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[No error] "A rare find" side quest error

64x64
Posted - Edited
#1
My point is that either way, the game should have specified what to do in this situation, and the fact that it didn't do so is an error that creates ambiguity.

Scenario A: Initiating the quest through finding its key item early does NOT mean you have also 'started' the quest. In that case, the game should have specified something like "When you read the starting dialogue for this side quest, you may complete it instantly."
Scenario B: Initiating the quest through finding its key item early DOES mean you have also 'started' the quest. In that case, the game should have specified something like "When you next check your side quests during the Preparation phase at the Citadel, read dialogue ."

As far as I know, there is never any other point where you can 'start' a side quest without actually starting it. I think it's very easy to assume, rules-wise, that marking a quest as 'initiated' means you get to complete it during the next Preparation phase. The fact that only the missing dialogue number was preventing the quest from being completed was not enough to make it clear that the quest was not actually 'started'.

Besides, if you have the Tavern built, there's nothing stopping you from seeing what the side quest's associated dialogue number is on the Tavern card, so you're actually given all of the information you need to finish that quest without actually 'choosing' it on that visit. After all, it doesn't usually cost a Tavern visit to finish a quest that's already 'started'. I think that's the biggest reason for the ambiguity here.

[No error] "A rare find" side quest error

64x64
Posted - Edited
#2
(Non-specific spoilers for the "A rare find" side quest)

It's possible to initiate the "A rare find" quest without ever being assigned it, if you happen to find the key item on your own. If this happens, then the dialogue correctly tells you to write it down as a new side quest and mark it as 'initiated' immediately, meaning you'd complete it on your next visit to the Citadel. However, that text doesn't tell you the dialogue number you should 're-read' to complete the quest, so we had to check the card that the 'Tavern' building refers to to see it (of course, we did have the Tavern built before that).

It feels like an oversight that this dialogue number isn't mentioned when you 'sequence break' your way through the quest. Or is that meant to force you to 'waste' your tavern visit in one of your Preparation phases to be 'officially' assigned the quest and then instantly complete it? We ruled that this essentially 'saved' us a tavern visit that we could then use to start an extra side quest.

Destiny page - returning skill cards

64x64
Posted
#3
The 'upgrades' where you return skill cards from your deck seem to have been deliberately placed on the critical path to every permanent character upgrade, with no way to work around them. Since there are so many ways to earn more skill cards for your deck, it seems to have been intended as a balancing feature: if you want a permanent character upgrade later, you'll have to return skill cards now. A smart player turns that curse into a blessing by returning their weakest cards.

Compound actions, temporary events, and "losing fights"

64x64
Posted - Edited
#4
If you use the 'Flight' card, the mandatory fight card you were currently engaged in is returned. Therefore, you're not capable of reading any 'If you lose/do not win' effects on said card anymore, because the card is already returned.

The 'Flight' card can't be used to skip a mandatory fight in the Threat or Dialogue books, since it stipulates that you get to return the mandatory fight card that you're currently engaged in. I believe mandatory fights only exist as cards when it's an Exploration card, and those are the only fights that are not integral to the story.

EDIT: I now remember there are also mandatory fights you can trigger by taking search actions on Terrain cards, and those could be returned using Flight in the same way as those on Exploration cards. However, you don't progress the thing you were searching in that case, and you'd have to re-trigger the fight by searching that spot again.

About completing the first stage of Brooks' personal quest

64x64
Posted - Edited
#5
The first stage of Brooks' personal quest states that if at any time you have 4 or more weaknesses, you take a 321 card and banish this. I was deliberately stocking up on weaknesses so I could complete this quest. As I understand it, there are
4
different weaknesses:
ill, exhausted, injured and confused
. All weaknesses stipulate that you can't keep duplicates of that same weakness. Instead, you immediately take an extra penalty, specific to that weakness type, and then return the duplicate.

At one point, I had 3 different weaknesses on Brooks. I got into a situation where I could take a duplicate of one of those weaknesses. Wanting to progress Brooks' quest, I reasoned that even if I had to 'immediately' take a penalty and return the duplicate weakness, there has still been a infinitesimally small point in time where I had 4 weaknesses first. Therefore, the 'when you have 4 or more weaknesses' condition of Brooks' quest would also be fulfilled, thereby also taking effect immediately. Faced with two immediate effects at the same time, I would be allowed to choose which one took effect first.

(Spoilers for progressing Brooks' quest)
The reward for progressing the quest, specified on card 321, allowed me to return 3 weaknesses and take a 099 (hope reborn) card. I reasoned that I could discard the duplicate weakness that I just pulled, thereby avoiding its 'immediate' penalty altogether.


The question is: is that a valid interpretation of the order of events? Should I still have taken the penalty for the duplicate weakness I pulled before progressing the quest? Or should I never even have had the chance to progress Brooks' quest, since I actually had to resolve the immediate effect of the duplicate weakness first, after which I wouldn't 'ever have had' 4 weaknesses at a time?