My God [Story discussion - heavy spoilers]

[khanemis]

To be honest that quest mentioned in PCGamer review worked for me both ways - the first half with sneaking through the house was quite frustrating (couldn't find the item to advance the story, spent almost an hour running around) while the second part in the village was a highlight of the whole game for me (as it was really well written and executed...predictable, yes, but very touching nonetheless).

And that can be applied to my whole experience with Enderal - partly frustrating, partly really great.

And for that Mass Effect thing mentioned before:

[+]

It is true that there are some stark similarities with Mass Effect - "All people are periodically harvested by a dark entity to actually become them and so everything can continue again and again. Only hope lies in a knowledge from one of the previous civilizations. But beware of an ancient artifact used by us as it is a double-edged sword."
That being said there is much more meat to the lore and thoughts behind Enderal's version of this story. Just the parallel between Mass Effect's Harvest and Enderal's Cleansing shows it. Where one has a literal merge of people and is more focused on being physically disturbing the other one goes more of a spiritual way, focusing on consciousness in an event that can be both horrifying and surprisingly graceful drawing more parallels to real religions and blurring the line between different opinions on the whole thing.
So yeah I don't have any problem with some Mass Effect similarities as the lore and the whole concept is actually much better.

But if I had to have one criticism (and bear in mind I don't want to lessen the achievement that is to make such a game like this) to the story it goes to its twists. Most of them can be smelled from mile away. It doesn't take much to figure out who will betray whom or

[+]

that the Beacon is actually a thing that can cause the Cleansing

. But the game is acting like it is all utterly surprising and you can't do anything than sit back and wait for that inevitable moment of revelation while your character is being as bright as a black hole. That is something that can severe your connection to a character when you can't act naturally (like to say "Don't do that, it will end badly."). I would say that the lore, character writing and thoughts behind the whole story are much better than the whole actual process of going through the plot which contains just too much of usual clichés (like another classic one "Hey, we just made a great advancement that could move up the story...nope, wait, there has to be some coincidental setback"). On the other hand how the storytelling is done when in regards to main character is really superb, it gives you just enough information to keep you intrigued while offering numerous new ideas along the way and is a real food for thoughts with its underlying philosophical themes.

Though I can maybe look somehow critical I would like to point out that I value all the effort that has gone into Enderal from all directions. It is an amazing result for something done non-commercially and it could be easily compared to commercial games too. I just want to offer my point of view various perspectives (when talking just about the story, of course).

[Casper]

To be honest that quest mentioned in PCGamer review worked for me both ways - the first half with sneaking through the house was quite frustrating (couldn't find the item to advance the story, spent almost an hour running around) while the second part in the village was a highlight of the whole game for me (as it was really well written and executed...predictable, yes, but very touching nonetheless).

And that can be applied to my whole experience with Enderal - partly frustrating, partly really great.

And for that Mass Effect thing mentioned before:

[+]

It is true that there are some stark similarities with Mass Effect - "All people are periodically harvested by a dark entity to actually become them and so everything can continue again and again. Only hope lies in a knowledge from one of the previous civilizations. But beware of an ancient artifact used by us as it is a double-edged sword."
That being said there is much more meat to the lore and thoughts behind Enderal's version of this story. Just the parallel between Mass Effect's Harvest and Enderal's Cleansing shows it. Where one has a literal merge of people and is more focused on being physically disturbing the other one goes more of a spiritual way, focusing on consciousness in an event that can be both horrifying and surprisingly graceful drawing more parallels to real religions and blurring the line between different opinions on the whole thing.
So yeah I don't have any problem with some Mass Effect similarities as the lore and the whole concept is actually much better.

But if I had to have one criticism (and bear in mind I don't want to lessen the achievement that is to make such a game like this) to the story it goes to its twists. Most of them can be smelled from mile away. It doesn't take much to figure out who will betray whom or

[+]

that the Beacon is actually a thing that can cause the Cleansing

. But the game is acting like it is all utterly surprising and you can't do anything than sit back and wait for that inevitable moment of revelation while your character is being as bright as a black hole. That is something that can severe your connection to a character when you can't act naturally (like to say "Don't do that, it will end badly."). I would say that the lore, character writing and thoughts behind the whole story are much better than the whole actual process of going through the plot which contains just too much of usual clichés (like another classic one "Hey, we just made a great advancement that could move up the story...nope, wait, there has to be some coincidental setback"). On the other hand how the storytelling is done when in regards to main character is really superb, it gives you just enough information to keep you intrigued while offering numerous new ideas along the way and is a real food for thoughts with its underlying philosophical themes.

Though I can maybe look somehow critical I would like to point out that I value all the effort that has gone into Enderal from all directions. It is an amazing result for something done non-commercially and it could be easily compared to commercial games too. I just want to offer my point of view various perspectives (when talking just about the story, of course).

i tend to be a hardcore roleplayer myself; well, when gaming is involved anyway. so i don't really have issues with seeing a plot twist coming form a long way off, and not being able to effect it... as long as the character i'm playing can't see it. and that is my only real gripe with enderal: the thought that my character would have put everything together about the same time i did. the original traitor's identity (the one who killed Lashiri), the beacon causing the cleansing, etc. i was playing a cautious, clever, sneaky assassin type at the time. she would have seen everything playout in her head way before the events themselves. i guess that's a trade-off... good story-telling versus player agency. and even still i'm quite happy with how the game turned out, endings and awkward foreseeable events and all.

---edit typo

---edit again
however, in a little reflection... i guess it makes sense knowing what the PC actually is (after that chat with the machine at the end), that our character isn't completely under their own control. being under the influence of the individual compulsion that all emissaries are operating under.

[Hanekem]

This was a LOT better than I expected. The story in Enderal was far superior than Skyrim's, I felt actively engaged with the story and I had an actual connection to the characters. Some people accuse Enderal of being linear, but honestly that's a strength it has. The problem with Skyrim is that in an attempt to be "open" it made itself very shallow. In Skyrim, you could marry any NPC and quests were incredibly basic and boring. In Skyrim you had 5 "main cities", but those cities were so incredibly small that they were more akin to villages if anything.

In Enderal, everything is detailed. Yes, it doesn't have any many quests as Skyrim. Yes, you can't marry every single NPC. Yes there is only one major city. However, they make up greatly for it.

The quests are well thought out and you feel actively engaged with them. The main storyline in Enderal is amazing. You guys brilliantly paced it out well. Not only did the quests feel unique, but you guys made sure you paced it out in a way to encourage the player to go exploring during "down times" in the main storyline. The pacing was something that the main storyline in Skyrim sorely lacked.

You can only have a relationship with two characters, however it slowly grows over the course of the game and you feel far more connected with these characters.

There is only one major city, Ark, however Ark is massive. It's what cities in Skyrim should have been. With Ark, I feel like this is truly a large city filled with people. In Skyrim you have to suspend your disbelief because of how shrunk down and tightly squeezed the cities are.

The only thing that really bothered me was the bugs (especially when NPCs need to follow you on the road.), a few localization problems, and the character leveling system while being unique, was honestly pretty annoying.

But those are really just minor issues. Enderal is probably one of the the best RPGs I've played.

I give it an 86/100, you guys did a really great job.

My one complain is that Dunevile felt empty, only one quest started there and while there had been the hint of another, I couldn't find a trigger for it so that region felt less than what it should have been (or I had a nasty bug of some sort...) and that when I tried to explore the failed second city, I got mobbed badly by the humanoids there (honestly there was one time where like ten or so suntouched attacked me at ones, plus summoned critter, I was level 45 and I got killed in short order)

[Casper]

My one complain is that Dunevile felt empty, only one quest started there and while there had been the hint of another, I couldn't find a trigger for it so that region felt less than what it should have been (or I had a nasty bug of some sort...) and that when I tried to explore the failed second city, I got mobbed badly by the humanoids there (honestly there was one time where like ten or so suntouched attacked me at ones, plus summoned critter, I was level 45 and I got killed in short order)

usually when i see a mob like that i run the hell away, then come back from a different angle, trying to isolate some so i can take them in smaller groups, and not all at once, or pick off one or two at a distance so i can still run if need be... take the group apart piecemeal so to speak.

[Makesin]

i tend to be a hardcore roleplayer myself; well, when gaming is involved anyway. so i don't really have issues with seeing a plot twist coming form a long way off, and not being able to effect it... as long as the character i'm playing can't see it. and that is my only real gripe with anderal: the thought that my character would have put everything together about the same time i did. the original traitor's identity (the one who killed Lashiri), the beacon causing the cleansing, etc. i was playing a cautious, clever, sneaky assassin type at the time. she would have seen everything playout in her head way before the events themselves. i guess that's a trade-off... good story-telling versus player agency. and even still i'm quite happy with how the game turned out, endings and awkward foreseeable events and all.

I myself was quite surprised by the Beacon twist. That is, not by the fact that the Beacon causes the Cleansing, that one was easy to guess. But the fact that the Beacon actually works as advertised and can destroy the High Ones, if only humanity was a bit better, that caught me off guard.

[Casper]

actually i wasn't all that surprised that the beacon worked as advertised, if it can cause the cleansing (killing everyone across the planet at virtually the same time) it's surely capable of striking something else planet wide (if properly "aimed")... a true double-edged sword if there ever was one.

[FanFanStef]

I have a problem with finding the 5 fragments needed to elicit the cleansing, if someone can help.

[+]

I found the 3 dull stones, the ancient helmets, all 4 gave memories when interacted with. And then I found a treasure box, named The Word of the Dead, but it does nothing if I interact with it. Am I missing anything? I have kind of lost my patience, because there were quests before who either required console intervention or reloading the game several times, because some orders was not followed or for unknown reasons. Thank you

Problem solved. I had an open torch, and because of the light I did not see the items.

[Glycerin]

I have a problem with finding the 5 fragments needed to elicit the cleansing, if someone can help.

[+]

I found the 3 dull stones, the ancient helmets, all 4 gave memories when interacted with. And then I found a treasure box, named The Word of the Dead, but it does nothing if I interact with it. Am I missing anything? I have kind of lost my patience, because there were quests before who either required console intervention or reloading the game several times, because some orders was not followed or for unknown reasons. Thank you

Not quite the right thread for quest problems, but here you go:

[+]

the 5th item isn't the Word of the Dead, you are missing something else. I don't remember, what it was (a sword?), but all items you need should have some kind of shimmer around them. Keep searching the the vicinity of the old beacon, it shouldn't be too hard to find.

[MyLongestJourney]

You missed

[+]

the sword that is on the ground.It is on the right as you are facing the Beacon

[FanFanStef]

Thank you. The torch light hid the things.