I need some input on the beginning of the game -- am I missing something?

[Arsene Lupin]

Sorry for the vague title, I'm having... problems with the game and I'm not really sure how to describe them. I desperately -want- to love Eastshade, but my first impressions of the game are... not great. So I'm looking for some explanation or clarification. Am I simply not in the right headspace for the game? In this era of self-quarantining I've set myself on an Impossible Quest to review all the games in my library, and while I don't often do this, Eastshade is -special- enough and unique enough that I really want to make sure I give it a fair shake.

So, I guess to make things easier, a number list? Here's what struck me as "odd" in my first hour of play:

1. quests seem tied exclusively to dialog options, and not player actions. EG one of the first quests is to gather materials to make canvases with a child--I collected just enough to make a single canvas. The child then demanded I paint a painting, and I did so, which used up my one and only canvas. Great so far, right? Right. But then the child asks for an canvas--which I can give them... and they will happily take... regardless of whether or not I have a spare canvas. Said child then provides an additional task (not marked as a quest) to make a painting of an eclipse to give the local innkeeper. Cool. I go to the innkeeper, and complete that task by giving her my painting, and she loves it! Only it wasn't a painting of the eclipse, but of the harbor.

2. The opening area is small, but there don't appear to be many sidequests. Is this normal? Should I move on? Or explore more? I was really turned off by the sidequests I did find, as they seemed needless cruel--one involves confronting a single father about his parenting based on... like one sentence of malicious gossip, and the other a rather mean prank. Am I supposed to be roleplaying as a bit of an ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ artist here? But then there also appear to be events/narrative content that is not structured around the quest system--ignoring the bad-parenting quest led to a scene where the relevant child climbed on top of the inn and, the game strongly implied, was about to leap off the roof in the delusional belief that they could fly. The event resolved with the child randomly teleporting... somewhere... and not getting hurt, but it left a bad taste in my mouth. Guess I should've listened to gossip and pointlessly inserted myself into the personal lives of strangers, huh?

3. Okay, so this is (finally) a bit more specific... I don't quite understand how I'm meant to approach the whole painting mechanic. On the one hand, I can whip out the easel anywhere and paint whatever, whenever. Great! Only painting seems to consume these "inspiration points," which appear to be a finite resource acquired while exploring the island. So am I meant to not be painting at all, unless it's relevant to a quest? Or, as I suspected in point #1, are quests and paintings entirely irrelevant to each other?

Sorry if this is a weird or confusing thread... like I said, I just want to get myself in the proper headspace here to appreciate the game, and would really appreciate it if any of y'all could help me out a bit.

[Pesky]

1. Your description sounds unusual. Most people wait for an obvious eclipse and paint the occlusion. But you may have just happened to make that painting while the eclipse was happening, and perhaps that's all the game cares about.

2. The opening area is very small. You should explore. There is no way to die in this game. You will find things in several directions which frustrate you since you can't get past / over them yet. But you will also find a toll box which requires money. There are sources for canvas and inspiration in the small area to let you earn enough pay the toll.

3. You are correct. Inspiration is extremely important in the game, and you can run out. So don't go painting pictures you can't sell until you have discovered more of the many sources of inspiration and collected the materials for at least a few spare canvasses. You can paint over an existing painting. This does not require more canvas, but it does require more inspiration. You are still very early on in the game and you need to become financially independent before you can afford to indulge your artistic impulses. This is the most important thing I can tell you at this point.

Many missions (or parts of missions) involve painting a painting that fits a description someone has given you. But others are more conventional, like "Go tell Balenya this message.". And sometimes you won't know who that is because you won't have met them yet, or you didn't remember their name.

[Pesky]

Oh, that child. It has a bird fixation and likes climbing up high and saying it's going to jump off and fly. Make a report about bad parenting or don't, as it suits you. Doing so does not change whether you can finish the game. Later in the game there are other things you may decide to do, or not to do.

[Eastshade Studios]

Regarding your harbor painting qualifying for Nika's commission: your composition just happened to include the moon, so it qualified. Sometimes that happens.

Regarding the bird kid, the flying scene has nothing to do with the unsuitable parent quest. That is triggered if you told the bird kid 'you can do anything'. You're free to skip most quests without consequence.

As far as using inspiration, there is a lot of inspiration in the game, certainly enough to make the occasional painting for pleasure. But paintings are meant to be special, and not done as frequently as say, a screenshot. The inspiration system was our effort to make painting into a game system, and tie into the mechanical reward loop.

[Arsene Lupin]

Thank you all for the input! I'll be diving back into the game later tonight and hope to have a better go of it!

[Lailantie]

I started to play the game yesterday and made similar experiences. I'm not a typical gamer and mostly played open virtual world or sandbox games before. So I generously spent my canvases and was frustrated that they were gone and no more material to find. I also didn't know that you can re-use a canvas. So I started over.

In both games Nika accepted a completely different painting. The first one included the harbor, and in the second run she took the painting of the big tree. In the first run I completely refused to get involved in gossip or even asking about that father, but after reading a bit I chose to get involved in the second run, and for whatever reason, not sure if it was connected, someone told me what to do about the tower. I had no information about going at night in the first run.

So yesterday night I made it to Nava and suddenly everything opened up.

I love this game. If I were a game developer, I'd make games like this, with beauty all around, with beautiful characters (I even love their voices), relaxing music and no violence. It seems to be a hard thing to do, as there are so few games like this. I do hope to find more. Thank you developers!

[Pesky]

The game reacts to your playing style in some ways. Not everyone tells you everything the first time you meet them. Otherwise you'd end up having to make notes on the numerous things that had been mentioned. But if you spend some time in the game without progressing at anything, then speak to a character, they're more likely to mention something useful to you.

One relevant thing is that you shouldn't trust everyone at everything they say. The characters you meet have their own points of view and wishes. Make your own decisions and, if you're not sure yet, talk to more people and you may find out more facts or opinions. There are no deadlines in the game: you can always pick up an investigation later.