Why are Quests so long?

[Diogenes]

I don't think I want to keep playing this game simply because there's no way to predict how much a quest involves.

Specifically I just did the hunting with Hans quest. Or should I say I just did most(?) of the hunting with Hans quest because I said '♥♥♥♥ it' after it turned into CSI Bohemia.

I wanted to go hunting. I agreed to go hunting.

We went out in to the middle of the woods, and then... waited almost a full 24 hours until dawn the next day.

I went hunting. I got a bunch of rabbits and even a deer. I was way over encumbered by the deer, but whatever I put the meat in the chest at camp and figured I could come back for it once I was done with Hans.

Hans chases after the boar, because Hans is an idiot, and I'm having to toss out even more of my spoils to have a prayer of keeping up with him.

Hans gets captured by bandits and I have to fight them with sub-optimal equipment because I didn't expect to need my shield or best armor for hunting rabbits, but three tries later I took them out without too much trouble.

I drag Hans back to the castle, and I'm thinking; okay that was kind of a long quest, but pretty fun and as soon as I get him squared away I can go back for all that meat I left in the chest.

Only now I have to ride out to investigate a bandit attack, also I'm suddenly over encumbered because they gave me armor and a tabard (without telling me I might add).

So I crawl my way over to the guys and he asks me if I'm ready to leave. I say "Not Yet" because I want to drop off the stuff that's encumbering me, and maybe buy a new shield since the odds of encountering bandits while investigating a bandit attack seems high and I'd rather like to have a shield.

But I'm not halfway to the armorer before I see 'REPUTATION LOST" and fail the quest to meet the guy I JUST TALKED TO in the courtyard and ride out with them. I guess telling them I wasn't ready was pointless.

So I reload and I hobble my encumbered butt onto the horse they gave me (no saddlebag so I can't store my stuff) and I ride out to the farm, and start talking to people, and just give up because I started this quest over 3 real life hours ago by going hunting and I do not want to be investigating a bandit attack. I want to be spending some of the money I got for winning the hunting contest, or selling some of the meat I had to leave in the woods.

So what's the deal, are all quests like this? Should I just give up expecting to be able to do what I want anytime I start a quest?

[Apocalypse]

Very few quests are timed, and even the ones that are usually give alternative options to solving things if you are too slow.
You can take as long as you like for the stables quest too so can just do your thing now.
You also did not have to reload, you only failed riding out with them. Could have just met up with them at the stables

[Wasted]

You just failed an optional objective that barely adds anything, you don't fail the main because of that.
Although you can fail side-quests easily because some of them are timed, so pay attention before getting another quest.
At this point it's better to do them in order instead of completing them all and trying to do all of them at the same time, because you'll fail some of them due to time limit (usually around 3-5 days), so pay attention to what the NPC says when you accept his quest, they usually warn you if it's limited or not.

[Diogenes]

Originally posted by Wasted:

You just failed an optional objective that barely adds anything, you don't fail the main because of that.
Although you can fail side-quests easily because some of them are timed, so pay attention before getting another quest.
At this point it's better to do them in order instead of completing them all and trying to do all of them at the same time, because you'll fail some of them due to time limit (usually around 3-5 days), so pay attention to what the NPC says when you accept his quest, they usually warn you if it's limited or not.

I am not upset about failing the objective, I am concerned that EVERY quest is going to expect me to block off 3+ of my real life hours to complete before I can pause and say... sleep to save.

I am not interested in blocking off 3+ hours of my day every time I want to do a single quest because they all start out as a hunting trip and end up a crime scene investigation.

I'm also a little annoyed that a hunting trip can roll right into a crime scene investigation without so much as a break to buy new gear or get sell the product of the hunting trip before it spoils.

[Akboris]

The pacing in the game is off, holy ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ♥♥♥♥ I doubt this guy has played the monastery yet jesus christ, honestly my guy it gets worse

[Halfcut_Clarkey]

The game automatically saves when you quit. You can do the quests in little ten minute segments if you really want to.

But to answer your original question, yes, a lot of the quests are long. Not all, by any means, but long quests are definitely a thing.

Personally, I don't see this as a draw back. I'd much prefer a game that tries to be a bit original in its approach to quests than muck about with and endless sequence of 15 minute cookie-cutter fetch-quests that you find in most open-world games. Still, to each their own.

[Bandy]

In all the years since KS backer on WH forum, and on steam forum, never saw this 'complaint' before. Guess it all depends on games you've played and attention span of the player... OP, not all games meant for everyone, no shame in that. Often people come back to games years later that don't click and now suddenly do.

And monastery quest is an absolute gem in RPG design, from pers experience it captures that feeling of a cloistered world-within-a-world. Not everyone gets it, fewer enjoy it, but it is optional if you don't want to do it (and get that).

[Diogenes]

People seem to be misunderstanding me so allow me to try and clarify.

It is less about 'this took forever to do' and more 'this started out as one thing, and then turned into a whole other thing without any chance for me to do anything in between.'

The quest was 'accompany Hans on a hunting trip' and it took be three in game days and three real life hours to complete and WAS NOT COMPLETED WHEN I RETURNED FROM HUNTING WITH HANS.

I was only free to go do something else without consequence after I did a whole other section that didn't even involve the person I started the quest with.

I don't know anything about any Monastery Quest. I just know I'm probably not going to do the main quest-line because I don't know if agreeing to fetch someone milk will end up requiring me to murder the Pope before I can pause to go buy food or repair my armor.

If I agree to say, cloister myself in a monastery for a year, I expect that will take some amount of time before I am allowed to leave the monastery; because that's what I signed up for.

If I agree to go hunting with a guy, I do not expect that will require me to interview witnesses to a bandit attack before I'm allowed to go sell the meat I got from hunting.

EVERYTHING I got from hunting with Hans was spoiled before I could do anything with it. Why even give it to me?

[Bandy]

Originally posted by Diogenes:

People seem to be misunderstanding...

It is less about 'this took forever to do' and more 'this started out as one thing, and then turned into a whole other thing without any chance for me to do anything in between.'
...

Fair enough, but have to be honest, most players want quests to have unexpected aspects, that they are not predictable fetch quests and not always as they seem to be. Right? Many deride games for having just 'fetch quests', so be careful what you ask for...

So recommend you get the 'save anywhere anytime' mod at nexus when you don't have the time to play it out and need to do just that.

https://www.nexusmods.com/kingdomcomedeliverance/mods/1

[Diogenes]

Originally posted by Bandy:

Originally posted by Diogenes:

People seem to be misunderstanding...

It is less about 'this took forever to do' and more 'this started out as one thing, and then turned into a whole other thing without any chance for me to do anything in between.'
...

Fair enough, but have to be honest, most players want quests to have unexpected aspects, that they are not as they seem to be. Recommend you get the 'save anywhere anytime' time at nexus when you don't have the time to play it out and need to do just that.

I would qualify "The guy you went hunting with gets captured by bandits" as an unexpected aspect of the quest.

I would not qualify "Now go investigate an attack on a horse ranch." as an unexpected aspect of the quest. I would qualify that as a whole different adventure completely unrelated to the hunting trip.

Like, the hunting trip ends when you bring Hans back. The issue is that The Quest does not.

[Bandy]

see my edits...

[Apocalypse]

The hunting quest does end after returning with Hans and the stud farm is technically a new quest and you dont have to do anything with it immediatly, but it does seem urgent and start automatically yeah which makes that a bit unclear, especially after the failed notification for not riding out with them.
But what you wanted was possible at that moment.
Ow and btw, you can actually store your loot on the free horse you get immediatly, forgot to mention that.

[Diogenes]

It's not really an issue of saving. I could have just saved & quit at any time.

It's... knowing what I'm getting into. Or rather, being ALLOWED to prepare for what I think I'm getting into.

I could've brought my full armor on the hunting trip and having it would have made fighting the bandits who captured Hans much easier. But I didn't expect to need it on a hunting trip. Which, really, is fine. That's just the story including unexpected turns. Nobody EXPECTS to get captured by bandits.

But then, rather than the game giving me the ability to do what I want after getting Hans to safety. It does that cut scene where Henry gets promote and gets given a horse.

And like, even in-setting there's probably a couple hours if not a couple days there between dragging Hans home and riding out to the horse ranch. It's just that the game denies you that time. You don't get to do anything with that time. You don't get to sell the rabbit meat you almost-definitely have because hunting rabbits is a quest objective. You don't get to patch up your armor if it's damaged or ruined from fighting the bandits. You don't get to spend the 100 coin Hans gives you if you beat him at rabbit hunting.

You don't even get to go "Okay I am not prepared to deal with bandits, because I am still packed for a hunting trip."

Like, I had a shield. I had better armor. I was specifically not carrying those things because I was going hunting and those things are both noisy and heavy. These are game mechanics. Hunting would be more difficult if I had worn them, and less rewarding if I had brought them because they take up a lot of inventory weight.

Not that going hunting was rewarding anyway because all the meat was rotten before the game allowed me the freedom to talk to a merchant.

Even doing the quest wasn't that rewarding. I could get 90 coin for winning a mid-range archery contest in the other town and that takes maybe two minutes.

I am actively avoiding engaging with the quests because:

I don't know what they're going to involve, so I have no way of knowing if I'm prepared for a given quest; should I bring my bard's potion on my hunting trip on the off chance I'll have to interrogate any witnesses? What about my chain mail?

I don't know when they're going to let me break to change more gear, get more food, brew more save-potions, or even just sleep. Should I head out to every single quest with 100 food 100 sleep and enough dried food for a week in the woods? How many bandages do you think we'll need to learn how to read?

---

Like, the saving is annoying because if I am saving before going into a fight I probably don't want my character to be boozed up for it. And I do not understand why you can save at your home bed but at no other beds. And NONE of this was ever explained to me in-game. I sold a huge amount of my Save Potions because I thought they were just liquor until I noticed I was drunk after making a manual save and finally saw the floppy disk in the potion bottle.

Like, would the immersion really be ruined if the item description were "This is the consumable item you use to create a save when away from your home." Or if at any point there were a tutorial telling you the esoteric and unclear rules for when where and how you can create a save?

But the pacing is what makes me actively consider uninstalling. I tend to give introductions more leeway, but I literally was not holding my controller when the dude with the great club killed me and stole Dad's sword because there's a 10 minute cut scene immediately before and again immediately after that fight.

And I am certain the only reasons that fight wasn't just, part of the cut scene is because people have been annoyed with scripted losses since Aerith died, and because then it would be a cut scene longer than a standard sitcom episode.

[Bandy]

Originally posted by Diogenes:

It's not really an issue of saving. I could have just saved & quit at any time.

It's... knowing what I'm getting into. Or rather, being ALLOWED to prepare for what I think I'm getting into. ...

OK, then it's a 'you' issue, not the game. Can't plan for everything, life ain't like that, and good games make sure you remember it because they are precisely unpredictable.

Get the mod, save when and as you need. You'll enjoy the game a lot more I suspect.

[Diogenes]

Originally posted by Bandy:

Originally posted by Diogenes:

It's not really an issue of saving. I could have just saved & quit at any time.

It's... knowing what I'm getting into. Or rather, being ALLOWED to prepare for what I think I'm getting into. ...

OK, then it's a 'you' issue, not the game. Can't plan for everything, life ain't like that, and good games make sure you remember it because they are precisely unpredictable.

Get the mod, save when and as you need. You'll enjoy the game a lot more I suspect.

This is an incredibly rude response.

Recognizing that different equipment is optimal for different situations and wanting to engage with that is a "me issue"?

[Bandy]

Originally posted by Diogenes:

Originally posted by Bandy:

OK, then it's a 'you' issue, not the game. Can't plan for everything, life ain't like that, and good games make sure you remember it because they are precisely unpredictable.

Get the mod, save when and as you need. You'll enjoy the game a lot more I suspect.

This is an incredibly rude response.

Recognizing that different equipment is optimal for different situations and wanting to engage with that is a "me issue"?

Rude? You need to look the word up, and\or grow a thicker skin for online use.

Yes, wake up, it is a 'you' issue if the game play does not suit your expected pattern of game constraints. As said, good games have quests that are unpredictable; stop trying to make this game fit into your expectations. No "rude response" except in your rarefied worldview.