Escort quests

[donkatsu]

Currently, I believe there are a number of problems with the mechanics of escort quests. However, I'm not going to address any of them because they've been stated over and over, and it's been said that DarkGod likes it that way. So fine, far be it from me to tell the big cheese how to run his (most excellent) game. However, I do have a small suggestion to make regarding the flavor of escort quests.

Here is what an escort says to you when you first meet them:

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Please help me!  I am afraid I lost myself in this place.  I know there is a recall portal left around here by a friend, but I will not be able to continue the road alone.  Would you help me?

These sound like the words of a somewhat agitated individual who nonetheless seems quite sane and coherent. They recognize that they are in mortal peril, and that the assistance of an adventurer might improve their odds of survival. The behavior of the escort, on the contrary, is that of a gibbering, wild-eyed lunatic with no sense of self-preservation whatsoever. After asking for your help, they promptly ignore you and do their best to die as quickly and efficiently as possible. While many people have asked for the behavior of escorts to be changed to match their dialogue, might I instead suggest changing the dialogue of escorts match their behavior? Thus, the player expects the escort to do stupid things and accepts that it is by design, rather than being a flaw. Now, I'm no wordsmith so I'm sure someone else could write more appropriate dialogue, but I'm thinking something along the lines of the following:

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*Stumbles blindly and bumps into you, looking up at you with twitching eyes*
Hey.  Hey you.  Help me cut a path to the recall portal, and you shall be rewarded.  But these monsters, we'll have to kill them.  Kill them all!  HehehehaHAHAHAHA!  Well?

Responses:

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Um... okay?
Get away from me, you half-dead lunatic!

Escort description:

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He/she looks delirious from fatigue and injuries.

Success dialogue:

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*Blinks a few times, as if waking up from a nightmare*
I-I can't believe it.  I'm alive!  Thank you, my friend.  In my despair, I was beginning to slip into madness.  Please, allow me to reward you as promised.

[bricks]

Hell yes.

[tiger_eye]

Yes, very good idea. I'll be sure to mention this to DGrey in cases he misses it.

Heh, seems like an appropriate time to post a comic by DGrey (http://te4.org/blogs/grey/2010/12/comic ... ter-repost) :

[Grey]

Therei s the hunter idea I posted about before - you're helping a hunter find a specific creature on the level to kill rather than a portal, and obviously the hunter isn't going to hold back much.

An alternative is to balance the quest differently. Make the escort more cowardly, but also have them bleeding to death, losing 1 hp per turn. This could be far more frustrating than the current system, mind, but would introduce an interesting pressured dynamic to the quest.

[Fela]

An alternative is to balance the quest differently. Make the escort more cowardly, but also have them bleeding to death, losing 1 hp per turn. This could be far more frustrating than the current system, mind, but would introduce an interesting pressured dynamic to the quest.

You, sir, are an evil, evil person.

[yufra]

Very evil! I like it!

[martinuzz]

Yes! Excellent idea.

[Rectifier]

That is either the dumbest or best idea I've heard about escorts in a while, HIRE THIS MA-oh right this is non-profit.

[Avianpilot]

I love the original idea. The escorts act like lunatics, going after every enemy along their path and getting into harm's way at every opportunity, so having their dialog reflect that would go a long way in fixing what I feel the problem with them is.

[Zonk]

While I like the hunter idea, the 'bleeding' one...not so much.
Doesn't fit with the game, either - is this bleeding permanent(which would feel...very weird) or if you had say Nature Touch you could heal the escort until the effect runs out? Which...might not be what you want. I already think it's weird escorts don't regenerate life...