So, because they didn't tell you how the story ends before they dropped you in Act 1, you're confused. The thing about a good mystery is that it's not spelled out for you, initially, and you have to work within the boundaries of what's given to figure it out. I sure wish that this was the first game that said "Go here to do that" when it's actually "go to this other place". I mean, it's not like this is how retcons are born. Wait, yes, it is, actually.
The problem is, you'll never see it as great unless they pull everything out but 5e. It doesn't matter what the rest of us may be enjoying about it, if it's not 5e, it has to go. Of course, this leads to you making things up as being 5e, such as party size, right? I'll tell you something else that makes a good story, and I'll even hit you with a good example:
When the story doesn't fall into place until somewhere close to the end of the narrative. If you haven't played Horizon Zero Dawn, you should. It will demonstrate quite clearly how you don't need the whole of the story to make sense in Act 1. The juiciest bits of that story aren't confirmed until near the end of the game.
You've lost me. Sorry. How does fixing the map directions have to do with them not telling us the whole story, etc.? I love mysteries. I like that they don't tell us everything exactly, but any good mystery also has clues that you can find that tell you the story. The Moonhaven story is one of my favorites in the game. I really had to piece that sucker together, and I'm still debating with people about what truly happened. This is good. I like this. That's how it should be in Act 1. Yes.
But fixing map directions has nothing to do with that. It's just providing some consistency. Is south really south, or is it west? That's very basic, but it's something messed up in the game.
Now, if they provide us with some sort of valid reason as to why this is the way that it is, then fine. Don't fix it. Leave it. I'm all for crazy stuff that we just don't understand right now but that they're going to throw a curve ball at us about later. Great. However, I'm calling it out because it really seems like a flub up, that someone was messing up the directions and they never fixed it.
This particular post has nothing to do with 5e mechanics or good story-telling or anything like that. Sorry I brought that into it. I was really just trying to say that this seems wrong and it looks like an oversight or an error that needs fixing. They need to pay attention to this detail and others like it so that things remain consistent.
Simple fix. Nothing huge. No big deal surely. It's more like Kylo Ren's scar on his face. People who are paying attention will notice. It doesn't destroy the whole story, but it is still something that people will see and notice and it breaks some of the immersion for them. So why not just make the scar consistent? Similarly, if there is no real good reason why south = west, why not just make the records align. 1 word. Problem solved.
Then I would suggest you re-read the post under your name that I quoted? It's not even snipped, so you can read the whole thing where you tried to explain what good writing is, all while apparently losing the plot of your own post.
Look. It's real simple. I wasn't attempting to get them to strip the game of all of its elements but 5e rules. I don't know where you got that from. I even said, I like this game, and my intent is always to try to make this game better.
I also explained that what I meant by the whole good storytelling thing is that a good storyteller does whatever they can to make the story consistent and logical so that it doesn't confuse their readers. This was in response to someone saying that I should just basically overlook the fact that the game map doesn't line up with documents and dialogues.
I have not lost the point of this post. The point of this post was to bring to their attention that the directions on the map do not match the directions in their dialogue and in their documents. It has nothing to do with them not revealing Mysteries in act 1 or anything of that nature. I'm still not really sure where you got that from.
The entire point of this post is that I found something that appears to be a mistake or maybe an oversight and I thought they should maybe fix it so that if someone is paying attention to it or looking into it, like me, they're not left wondering what the heck is going on simply because the directions don't line up between a particular document and the game map.
So, to be perfectly clear, when one of the documents says that the spectator and the draw statues are South of The Outpost, but on the game map there west of The Outpost, that's confusing. The document says South, so I'm thinking there must be some more underdark to explore on the game map somewhere South of The Outpost. But in fact, it's referring to the West on the game map even though the document says South. That's not a mystery. That's a mistake.
Another example, when a document says that the village is to the south of the Grove, that leads a person to think that the nautiloid crash landed on a village. But when I look everywhere around the nautiloid I don't see any remnant of any kind of Village anywhere. There are no fragmented wooden beams or stone work from foundations or anything that would imply that there was a village there. So, that leaves me to wonder, are they referring to moonhaven in the document. Is it a mistake?
If it isn't, and there really was a village where the nautiloid is, then fine. No need to change anything. But if there was no intention of ever having a village where the nautiloid is, then that's a mistake in the document. Therefore, I am calling it out so that they can evaluate it and determine if it is indeed a mistake as opposed to something that really should be in the game.
That is the only purpose of this entire thread. I am not, and I repeat, I am not attempting to criticize the overall storytelling. The only reason I brought up bad storytelling was because if they made a mistake and they don't fix it even though they know about it, that's just sloppy storytelling. If I am an editor of a book and I find something like this, I would call it out to the author and tell them they should edit it. If the author doesn't, that sloppy storytelling.
So again, to be perfectly clear, I am not criticizing the storytelling abilities of those who are creating this game. I actually think they are very good storytellers and as I said in one of the posts above, I am amazed at a lot of the detail that is in the game that does line up. So why shouldn't they line up something this simple? If I bring it to their attention and they don't do anything about it that's just plain sloppy.
I sincerely hope that this clears up this little misunderstanding and we don't have to debate this or argue about it any further. I really really really don't want to argue with people out here. I have much better things to do with my time than to argue and debate about something so minor as to whether or not they should fix a small error like making map directions line up with their dialogue and text. I respect or try to respect everyone on these forums, but really don't want to argue about these things.
