Posted March 31, 2024
There was a quest in Act 2 where I had to find a traitor. I messed up and the quest failed. It was the only time when the red X came even remotely close to appearing in my quest log. I learned separately that the quest rewarded a piece of armor that I wanted, but my last save game before my mistake was an hour before. I was tormented but decided to let it go. Still, I thought I'd return to the quest giver to see if I could tell him. Sure enough, the quest giver admonished me for failing the quest. However, at the end of the conversation, I was still rewarded with the XP and the armor.
Now, some would say this is coddling the player too much. I can see that. However, many players would just take the failed quest as given and never think to wrap it up. Why bother to talk with the quest giver again if there is no benefit to be had? I see that in real life all the time. As soon as a problem happens, everyone involved or not involved try to distance themselves from responsiblity as much as possible. Perhaps it has something to do with, in real life, the stakes are higher and much more often than not, you really are not rewarded for coming forward to admit failure. You just take the blame.
I cannot immediately recall another quest like this in all the hundreds of games I have played. Yet it feels surprisingly fitting that Spiders made this quest. Their journey in making action RPGs has not been smooth. Mars War Logs, and even Bound by Flame, do not even attain cult classic status. They are, at best, campy games with niche appeal. But they didn't give up. They didn't try to distance themselves from these "mistakes." Eventually, they had Technomancer. Then they had GreedFall. Then Steelrising. GreedFall 2 may well be among the great action RPGs. There may yet be a sequel to Bound by Flames (clearly the neutral ending should be taken as canon). In video gaming where so often perfection is encouraged to a level utterly unrealistic in real life, and games like Disco Elysium is lauded as radically innovative for subverting that expectation, one simple quest in a mostly forgotten game reminded me and I hope others who play it, "You will make mistakes. Own up to them."
Now, some would say this is coddling the player too much. I can see that. However, many players would just take the failed quest as given and never think to wrap it up. Why bother to talk with the quest giver again if there is no benefit to be had? I see that in real life all the time. As soon as a problem happens, everyone involved or not involved try to distance themselves from responsiblity as much as possible. Perhaps it has something to do with, in real life, the stakes are higher and much more often than not, you really are not rewarded for coming forward to admit failure. You just take the blame.
I cannot immediately recall another quest like this in all the hundreds of games I have played. Yet it feels surprisingly fitting that Spiders made this quest. Their journey in making action RPGs has not been smooth. Mars War Logs, and even Bound by Flame, do not even attain cult classic status. They are, at best, campy games with niche appeal. But they didn't give up. They didn't try to distance themselves from these "mistakes." Eventually, they had Technomancer. Then they had GreedFall. Then Steelrising. GreedFall 2 may well be among the great action RPGs. There may yet be a sequel to Bound by Flames (clearly the neutral ending should be taken as canon). In video gaming where so often perfection is encouraged to a level utterly unrealistic in real life, and games like Disco Elysium is lauded as radically innovative for subverting that expectation, one simple quest in a mostly forgotten game reminded me and I hope others who play it, "You will make mistakes. Own up to them."
Post edited March 31, 2024 by Unfallen_Satan