You shouldn't explore before doing quests. Arkadia is a good example.... (Spoilers)

[El_Campo]

I was out and about doing the various locations in Arkadia. I am going through every AC game and I always 100% them so I was sweeping across Arkadia as I have done with every other place on the map, when I got to The Fort of Arkas.

I was looting the chests and killing captains and burning supplies when I suddenly got spotted by someone that Ikaros didn't mark for some reason. (Now keep in mind I have not played this game since it first came out) So naturally I obliterated the enemy that had spotted me without a second thought, turns out...It's a Cultist!

Great, I got another piece of Artifact Fragment to get my spear to level 6 and a legendary item. Moved on with my life. I went and did some other stuff; completed the second episode of The Legacy of the Lost Blade AND finished the rest of the locations across Arkadia and Achaia. I then went on and did the missions in Arkadia.

This is when I realized I messed up... when Brasidas said The Archon's name it all came back to me and I realized that I had killed one of the few Cultists that you can actually save from the Cult. Too bad that I killed him hours ago and had done WAY too much to go back. So now I am stuck with a decision that goes against everything I had done thus far into the game and plan to do going forward (saving people and being forgiving and what not). So I suppose I continue with this stupid decision and with Brasidas not mad but disappointed in me.

This post is less about finding a solution or anything like that and more with me ranting and seeing if anyone else has any examples of the game doing this. Kind of annoying that Lagos is just kinda chilling in the fort (and acts as an enemy, i didn't kill anyone around him he just saw me in the restricted area) even before you start the quest. Brasidas says he isn't a fighter, he's just a farmer... I happen to disagree Brasidas... I happen to disagree...

[Alex_x86]

Had similar thing happen to me: was not too much careful at some athenian fort and got attacked by 2 mercs at the same time (got too much bounty on me). One of the mercs ended up being leader of one of the branches (I even found out about the fact that he was cultist by seeing "Confirm Cultist Kill" prompt after defeating the merc)... In theory I still needed to deal with two more cultists in that branch to get to the guy, but I'll take that :)

[Krauser686]

Yeah, that's one of the things that REAAALLY bothered me with this game.

There are a lot of "missable" content.

For example, there are some "non-timed" quests that disappear when you progress too far in the main story. As fas as I remember, there are only missable quests in the following regions: Attika, Boetia, Elis and the Silver Islands (Mykonos and Delos).

There are also some "missable" quests in Arkadia, but those are different because you are presented with the option of 2 groups of quests. So, basically you are only supposed to complete one of those, and if you complete both you lock yourself out of the "best ending" for the main quests of that region.

Another thing is that, if you kill certain "unique named" NPCs you can lock yourself out of quests that might involve them later...

Also, there are lots of quests that you can "complete" before even starting them if you happened to interact with items in random locations in the world (like that Blacksmith's sword in Attika that you can loot in a fort even before meeting him).

That's why I found that, if you really don't want to miss anything, the best approach is this:

*When entering a region for the first time, make sure to travel around in order to uncover all of the "?" symbols.

*Avoid killing leaders or "unique-named" NPCs/mercenaries that might be running around as that can complete quest objectives even before starting them. For example, if you kill the leader of the Silver Islands, doing that will make disappear one of the best side quest-lines fom the game.

*If there are main quests in the region, do them last. First focus on the sidequests and once you have completed all of them proceed with the main quests.

Basically avoid doing one of the main things that Open Worlds are supposed to be about: EXPLORING!

Seriously, was it really that hard to make quest-related items/npcs to only spawn when their respective quests were enabled???

[zarnivop]

Brasidas is kind of douche anyway. Did you deal with the monger yet? I don't want to spoil.

[El_Campo]

Originally posted by zarnivop:

Brasidas is kind of douche anyway. Did you deal with the monger yet? I don't want to spoil.

I have completed the game before but recompleted it recently. I always liked Brasidas tho, one of the few competent NPCs in the game imo

[Alex_x86]

Originally posted by Krauser686:

Yeah, that's one of the things that REAAALLY bothered me with this game.

There are a lot of "missable" content.

For example, there are some "non-timed" quests that disappear when you progress too far in the main story. As fas as I remember, there are only missable quests in the following regions: Attika, Boetia, Elis and the Silver Islands (Mykonos and Delos).

There are also some "missable" quests in Arkadia, but those are different because you are presented with the option of 2 groups of quests. So, basically you are only supposed to complete one of those, and if you complete both you lock yourself out of the "best ending" for the main quests of that region.

Another thing is that, if you kill certain "unique named" NPCs you can lock yourself out of quests that might involve them later...

Also, there are lots of quests that you can "complete" before even starting them if you happened to interact with items in random locations in the world (like that Blacksmith's sword in Attika that you can loot in a fort even before meeting him).

That's why I found that, if you really don't want to miss anything, the best approach is this:

*When entering a region for the first time, make sure to travel around in order to uncover all of the "?" symbols.

*Avoid killing leaders or "unique-named" NPCs/mercenaries that might be running around as that can complete quest objectives even before starting them. For example, if you kill the leader of the Silver Islands, doing that will make disappear one of the best side quest-lines fom the game.

*If there are main quests in the region, do them last. First focus on the sidequests and once you have completed all of them proceed with the main quests.

Basically avoid doing one of the main things that Open Worlds are supposed to be about: EXPLORING!

Seriously, was it really that hard to make quest-related items/npcs to only spawn when their respective quests were enabled???

Hmm... I wonder if I missed the things like that since I was mostly exploring the world and rarely doing the story quests... Quite honestly this is really nice that they did things this way: really hate how in other games (including AC: Origins) you explore the world, defeat a huge lair of monsters/bandits/whoever, then find some npc that gives you a quest to clean up that lair, you go there and face all those monsters again... No, I already dealt with them. And if I kill somebody "important" so be it: I'll use a guide on me 2nd playthrough.

So I am really glad that in this game developers did not try to restrict your exploration and did let you deal with сonsequences of your actions.