[Mid Game Spoilers] Names and Soul Eaters

[Zloth]

Crow eating time: Looks like it *IS* possible to get through this without giving out names! Leaving the rest of this up anyway as it started a good conversation.

Original Post....

For well over 100 hours I've been seeing a tip telling me that letting soul eaters know your name gives them a lot more power. When the nasty bird asked me a question that led to a lot of options with my name in it and one without, I knew not to give my name. When it happened again, I knew for sure I had made the right decision. Then some old witch blurts it out anyway! Hmmm... maybe I made some wrong choices earlier that resulted in that?

Then I get into the dungeon and there's the bird again, trying to get my companions' names! Again, pick the option that doesn't give any names out and... a random companion blurts his name out!?!? And a little bit later it happens again but this time the random companion is my healer! Yeah, I'm going to need him to fix whatever damage the game is going to hit me with, re-load and pick Val.

I did manage the ensuing nastiness from the soul eaters (and Tristan would have been in a world of hurt if I hadn't re-loaded) but pretending that I've actually got a choice in how things are going to turn out when I really don't is terrible design! At least with my own name the dialog played out a little differently but, with my companions, you flat out change my decision the instant I make it!

Having this as part of the main quest is just crazy. But putting a tip in saying we should not give out names then forcing us to do so!? I'm sorry Owlcat but that is the worst case of "false choice" I've ever seen.

P.S. I see from an older topic that this story actually comes from the source material. Sorry, but that's no excuse. This is definitely a case where you needed to part from the source material and it certainly doesn't excuse the tips. (Though at least it *is* a reason. It's really strange seeing something like this in otherwise fine quest design. I was thinking maybe this was the result of some kickstarter "help us design a quest" reward!)

[RunicLibrarian]

After reading the journal, I'm curious what bracelet he is referring to. I can't seem to remember any kind of important bracelet for this series of quests of Varnhold Vanishing. Possibly more importantly, he mentions sleeping "in the hills" causing him to head toward the dungeon. I wonder if resting in a certain area while the quest is active is part of the solution, or possibly resting in the correct place alone?

[Three-Headed-Monkey]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Zer0darkfire:

After reading the journal, I'm curious what bracelet he is referring to. I can't seem to remember any kind of important bracelet for this series of quests of Varnhold Vanishing. Possibly more importantly, he mentions sleeping "in the hills" causing him to head toward the dungeon. I wonder if resting in a certain area while the quest is active is part of the solution, or possibly resting in the correct place alone?

the bracelet is vordakai's ring, he stole it from him and thats how that whole varnhold situation started :P
that mysterious force that lead him to vordakai's tomb was nyrissa (i dont think thats a spoiler that far into the story, but better be safe)

[RunicLibrarian]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Three-Headed-Monkey:

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Zer0darkfire:

After reading the journal, I'm curious what bracelet he is referring to. I can't seem to remember any kind of important bracelet for this series of quests of Varnhold Vanishing. Possibly more importantly, he mentions sleeping "in the hills" causing him to head toward the dungeon. I wonder if resting in a certain area while the quest is active is part of the solution, or possibly resting in the correct place alone?

the bracelet is vordakai's ring, he stole it from him and thats how that whole varnhold situation started :P
that mysterious force that lead him to vordakai's tomb was nyrissa (i dont think thats a spoiler that far into the story, but better be safe)

Ah gotcha, I'm going to go with the "resting in a certain location" theory for now then. I don't see too much else of help in the journal.

[Zloth]

As long as you've got it... maybe type it in to one of the game's wiki systems?

[Babbles]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Three-Headed-Monkey:

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Babbles:

What happens at the fight? Do any Soul Eaters spawn? Just the 'secondary ones (which are more powerful than the ones that know names, lol)' - is there even an encounter?

Also, if you split the sisters can you still give a false name? Or do you to the eclipse disk thingy after Vordakai?

out of the "empowered" soul eaters, only the one with kaessi's name will appear, mentions something about a wrong target and will disappear shortly afterwards. the real fight with 6? soul eater afterwards still happens though.
(i did the eclipse quest prior to that, but i dont see how that should have any impact, because at this point only your character knows of their true identity)

during the vordakai encounter itself, it has no impact on the dialogue sadly.

Heh, I thought of that in bed the other night, what a silly question about the eclipse disk thingy :)

Well, the real fight still happens, so not much gained by there aformentioned 'complicated way' ...

[Babbles]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Zer0darkfire:

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Three-Headed-Monkey:

the bracelet is vordakai's ring, he stole it from him and thats how that whole varnhold situation started :P
that mysterious force that lead him to vordakai's tomb was nyrissa (i dont think thats a spoiler that far into the story, but better be safe)

Ah gotcha, I'm going to go with the "resting in a certain location" theory for now then. I don't see too much else of help in the journal.

Hills being Bald Hilltop maybe?

[hamtidamti]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Three-Headed-Monkey:

that mysterious force that lead him to vordakai's tomb was nyrissa (i dont think thats a spoiler that far into the story, but better be safe)

Are you sure about that? Wasn't it rather the horned hunter who pulled the strings? Although, admittedly, it is not fully clear to me at the moment whether the two were rivaling forces of the first world or rather mistress and servant ...

[Babbles]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από hamtidamti:

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Three-Headed-Monkey:

that mysterious force that lead him to vordakai's tomb was nyrissa (i dont think thats a spoiler that far into the story, but better be safe)

Are you sure about that? Wasn't it rather the horned hunter who pulled the strings? Although, admittedly, it is not fully clear to me at the moment whether the two were rivaling forces of the first world or rather mistress and servant ...

Dude, he REALLY isnt the servant ....

[Three-Headed-Monkey]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από hamtidamti:

you will find out more about their relationship later into the story ;)
(im just assuming you havent finished it yet, so im not going into detail)

my original claim however still stands, based on the character knowledge you already had access to around that time.

[RunicLibrarian]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Babbles:

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Zer0darkfire:

Ah gotcha, I'm going to go with the "resting in a certain location" theory for now then. I don't see too much else of help in the journal.

Hills being Bald Hilltop maybe?

I wouldn't think so as that location is no where near the dungeon. I'm think it does need to be a location near Varnhold, but I'm not really sure which one it would be. Struggling to remember this location, but maybe the one where you first? encounter undead cyclops and save someone (willas gunderson maybe)?

[Hyperlain]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Wooden_Dragon:

Um, NO. Actually, there IS a way not to give out your name to the soul eaters. A secret and quite hard way, though. Search for it. An acquisitive mind can find a small tip to it in Willas Gunderson's journal.

Where do I find this journal? I think I've searched every location in Varnhold and Dunsward, but still can't find it.

[Stratagemini]

You can do it, but it requires skipping the whole barbarians section via an alternative means of access to the tomb.

[Raggle Fraggles]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Wooden_Dragon:

Um, NO. Actually, there IS a way not to give out your name to the soul eaters. A secret and quite hard way, though. Search for it. An acquisitive mind can find a small tip to it in Willas Gunderson's journal.

So has anyone actually found how to do this? I just did this via not once mentioning my name to anyone when this chapter began, including throwing a rock at the raven the first time you meet it. 1 sister was found dead already, Amiri killed one before I could talk to her, and the 3rd i just killed before saying anything. when you first go to the camp, I even did the brawling instead of telling the stag Lord story because I figured names would be mentioned in there. Last sister still somehow blurted out my name when I got back to the barbarian camp.

Anyway here's the Gunderson's journal screenshotted below. Found it in Varnhold where the Spriggan leader was held up. Which is where this whole thing starts. your name is written in the journal, but he also said he hid it at the end of it, so just assuming no one else ever saw this diary to know your name that way.

The only hint I really found was him going on about the tomb in Tors of Levenies, which is labeled on the world map. So you could have just booked it straight to the Tomb as soon as you went through the Spriggan encounter and threw a rock at the bird since the journal pretty much leads you there. This way you bypass the whole sister debacle anyway. Though I'm sure you lose out on a lot of XP that way because you skip an entire quest chain. I'm also far too late in the chapter to try that myself, maybe next playthrough. Unless someone else can confirm.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2227696146
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2227696167
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2227696189
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2227696220
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2227693656

[Stratagemini]

You're focusing on the wrong thing. The specific tomb that Gunderson stole from isn't all that important. What is important is the motif of darkness, and the fact that you need to skip the encounters where you or your party members reveal their names.

Normally the fact that there's a motif of darkness would be helpful, but unfortunately for you, the spell Darkness never made it into the game. Use Bane instead.

[Raggle Fraggles]

Bane? That doesn't imply 'darkness' per se, I would have gone guessed Blind personally. But I was on the right track of skipping that whole Lost Relic quest though.

Still gonna annoy me how that last sister breaks logic and found out my name somehow, but whatever. I'll try skipping it and Baning myself or whatever next playthrough.