Aldorlea's Night of the Stars Presentation (out soon!)

[Cassiopeia]

I totally think the quests are sometimes hard but always fair.

No. Clearly, no.

Examples:
• Quest #7 (ironing clothes) – You have to have bought the tickets for the ship in order to even get that quest. But when you get tickets early, you can't rest at the inn, whichs is really necessary though. How would anyone have the idea to buy those tickets right before reporting Q6? There's no logic in it, no connection. If you happen to do it and get that quest, you'll never know by yourself why it worked and what the actual trigger was.
• Quest #8 (Karim) – Why does finding the maid only work when you rest? That's just one more step to purposely make it harder to be figured out, and again, it's not logical. This quest already includes soooo many details, that's just not necessary.
• The red monkey thing – tell me that anyone could figure that out on their own ..... let him steal, then completely exit the area, come back and let him steal again. Why would I exit the area? When you meet this monkey, you might think there must be something special about him. You might even try and let him steal, even several times. But then? Maybe you still wouldn't give up and think it might be connected to a quest. You might get going and eventually come back for another try (although this is already pretty unlikely), and IF something happened then, you'd never know why. Because there's no logic in it.
• Quest #22 (Tisinge) – Since the red monkey thing is pretty unsolvable on your own, this quest is truly unfair.
• Quest #23 (Genevieve abducted) – Again, it totally makes NO sense AT ALL to go rest while Genevieve has gone missing. I mean, she might be tortured or even killed (since Jamar's women seem to disappear one after the other, and we don't know why), but I ignore the urgency and go to bed?
• Quest #29 (Cocka) – When I had found the prison and the button, I totally knew that the goal was to trap him in there. I thought, yay, I can do that one! I chased him till he was there, shoved him inside and went to push the button. And he was gone. Bummer!
Even after reading all the posts, I'm not totally sure what the actual solution is, but it seems that you have to chase him through all the spots twice. So ... why? Why would I try the exact same thing again that didn't work before? Would it not have been enough (and fair) to reward my idea by trapping him?
And the craziest thing is, in order to finally make it work, he doesn't even have to be inside the cage when you go press the button! Makes. No. Sense.
• And not to forget the Manticores. There should be more to hunt down after getting Penelope, but they aren't there. (And yes, I must have the latest version as I only got the game quite recently.)
But even if they were now, according to various posts, the game WAS originally set up so there weren't any respawning ones and it got changed after several complaints. So how in the world would anyone have the idea to NOT kill enemies?

I'm sure as I progress there will be more like that.
I'm glad you got to make a friend here, but speaking of kimo – judging from his posts, his frustration level was also pretty high at some points. And not only his.
Yes, there are many solutions here now, but it would be very interesting to know how many of the people, who posted them, have the guide.

[Indinera]

The point is not really whether everything is fair or not, but rather that things were already like this back in the LF days.
Big secrets will only ever hold (and then again, only to some extent) if they are a bit tricky, which can be "unfair" depending on the definition you give to that word (and ppl have different ones I think).
As I said, I've done it several times in the past. I tend to think if you are thorough you will get a pretty great ending score. But if you expect perfect score from first playthrough that just means my secrets aren't that good at all. Some should fall, some should resist - until a certain point. It's what happened with the community efforts back when the game was first released. And I'm dead certains tons of secrets from LP/F were even trickier than what there is in FoHe. Even the MM quests were anything but a walk in the park. Big games, big secrets, and great sense of reward for those who uncover them in the end. The hardest of these quests is also to bring the community together and how this joint effort eventually gets successful (plus, I'm not so bad - I do give hints).

[ZuluKat]

Wow! I have to agree with all that your games linger in the mind over the years. They not only add a form of nostalgia to one's life but for someone like me who wishes to be lost in another world of game play you are by far the BEST out there. There are a few runners up of course but they disappear so quickly. Talk about game play, I've gotten a thousand times my money's worth with how many times I've replayed to beat my previous plays. Alas, I still haven't beat the games on hard mode but I'm proud to say I got over my fear of Hard mode! But back to the games, your story lines are superior to all on the market. There are areas in games which still after years bring tears to my eyes (Sandy). These stories engulf the player and help them to be right there and then. It's almost like your games are like kids to you that are nurtured to be the best they can be. But again I digress...can't wait for this new one sounds cool with the 24 hrs. to complete quest.

[Cassiopeia]

The point is not really whether everything is fair or not, but rather that things were already like this back in the LF days.

And I still say, things weren't THAT hard and sometimes impossible. But you made them, you must surely know better.

As I said, I've done it several times in the past. I tend to think if you are thorough you will get a pretty great ending score.

I don't care about a score the least bit. I have no clue what my score is right now. It's just a number that doesn't matter. What I care about is getting things completed.

Big games, big secrets, and great sense of reward for those who uncover them in the end.

But that's exactly what I mean! I could play this game 20 times and always miss the same things. I'm totally missing said sense of reward in this game. Instead I get a lot of frustration from failing.

(plus, I'm not so bad - I do give hints).

Oh yes, you and your hints. They tend to make things even more confusing.

[D-Squall]

I'm actually playing forever heroes and I'm very frustated with how quests were handled, sometimes it requires absurds events to trigger them and even more absurds measure to complete them, and sometimes we have the risk of progressing too much into the plot and losing the chance of completing without giving any hint of how completing them. In my opinion that is not fair.

The quests in Laxius Power and Force were nowhere near that, I'm not trying to sound like you don't know your own games Indy, but I played them several times, both Power and Force trilogies. And like cassie said, it's not about the score, it's about managing to complete stuff.

I hope night of the stars or Laxius souls doesn't have quests like that, actually no future aldorlea game should have quests like that.

[Rabbit]

I've been watching and waiting for Night of the Stars too...

I wasn't going to say anything, just let it come when it comes. But since the conversation has turned to sidequest difficulty and Forever Heroes, it's too hard to keep my mouth shut. I played Forever Heroes a few months after it was released here. I enjoyed the sidequests, enjoyed them a lot, precisely because they were not trivial, and possibly maybe even a bit unfair. In my first playthrough, I didn't even trigger all the sidequests, but was at least able to note down all the Points of No Return, where a story event occurs and we can't go back. In my second playthrough, I think I did trigger all but one of the sidequests, but did not complete them all. In my third playthrough, I looked to the forum for some hints. Then I was sorry for waiting a few months before playing Forever Heroes. Figuring those quests out as a community looked fun and I wished I had participated. That's why I'm watching and waiting here now... ready to jump in, in case Night of the Stars has sidequests like Forever Heroes did.

[Indinera]

Oh yes, you and your hints. They tend to make things even more confusing.

During the whole "community on FoHe" period I thought I was pretty helpful.

[Indinera]

it's about managing to complete stuff.

Like you completed everything in Laxius Power and Force on your first playthrough (and even the next ones tbh).

I hope night of the stars or Laxius souls doesn't have quests like that, actually no future aldorlea game should have quests like that.

NOTS has different ones, I think, but I wouldn't call them easy - just the game itself is not as vast as FoHe, so I think this "limits" the possibilities - though the main town is quite big. LS so far I've only focused on the main plot.
And MM4 had totally similar quests to FoHe. Probably LF3 too but I don't remember it as well, most likely because it is indeed so difficult to get everything.

[Indinera]

I enjoyed the sidequests, enjoyed them a lot, precisely because they were not trivial, and possibly maybe even a bit unfair. In my first playthrough, I didn't even trigger all the sidequests, but was at least able to note down all the Points of No Return, where a story event occurs and we can't go back. In my second playthrough, I think I did trigger all but one of the sidequests, but did not complete them all. In my third playthrough, I looked to the forum for some hints. Then I was sorry for waiting a few months before playing Forever Heroes. Figuring those quests out as a community looked fun and I wished I had participated. That's why I'm watching and waiting here now... ready to jump in, in case Night of the Stars has sidequests like Forever Heroes did.

Thank you. I agree on all accounts. This is exactly what I want to achieve with SOME games (not all, as I like releasing diverse games). But FoHe, LP/F and some MM were definitely in this category of "hard skin" secrets.

Sidequests in NOTS are pretty inventive IMO but the way the game is designed seems to make it easier to solve stuff than in FoHe. I guess we should see how it goes somewhat soon.

[MerryX]

Indi, for me your games remind me of the classic poem, "Ithaca"...

"As you set out for Ithaka hope your road is a long one, full of adventure, full of discovery.

Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you’re destined for.
But don’t hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you’re old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you’ve gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.

Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you wouldn't have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.

And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you’ll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean."

Full poem - https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/51296/ithaka-56d22eef917ec

So I suppose for me it is the struggle and the journey that matters most...and it's not always fair BUT...it's now May so I hate to be pushy but where is NOTS!!!?

I'm excited

MerryX

[Indinera]

It's also may in 4 weeks

[MerryX]

It's also may in 4 weeks

...Nooooo
You’re loving this, aren’t you!?

[darkange]

So I do have 2 questions :
1.) Will it have difficulty modes like FoH ?

2.) You sure it's going to be on exactly 31 May ,considering that the release date for FH was delayed a minimum of 3 times ?

[Indinera]

So I do have 2 questions :
1.) Will it have difficulty modes like FoH ?

2.) You sure it's going to be on exactly 31 May ,considering that the release date for FH was delayed a minimum of 3 times ?

1) 4 modes
2) I'm never sure

[darkange]

I like how you keep changing the date(from 1st to 9 to 12 june now) and nobody is even reacting anymore -like it's the most normal thing in the world )