[DLC Idea] Introducing.. the Stag Quest !

[Damos]

I had this idea for a while now !

One of the (minor) complaints that come back pretty often is the lack of easy access to the Tram Stations, and by extension to all the lower parts of Hallownest. The closest Stagway is 3-4 minutes away and, while not being a really long time on its own, it really adds up when you consider how many times the player will take that path back and forth during his playthrough.

Now, it's something that's fully justified by the game design and lore. The Stags can't go that deep into the world and that's why Trams had to take over for transports in those places. Also worth noting is the disdain expressed by the Stag regarding those Trams that he sees as competition and stealing his business. The good old « nature vs technology » theme, but very fitting here, it was lovely detail !

And then, you have the Stag Nest, that secret place in the Howling Cliffs than you unlock after finding all the other Stag Stations. Sure, its a nice easter egg as it is. But with only a soul fragment and a bit of lore (and hope) about the Stags to find, there is no further reason for the player to revisit after or use as a fast travel location. It feels like it could be much more !

That's when the « Stag Quest » would come in play

Objectives
- Further develop the bound between MC and the last Stag
- Give a more meaningful reward to the discovery of the Stag Nest
- Reduce the amount of times player has to walk from King Station to Ancien Bassin tram
- Potentially set things up for future DLC areas

The Quest
The quest would be a dungeon or a new contained area that the player have to explore, starting from the Stag Nest. It would be related to the broken egg and finding out more about the possible survival of a young stag. Ideally, there would be a boss at the end of that dungeon, potentially the one responsible for the massacre of the Stag Nest and/or the capture of the young stag.

As for the dungeon itself, I'm imagining something that would take advantage of the Nest location by providing some vertical climbing platforming sections where the player has to make his way up beyond the clouds, dashing and bouncing off things (and flying ennemies?) until he reaches the top.
The boss could be a giant bird or something similar.

But the specifics don't matter much, because whatever I could think of, Team Cherry would most likely find something 10x better anyway.

Rewards
After completing the quest and returning to the Nest, the Stag will thank the player for helping him search for his kind, no matter if the outcome turned positive or not. And to express his gratitude, he will mention the existence of two « secret » stagways and offer to take us there if we want to.

First stagway would be right next to the Mantis Lords room, with openings to both the Mantis village and the Royal Waterways.
The second one would be at the entrance of Ancient Bassin, one room away from the Tram Station, effectively connecting the two fast travels systems of the game.

Here is an example of how it would look on the map : Link[www.hostingpics.net]

After travelling there with the Stag, the new Stagways would of course have one-sided breakable walls that connect them to their respective areas. Same principle could potentially be applied later to include new stagways related to future DLC areas.

Lore Justification for the 2 new Stagways
- Mantis Lords Stagway : we know that « the mantis tribe and the bugs of old Hallownest have no love for each other » (source[hollowknight.wikia.com]). So, being distrustful and wary of invaders, it make sense that they planned a last resort escape if things come to worst. What better place than a secret Stagway right next to their thrones ? The Stags would have been sworn to secrecy about it, though it's not used or relevant nowadays since the « Mantises outlived their rivals. »

-Ancient Basin Stagway : part of the Mantis Lords escape path, allows them to quickly access the Tram network if necessary. The Stag could maybe have told us earlier about this one, but his hatred for the Tram is still strong and he wouldn't do anything that encourage the player to use it. He only reconsider after the events of the Stag quest and the growing friendship and respect he has for MC.

Integration to the game.
For those who 100% the game already : they can easily go to the Stag Nest anytime to start the new quest and unlock all its rewards, And for those who just got the game or start a new run : Since it's connected to the Stag Nest, it's guaranteed that newcomers wouldn't get the quest introduced too early in the game. Same for the rewards that wouldn't break the progression curve.

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So yeah, the idea is to have the player earn his « quality of life improvement » of easier fast travel instead of just giving it to him. First, finding all 10 stations, then doing (or not) the optional quest from the nest to get the 2 extra ones. All while providing a fun new dungeon to play and adding to the lore.

What do you think ?

[TheBrightKing]

I think that is not a bad idea, but the one on the ancient basin wouldnt make any sense, it would be better one near the hotspring on deepnest.

Why? Because the ancient basin and the palace grounds were a place that only the high siciety could access, thrpugh the tram, the tram tickets were owned only by high society members so only they could access that places.

The stagways were more like a popular transport means not a high class one, so stag stations on ancient basin wont make any sense.

Besides this nitpick the idea is not bad overall

Also i think it shoudnt be taken as a quest but as a favour you do fir the stag, since there are no quests as explicitly quests in the game.

[JapanGamer29]

You've put a lot of thought into it, and I do like the quest idea and additional fast travel points.

I wouldn't buy it, though. I'd much rather *optional* features that make the game easier and less of a grind be patched in for free, and accessible much earlier in the game.

[Damos]

Originally posted by Mr.Striker:

I think that is not a bad idea, but the one on the ancient basin wouldnt make any sense, it would be better one near the hotspring on deepnest.

Why? Because the ancient basin and the palace grounds were a place that only the high siciety could access, thrpugh the tram, the tram tickets were owned only by high society members so only they could access that places.

The stagways were more like a popular transport means not a high class one, so stag stations on ancient basin wont make any sense.

Ah yes, very good point, I didn't think about that at all! I like your idea of deepnest hotspring because it makes more sense thematically while still serving the original purpose of connecting the Stagways to the Tram System.

Also i think it shoudnt be taken as a quest but as a favour you do fir the stag, since there are no quests as explicitly quests in the game.

Totally, "quest" was just a way to phrase it (english is not my native language) but yes, it's definitely a favour done for the stag. I just couldn't find (and still can't) find a better word to describe it lol

[TheBrightKing]

Originally posted by JapanGamer29:

You've put a lot of thought into it, and I do like the quest idea and additional fast travel points.

I wouldn't buy it, though. I'd much rather *optional* features that make the game easier and less of a grind be patched in for free, and accessible much earlier in the game.

A dlc does not need to be paid content, it can be free. And that thing made earlier in the game would not be that good of an idea since it would modify the whole "stags final task" idea that is great imo

[Wincent, The Hollow Knight]

Good idea actually :)

[wataniyob]

Originally posted by JapanGamer29:

You've put a lot of thought into it, and I do like the quest idea and additional fast travel points.

I wouldn't buy it, though. I'd much rather *optional* features that make the game easier and less of a grind be patched in for free, and accessible much earlier in the game.

You don't seem to understand why adding "optional" features involving fast travel would be a problem - there's already a system of fast travel in the game. To add on another means of fast travel would introduce redundancy and one of the two fast travel systems will eventually be discarded as a useful means of travel by late game unless they specifically cover different areas of the map (this is why in my experience the lower tramway is used a lot but the upper tramway is practically worthless due to the stag stations near both ends). If it's the new fast travel system that's discarded, then the system shouldn't have been added in the first place. If it's the original one, then why didn't you design the game around the new one in the first place?

Since the stag stations are already deeply wound into the game's world, I'd much prefer the existing system to be modified rather than an additional "optional" system to be added. The op's idea adds onto the existing system, making it much more feasible to implement without disrupting the current game's mechanics.

Originally posted by Damos:

Originally posted by Mr.Striker:

I think that is not a bad idea, but the one on the ancient basin wouldnt make any sense, it would be better one near the hotspring on deepnest.

Why? Because the ancient basin and the palace grounds were a place that only the high siciety could access, thrpugh the tram, the tram tickets were owned only by high society members so only they could access that places.

The stagways were more like a popular transport means not a high class one, so stag stations on ancient basin wont make any sense.

Ah yes, very good point, I didn't think about that at all! I like your idea of deepnest hotspring because it makes more sense thematically while still serving the original purpose of connecting the Stagways to the Tram System.

I actually think that the Ancient Basin would be the better place to put the station. The stag stations already in the game are located in areas of habitance (Distant Village, King's Station), areas of importance (Queen's Garden, Resting Grounds, Greenpath near Lake of Uhn, Stag Nest), or crossroads for transportation (Queen's Station, Forgotten Crossroads, City Storerooms).

In my opinion, it would make much less sense to place a stag station near a "random" hot spring in the depths of Deepnest when that doesn't fit any of the three "thematic" criteria above. Ancient Basin would at least fit the criteria of it being a place of importance - while the trams would service the high class the stag station would serve the lower class.

[laiken]

This seems to be a great idea! Would love to see it :)