Monastery quest made me quit the game after 75 hours of play.

[astronaut0001]

This quest was the nail in the coffin for me, it epitomised the grindy, tedious nature of the game. The main quest line is reasonable, but most of the side quests are slow and tedious affairs. But let me explain my monastery experience:

I join the monastery, it takes me a while to realise how to trigger it, I have to give up my possessions, but the map doesn't show depth for quest markers and it takes me awhile to find the correct box to place my stuff in (it was the room downstairs). Then once I'm in and I've discovered the guy I'm supposed to kill, I agree to spare him and then I get some food together to sell for some lockpicks. But I'm caught and my items are removed and I'm sent to jail. When I get out I have to go through my daily routine, YAWN, pray, eat, and then daily task. I make a couple of potions and a load of lazarus potions to sell for the locpicks (genius right?) having done all this I go on a search for the monk that sells the lockpicks. I can't find him anywhere (no quest markers, as usual), and in the meantime I'm stopped by a circator and arrested for violence (What? when?), put in jail and have all the potions taken from me. Now I've been playing the game for half an hour, most of which was running around like a cretin searching for brother lockpicks and listening to walls of text from some extremely boring old monks. I suck it up and go through my daily routine again, prayer, breakfast, chores. I brew more lazarus potions to sell for the lockpicks and go on the hunt for the elusive lockpicks seller, he's always around at breakfast but I can't buy ♥♥♥♥ off him without something to trade. I search online (now I'm cheating) to find out where this monk hides himself and he's apparently founf in the kitchens. BUT the kitchens and all surrounding rooms are empty of monks, there is nobody there. Of course having looked around the kitchens and surrounding area for a while I have been stopped by the circator three times which means it's back to jail and all my ♥♥♥♥ gets taken away again. This time I refuse and refuse again, having had all I can tolerate from this mission, then I am thrown from the monastery and subsequently fail the mission.

I hope the reading of this is as painful as my experience of the mission. It was actually this mission that finally turned on a little lightbulb in my head that said 'You know what mate? this game is not fun.' And it's true, the game is dull. The fights are few and far between. The side quests are tedious fetch and deliver quests. The so called 'immersive' game is mostly a mess, with dumb AI that can see through walls and have some kind of sixth sense to know when you've commited a crime, and even goes so far as to make up crimes you didn't even commit. I've absolutely no more will to play the game further. It's weird having played 75 hours of a game only to put it down before resolving it, but I honestly don't care what happens any more. So that's it.

[Bankai9212]

Here's the thing even with different options, once you know the solution you'll either kill or call out the fake to move on. It just drags the games pacing maybe if you did different things each day and move time once a task is done. But no it just drags

[Bandy]

Well, if nothing else, the debate around this thread has been mature and without too much personal insult... :) so that's a positive step. LOL...

Yes, some KCD quest lines can be tedious, I agree. Sometimes gamers must transcend the norm and be challenged by what they don't expect. It's all relative to life's little lessons, and while we are all trying to escape that tedious bit of reality, many aspects of KCD are doing it quite masterfully, just IMHO...

[astronaut0001]

I just read all your posts, it was nice to get some mature replies, I was expecting 'git gud', 'we won't miss you' etc.

The point I was making was mostly understood, but the Monastery was simply the tipping point for me. I don't need help with the mission, I could have grinded it out, or read a guide or something but after all the time wasted on that quest, it made me realise how much time I had wasted on the game, and I regretted I had ever played it, despite enjoying it for a good 40 hours. But the game didn't keep me enthralled enough to keep playing to the end, it actually made me give up. And after a month I still have absolutely no wish to play it further.

I find that this game is not immersive, at all. It seems they took skyrim and dropped magic, made levelling slower, made the skills as mundane as possible and based it on real history, then released it into the world. But the fetch quests abound: the one where you exorcise the ghost is particularly agonising. The main story was interesting and I liked how it's based on history. I liked how weak and insignificant you start out as, and at that point you do feel immersed, but the immersion soon vanishes when the ugly mechanics of the game are unearthed.

So it is in a rather disappointed disposition I say Farewell to this game and this discussion.

[Count D'Cinamon]

Originally posted by astronaut0001:

I just read all your posts, it was nice to get some mature replies, I was expecting 'git gud', 'we won't miss you' etc.

The point I was making was mostly understood, but the Monastery was simply the tipping point for me. I don't need help with the mission, I could have grinded it out, or read a guide or something but after all the time wasted on that quest, it made me realise how much time I had wasted on the game, and I regretted I had ever played it, despite enjoying it for a good 40 hours. But the game didn't keep me enthralled enough to keep playing to the end, it actually made me give up. And after a month I still have absolutely no wish to play it further.

I find that this game is not immersive, at all. It seems they took skyrim and dropped magic, made levelling slower, made the skills as mundane as possible and based it on real history, then released it into the world. But the fetch quests abound: the one where you exorcise the ghost is particularly agonising. The main story was interesting and I liked how it's based on history. I liked how weak and insignificant you start out as, and at that point you do feel immersed, but the immersion soon vanishes when the ugly mechanics of the game are unearthed.

So it is in a rather disappointed disposition I say Farewell to this game and this discussion.

Well quite ashame that you wont be finishing the game bu to each their own. And at the end of the day game are meant to be fun to play and if this game is not something that's up your alley then its best to move on.

while i could understand your point and opinion, i think some of it is a bit unfair. I think some side quest in this game is quite enjoyable. Some of the story in these side quests is actually quite interesting with one of my favourite would be the quest that you get from Hunt Master of Talmberg.

as for the monestary quest, i could get it that it's not for everyone and i personally dont like it as much even tho at the same time quite intrigued by it. But well the sad thing is you are missing, for me, the most interesting part in the Main Quest. That is the next few quests right after that monestary quest till the end. And those mission ahead does provide you with more actions and stuff.

with that said tbh i wish you would consider not giving up just yet. you are quite close to some good interesting part of the Main Quest but again its up to you.

lastly, seems to me you complain quite much about the AI.
"The so called 'immersive' game is mostly a mess, with dumb AI that can see through walls and have some kind of sixth sense to know when you've commited a crime, and even goes so far as to make up crimes you didn't even commit"

but im afraid i can't say that i relate to this sentiment. AI for me has been alright for the most part. In fact i'd rather complain about how stupid they could be at times for not noticing me doing certain things instead of complaining how OP their sights are etc.

I never seen the case of AI able to see thru walls and found me out while im sneaking. When it happened, its usually caused by a noise (dog, failed lockpick, noisy gear) which would make sense why the AI even bother checking things out.

If the AI indeed that garbage that they can see thru walls for no reason, i woudln't be able to literally sneak below a platform while there's enemy patrol walking on it without getting detected. But i can.

And for the crime thing, i thing its just a case of a bug or some thing like that where maybe you accidentally skipped time a bit too long and then you are considered late or something like that. can't deny that that monestary quest can be a bit wanky but i never experience any made up crime problem outside that quest and if i can assume you only saying this just because of that one time when it unfortunately happened in that monestary quest.

[theo]

Too bad. I found the monastery part the most cool and immersive. Even made a separate playline to come back and live monastic life when I feel like it.
If you have ADHD there are other less tedious ways around this quest. Paying bandits a sum of money or simply breaking in and killing whoever you think Pious is.

Originally posted by astronaut0001:

I have to give up my possessions, but the map doesn't show depth for quest markers and it takes me awhile to find the correct box to place my stuff in (it was the room downstairs).

Wow. Such a troublesome, poorly designed game. Imagine how you would play those old RPGs where there are no quest markers at all and you actually have to read and listen to figure out where to go.

[Count D'Cinamon]

Originally posted by Myll:

I understand where the OP is coming from, but offer a different take - the game wants to portray real history but fails to give realistic missions and game play. Let's use some logic here:
- Main character and protagonist Henry sees his family slaughtered by an army of mixed forces in support of the would-be king.
- Henry has a run-in with bandits and a bandit leader in particular that prevented him from getting closure and burying his parents, while also losing out on fulfilling his father's last wishes (deliver the sword to the noble).

So...where are all the combat missions intended to counter both of those?
Where is the desire to "go home" to Skalitz and rebuild that would be natural among those who were put out?

Instead, the Dev's took a left turn toward unrealistic efforts to craft a video game. And, without real closure and impact of decisions seen out by the player/character Henry. I harped on this in another thread, but - take the Scavenger quest, where Beran is the guy you should be helping out as a former neighbor to get his stashed valuable goblet and coin. You don't get his help to go retrieve the items - must do it solo. That was a great moment to potentially gain a temp 2-person mission to go back and start the first of a "fight for Skalitz" return/rebuild effort. Instead, it's a Treasure Hunt to fulfill the debt of the town drunk who owed the family money. Really? For a game that wants to show an immorality and corruption problem in the church, it has no fulfilling game play that supports good morals (here's your 20 coin back for telling me about Kunesh trying to get you to do the mission for him instead). As if all church morality were dead during the time of this war, and morality had no benefit.

The Dev's have a background collage of history/facts, yet then proceed to portray a 21st century refugee simulator. And a play-a-monk simulator. And play-like-you're-a-noble simulator. And play dice simulator. And play archery simulator. And play sword fighting (w/Bernard) simulator. And flower picking. And shallow romance.

But where is the focus and character improvement in the revenge and rebuild lanes? I see many forum threads about players doing all the training with Bernard, and doing various schemes to raise funds to pay for "Training" (that you don't see/experience but just click and pay for...) -- all to power-level their character for a single fight with Runt(?)!. And clear the map of most threats in not so many fights over time, grinding to a final battle that seems a quick-ending.

I think the Dev's failed to weigh the mission percentages toward what would be motivations for a character in this situation. There would be many more missions oriented at degrading the would-be king's forces or logistics tail. Raids (look 'em up, kids), rather than large field battles.
There would be more missions at not just the Runt character, but anyone who isn't getting "on board" to align with King Wenc and his allies. Technically, it would not be a "rebellion" or insurgency - it would be a "God save the King" moment in the game. Find pro-King Wenc allies. Build small raiding forces. Support and rebuild Skalitz and surrounding area. Raid isolated Cuman parties (with small groups, not continual solo 1 on 3 silly fights that mechanically don't work well with the combat system they made).

The Kunesh fight up front - you can get your "Friends" to help. But - they don't have the same desire as you to train and arm up and join the effort to help the King? The friends are just looking for a job that pays the most with the least work so they can keep drinking?

And....Henry can't effectively help/work for coin at actual Blacksmithing, really? Can fetch/grab quest for them. And Henry has zero "Repair" skill as a former Blacksmith's son? Maybe Dev's shortchanged the "varying start conditions" option here. Could have had Henry be the son of any of the occupations related to "Skills" with dad having made/obtained an item related to that. Lacks immersion in the lane you start from. Your character drinks/gets drunk more than working in the craft your dad would have taught you.

I could go on a while, but - the OP is right in that - there are moments in this game that it simply becomes tedious without reward. If Dev's made the tedious filled with a world-class education on history, then - ok, could see the trade off (but there isn't). Or, the tedious was out-weighed by fantastic game play which helps bring both immersion and closure in a revenge-minded protagonist, and in technical terms -- a combat system that isn't trying to be 21st century Dragon's Lair (click at just the right time in the right direction).

I've been reading thru the comments and i know its been a few weeks old but pretty interesting points you got. but here's the thing.

This game by any mean is not a fantasy game and is quite grounded in reality. If you think that the 'realistic' approach for Henry to take revenge on what happened to him is to wanted to rebuild and take back Skalitz then i don't know what to tell you. Henry grow up as a son of a blacksmith with little to no money nor any experience with weapon that much up until the faithful day of the raid. You expect him to wanting to bring back order to Skalitz when its abandoned by even Radzig and rebuild it? and say that its the natural and 'realistic' way?

Henry in the game have a natural and realistic ambition; which is to get back his father's sword and find the bastard responsible for killing his parents.

So...where are all the combat missions intended to counter both of those?

pretty much the whole main quest maybe? up until the very end he's still on track with that ambition i mentioned. He didn't forget about it and the main quest still somewhat revolved around it. If you did finish KCD you will know this.

For a game that wants to show an immorality and corruption problem in the church, it has no fulfilling game play that supports good morals (here's your 20 coin back for telling me about Kunesh trying to get you to do the mission for him instead). As if all church morality were dead during the time of this war, and morality had no benefit.

Morality has never been about benefit even in real life. Its about, again, morality. You shouldnt expect lets say a benefit just because you did charity for example. i cant comment much about this since i feel like i havent fully understand what your point is in this part so please feel free to enlighten me more on this if you do read this as i see this as an interesting point nonetheless.

But where is the focus and character improvement in the revenge and rebuild lanes?...

I think the Dev's failed to weigh the mission percentages toward what would be motivations for a character in this situation. There would be many more missions oriented at degrading the would-be king's forces or logistics tail. Raids (look 'em up, kids), rather than large field battles.
There would be more missions at not just the Runt character, but anyone who isn't getting "on board" to align with King Wenc and his allies. Technically, it would not be a "rebellion" or insurgency - it would be a "God save the King" moment in the game. Find pro-King Wenc allies. Build small raiding forces. Support and rebuild Skalitz and surrounding area. Raid isolated Cuman parties (with small groups, not continual solo 1 on 3 silly fights that mechanically don't work well with the combat system they made)

as i mentioned earlier, there's still focus on the revenge thing going on with Henry with him still trying to find out where the hell his father sword is and find a way to get his hand on the bastard who killed his parents. Up until the very end of the game.

and no i dont think the dev failed to weigh the mission toward these motivations. They did it in a realistic and historically accurate way. And here's why:

1) Rebuilding and retaking Skalitz back isn't possible to be done at the time when the game is going on. Radzig has lost most of his men and people as well as prob most of his wealth with the mine raid. The other lords also have suffered enough with the on going instability in the province, skirmishes and all economical problem thats been happening because of the war. In that sense do you think its possible to rebuild skalitz from the ground up, keeping it in order, while at the same time deal with the remaining threat left behind by Sigismund?

the answer is no. Radzig doesnt have enough men to maintain order in large area and he lacks the funding to rebuild the village. The other lords also have their own set of problems and with a big threat still present on the province i doubt they could spare more men and funding either. If you own Band of Bastards DLC, this sentiment would be presented strongly with Radzig saying that maybe the least he can do for now is to hire a band of mercenary to keep the order in the mean time. and that even cost him nothing anyway thats why he agreed to hire this mercenary band (wont spoil the story)

again, this is no fantasy game where you can just rebuild a village with no problem as if money and men power isnt a real thing just for the sake of plot.

2) The on going war with Sigismund isn't a simple matter of "uh oh sigismund bad. we fight for freedom and justice >:(" just like the real life history. There's a lot of politic involved within the empire. Radzig, Divish, and Hanush are just minor lords. King Wenceslas despite being a king is powerless with him being a hostage and everything. Sigismund on the other hand have powerful allies (The league of lords) from major big houses. At least that is up until the raid in Kuttenberg and now Skalitz. So you see, if we are being realistic here, would you rather gamble the entire province and fight a frontal fight against Sigismund and his massive army which is basically a mindless suicide mission OR attempt a diplomatic way, trying to gain allies thru diplomatic action instead of frontal confrontation right away and slowly pulling the power from sigismund?

The "God save the king" moment is not realistic. Theres no sane smart person would follow a blind devotion for a lost cause. It's a good mindset for a soldier but not for a lord. This game is basically trying to be historically close to the history its based of and you have a problem with that, saying its unrealistic or whatever?

and all of this is explained in the epilogue. That everything might not be as simple and as straight forward as it seems. if you actually finish the game before making these points and complaints you would know this.

3) the part where you say

The Kunesh fight up front - you can get your "Friends" to help. But - they don't have the same desire as you to train and arm up and join the effort to help the King? The friends are just looking for a job that pays the most with the least work so they can keep drinking?

and so what? Do you think we live in a fairy tale land where people would have blind devotion toward the king, and the not so popular one mind you, and willing to risk their live and stuff? Small people would care if not for themselves, maybe to their local community but realistically why should small people care and willing to risk their life for a lord thats so far from them?

i think the game did a good job potraying this aspect in a realistic way. Small people dont care who wear the crown as long as they could lived peacefully and in prosperity. maybe to some extend they care if the lord is such a good figure that actually make positive impact for their lifes.

lastly,

And....Henry can't effectively help/work for coin at actual Blacksmithing, really? Can fetch/grab quest for them. And Henry has zero "Repair" skill as a former Blacksmith's son? Maybe Dev's shortchanged the "varying start conditions" option here. Could have had Henry be the son of any of the occupations related to "Skills" with dad having made/obtained an item related to that. Lacks immersion in the lane you start from. Your character drinks/gets drunk more than working in the craft your dad would have taught you.

this is not true. Henry doesnt start with zero repair skill. He know the basic and you can use it to repair stuff with small damage. Why? he is still young. he is an apprentice, not yet that well trained in blacksmithing. It make sense. Repairing a more badly damaged item would require more skill than an apprentice. And the optional starting background doesnt make that much sense since we aren't making our own character here so if we follow the formula of pre made character, alternative start background story is unnecesary.

[r3d834rd]

yeah the monastery quest is a non-issue. You don't need to do any of the schedule nonsense if you don't want to.

[Eisbär]

So you have no patience and this game is not your thing. Great. Next! Personally I like to take things slow every now and then and although I loathe religion the monastery was interesting for me. The game has it's stronger and weaker points, like any game, or any thing in life really. I enjoyed it enough to start a third playthrough and I sure hope there will be a second part.

[ZenDragon]

hahahahahahahahahahahah. ... it's not about fulfilling game play and the game being required to maintain your attention and reward your poor little ADHD, spoon fed little mind... If you play this game like a checklist where you go from place to place and complete each task... like some little robot following a data path... well, youre right.. a 'legend of Zelda' game will prob be more your style... But, if there was a way that the indicators on the map were all shut off and the map was more a reference only and you had to figure everything out by asking around the people, that would be better immersion... the quest indicators that are in the game are an unfortunate necessity as basically 'training wheels' for wittle gamers who cant fwigure stuff out cause of all the words and weading is hard and stuff'.... In the monastary, you were supposed to be pretending to be a monk... following the schedule of a monk... I did that for 4-5? days in game until I had the routine down ... before I really even started investigating... I played as if I was Henry.... and doing what henry would do... and yeah, there is some boredom and monotony involved in monastic living... if you felt that... TADAH, the effect was done well! These guy really get the difference between immersive, role-playing choices and following task marker to task marker completing each tick point on a 'percent complete' list.... and I think they could even lead the latter to a certain, basic ending or result but also include a more rewarding and elaborate possibility not indicated through game mechanics.. but , an intuitive and logical course of action reached by players merely doing what the character would do.... I assume players that complain about things like this in games are ones that dismiss dialog as 'boring fluff and window dressing' and skip through the actual conversations when they 'get the gist of what needs to happen' .... and feel that maybe they need to stick to their level of game complexity, they don't realize that their 'negative review' about what they consider developer failures... in actuality only identifies them as a gamer of a certain level of comprehension and ability and highlights what makes the game appealing to a more advanced level of gamer.... if you notice, with games made for young children, the simplicity of problem-solving tasks are more pronounced and generally visual indicators and 'signposts' are needed as hand-holding devices to progress the story and maintain the interest of the kids with embellished voices, animations or appealing content.... and the games we consider for more adolescent players and then young adults progressively lose the gimmicky and cartoonish themes and lessen the amount the game points the way for you and requires the player to problem solve and investigate... I wish the quest indicators werent available.. that you had to remeber what the NPCs said and use that to work out the next move... but, a game loses its marketablility and sales when it doesn't include 'training wheels' so that the average consumer can feel they could at least bang on some buttons and play along.. until it gets too much for them and they can go write a review like this

[Bandy]

Wall of text 'dood', it's one long sentence with no punctuation, how can you criticize someone's post when you are poster child for ADHD... LOL...

[tybogner]

I'm gonna be the devils advocate here (lol) and say that this mission with the stuffy old monks was boring as hell. As soon as I realized what it was going to be about, after the very first mass, I killed the sh*t out of pious with my bare hands and booked it outside the monastery where my horse (and kit) were waiting for me. One thing I did appreciate about the whole experience is the game did allow me to do this, or anything else I wanted. Maybe I will try this mission again in the future. For now it is WAY too time consuming and confusing, as far as the tasks go, to be worth my spare time. Now to be fair, I work full time and am not all that interested in the church/monastery. So this quest was not worth my off time, nor was it my cup of tea.

[Wasted]

Originally posted by tybogner:

I'm gonna be the devils advocate here (lol) and say that this mission with the stuffy old monks was boring as hell. As soon as I realized what it was going to be about, after the very first mass, I killed the sh*t out of pious with my bare hands and booked it outside the monastery where my horse (and kit) were waiting for me. One thing I did appreciate about the whole experience is the game did allow me to do this, or anything else I wanted. Maybe I will try this mission again in the future. For now it is WAY too time consuming and confusing, as far as the tasks go, to be worth my spare time. Now to be fair, I work full time and am not all that interested in the church/monastery. So this quest was not worth my off time, nor was it my cup of tea.

You can complete this quest in multiple ways, one of them is just lockpick one of the backdoors and kill the guy, it's like 5 minutes or so. Most quests in KCD are that way, you can do them as quest suggests with all the side options, but you also can do them quick.
The only thing is this guy is hard to pickpocket for his dice, so it's faster to kill him and run.

[DargonBlak]

Originally posted by tybogner:

I'm gonna be the devils advocate here ...

devil's advocate or troll ?

4 year old post - if you have something new to say, start a new post.

the OP probably considers this one resolved.