Larian Studios Forums Divine Divinity (English) General Problem with Necklace quest

I think this is a problem that needs to be fixed with a patch

the quest involving Balin and Jonas over Balin's necklace, no matter what is done, ends in failure

When you first talk to Balin he offers you a job, find his necklace. He thinks Jonas has it for various reasons. You can either accept or refuse, but no matter what you do you're given the quest to return the necklace. The info on the quest says go talk to Jonas about it.

When you talk to him, after you have the necklace, he says Balin is a scumbag and you can either offer to kill Balin, or say Balin will make Jonas pay for stealing.

If you offer to kill Balin, and you do so, you receive a failure for the return the necklace quest, but if you talk Jonas afterwards, you get a bunch of EXP and 1 rep point

If you say you're going to tell Balin it was Jonas you get gold

the problem there is that no matter what options you take to help Jonas, you end up failing a quest which I think is unfair

Hmm, I think it's a matter of opinion, not a bug IMO.I took it this way: There are two NSCs with opposite interests:
A bully wanting his possession back - a thief wanting me to get rid off this guy. I, as a gamer, have to choose. I chose to help Jonas

This is not the only quest in the game where you have to choose between the one or the other side.

well all I was saying is that even if you dont want to accept Balin's quest, you have to do it and you fail if you help out the other guy
it just kind of annoys me because of that

Soibean, have you been in Verdistis already? Ducal Inn? Accepted the quest from Graham? I'd like to know if you would put that in the same category as Jonas/Balin.
Kiya <curious>

I still think it's a manner of opinion - not that yours is wrong and mine is right <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" /> - just a different approach maybe? I like these decisions in a game and it is logical IMO that I decide and suffer/enjoy consequences - a bit like RL, I decide, fail in one direction and succeed in the other then.

I've been on the forum for quite a while now and learned a lot about "bugs" (some I didn't consider to be) - and I like to understand. Thank you in advance <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wave.gif" alt="" />.

nope I havent made it to there yet
I'm new and started a new Survivor character and still working on the first area

I can see your point, it gives you a more of a moral choice kinda thing and I guess that could be seen as good or bad, but I havent noticed my moral decisions making any lasting affects yet, except for that shrine near the dwarven village

One of the main plot quests also has a situation where you have to choose who to help. Unfortunately you are right, these choices can influence experience points, reputation and quest rewards, but do not have a fundamental impact on the story.

The shrine of good and evil has a random effect, though it may be influenced by level or reputation, etc. I saved before talking to it, and could re-load until I got a +5 bonus to the stat of my choice.

Your actions do have impact - kill a guard = you loose reputation, help an extotionist = you get gold and loose rep, you don't turn in a cattle thief = you gain rep...

There is nothing fair or unfair IMO in alternate quests, which exclude each others - each side has its rewards, and you can't have them all!

Such is life!

;-)

I think RPG's need such alternate quests where you need to choose one over the other. They spice up the game. Think of how much more boring it would be to solve quests after quests without really having to make choices.

As a new addicted player (damn you <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beyond.gif" alt="" /> betatest <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devil.gif" alt="" />) I thought it was good when I first came across such quests.

yea that shrine of good and evil screwed me over
I wasnt quite sure how I turned out and talked to it and it said I lose some wit or something of the sort

perfect time to reload

the first time i went to that shrine, i was a very low level. but this time through i am going to wait untill right before i go to the wastelands.

Even if your chances are influenced somewhat by level, I would still head for the shrine as soon as possible, and save before clicking on it. The stat bonus will have a much better effect earlier in the game than waiting until heading to the wastelands. I re-loaded about 10 times (I got a strength bonus first, but then re-loaded to see if the effect was random, and had to keep re-loading to get strength again, and had mostly positive bonuses. Others reported getting mostly negative penalties. The possibility that the shrine was influenced by level or reputation was discussed, though nobody did any rigorous testing, AFAIK.