Loosing the "Will to explore"

[nakor]

Oh hello, welcome to this thread *stops watering the plants and offers a place to sit and points at the map*

You know, first I thought the will to explore would be a wonderous way to explore the area, gain interessting insights and find some hints or plants along the way... maybe I'm just unlucky, but when I take a look at interessting places...

... the lucky outcome is that the game finds a nice way to tell me that there is nothing there. (mostly when I try named places)

... the average outcome is the game telling me bluntly that there isn't anything there (mostly when I don't take a named place)

... the unlucky outcome is, that the game punishes me for trying to explore because obviously I somehow should have known that the sisterhood doesn't like me to be there or the place is having another problem...

So please tell me... did you ever found anything other than the above if you actually had the "will to explore" yourself outside of looking at the places from the letters or the riddles? Or did you also bascially lost your "will to explore" on your own outside of the occations where the game explicitly hints you where to go?

*looks curious and gestures invitingly to some tea on the table before pouring a bit of it into a cup and sipping on it while petting the cat* So... what were your experiences?

[bad_fur_day1]

No I didn't find any good reason to explore the map other than being directed to specific areas. It seemed like anything you'd need to find for a specific use you'd already be directed to beforehand.

[nakor]

After playing it several days further I also got that impression. It seems that "The Will to Explore" is not actually a way to incentivize the players to go out exploring on their own, but rather meant as a tool to keep them from exactly doing that even when confronted with a map with so many interessting sounding places on it.

It seems that the primary idea from a game developer perspective was to be able to put a timer on explorations, so that when the players actually try to solve the riddles, follow the hints etc. they would indeed think first and then look at a place instead of wild guessing and clicking constantly everywhere on the map.

Well... I guess it worked the way it was suppossed to. Even being aware of it all, the game still feels surprisingly athmospheric I'd say :-)