Questions thread

[Legate of Mineta]

Shin;

 

Definitely. Preparation Locations and Items, too. Just a little bit can make all the difference on the 'Main Story' Adventures.

[Draigh]

Maybe you should do the color coding compareable with a rainbow, people can remember and understand that order.

Or just make sure that the colors are clearly and consistently explained. Because currently I prefer to pick purple over red because I have the feeling that red holds less chance of succes (although I feel equally screwed in both cases). And I think I read several versions of which color holds which meaning here at the forum.

 

Do quests always show all options? Or are certain options not given if your skill is too low to even attempt it?

[Legate of Mineta]

Draigh;

 

Currently, it *looks* like it goes: Green - Blue - Black - Purple - Red. We need to confirm this and determine if this is what we want going forward. I feel like Purple, if we decide to use it, should be more difficult than Red.

 

Not all quests show all options- certain Exits can be gated by Prerequisites, for instance. But if it is just pure Difficulty, you will always see them.

[Mikka]

It's a silly thing to note, but many people who play games are very used to Purple being harder then Red, because that's how it is in almost every MMO, from Everquest to the latest craze. And although this game may say 9+, I think most people playing it are at least teens, if not young adults- and most who play indie games have a pretty good idea of what games are out there. The order of green, Blue, black/white, yellow/orange (or sometimes yellow then orange), red, purple is so 'standard' that... well, honestly, I didn't even stop and think that purple could be lesser then red. I assumed it was the hardest difficulty. Heh. Now I need to smack myself.

[Legate of Mineta]

Mikka;

 

Clearly, I am right there with you.

[Draigh]

Another question of mine:

In spell descriptions there is this part about Spell Types mentioning other Phemes? and their Magnitudes?

What do they mean?

[KieronGillen]

To state the obvious, because colour coding isn't clear* how about just having a text statement ("Impossible", "Easy", "Average") after each option?

 

(I admit, I wouldn't be adverse to having the actual percentage chance of failure/success there.)

 

KG

 

*In an MMO, I'd lean purple for hardest. For the rest of the world, red means "no". And I'm not even going near the perennial "What about colour blind gamers?" questions.

[Cailean_the_Bard]

Another question of mine:

In spell descriptions there is this part about Spell Types mentioning other Phemes? and their Magnitudes?

What do they mean?

 

If I'm understanding your question correctly, you're asking about when spells mention using additional Phemes in the spell? Some of that is for color, but some is a subtle reminder that you can add Phemes to spells when you're casting for additional effects and bonuses. A Pheme's magnitude is an indicator of how difficult a Pheme is to create, so that can sometimes be considered a warning about your skills before you start tacking on Phemes. Finally, remember that if you're casting a spell in which you've added Phemes and you fail the magnitude roll, the entire spell will fail.

 

Feel free to post up a specific example (or MSG me if you want to avoid spoilers for the others) and I'll try to answer in more/better detail.

[Fhoenix]

I second the hard numbers for the chance of success.

 

And yay, RPS is here. And here I was mentioning you on the forum just a few hours ago

[Legate of Mineta]

Kieron;

 

As much as possible, I prefer the color coding scheme because it's an unobtrusive way to get the information the Player. That said...it cuts out the confusion to say 'easy', 'impossible', etc. (not to mention color-blindness).

 

Another subtle thing to notice is that in Events and Adventures the Exits are always ranked according to how easy the are for you, top to bottom.

[knightav]

Regardless of the difficulty color coding, I always assumed it was a sorted list from most successful to least successful. This lead to me picking purple over red, even though I also have the same MMO impulses. Presenting them in this order is helpful.

[laclongquan]

Why dont you add color bars of into one lore scroll. That is one prize to look for among the mess that is lore section.

[voxfox]

Hi there, quick question;

I have unfortunately developed a negative friendship (-1) with one of the instructors early on in my first year after ignoring a plea for help.....well, I was busy you see.

Anyway, what is the best way to overturn a negative score bearing in mind how early into the year I am (3rd month).

TIA.

[Legate of Mineta]

Chavington;

 

There are several ways to do it, but Training Study Habits will get you to an Ability that will help you turn that around.

[academ4g1499]

To state the obvious, because colour coding isn't clear* how about just having a text statement ("Impossible", "Easy", "Average") after each option?

That could get wordy, but i'd imagine an equvialent of having a symbol composed of 0-5 stars or something to indicate the difficulty could also work, and would help the colour blind people like mentioned.

 

regarding the purple/red thing, as far as i can tell purple *is* easier than red because red is a flat-out-no while purple is no-unless-Satan-happens-to-be-skating...

[Draigh]

If I'm understanding your question correctly, you're asking about when spells mention using additional Phemes in the spell? Some of that is for color, but some is a subtle reminder that you can add Phemes to spells when you're casting for additional effects and bonuses. A Pheme's magnitude is an indicator of how difficult a Pheme is to create, so that can sometimes be considered a warning about your skills before you start tacking on Phemes. Finally, remember that if you're casting a spell in which you've added Phemes and you fail the magnitude roll, the entire spell will fail.

 

Feel free to post up a specific example (or MSG me if you want to avoid spoilers for the others) and I'll try to answer in more/better detail.

 

My bad, I was trying to refer to the phemes and not paying enough attention when posting.

 

As you can see at the link for the Sky Pheme there are several parts about a Pheme.

First there is the Difficulty of the Pheme, Then the Effects and finally the Spell Types. Now my question was about those Spell Types mentioned in the Pheme descriptions.

The different names suggest they are Phemes, are they?

What do the Magnitudes mean here?

And what effect does an Oppositional one have?

[Mikka]

I can agree that to most of the world Red is HARD, and that it's mostly gamers who are going to go 'but purple is VERY HARD!'.

 

...So I think I'd agree that leaving Red as the hardest is good, but maybe changing purple to yellow (or orange, but yellow has that 'CAUTION! CAUTION!' deal going for it) might work very nicely. Although the list being sorted from easiest to hardest is a 'doh!'. That's nice indeed.

[licz]

I have gone for 'Secure Apprenticeship' with Brisbane and as far as I can tell it has done nothing (except eating my $500 of course). What is it supposed to do?

[Legate of Mineta]

Licz;

 

Nothing, in Year 1.

 

Draigh;

 

They are not necessarily Phemes, but most are, yes. The Magnitude is used when you add Phemes in Opposition to one another in a Spell, or while Enchanting an Item. It describes the number of Phemes of the Opposition Type that it will cancel out.

[Vegejor]

Could I request more points to be given in the character creation skill?

 

I don't mean tenfold it, but at least enough points so we can select one thing in each group?

 

I like to choose, I spend an hour the first time trying to read and making the decisions. Was alot of fun.

 

But even if you select a single option out of every list of 10-15? options, you'd still miss out of at least three lists. That is something I regret.

 

As said I don't mind making choices, it is all part of life, but why do you have to give up a birthsign to discover something? Or give up a familiar to be a sports prodigy?

 

 

 

My suggestions to give just enough points to select one from each list. That still gives AMPLE options for the next hundred characters you create.

[licz]

Legate,

 

Thank you for the reply. How do I get crafting commisions? I am Enchant 10 / Forge 7 and still not getting any.

[Draigh]

Licz;

 

Nothing, in Year 1.

 

Draigh;

 

They are not necessarily Phemes, but most are, yes. The Magnitude is used when you add Phemes in Opposition to one another in a Spell, or while Enchanting an Item. It describes the number of Phemes of the Opposition Type that it will cancel out.

 

Does that mean that I should never add Phemes to a Spell that has one of the mentioned types in it?

Could you give a concrete example? I still find it hard to grasp at the moment.

[Legate of Mineta]

Vegejor;

 

It's an interesting thought- it's been asked before, as well. It's very easy to do something similar via the Mod Tools, but I am not sure about the main game.

 

Does anyone have any strong opinions about this as well?

[Draigh]

I have to admit that I just used a program to edit the points so I could pick a few more options. ;-)

10 picks in total, for both base stats and background options, in a game with this many skills and abilities... is a bit low.. IMHO

[Mikka]

I freely admit I would love a few more points. I don't think we need one for every list, but maybe three more points at the beginning would be great.

 

...I also think it might be cool to have a few more 'negative' choices besides the two we have that one could pick to get another beginning point. Similar to the luck bonus, have a 'Born Unlucky' sort of thing that means you always have a certain failure chance. Or natural troublemaker, which starts you off in the game with a few minus Relationships to some professor's. I don't know.

 

 

...(Also, I want a Jackal familiar! ...though I suppose that could be modded in, when the mod tools are released. )