Stabbey, i said myself i dont consider adding these decoy solutions and options to the murder quest as something really necessary.
Do me a favor and actually read what i wrote.
And dont go about "writing a whole new game" either. Thats just ridiculous.
I believe such things could be added without changing a single thing that is already in the game.
What im thinking about would be basically, just adding a few more dialogues and reactions to them. (which would take some work to do of course but not that much)
While none of it would actually change the resolution of the quest as it is now. Thelyron and Evelyn would still play their roles and you would discover that eventually anyway. All that remains the same.
Its just that you would add text only additions where you could, for example blaming Esmeralda or that undertaker, or something like that.
I know its not much of anything really, im just thinking out loud here on how that quest could be made a bit more diverse for other playthroughs.
You dont need to jump into defense of the devs, because they really dont have to do any of this and i said so myself too, as far as this particular quest is concerned.
.....
Youre right PeteNewell.
Thats correct.
And those are some nice suggestions for both of those sub quests.
If the resolutions to Samson and Desdemona was changed in that particular way (hopefully using actual details of that story as i explained) and she left - there would need to be some kind of clue given to the players that the problem is not entirely over and that there is yet something to see, or reason to return to the Lighthouse later.
Maybe it would be simpler to finish it right then and there because of it, by making the dialogue a bit stronger, using the actual content of that story.
As for Ebenezer, i agree, it would be elegant to tie in whether other ghosts fight against him or against you to the RPS outcome.
But the quest needs a better, fuller resolution - for him and the other ghosts, regardless of that.
So it should be made clear that - if you fight them all - the other ghosts were only sent to Hall of echoes as ordinary souls. Not as allies of Ebenezer. And that he got the deserved punishment - preferably as i described. Since personally i consider that the just balanced punishment in a case like that.
On the other hand he does admit to his crimes, when you confront him - and other ghosts there should react to it. If that is kept as is.
Since then it is clear he was tricking them not to continue into Hall of echoes for some selfish reasons of his own... probably so he has someone to talk to, which is a kind of experience.
And he likes experiences.
Which is why my suggestion makes both of the outcomes a punishment.
One in hell where he would get to experience all his crimes.
And the other as eternity of feeling absolutely nothing, except occasional pain when the players return to that place and "kill him" all over, while he would be practically completely helpless and unable to affect anything anymore. (he would attack you but his hits would cause no damage at all)
The point of that would not be to just enable players to be sadistic, because thats practically irrelevant in that case, but to ... well, make everyone think about it. At the very least.
