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veteran
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OP
veteran
Joined: Jan 2009
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Of the six Origin characters, four were available in the EA period. Only Beast and Fane were not. I'm only in Act 3, but I can clearly see why now: The writers do not appear to have had any clear ideas what to do with Beast. I've been playing with a party of Beast (Avatar), Red Prince, Lhose, and Sebille and while I don't know the specifics of Ifan and Fane's story arcs in detail, I've heard that people consider them to be the most story-heavy characters in the game, if not downright mandatory for understanding the story. Each character has a main quest, and each has a little trail of breadcrumbs leading them from place to place. Beast has about three breadcrumbs over three acts. His first breadcrumb is Lohar in Driftwood. Lohar wants Beast to deal with Mordus in Wrecker's Cave. So you do that, you go to the cave and deal with Mordus, and find the letter from Justinia, and then Lohar gives you a letter with no names attached and tells you to go to Arx. Mordus's quest is early Act 2, and Arx is Act 4. So for the majority of Act 2 and 3, Beast has no breadcrumbs. Beast- Meet with Lohar in Driftwood, then
- deal with Mordus in Wrecker's Cave, then
- find Justinia's Letter, then
- report back to Lohar, then
- get told to go to Arx, then
- ??? (Not there yet)
Contrast this with the Red Prince and Sebille. The Red Prince- The Red Prince has to talk with Stingtail, then
- the Lizard in Amadia's sanctuary
- a Lizard in the Driftwood Undertavern, then
- The Paladin leader at the Bridgehead, then
- A spirit in the Stonegarden graveyard, then
- Sadha at the camp, then
- A War Owl on the Vengeance, then
- Head of the House of Shadows on Nameless Isle, then
- ??? (Not there yet)
Sebille- Stingtail in Fort Joy, then
- Griff in Fort Joy, then
- Zaleskar just outside of Fort Joy, then
- nothing much at all for 10 levels and two dozen hours, then
- kill Roost Anlon, then
- talk with Sahelia, then
- find the Head of the House of Shadows on Nameless Isle,
- or do Sahelia's request, then
- ??? (Not there yet)
Lhose is the other one whose story is pretty disconnected from the others, but even then she has some breadcrumbs which progress faster. Lhose- Sahelia in Fort Joy, then
- Malady on the Lady Vengeance, then
- Jahan in Cloisterwood, then
- The Advocate on Bloodmoon Island, then
- Bloodmoon Archives, then
- the Corrupted Tree, then
- Back to Jahan, then
- Jahan's warning at the end of Act 2/start of Act 3, then
- ??? (Not there yet)
Beast just doesn't seem to get a lot to do in the story, and no I don't think "he'll have more to do in Act 4" means anything because everyone probably has something to do in Act 4. There are long stretches of nothing happening. Heck, after Driftwood town and Wrecker's Cove, I don't think I've seen more than a handful of [BEAST] tags in dialogue. It almost feels like "well, I guess we should have some kind of Dwarf origin, if we have to." It's disappointing.
Last edited by Stabbey; 19/10/17 11:42 PM.
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journeyman
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journeyman
Joined: Sep 2017
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I think everyone acknowledge that Beast is a bit underwhelming in compare to the others.
- Motherfucking Lord Smartass Fane, FOR ONCE an undead character in a game, funny yet annoying, with like... THE questline of the game. He's not a god damn Eternal for nothing.
- Lord badass Ifan, linked to a lot of things in the story too.
- Waifu Lohse, a funny damzel with a demon in her head. Her humour is r8ted 8/8.
- Sebille, a dark egdy vengeance type (always nice, not my type but nice anyway).
- The Red Prince : he's a more "kind" version of Fane, arrogant yet realistic, with a great background.
...
And then we have Beast. He's a pirate dwarf. And Justinia is a bitch so he must stop her.
Sounds bland.
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veteran
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veteran
Joined: Sep 2017
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I agree completely. Fane was the last to come to the game, he wasn´t intended until backed in kickstarter, but he has much more presence than him. Beast backstory has nothing much until very far in the game, despite the fact that every dwarf you meet points at his importance as The Beast. A pity because he is a nice character, but a little underwritten.
I think the problem is that he is too "dwarfy oriented". Basically he only has interjections with dwarves, and that is a small part of the plot of the game ( At least if you compare it with all the other origins, as you said).
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veteran
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OP
veteran
Joined: Jan 2009
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Here's another, pretty awful problem: I have reached Act 4 and entered Arx. My problem is that Beast's main quest has absolutely no direction about where to go at all. Red Prince has direction. Lhose has some direction. Sebille... is just along for the ride at this point. But I do not have any idea where to start looking for the next step in the quest for Beast, my avatar. No, seriously, I don't have any idea where to go or who I need to talk to. The "letter from Lohar" mentions no names. *** Oh, and there was a slight note on Beast's quest in Act 3: An entirely optional and missable letter, which prompted exclaimation marks over people's heads. When prompted, I got 4 identical conversations which followed this format:
Party: What's that you found? Beast: [Oh, Nothing] / [A letter saying a member of Justinia's court is in league with the Black Ring] Party: Any idea who it could be? Beast: [Nope!] / [It's probably the person who signed her name to the letter] Party: Oh, well if your gut says so it's probably right. What even is that conversation? It doesn't seem to make much sense. I don't see the point of why I would want to choose to keep silent or why I would want to conceal the identity of the mole. None of the other three have had any indications of being involved in Dwarven politics. I think the problem is that he is too "dwarfy oriented". Basically he only has interjections with dwarves, and that is a small part of the plot of the game ( At least if you compare it with all the other origins, as you said). No, you're describing the symptom, not the cause. The problem isn't that Beast is a Dwarf. The problem is that Beast's story was written to be completely isolated from all no-dwarf interactions.
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