boy howdy has it been difficult to develop them. In a lot of ways I used Arthur way more than I wanted to, simply because Arthur had pre-existing relationships to a lot of these characters, but that's not what I really want; I want to shift focus to Miirym, to explore some of her potential without Arthur's past baggage weighing everything down. I had to go back and research Arthur's past interactions so many times this Quest it wasn't even funny, and it was exhausting. I'm also a irritated with myself at how spotlight-grabby I've been this Quest. MDM complained in our group strategy PM about Arthur stealing the spotlight with Sven, and in retrospect he was 100% right; it was in-character for Arthur, and mechanically the best decision (seriously, MDM, Hoke needs to get his SP-to-Level ratio over 1 and he needs to do it yesterday), but roleplaying-wise I as a player robbed him of a great moment and I regret that. Sorry, MDM.

Okay, enough complaining, time to start gushing praise!

I loved the concept from the word go--to the point where I'd already come up with a similar one (sharing two locations, even!) for one of my own Quests. Dastan, Xu, Baltarok, Duplovia--four of my favorite locations in the game, and all of them well overdue for a revisit. Additionally we got to see a lot of new lore behind these locations, and it was all slotted in in a way that both made sense and respected the established work of the other QMs who created and worked in the areas, so all in all, VERY well done.

The "foreign" NPCs were great, too; it was fantastic to get to catch up with Phil and Vipera and Ella and Tarn, they all felt like the same people they'd been back when we last saw them, but at the same time developed and grown with time. At the same time, the new NPCs introduced in each region were great as well; Sven made for a great new villain, and Natasha and the Golden Crusade were introduced beautifully, even if the stupid Crescent Union nonsense has sort of stolen their thunder. :anrgy: As a QM I was tickled pink to see U'Daras and Tarban pop up again (even if the latter was only a brief, posthumous reference), especially considering how badass U'Daras was in battle. The Dragons were really cool as well, even if I completely botched Miirym's interactions with them (). Bellerai was the only somewhat shallow NPC we got in the Dastan section, but even then she served excellently as a looming threat, which suits her just fine.

The Xu NPCs didn't stand out as much, but Chauncey shone once we got him, and I think their subdued presence matched the overall tone of the section, even if the whole concept of that section of the Quest seemed to confuse and irritate everyone but Hybros and Arthur. Maybe it's just because I've spent so much time in Japan, but I really enjoyed that section of the Quest, even though I was suffering from overall game burnout. It's rare to see an Eastern mindset handled so smoothly in an otherwise very Western game setup, but to my mind other than pacing it went seamlessly, so well done.

Etheria was probably the weakest section of the Quest, but the concept and setup was brilliant. I really think the overall fatigue has sapped some of the strength from Etheria, so I really hope you get a chance to revisit it at some point; the concept of this magical, multidimensional place with intrigues wandering and weaving backwards and forwards in time is very unique, and there's a TON of potential for the place even after we finish sweeping up the crumbs of the side-Quests.

I think the strongest part of 139 overall was the West half of the Quest. Haddon was sadly skipped, and Duplovia a little sparse, but Baltarok MORE than made up for it. Those interactions in the desert MADE this Quest, and that segment alone would have justified the whole thing just by itself. The search for the Fountain of Youth stands firmly as one of the stronger bits in Heroica history, and it demonstrates beautifully both your unique style of storytelling and the utterly brilliant world-building that you, Pie, and WBD did in Baltarok. There's a lot of potential in that region, and you certainly made the absolute most out of it.

Speaking of the West side: the West party!

Dyric - I've been waiting so long to Quest with you again, and I was heartbroken when we had to separate so soon. Dyric is one of the few characters I can consistently trust to work well with Arthur; even when we disagree, there's no malice, it's just two really close friends debating their opposing ideals without a trace of venom. That's really rare these days (even IRL), so it's always especially refreshing to spend time with you.

Matthias - Matthias is simultaneously obnoxious and amazing. He manages to be a bit of a cranky contrarian, skirting dangerously close to the edge of his stubbornness and mistrust getting in the way, but then you always manage to know exactly when to have him back down. There is so much depth beneath the surface of this character, and I really look forward to getting to see you develop him now that he's immortal; I think a Quest alongside Arthur and Dyric at some point would be just the ticket.

Guts - It's kind of surreal Questing with Guts at this point; I've known for a while that we were both members of the "hideously broken PCs" club, but this is the first time I've gotten to see the steamroller effect firsthand; yes, we had Alchemist Guts with us back in 103, but frankly that was not a very strong build compared to the classic Guts McRaider With Cheese or the new-and-improved Guts "The Lawnmower" Marauder. (Side note: Guts would make an amazing luchador or WWE wrestler, let's make it happen, people. ) Unfortunately, complex battles and busy lives have prevented Guts and Arthur from talking much thus far, but what interactions we've had has been really great; a bit of butting heads, but nowhere near as viciously as with Arthur and Hoke. My only word of advice for you: be careful about trying to Kool-Aid Man through everything in your way. Guts and Hoke both have developed this attitude of "I don't like it, so I'm gonna kill it", and that can be very dangerous in terms of not being respectful towards the QM. Even though you and I can both take on pretty much any enemy thrown at us, it's important to be sporting and have respect for the effort the QM has put into their plots and NPCs, even if we think the NPCs themselves aren't worthy of respect as people. This is a game, after all; it's important that we make the effort to play along to a certain extent.

Okay, back to 139 in general.

Battles: boy howdy did you front-load, Zeph. I can't speak to the battles on the West side since I neither fought them nor watched them being fought, but the East-side battles were great, if on the hard side. Two "mob attacks the party" battles in a row were a little bit repetitive, but the mobs were well-designed and you did a great job of tweaking things in the second fight to make it more even. Bellerai was hellishly difficult, and I was cursing so hard that you made Bellerai's wings immune to the weapon I specifically designed for fighting Flying enemies. I think the best battle, however, was the final fight with Arthur and Dyric against the roaming spirits. While the "immune to instant kill and negative effects" was irritating in leaving Dyric trying to be a damage-dealer, it gets a pass since for the most part you were just recycling other QMs' bosses. Other than that, all the different mechanics involved just played off each other beautifully, it was a work of art; the blessings, Chauncey, the passives, the NPCs, for the most part it just meshed to create this really fun fight where I got to feel super powerful and invulnerable but there was still risk in the form of protecting the NPCs and winning before the other party died entirely--and on top of that, I was FINALLY getting to fight alongside Dyric again, which I don't think has happened since the final battle of QUEST 53. I've literally been waiting YEARS for a fight like that, and it just went perfectly, so thank you so, so much for that.

The loot was...interesting. Up until Etheria, I was going to complain that the loot up to that point had been generous but bland; once you gave us Zeus, though, my assessment did a complete one-eighty. Zeus is literally the best shop in the entire game, and he will never be beaten; equaled, perhaps, but never beaten. And somehow you still managed to make it fair; I knew I'd want to carry a lot of cash on me this Quest for unique shopping opportunities, I just didn't expect that opportunity to be in Etheria rather than on the way there. The Ethereal gems were a fantastic addition as well, and I hope they pop up again from time to time, particularly as Quest rewards or something of the like. (I did also like the unique loot you gave West, it very much continues the Zepher tradition of "not flashy, but definitely solid"; you won't necessarily base a build around it like you tend to do with Sandy drops, but it will support said Sandy drops quite nicely. The Cabin Boy's Rags are my personal favorite drop on the Quest; I'm actively rooting for Dyric to hit Level 40 so he can wear them regularly. )

The story was pretty good. I'm reserving in-depth analysis on it for now simply because there was so much of it spread out over such a long run time, but my initial impression is that you've had this in the works for a very, very long time, and you've done an admirable job of drawing all the loose threads together. You can be sure I'll be signing up for the final conclusion, just...maybe not for a little while, okay?

So yeah, like I said at the start, I really enjoyed Quest 139, there was just a LOT of it. Now, like a little kid who's gorged himself on cookies and cranberry sauce the day after a delicious Thanksgiving dinner, I just need a little time to sit back, relax, and recover my bearings.

[StickFig]

So yeah, like I said at the start, I really enjoyed Quest 139, there was just a LOT of it. Now, like a little kid who's gorged himself on cookies and cranberry sauce the day after a delicious Thanksgiving dinner, I just need a little time to sit back, relax, and recover my bearings.

I want to second this comment, and add my own analysis, before I forget it: this should have been 3 separate quests. 1> Dastan/Xu. 2> Duplovia/Baltarok. 3> Etheria/Passion. There's probably a good argument as well that Dastan, Xu, Duplovia, and Baltarok could have each been their own quest, but I get that you're trying to get to your finale.

I have more to say later, but for now, thanks for a great (and very long, and very involved) quest!

[The Legonater]

Are we doing these already?

Flipz wound up saying a lot of what I was going to, but I'll feel free to reiterate - I really enjoyed this quest, but it had plenty of flaws.

Like Flipz said, pacing was super weird. That's a hard thing to criticize because you made it consistently clear how busy you were through the quest, but I still think it applies in some other ways. I can't speak for the East side, but on the West some areas felt a little drawn out while some areas seemed to rush by before we could settle in. Duplovia especially, for one of the major locations, didn't have a lot to it. Maybe that's my fault, but it still seemed noticeable. Haddon also came and went pretty quickly, though I realize in hindsight we missed a pretty clear sidequest, so that may contribute. Baltarok, on the other hand, seemed to stretch a lot with little progression, but these are things I'll come back to.

Again, reiterating, but a few of the major NPCs fell flat, Daneeka in particular. I really liked Daneeka in his past quests, but in this one he seemed to completely ignore us, and then hold us in contempt whenever we tried to initiate conversation. Even once we got to Etheria, I felt a little marginalized by the Guffington NPCs. It's fair that these people don't know Dyric as much as they do Guts or Hybros, but I still would have liked for Dyric to get to know them a little.

Speaking on behalf of the West group, I loved our party dynamic. I had a lot of fun playing Dyric through familiar territory - I have no idea how intentional this was, but so much of this quest felt like a real trip through Dyric's character. It was great seeing him take point a little, and I loved that it allowed him to get to the whole 'I'm going to be a hero' realization. It's something I've been wanting to do for a long time, maybe since Baltarok, but it never felt earned until meeting David. Then, to contrast Dyric's idealism and guile heroism, there's Guts. I've always enjoyed the two's dynamic, and it was really on display during this quest. While running into Zane got a little annoying pacing-wise, it was a beautiful show of character. Seeing Guts and Zane clash as two strong, unflinching characters was pretty interesting. Guts is a determined, strong character, and I always enjoy teaming up with him. Meanwhile, Matthias was an excellent counter-balance. I've loved Matthias' character since Baltarok, and was excited for him and Dyric to quest together proper. He manages to be a great 'novice' character in contrast to Guts and Dyric, but never feels stupid. He's got some experience, and while he's in relatively new territory he can still handle himself. I enjoyed seeing him get fed-up with all the politics and history. Matthias is a fantastic character, and I'm excited to see it grow.

There was a lot to enjoy in the West side of things. The battles were consistently challenging, but rarely felt too difficult. While I think East had more technically diverse situations (the meditations in Xu, Dastan uprisings, etc.) I did like the more personal tone of the West quest. The shadow of Baltarok loomed over everything, and I think it was cool to see that the war is still as fresh in the country's memory as it was in ours. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I definitely felt a lot of similarity to 102 in terms of theme. Where Debts was about Heroica's effect on Eubric, 139 stood to show the fallout of our actions across the world. I do wish we could have spent more time with the orcs, in Duplovia, etc, etc, but I can forgive you for not wanting to make this quest even longer. It was definitely a good idea to split the party, while I'd have liked to visit Xu and Dastan, it's clear in hindsight that would've just been ridiculously long.

As for the East party/quest, Flipz obviously has a closer eye than I do. It seemed like a pretty cool quest, all-in-all, and the party seemed pretty interesting. Again, though, Purpeal was barely there. She was the only character I hadn't really seen before, and I was disappointed when the quest ended and I still didn't get a real feel for her character.

Everything kind of fell flat a bit in Etheria, and I can't quite put my finger on why. I really liked the concept, and the characters were interesting enough. Maybe it was just exhaustion? I do feel the West party didn't get a proper introduction like the East party did, and I felt a bit lost for a while. The council meeting was really cool, and I the final final had a lot of creativity to it. I did feel a bit useless as Dyric, but planning around the interacting enemy specials was - as someone who really doesn't play Heroica for the battles - a lot of fun. I'd like to see more fights like this.

I'm not sure what more there is to say, except well-done. I went back during the council meeting and read the entirety of the Zepher collection post-Wren. There's a lot there, and much that I only followed loosely if I followed at all. With everything laid out, this really felt like the last step before the end. Everything was coming together. If you fellow players haven't, I'd suggest you at least take a look at the dream sequences from 107. A lot of that is coming into play, and I'm super excited. That said, I'm still not sold on the Witches as villains - unless I'm missing something and there's a ULTIMATE FINAL VILLAIN awaiting with the Darkness. Wren was a very active character with a lot of personality, and while you weren't always sure what her game was you still loved to hate her. The Witches just seem... there. A lot. Maybe that's part of the Fates analogy, but they just seem to be a presence. The heroes have run into them a lot, and there never seems to be any malevolence from them. Maybe that'll change in this final quest, especially if they're no longer influencing things and are starting to make a final move, I just thought it was a thought I should share.

All that said, thank you so much for this quest Zeph! A lot of things shifted around in my life these past nine months and I worry at times I wasn't active as I could have been, and I also worry I was at times a bit cynical, but I did truly enjoy this quest. It was a fantastic exploration of the characters and the world. I really am excited to see the culmination of all these events!