Test of the Unicorn

Detailed hypotheses for, and analysis of, the events transpiring during the Suikoden games
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sticky-runes
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Test of the Unicorn

Post by sticky-runes »

The sub-quest in Suikoden II where you recruit Hix and Tengaar works very well as a parody on RPGs, in which the Kobold chief gets approached by the young couple from the Warrior's Village asking him about an old tradition that his people had pretty much given up on, and he ends up improvising and having his villagers take random items out to dungeons for Hix and Riou to collect so they can release Tengaar from the unicorn's "curse".

You revisit dungeons that you've already explored during previous quests and actually see the kobolds dropping the items in their locations before scurrying off.

I couldn't help but think about this recently when I was playing Skyrim and got sent to collect items from the same dungeon - 3 times. Each time the location had re-spawned with enemies and treasure containers were refilled with new items. Obviously this is a game mechanic in which certain quests come up with a random dungeon for you to retrieve an item, and it might be a dungeon you've already cleared. But it does kind of break the immersion for me. An NPC will ask me to get something from a dungeon I've already cleared on a previous quest and I'll be like "hang on, I've already been through here and looted everything, so who has been coming back here and refilling the treasure chests?"

It makes me wonder if NPCs in other RPGs have a team of helpers like the chief of Kobold village who think "ok then, let's go drop something in a random cave and run so this poor sucker has something to do to prove he's a hero!"
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wataru14
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Re: Test of the Unicorn

Post by wataru14 »

I thought it was a similar situation at the Unicorn Quest when I first played Dragon Age 2. But then I realized that they just made four maps and just kept reusing them, calling them by different names (occasionally changing which doors opened and which ones didn't) each time.
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