Curse

Skyy High · Oct 03, 2011, 10:10 PM // 22:10

Just finished Part II. Much better than the first part, IMO; better writing (best quest has to be the one in Jaya Bluffs, dialog made me giggle a bit), better rewards, more variety in objectives. Excited for Part III.

chuckles79 · Oct 03, 2011, 10:46 PM // 22:46

I'm halfway through it, but I thought the whole premise of the Ministry coming after you is a little weird. Why didn't Miku put the knives away, why did she act like a retard when accused, why did Reiko immediately sic everyone on you instead of listening to the Hero of Cantha when he/she says there has been a misunderstanding.

Swingline · Oct 03, 2011, 10:47 PM // 22:47

I had a blast going through part 2 with my warrior. HM was challenging but not as hard as part 1 so I made it through without ever really failing hard. However my second time through is another story. I had a much harder time going through HM with my monk. I had to use a cheesy tactic of sending my MM with a minion army into the Ministry's mob on Warning the Angchu before they went hostile and blowing them up with death nova minions. Hopefully my monk was the only character gimped in this content.

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Quote:

Originally Posted by chuckles79

I'm halfway through it, but I thought the whole premise of the Ministry coming after you is a little weird. Why didn't Miku put the knives away, why did she act like a retard when accused, why did Reiko immediately sic everyone on you instead of listening to the Hero of Cantha when he/she says there has been a misunderstanding.

I didnt get Miku's retardation either but Reiko I guess is just nuttier than squirrel shit and has a Stalin complex.

BrettM · Oct 04, 2011, 01:58 AM // 01:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by chuckles79

I'm halfway through it, but I thought the whole premise of the Ministry coming after you is a little weird. Why didn't Miku put the knives away, why did she act like a retard when accused, why did Reiko immediately sic everyone on you instead of listening to the Hero of Cantha when he/she says there has been a misunderstanding.

My guess is that Reiko knows darned well who Miku is and was not going to give her half a chance to screw up Reiko's control of Ashu, knives or no knives. Miku was marked for death the minute Reiko recognized her.

Reiko has probably also been looking for an excuse to get rid of US, because we haven't drunk the koolaid and she knows she can't control us in the long run. We made her nervous by hanging around the MoP because she knew we'd catch on to the scam sooner or later and we have the ability to do something about it, unlike the poor peasants she has been deluding. The moment we crossed her in the smallest degree, which we did by questioning her reaction to Miku, she had the excuse she needed to rub us out.

Noghi · Oct 04, 2011, 02:12 PM // 14:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrettM

My guess is that Reiko knows darned well who Miku is and was not going to give her half a chance to screw up Reiko's control of Ashu, knives or no knives. Miku was marked for death the minute Reiko recognized her.

Reiko has probably also been looking for an excuse to get rid of US, because we haven't drunk the koolaid and she knows she can't control us in the long run. We made her nervous by hanging around the MoP because she knew we'd catch on to the scam sooner or later and we have the ability to do something about it, unlike the poor peasants she has been deluding. The moment we crossed her in the smallest degree, which we did by questioning her reaction to Miku, she had the excuse she needed to rub us out.

Well I would guess Reiko would know who Miku is since she is Miku aunt but I think you are right about why she reacted the way she did to both Miku and us. The other thing that I don't really get is during the quest Violence in the Streets after we get done fighting Reisen the Phoenix and the MOP show up both the Jade Brotherhood and Am Fah just take off running. I mean he spent all this time before telling us how their way of life has existed for hundreds of years and then they just run away when they have to to defend their way of life. Even Guardsman Qao Lin finds it strange that they just run when the MOP show up

Reformed · Oct 04, 2011, 02:24 PM // 14:24

Seems like as good a place to ask as any...

Does anyone suppose there will be a point in the future where we could exchange Imperial/Ministerial Commendations in some combination for Imperial Guard Requisitions? I can't help but notice that with all other things being equal we don't have the equivalent of a Confessor Order/War Supply type item this time around.

Skyy High · Oct 04, 2011, 02:57 PM // 14:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrettM

My guess is that Reiko knows darned well who Miku is and was not going to give her half a chance to screw up Reiko's control of Ashu, knives or no knives. Miku was marked for death the minute Reiko recognized her.

Reiko has probably also been looking for an excuse to get rid of US, because we haven't drunk the koolaid and she knows she can't control us in the long run. We made her nervous by hanging around the MoP because she knew we'd catch on to the scam sooner or later and we have the ability to do something about it, unlike the poor peasants she has been deluding. The moment we crossed her in the smallest degree, which we did by questioning her reaction to Miku, she had the excuse she needed to rub us out.

This was my impression as well.

This is what happens when we have pure dialog telling a story, with no narration (like in a novel) and little visual information (like in a movie). We can't tell if Reiko was yelling over Miku, we don't see Miku's enthusiasm from seeing her brother turn into stunned confusion, we don't see any of the facial cues that would tell us who is being misleading or misled....I feel like the people who are most confused / disappointed with the story are taking it at face value which, while fair, misses a big issue: this isn't a novel, nor is it a movie, and if you want the full story you have to read in between the lines.

WinterSnowblind · Oct 04, 2011, 05:43 PM // 17:43

I got around to completing the second part this afternoon. I was a little disappointed by how generic the first part was, but this one gets a big thumbs up. The story was much more exciting, the missions were a lot more interesting, and it's nice to see rewards being something more than just gold and experience.

Outerworld · Oct 04, 2011, 09:11 PM // 21:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reformed

Seems like as good a place to ask as any...

Does anyone suppose there will be a point in the future where we could exchange Imperial/Ministerial Commendations in some combination for Imperial Guard Requisitions? I can't help but notice that with all other things being equal we don't have the equivalent of a Confessor Order/War Supply type item this time around.

I'd be very surprised if we couldn't trade them in tbh.

Iuris · Oct 05, 2011, 07:17 AM // 07:17

I do hope we'll be able to trade them, War supplies -> Medal of honour style. Or that at least we'll get something more options for what to get for Ministerial commendations. Some consumables or something. The purple weapons with no mods are a reward that not everyone would appreciate (my heroes are well armed already...).

LifeInfusion · Oct 06, 2011, 01:05 AM // 01:05

They're inscribable purples (i.e. not unusable) and the only way to get a fan in the weapon hand or platinum staff with heal/prot/restoration magic (although I generally don't even use staves).

Disappointed in Faith's lack of a 20%HSR mod though (and it's lack of useful mods in general).

What they could have done was made the focii have "Forget me not" inscriptions or whatnot, like the Tormented items but inscriptions instead of suffixes. It's probably the only inscription that costs a fair amount (~20-30K last I checked) and most greens don't come with 20% HSR for some reason, which is the likely reason you have a focus in the first place (other than +15/-1 energy regen).

Lykan · Oct 07, 2011, 10:40 PM // 22:40

Hmmm, apparently I've missed WoC pt1.

The Drunkard · Oct 08, 2011, 01:00 AM // 01:00

I have mixed feelings about the second part. The quests were a definite improvement- you actually got cash instead of just stuff to trade in for reskins. However, some of the mechanics of the quests need a lot of improvement. A favor returned was definitely one of the most annoying quests- Mai will sometimes agro half the freaking map to chase down a yeti. Suicide bomers? Hello minion wall.

Hopefully the quest finale will not be a dissapointment.

Gill Halendt · Oct 08, 2011, 11:49 AM // 11:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Drunkard

I have mixed feelings about the second part. The quests were a definite improvement- you actually got cash instead of just stuff to trade in for reskins. However, some of the mechanics of the quests need a lot of improvement. A favor returned was definitely one of the most annoying quests- Mai will sometimes agro half the freaking map to chase down a yeti. Suicide bomers? Hello minion wall.

Hopefully the quest finale will not be a dissapointment.

Same here, mixed feelings.

Part 1 was BORING. Too many quests with little to no differentiation, not to mention the appalling lack of any meaningful plot until the very end, and the frustrating difficulty of some missions ("When Kappa Attacks" HM is borderline idiotic, just to name one).

That said, Part 2 was much better. Some missions are genuine fun and there's some variety, but still, it's a bit short when compared to Part 1: just half the quests are available, and most of them are also quite short.

On the whole, narration isn't flowing very smoothly. There's and evident imbalance between the agonizingly slow introduction in Part 1 and the hasty speedup of the storyline during Part 2. The story finally kicks in, but it feels a bit rushed, the events unfolding with some gross oversimplification - like the "let's turn into mad nazis all of a sudden!" attitude of the Ministry during first mission. At least, all the (quite amiss) predication about morale is finally starting to make some sense now.

WoC is turning out quite repetitive as well, with some evident reminiscences of WiK: once again we have to face some deceiving tyrants that oppress the population in the name of some sick sense of justice. Yawn... Expecing some siege in Kaineng Center with endless waves of enemies culminating with the entrance of Reiko sooner or later. Let's just hope we have some better strategy than "open the gates and let them all in!" this time...

While the first part was quite demanding, this second part is also a bit indulgent on the easy side. I would have loved some more even level of difficulty, but that's OK.

**cosyfiep** · Oct 08, 2011, 11:59 AM // 11:59

I think if they had made a the quests for the first part more like this: Kill all the afflicted in Canthan..you have 1 of 20 areas completed (like the charting the jade sea or echovald forest ones)....at least then you would have known that it was going to be long, slow and BORING.
2nd part, I agree was more enjoyable. still need to finish the first part on my 2nd character (am up to zen daijun...just dont feel like clearing out that place right now--made it past cho's and lagoon's keep the stupid npcs alive).
oy

Coast · Oct 08, 2011, 12:09 PM // 12:09

is it me or is the 2nd part not avaible in hm yet?

Tom Swift · Oct 08, 2011, 12:44 PM // 12:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coast

is it me or is the 2nd part not avaible in hm yet?

It is available. Just finished pt 2 HM a few days ago - very nice rwards indeed. But your character must finish pt 1 HM before being allowed to do pt 2 Hm.

Coast · Oct 08, 2011, 12:51 PM // 12:51

well i completed everything in pt1 nm+hm and pt2 nm, but can't find pt2 quests.

Reformed · Oct 08, 2011, 01:30 PM // 13:30

You should be able to pick up the HM version of A Chance Encounter from the Herald of Purity immediately after completing the NM version starting the chain.

Tom Swift · Oct 08, 2011, 07:07 PM // 19:07

are you sure you finished and accepted the reward for all the HM quests for part 1? You might want to just double chech wth Xan Hai outside senjis and see if you missed something there. Do you need to do the 3 side quests from Lei Jeng? I already did them in HM so I can't check to see if they are required to get part 2 HM.