Topic

Suggestion: Further levels of drilldown for quests, or perhaps a "Things I've Been Told" journal

Newbie alert! I've only played 2 days, so forgive me if I'm merely being dim and gently slap me round the face and point me in the right direction...

So most quests have clickable links to the encyclopedia for the required items, but usually don't go far down the dependency tree - for example (since the game is closed now I'll have to make one up), "Quest: make a meat sandwich" links to the meat sandwich Encyclopedia item, but doesn't mention that you need EZ Cooking I and a chopping board and flour (from grain and that comes from chickens) and salt (and that comes from whichever vendors) and a frying pan. All of these are things that the game has told me so there are no spoilers involved, but there isn't a "Things I've Learned" or even a "Things the Magic Talking Rock told me in jocular asides" journal to refer back to.

In the first cookery quest I bought salt from an auction because I had no idea at all where it came from, but this topic was brought about mostly because I spent aaaaageeeess trying to remember where the Bureaucratic Hall was while setting about getting my papers!

* perhaps adding visited locations to the map search would help? So I could hunt up the Bureaucratic Hall directly, but only after I've been there. That'd be handy for underground stations and the like too.

Posted 19 months ago by Spong Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  • No slapping necessary, but have you checked out the wiki?
    http://www.glitch-strategy.com/wiki/Main_Page
    Posted 19 months ago by Zany Serendipity Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'm a newbie too and i fully agree with you. 
    I think a recipe book would be nice or if under Encylcopedia it would describe all the items needed to make a certain food item!
    Great suggestions Spong!
    Posted 19 months ago by Princess Bubblegum Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Thanks Zany, I didn't know about the strategy wiki.

    The downside of it is that it's not spoiler-sensitive - quite the opposite! Unlike the game, which can (or perhaps could) track what I have been told, it'll tell me everything rather than only re-teaching me things I should have already learnt.
    Posted 19 months ago by Spong Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @spong see also http://wherecanigetsalt.com/

    :-) It's like the initiation. Welcome. You have made it. 
    Posted 19 months ago by Mac Rapalicious Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Oh, that's excellent! I was just going to come back with a chuckle about wherecanigetpapers.com/ , but I missed the salt one!
    Posted 19 months ago by Spong Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Yeah, the wiki is helpful, but I'm still waiting for player-created items to have their prerequirements listed. Some recipes are only available after advancing a skill, and some only after getting an achievement.
    Posted 19 months ago by Lord Tweedmouth Subscriber! | Permalink
  • A "things you've been told" tab with archived conversations/guests, etc., is a good idea and something we'll add in the future. 

    In the meantime, most of the items, tools, skills, etc., are pretty well linked up: so, for example, if you go to the encyclopedia page for Meat Tetrazzini it tells you that you can make it with the Awesome Pot which in turn tells you that you need the skill Master Chef I before you can use it. The "info" menu option on items in the game will show you the same information in the game (complete with warnings, tips, etc., which are all keyed to your current abilities/level/achievements, etc.)

    Open a recipe-based tool in the game will show you the list of the recipes you currently know and clicking on one of those will show the complete list of ingredients, each of which links to an info screen about that item (and let's use make it directly from there if it is something you can make and you have the ingredients, tools, etc.) And while the entry for salt is kind of a joke (on account of how often that used to be asked in the old days) it does tell you what you need to know (the other spices, like Turmeric are more typical).
    Posted 19 months ago by stoot barfield Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Learn Penpersonship, Harvest some paper trees, buy a pen and take notes.
    Posted 19 months ago by Brib Annie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @stoot - were you addressing my questions?  Because at the moment, there is no way to know that, for instance, you need Cocktail Crafting II to make a Flaming Humbaba.
    Posted 19 months ago by Lord Tweedmouth Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @stoot - yes, the info and the links to the encyclopedia do cover *most* things very well, now I've had a more serious look around them. Salt is funny, now I know why it's like that. At the time I was rather surprised it threw me out of the game (perhaps best to force a new window/tab on that link?).

    There's no obvious way to look up the Bureaucratic Hall, but then the Locations pages are "coming soon".

    The other thing I now recall being frustrating (hey, only three things - that's pretty good) is trying to find a bare patch to practice my hoeing on. I've still got the "reinforcement" quest ongoing, let alone the "let's hoe 5 patches" because I can't *find* any patches...
    Posted 19 months ago by Spong Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Spong, please feel free to use the Live Help channel.  Friendly players and staff are happy to answer your questions.
    Posted 19 months ago by glum pudding Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Thanks Glum; I have an aversion to using live chat that I really ought to get over... I'll do so next time I get stuck like that.
    Posted 19 months ago by Spong Subscriber! | Permalink
  • i actually disagree- i think the quests are what make the game challenging. if your quest is "make meat" and you start it, only to find you need the skill to "eat a pig," then you have to go learn it.  if you don't have anything to do to "make meat," the game can become a little dull. i love getting quests that require me to go do more stuff, and not quite knowing what that stuff is going to be.

    and if the wiki-strategy is going to be a supported part of the game, i think it should be linked from the game. otherwise, to me, it feels like cheating. kind of like using the web to get the answer to a crossword puzzle :)
    Posted 19 months ago by greenkozi Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Sprong, in addition to live Help chat, if you join a group, every group has a chat channel (when the game is live) that you can ask questions in.  Tiny Speckles is a good group.  And the newly formed Faunasphere Refugees Help Group was pretty newly formed, specifically for help while the game is live.  You don't have to be a Faunasphere Refugee (FS was a game that closed down not to long ago) to join.  Lots of helpful people there as well.
    Posted 19 months ago by Pirate Apples Subscriber! | Permalink