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Autumn Elite

Autumn Elite

Posts: 3,487 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
So Sliske reveals in was all a ruse and threatens to kill people if we don’t blame his game. The problem with this is the cast of characters is a poor selection. Brother Sawmill dies here but none of the characters has us invested in them. I don’t care enough about any of these people and am given little reason to. I don’t find Meg annoying enough to want her dead. I don’t have any reason to care about Linza except she seems fine. I don’t know Mary and I don't see Sliske anything other than a annoying troll. The Barrows Brothers obviously will be fine.



There is zero reason for investment or concern. If we didn'’t know Sliske’s endgame was this year, this could be another generic filler Sliske plot. There is little gripping or essential about the plot - it feels weak, generic and at times filler.


Moving ahead, the Barrows Brothers moral fibre is being tested. Dharok is probably handled the best and receives the best development - confronting his past and being part of the situations going ahead. Ahrim is handled poorly. The controls for the maze are in a way that progress is slow and hard to reverse in so its just not a good maze experience. Also players aren't informed there is the possibility to save Isolde up front. So it isn't a choice if people don't know so the whole moral choice aspect is terrible. Isolde could die as people don't know she could be saved and don't try to even if they wanted to as it wasn't clear it was a choice.



The idea of having the Barrows Brothers as bad people and having your allies against Sliske as bad people could have been interesting if explored but isn’t. Ahrim receives no development and adds nothing after this. Also in the section where Sliske threatens to harm everyone if Ahrim don’t take the correct path, he simply doesn’t.

04-Jul-2016 17:28:08

Autumn Elite

Autumn Elite

Posts: 3,487 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Verac is handled very simplistically - it is incredibly obvious where his alignment lies when Sliske explains the puzzle, this revelation really isn't used to good effect later on and for something that was being kept a secret he openly talks about.



Later Guthan and the other brothers are put into one last puzzle which makes it comes across as rushed. It doesn’t feel like there was much of a plan or a crescendo to exploring the Barrows Brothers - just that this plot needed quickly wrapping up for release so everything was forced, and it feels forced, into this part to conclude quickly.


Whilst freeing Verac, the statue falls over and reveals a room with all of Sliske’s plans. Lets recap how we got to this section. Did we chose to learn more about Sliske? Did we investigate and earn answers? No, we were picked up for a Sliske session where all his plans are revealed by him leaving stuff out on the open when an accident leads us to his plans. There is zero sense of accomplishment, of earning answers or progress.



We did*’t deserve this, we did*’t even try to get it, it happened by an accident. These answers are given at this time not because of story progress but because Sliske’s Endgame is coming and a bunch of stuff needs to be seeded for that so we accidentally stumble on Sliske’s plans which were in a ridiculous place that we were only because Sliske chose to put us there and an accident happened. This is awful, it just feels like poor writing and a lazy way to develop a character. Up until this point most of this quest was filler and now it just throws plot details at us because it will be needed later.



The section is probably the best in the quest although it remains stained because it is incredibly unearned. The books in particular are great with some nice foreshadowing for Xau-Tak and the reveal of Sliske’s master.

04-Jul-2016 17:28:38

Autumn Elite

Autumn Elite

Posts: 3,487 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
After this you can then play as Linza. After the trailer, I was wondering why Mary was in the quest and I am still wondering. During this section you can talk to her and she has an interesting dialogue about her feelings about the world guardian providing a false sense of stability. This is the only thing of note she does in the entire quest and it is optional dialogue in one section. Mary has no arc, no purpose, she could have been replaced with anyone with zero impact.



The only reason I can see that she is in the quest is that people knew a barrows sister was coming so all the main characters were made female to keep people guessing and Mary was chosen for unexplained reasons. She might as well have been picked out of a list of names in a hat because of the barely worth mentioning impact she has. This is such a shame as her dialogue here is nice and this could be a theme worth exploring or been used as a useful arc to show how others view our characters to explain why Linza chose to trust Sliske over us. However it isn’t. Mary has no arc or purpose. It is a wasted spot that won't be remembered as it adds nothing.

04-Jul-2016 17:30:17

Autumn Elite

Autumn Elite

Posts: 3,487 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Next Sliske shows up, tries to steal our soul with the staff of Armadyl, sees that we saw his plans, attacks us, turns Linza into a wight, threatens us then we escape whilst the Barrow Brothers rebel. Lets examine this. Turning Linza into a wight does very little. We aren't attached to her so her betrayal has little impact nor does her turn to a barrows.



Furthermore we have seen Sliske turn someone into a Barrows before and turn someone who accepted his deals into something else. This just comes off as a discount version of something we have seen before and the plot thread of saving Linza has no weight as Linza doesn’t mean much to us. Its also rather strange that you have a character that fits this exact role already, someone under Sliske’s control that we want to save, and instead of focusing of Akriasie - a character people already are attached to - we get a discount Linza plot that takes up time that could have been saved.



There is also the ending that does not feel fulfilling or logical. Sliske is angry, his whole plan was to get our soul then, but we run through some caves and two minutes later this plot is dropped. Meg and Mary return with no fears for their safety and we are not worried about Sliske coming after us. It really feels like an entire act is missing - some of the Barrows Brothers exploration part and most of the ending - that just did*’t happen.

04-Jul-2016 17:30:24

Autumn Elite

Autumn Elite

Posts: 3,487 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Post quest is also quite odd. There is no post quest dialogue which is a bad thing and really continues to make this quest come across as filler with some small plot points added to make it worthy. Neither Meg or Mary were particularly developed during the quest and along with the lack of post quest dialogue, Kindred Spirits really does not feel impactful. Also the Linza fight now makes barrows runs longer - she isn't really difficult, just a long fight - and it doesn’t feel like a reward. You aren’t unlocking something great; you are getting a tedious add on.

04-Jul-2016 17:31:03

Autumn Elite

Autumn Elite

Posts: 3,487 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Overall what is most concerning is the quality and quantity. This quest took an hour and a half examining everything and pushing the quest to its max. Kindred Spirits is across the board a poorer quality than The Light Within, Hero’s Welcome, Lord of Vampyrium ect - quests made in smaller amount of time were better. It is poorly pasted, lacks post quest dialogue, the rewards are average at best, character arcs or development were shoddy or non existent, it just felt like a jumble of ideas. In a phrase Kindred Spirits could be described as “rushed” or “half baked”. It simply isn't the acceptable standard three months of development time should be. It isn't just below par but a sizeable drop of quality from a few months ago.



It did*’t feel like a passion project or something anyone really cared about getting made. It feels like they pencilled in four quests for Sliske’s countdown, had some ideas for what needed to be set up for Endgame (which I hope is a lot more planned out), had initial ideas for some characters (which was squished in where possibly later on e.g. Mary’s dialogue) then released it was two weeks from released and rushed it all. This just isn't three months work or a fleshed out piece of content.



Clearly there is talent there - Mary’s dialogue shows a level of skill at themes and characterisation - however it is not coming across in the content. Something has to change or 2016 is looking poor for questing. At this point in time there is legitimate fear that 2016 might not have a great quest - so far quests have only been OK or poor, we may not even get a solid good quest.

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04-Jul-2016 17:31:37 - Last edited on 04-Jul-2016 17:32:42 by Autumn Elite

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05-Jul-2016 02:58:01

Sepulchre
Dec Member 2020

Sepulchre

Posts: 3,525 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
[#0MGFV81HT] said :
Didnt you put that review somewhere else?

Also is nobody going to make a review on Gower Quest, haven't seen one yet.

Gower Quest Review, by Sepulchre:

LOL CABBAGES!

Thoughts? A
World Guardian
must learn to find
Balance
in themselves.
Only then can they
Control
themselves and forge their own
Fate .

05-Jul-2016 06:14:42

Lord Drakan
Sep Member 2010

Lord Drakan

Posts: 7,043 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Sepulchre said :
[#0MGFV81HT] said :
Didnt you put that review somewhere else?

Also is nobody going to make a review on Gower Quest, haven't seen one yet.

Gower Quest Review, by Sepulchre:

LOL CABBAGES!

Thoughts?
I would partain to CABBAGES the CABBAGES with CABBAGES CABBAGES, quite. Bizarre Boron Fusswell, scryer extraordinaire. OSRS: POH ideas & RS3 minigames & achievement ideas !

Perhaps you're half right; perhaps we can't win. But we can fight.
— Zanik

08-Jul-2016 07:51:40

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