The Drunken Lizard Pub

OK, yes I was being silly with the subject header.

I came into this not that long ago, so it's probably too late to put this in. On the other hand, if there are 4 cruxes, maybe there will be a book IV. So, here goes…

It would be a serious challenge (and fun) to put in a quest of having to escort someone from one destination to another. If they need escort, one would assume that their fighting skills are poor to non-existent. So the escort would have to lead them and defend them. I would figure on telling the *ahem* client to either hide in a specific spot or stay close to me for easier defense when coming across bad guys/evil entities. I might even be willing to buy them a basic shield and tell them to keep the darn thing up so as to better our chances of making to the next spot. Hopefully, the person I'm escorting would keep the shield up and then turn so we're back to back and my rear end *giggle* is slightly protected.

What do you guys think?

Maria aka-mwindsong

Oooh new thought… another fun one could be having to help a town or shop defend itself against a specific threat or for a specified time frame.

Totally unrelated… would it be feasible to make the windowed version so the window size can be adjusted? I like being able to see the clock and some other stuff on my screen, including bouncing in and out of here. The window's current size is hard for me to see without putting my face almost on the screen.

yes thinking of mr. magoo. lol.

Mmmm - I've played a game where you had the option of escort quests, and the idiot generally either charges straight into a mob of monsters and gets killed right off, or is too dumb to hide while I'm fighting the mob and (you guessed it) gets killed right off.

If it could be done where you told your escortee (is that word?) to stay there and don't move until I come to get you, or alternately run beside me because we're going straight to the portal out of here, then I'd consider it. Otherwise, I'm inclined to save myself the hassle and leave 'em to be monster chow

At that point I might kill the bugger myself! I was thinking that you could tell the person to stay put (stay Fido, stay!) or have them back to back with you.

Just a thought.

mwindsong wrote:At that point I might kill the bugger myself! I was thinking that you could tell the person to stay put (stay Fido, stay!) or have them back to back with you.

Just a thought.

Escort quests sound kind of cool, but as a general rule in the way the AI is implemented for NPCs in every RPG I've ever experienced, they end up being more annoying than fun.

I've done enough Spiderweb games escort quests to hate them. It usually takes a few reloads to figure out where the party is moving and how to stay ahead to take out enemies.

Randomizer wrote:I've done enough Spiderweb games escort quests to hate them. It usually takes a few reloads to figure out where the party is moving and how to stay ahead to take out enemies.

Couldn't agree more. Either they run ahead and get into trouble before you can catch them, or they lag behind and become sitting targets.

I like the type of escort quests where the guy follows you and you only and is perfectly capable of surviving in a fight for more than two seconds.

Maybe it would work if we had a leash to tie onto the escorted person, so he/she/it would have no choice but to stay where we put them or run along with us, instead of seeing a bunch of slavering monsters and going "I know where I want to be!" and running straight at them, unarmed, while I try to survive long enough to save their ungrateful hide

Well, as the newbie to RPGs… I bow to everyone else's greater experience. Maybe someday it will be feasible to create one that isn't obnoxious. I really like the leash idea though!

mwindsong wrote:Well, as the newbie to RPGs… I bow to everyone else's greater experience. Maybe someday it will be feasible to create one that isn't obnoxious. I really like the leash idea though!

I actually don't think an "escort" quest for Eschalon is actually a bad idea.

If I were to design one, I'd definitely set it up so that the "escortee" was "melee-phobic", leaving your character (the "escorter") to do all the fighting.

I believe BW has put "attract/repel" attributes in to the game, as of at least Book II, so I think it might be possible to set it so that the "escortee" will flee from combat (but maybe it could be set up so that the "escortee" will only "flee" a certain number of grid-squares away, so your character doesn't "lose" them?..).

Anyway, I'd actually like to see if BW could come up with a good "design" for an "escort" quest. Because, I agree with others around here, that the way Spiderweb Software has set up "escort" quests in their games (and, IIRC, I think there were some similar problems with Soldak's games) has proven to be... sometimes problematic.

Hey, here's an idea: give the escortee a bow, so he or she can attack enemies that you have aggroed. Or make him a spellcaster that either throws fire at enemies or heals you.

Lord_P wrote:Hey, here's an idea: give the escortee a bow, so he or she can attack enemies that you have aggroed. Or make him a spellcaster that either throws fire at enemies or heals you.

I very much like that last suggestion - it would actually give Book III the "feel" of a multi-party game, if only for the duration of a short "escort" quest.

So, yeah - make the NPC you have to "escort" on the quest a Healer (edit: make that a pacifist Healer). Me like-y...

It's not a bad idea at all, mwindsong, it's just that as you can see -

- most escort quests seem to be designed to make you feel like a total lemon as the fiendish game designer plots the quickest way to have your "escort quest" character die at the hands of the monsters while you stand there, staring slack-jawed at their stupidity. A better name for these kinds of quests is not "escort quest" but "how big an idiot can I make the player feel like quest"

If BW has more compassion on us poor players when designing those kinds of quests, it might work out better.