Locked out of Karlach's quest after 90 hours because of killing an OX in hour 10 - great.

[Maxknight]

I was excited when I thought I was about to meet Dammon again, only that I didn't find him in Last Light Inn. So I looked it up online - yeah he is just not appearing if you killed the "Strange Ox" in Emerald Grove. Great, just great. It's stuff like this - that turns me from wanting to really like the game to actively hating it. Try to engage with the quirky "your guess is as good as mine" game design that Larian pushes and get punished for it 80 hours down the road. If this wasn't so overhyped people would scream at how bad of a design that is.

Is there a way to fix the issue? A mod, a console command?
Because at this stage I am legit fed up how inconsistent this game is.

[Doctor Zalgo]

I mean you could internalise the lesson about not being a murder hobo or just accept that being a murder hobo can have unforeseen consequences. Those are really the two options available to you if you plan to keep playing RPG's.

[Rain]

The game is extremely consistent actually, you just can't expect murderhobo behaviour to not have consequences.

[DyD&Marina]

Choices have consequences in good crpg.

[Maxknight]

I figured after the Ox alluded to wanting to infiltrate towards Baldurs Gate and possible harming (perhaps important) persons there, that I might kill this literally "STRANGE" Ox.

I bet that if the Ox killed another quest related person down the road, people would tell me:
"WELL WHY DIDN'T YOU KILL THE *STRANGE* OX HM? DUH."

Damned if you do, damned if you don't isn't good design in my book.
This is called TRIAL AND ERROR in a hundred hour game.

Anyways though - I AM LOOKING FOR SOLUTIONS TO MY PROBLEM. Thanks.

[DyD&Marina]

Again this is how crpg work.

If you don't want to handle choices, there are other games.

This is the only solution.

Mods modify the game not your game save choices.

There isn't a console for commands for what i known.

The only other option if is there is a very deep save editor, but doesn't seems the case from a rapid search.

[1337_h4x0r_xXx_deathlord666_xXx]

I mean on one hand I can understand your frustration, on the other hand it's both a great detail, that dammon needs the ox to survive and I quite like the story of the strange ox...
I'm really torn on this, sorry to say ^^

[Maxknight]

*This is how bad CRPG's work, but sure keep up the "Defend muh multi million dollar game developer" defense force act, they really need it.
Also I thought I could play the game MY way, I guess that isn't valid anymore. SOUND.

[Maxknight]

Originally posted by Dαятн Wαfflεmαncεя:

I mean on one hand I can understand your frustration, on the other hand it's both a great detail, that dammon needs the ox to survive and I quite like the story of the strange ox...
I'm really torn on this, sorry to say ^^

Thanks for at least weighing in on the issue. I didn't know (how could I have known tbh) that it is related to him?

[DyD&Marina]

Originally posted by Maxknight:

*This is how bad CRPG's work, but sure keep up the "Defend muh multi million dollar game developer" defense force act, they really need it.
Also I thought I could play the game MY way, I guess that isn't valid anymore. SOUND.

Seems you never played a crpg and want simple trolling, blocked.

This is what happen when you open your game to "casual players".

[zero]

no offense but your first interaction with the strange ox isn't malicious, its him realizing you noticed hes weird and telling you to ♥♥♥♥ off.

if you decide to attack him because of that, then yeah, thats kind of on you.

this isn't a "damned if you do damned if you don't" moment cause the strange ox doesn't even imply anything shifty to warrant that action.

[Moist Butt]

wait is it fine if u kill the ox in act 2? At the very least in act 2 u are given a pretty good reason to kill it. Hoping I didn't fk up my choice.

[1337_h4x0r_xXx_deathlord666_xXx]

Originally posted by Maxknight:

Originally posted by Dαятн Wαfflεmαncεя:

I mean on one hand I can understand your frustration, on the other hand it's both a great detail, that dammon needs the ox to survive and I quite like the story of the strange ox...
I'm really torn on this, sorry to say ^^

Thanks for at least weighing in on the issue. I didn't know (how could I have known tbh) that it is related to him?

It's very spoilery....the strange ox is an ooze for whom life in a dungeon is way to exiting and who just wants to live undisturbed the life of an ox, not having to constantly ambush adventurers. It just happens to be the one ox that protects Dammon.
So the connection is rather distant between them, yet while I understand how that can lead to frustration, it's still an awesome little detail in some ways. The solution in my eyes would probably be to still have someone else available for a Karlach fix in act 3...maybe someone who doesn't do it as good as Dammon, but so people who loose Dammon aren't completely screwed...bc there are a couple of ways one can loose Dammon.

[Tomas Mac Mordain]

Same here, I don't get it.
On another char, I killed the ox in act 2. Right in front of dammon.
On current char, killed the ox in act 1 because I thought I might get it over with earlier.
Now Dammon isn't there and blocks the progress in Karlach's quest.

This is not game design, or choice and consequences, this is dumb and dumber. Theres so much they put in the game that feels like bugs, not like choices.

This game will be like a flashfire. The frustration it causes people who invested hundreds of hours in it, only to miss out on key quest progression is simply idiotic.

Another example being the funky triggers that determine whether Rolan lives or dies.

Last char I cleared the entire shadow map first and stumbled upon him alive after hours and hours of gameplay. This char, I immediately went to moonrise to free everyone, and his siblings claim he's dead. And sure enough, he's undead and irredeemable.
When I polymorphed him and he came back, he turned normal and gave me his 'I'm a loser' speech. Now he stands there, siblings are mad cuz he's dead.

All this 'game design" is really producing a one finger response in my head. Devs rolled a 1 on 'communication', 'sensible triggers', and 'implementation' all at once. Especially in act 2 and 3.

I stand by it, Dammon missing is about as sensible as having Last Light missing a roof, because you shifted a stone somewhere in act 1 and call it 'consequence' - it's a contrivance, and it feels very much undeserved, mean-spirited, and petty.

[Vexillarius]

Originally posted by Moist Butt:

wait is it fine if u kill the ox in act 2? At the very least in act 2 u are given a pretty good reason to kill it. Hoping I didn't fk up my choice.

It's fine. Dammon will be in BG assuming you break the shadow curse.

[Maxknight]

Originally posted by Dαятн Wαfflεmαncεя:

Originally posted by Maxknight:

Thanks for at least weighing in on the issue. I didn't know (how could I have known tbh) that it is related to him?

It's very spoilery....the strange ox is an ooze for whom life in a dungeon is way to exiting and who just wants to live undisturbed the life of an ox, not having to constantly ambush adventurers. It just happens to be the one ox that protects Dammon.
So the connection is rather distant between them, yet while I understand how that can lead to frustration, it's still an awesome little detail in some ways. The solution in my eyes would probably be to still have someone else available for a Karlach fix in act 3...maybe someone who doesn't do it as good as Dammon, but so people who loose Dammon aren't completely screwed...bc there are a couple of ways one can loose Dammon.

Thanks for explaining it at least. It's a cool detail and I really try to get as much info on literally everything before I commit to an action (playing RPG's for 15 years will do that to a person) but I don't see how I could have known that. I thought it was like a Mephit in disguise or something similar. It feels really bad losing out on something like that because you are trying to engage with the game that Larian wants you to engage with. Sorry.