So you say you're saved the world ? who cares ?

[Robsoie]

Having recently completed the campaign in the 1.06b beta with a cornac summoner, it made me remember a minor annoyance with the post-world saving business.

None acknowledge you saved the world, none acknowledge the orc threat is defeated , none that were directly involved in the whole thing seems to know they can continue to live without the fear of ultimate annihilation .

I'm not suggesting that every single randomly named citizens dance into the streets non-stop, but maybe a single dialogue for each important NPC the 1st time they see you after you completed the game could be a good idea ?

[darkgod]

Well that's the thing, mostly nobody knew it was in danger. BUt I suppose a few could tell you something yeah

[Doctornull]

Saved the world, whatever.

You're the guy who re-discovered the lost lands of the East, and helped build a two-way portal system! You're super cool!

[The Revanchist]

That's probably a much more noticeable thing. You rediscovered a valuable trade partner, and gave Maj'Eyal a new continent to grow into... again.

[HousePet]

Except that you are running around with the Orb so nobody else can use the portals.

[The Revanchist]

That's just trolling, now. Sure, I /could/ give it to you. But I won't, because I like my useless-except-for-the-thing-you-want-to-do-with-it orb exactly where it is.

Unrelated, but how does a Zigur use the farportal? Is it not magic? Either way, Myssil would probably want it. For destroying it or otherwise... All those Celestials in Tar'Eyal, after all...

[Grey]

Farportals are Sher'Tul technology - they defy simple categorisation as "magic" or "wild".

And Myssil would want to keep it open so she could go kill the sun-hippy-mages.

[Robsoie]

I doubt none knows, the Elder of Last Hope is supposed to know he even collaborated with you about the staff, the Angolwen mages are supposed to know , they even built the Last Hope portal !
If you went antimagic there's no way your Zigur masters are not knowing anything about what you did, getting rid of the most powerfull magic users that threatened the whole world.

Even in the Gates of Morning none know anything, your good pal Aeryn even forgot she was even at your side in the final climax (no sex pun intended )

And talking about Myssil, when you destroy the Grand Corruptor in the Mark of the Spellblaze, there's not a word acknowledging it from any Zigurians despite you saved their sorry town !

And about the time when my rogue managed to put an end to those nasty Angolwen mage threat by destroying Linaniil and all her minions , i would have imagined that Myssil would launch a party like the world had never heard about before

And my hard earned flying Fortress of doom that should make the whole world covering in fear, none in any town is even caring to see that huge flying thing above them !

And even worse that everything : Melinda that is spending her days in here doing nothing, not even cleaning the dust from time to time in my artifact storage room !

More seriously, ToME4 would be a generic roguelike "bring item from bottom of dungeon back into surface" i wouldn't have cared, but in ToME4 there's an actual story and adventure wrapping around the game, and i think all those bits of events that aren't acknowledged in dialogues do not help immersion into the story.

On the positive, the appearance of backup guardians are acknowledged by town folks as sometime you can see one of them saying something related to them.

[The Revanchist]

We think that some more acknowledgement of ingame activity would be nice, then? I'm inclined to agree. Even/especially if it's in keeping with the specific character's personality. Someone liek Myssil might go "Good job. Here's the next." For example.

[Grey]

Some speech bubbles as you pass by people would be good. For instance...


Zigur - Destroyed Angolwen - townspeople
The hero of light!
Nature be with you, hero.
By the soil of Eyal I greet you with warmth.
Hurrah for the banisher of evil!
Dearest %playername%, good word of your deeds goes before you!
Praise to you, %playername%!
It's %playername% Magebane! Praise to you!
All hail the Doom of Angolwen!
Hail to the Light of Zigur!
You have made the world a purer place, %playername%.

Zigur - Destroyed Angolwen - Myssil
Welcome home, %playername%. Be at peace here, the world is safe by your deeds.
You are truly a hero beyond equal.
Praise to you for ridding us of the accursed mages!
No words can equal the deeds you have done.
You are the Hand of Eyal, the enforcer of peace - hail to you.

Zigur - Killed the sorcerers - townspeople
The saviour of Eyal!
All praise to you, beloved %playername%!
Eyal blesses your steps, %playername%.
We owe you a debt beyond payment.
%playername%, you shall be revered for eternity.
All hail the Hero of East and West!
You are truly one with Eyal, %playername%.
Eyal's blessings upon you, %playername%.

Zigur - Killed the sorcerers - Myssil
Welcome home, %playername%. Be at peace here after your weary battles.
You are truly a hero of our age.
Magic does not die, %playername%. Be vigilant.
You have done much, but the battle is never over.
Your actions in the West have saved us all.
Your name shall resound through history, %playername%.
When my time comes I know Zigur will be in good hands.

Angolwen - Killed the sorcerers - townspeople
You have done well, %playername%.
The threads part for you, %playername%.
News of your deeds spreads before you, %playername%.
Alas that one of our own could cause so much terror...
Did you really slay Argoniel and Elandar?
You are strong, %playername%, but you lack subtlety.
Was killing our own really necessary? Perhaps we could have reasoned with them...
The blood of our own is on your hands.
Who will you kill next, %playername%?
*whispers* Murderer.
Done enough of Linaniil's dirty-work yet, %playername%?

Angolwen - Killed the sorcerers AND are an archmage - townspeople
They say you'll take over from Linaniil one day.
Could you even rival the power of Linaniil..?
It does not bode well to have two such powerful mages...

Angolwen - Killed the sorcerers - Linaniil
Heed not the naysayers, %playername%, ye have done heroic deeds.
Alas that I were unable to stop them...
Hail to ye, %playername%!
Hail, %playername%. Ye have done more good than ye can imagine.
I watch ye from afar, %playername%. Ye have been touched by destiny.
Ye have great power, %playername%. Use it wisely.
Remember that ye have limits, %playername%.
Ye have done well, %playername%, but Eyal's troubles are not over.

Last Hope - Master killed - townspeople
Hail, traveller!
Oye, it's that adventurer! Look!
Welcome, adventurer. News of your deeds has spread far!
Spare a copper, guv?
It's %playername% the vampire slayer!
Blessings upon you, great vanquisher.
Pigs, fresh pigs - get yer fresh pigs!
Hail, adventurer!
Glory to you, traveller.
Tales of your deeds precede you, %playername%.
Hail, scourge of the undead!
Our city is safer thanks to you.
Last Hope is in your debt, %playername%.
Look! The vampire slayer!
It's %playername%! They say %he/she% %description%. [Description based on one of highest two stats - Str: "can arm-wrestle giants" - Con: "swallows sandworms whole" - Dex: "runs faster than a leopard" - Mag: "has the blood of a Sher'tul" - Wil: "feels no pain" - Cun: "has a brain made of stralite". (can do all sorts of others descriptors based on prodigies, quests complete, etc - but they shouldn't appear before beating Dreadfell as they'll get old quick if seen too often)

Last Hope - returned from East - townspeople
The traveller from the East!
Hail, great explorer.
Is it true you have seen the lost East?
Hail, %playername% East-walker.
Hail, East-walker.
Greetings, high adventurer!
Lovely fresh pigs, buy em now!
Greetings, great traveller.

Last Hope - won - townspeople
Hail, %playername% Orcslayer!
Orcbane! Eyal's Saviour! Praise to you!
Hurrah for the Orcslayer, saviour of East and West!
I've heard some tall tales about you, %playername%.
You shall be eternally remembered in all the tales of Maj'Eyal, %playername%.
We are honoured by your deeds, %playername%.
My daughter wants to be just like you when she grows up, %playername%.
You are an inspiration to us all, %playername%.
Piiiiiiigs! Get some piiiiiiigs!

Sunwall - won - townspeople
The sun shines on your path, Saviour.
Hail, %playername% of the West!
Westerner, you have saved us all.
May the sun and stars ever bless you.
You are a hero to us all.
The sun shines brighter when you are around, %playername%.
May the moon and stars guide your path.
Praise to you, %playername% Sun-blessed!
Your greatness shall never be eclipsed, %playername%.

Sunwall - won - Aeryn
We have been through much, %playername%!
The Sunwall will always remember you.
The enemy has fallen, but the recovery has just begun.
At last we shall know peace!
Now we can become a peaceful town.
May the sun shine on you, %playername%.

Dwarftown, Elvala, Shatur, yeektown and Derth aren't really worth having townsfolk phrases, as they aren't so affected by world events and are less visited.

[Robsoie]

This would be very cool at making the world a bit more alive if townfolks react to events that happens and affects their world.

I imagine some bit of random speech bubble from the Iron Council dwarves could appear after you cleared nearby Reknor from the Orc presence by "destroying the destroyer on the last depth of Reknor (though would only happens for Dwarves of course as Iron Council only exist if you're Dwarf)

I think they would actually care as it would be good for trading business, and apparently Dwarves care for little else if i remember well the Reknor lore bits (and how important gold is for them with their racial talent)

Now that said, there are towns like Shatur, Irkkk or Iron Council.. in which you have very little incentive in ever coming back , as they offer no quest (they don't have alchemists) , no special thing to revisit, no special trainings and their stores are rather generic with nothing in there that can't be found elsewhere even after refilling.

Maybe something can be done to make them attractive ?
Those speech bubble acknowledging may not be really enough, but probably a start (Shatur celebrating the fall of Norgos, Irkkk partying on you saving your fellow Yeek that was attacked by the Subject Z, Iron Council happy to have Reknor fully cleared of Orcs in order to get back to trade business.., Derth halflings dancing to you having made their old complex safe for "re-experimenting" )

[Crim, The Red Thunder]

It's HUGELY implied that the farportal is easily traversabl;e by all now. Tannen was able to replicate the orb of many ways, we assume angolwen did as well. The last hope elder specdifically says that the merchant barons would jump at new trade route.s So it's implied that more orbs can be made/exist, or that some existing form of magic/technology/magitek offers another method of activating the portals. For that matter, this makes sense with Areyn reaching you in the last fight, either the sorc's gave her an orb on the bad ending, or she made one herself, or used here god-powers to open the portal, there are several possible explanations. But clearly, the orb isn't a one-of-a-kind item. If nothing else, there would have to be more or the orcs wouldn't have 2 way travel, much less anyone else.

[HousePet]

Tannen didn't replicate the Orb, he just made a fake copy that sends you to Fearscape.
Zemmekis would be the person most likely to be able to replicate the Orb, but he hasn't been able to do so without one, maybe if you gave it to him for a while he could copy it.
Teleportation does exist for certain powerful people. Linaniil and Tarellion can certainly travel great distances instantly if they wanted to. Aeryn appears to have similar abilities, but she needs the shield lowered from the High Peak before she can teleport there. Zemmekis might have helped, we know he can send people far away, but maybe not with much accuracy.
The Angolwen teleport spell is likely maintained by someone/thing in Angolwen.
Recall portals are known to exist, they seem to be one way and likely single use though.
The Orcs could have done what they did with a single Orb, but I would expect the Sorcerors had at least one of their own as well.

To summarise, certain people appear to have the expertise to duplicate the Orb. They have the science but they need to reverse engineer from the Orb to get their technology up to scratch.

[The Revanchist]

In support of the "Powerful people producing portals" idea, I seem to recall Slasul and... Whatever the really long-named Sea-dragon was called making portals to send you to and fro. They probably didn't have any control orbs, and one teleports you into an (active?) Sher-tul temple.

[Crim, The Red Thunder]

But the game explicitly mentions that the farportal IS a new trade route. Obviously, you aren't going to hand over the item required for you to save the world, so what purpose could a trade route no one could ever use be, if one couldn't open it some other way. As the lore stands now, it defiantly states that a trade route would be created. this *MUST* mean that (somehow) a method exists to allow other people to use the portal. That said, 'how' is up to some question.

The orcs would have been hard pressed to create and transport troops back and forth with but a single orb. Possible, but horribly unfeasible. If the orb is on one side, no troops can be sent to reinforce them, but if it is on the east, no troops can return to bring news back. So yes, they would need a method of stable entry and egress, which requires either another method, or the orb.

Tannen *DID* make another copy, he had his smaller version placed on a necklace. This is why you have 2 orbs after the fight with him. Maybe it's less effective? But both still work after this.

So between all these facts, it's obvious that the portal in some way or fashion, is usable. Maybe it takes a mage or 3 to activate it each time for a caravan of merchants, but in some fashion, it MUST be usable.