Thread: 7.3 MSQ Was Absolutely Terrific

It was marginally better than 7.1 and 7.2, but didn't knock anything out of the park. Not that it would have been easy to redeem DT and post DT story.

Personally so glad the DT chapter is over and we can move forward. There isn't a single new NPC or plot point in this whole expansion that really peeked my interest, and I just felt like in 7.3 the devs were trying really hard to make us care for NPCs and plot points that were not worth caring for (I couldn't even remember who Geode was...).

Anyway, moving on.... please.

it was mid, but better than 7.0 msq (not a high bar)

That's kind of like saying that Styrofoam tastes better than asphault.
It's still pretty bad.

So my thoughts on 7.3's MSQ. This isn't all positive, but I figured it was less egotistical than posting yet another "MY take on 7.3!". Most of it is positive or at least neutral though, so let's begin.

GAMEPLAY IN THE STORY. GOD. THANK YOU. It's not quite the solo duties I was thinking, but it was a chance to DO something as the player, while simultaneously pushing along the plot. And I actually kind of liked the investigative and puzzle dungeon feel to it all. More of this, please. (I'd still advise mixing it with solo duties, and maybe the stealth bit, alternating and the like so it doesn't get too formulaic), but still! Praise where it's due.

Not just standing there like an idiot in the cutscenes where something bad is happening. That may be a low bar to cross to some but by god we did it, and it's an objective improvement over most of the other xpacs in terms of that problem (SHB did a good job too by having the light completely fuck with us, and give a valid excuse). Kinda funny that in having a lot of ARR's since DT also picked up one of its merits. Can we keep this upside when we improve this time?

The fights weren't bad, the second boss of the dungeon was pretty interesting.

The overall plot was serviceable. I think this was more along the caliber I had expected for DT as a whole. I think it's a slight step back from 7.2, but falling more along the usual patch to patch variance of quality (speaking solely relative to 7.2) rather than a sharp nosedive like 7.0 was. The biggest problem I think with post's story is that some characters or plot points really don't have the time they needed to stew or make their presence known. The more this plot line went along and felt a little rushed or truncated, the more I felt the Trials of Succession really wasted our time. Finding the City of Gold and setting up Alexandria should have been the plan from the start. 6 levels of showing off Tural's diversity really didn't help the plot.

I really don't understand the point of Geode dying and I think it makes a pretty good case with some issues in the writing: understanding player emotion and how to make use of it. It's obvious that Geode meant a lot to the other characters in Oblivion, and it led to an emotional moment for them. However, for us the player who never got to connect with the character at all, at best it feels awkwardly hard to empathize (compared to say...Haurchefant, or even Yotsuyu), and at worst it feels almost pointless. The guy says he grows on people quick, but that never got to happen, so we never got to feel anything.

This would kinda be like if you started anywhere but Ul'dah when Thancred got possessed. Killing a character off is generally supposed to be a big deal, and if your audience feels nothing for it, that's generally not a good sign.