"A Towerful of Mice" complaint

[vanderminde]

I came here to tell about the worst designed quest in Witcher 3. This quest just ruined my game expirience. Im speaking about "Towerful of Mice".
To reach the proper ending in this quest you must be complete paranoid. Because A) You have absolutely zero info about existence of plague maidens. B) You have multiple story pieces that can lead to few equally plausible conclusions. C) This quests logic counterdicts another quest with the burial of baron stillborn daughter.

In other words - player has zero chance to find a proper solution with all information given. Nobody in CD Pr Red cares of course. But after this "adventure" it feels like someone shit in the soul of mine.

[...]

 

[Draconifors]

@vanderminde Post moved to a new thread. Also, please write in English if posting on the English forum (I've edited out the Russian bit).

As for the topic, I disagree.
A) You do have a Bestiary entry about plague maidens if you completed "On Death's Bed" and/or read the book "Of Sweat and Blood".
B) There are clear clues in the quest's dialogue implying that Anabelle is not telling the (whole) truth. You just won't get all the pieces without going through every single dialogue option. I remember one comment Geralt makes that openly accuses her of not being entirely truthful. In the world of the Witcher being too trustful is a bad idea.
C) This doesn't make sense. A stillborn is not the same as someone who was eaten alive by rats. At all.

All that being said, I also got the bad ending for the quest the first time I played it.
The quest writers have done a great job at making Anabelle's story sound believable and her seem like an innocent victim. But it's hardly the only quest where the real truth is far uglier than the seeming truth.

 

[SigilFey]

I came here to tell about the worst designed quest in Witcher 3. This quest just ruined my game expirience. Im speaking about "Towerful of Mice".
To reach the proper ending in this quest you must be complete paranoid. Because A) You have absolutely zero info about existence of plague maidens. B) You have multiple story pieces that can lead to few equally plausible conclusions. C) This quests logic counterdicts another quest with the burial of baron stillborn daughter.

In other words - player has zero chance to find a proper solution with all information given. Nobody in CD Pr Red cares of course. But after this "adventure" it feels like someone shit in the soul of mine.

[...]

From within the game itself, this is true, but that's part of the charm. It is possible to purchase information (via bestiary books) that will give the player more details about all sorts of wraiths and their customs before taking the quest. If not, the player will be forced to "follow their heart". And wraiths aren't really concerned with how the living "feel".

Aside from that, it's made quite clear over TW1 ans TW2 that many monsters should not be shown sympathy while others definitely can be. Trying to understand all of that nuance without having read the novels and/or played the prior games means that the plague maiden will likely win against someone with less experience in the lore. And it's meant to be tricky.

EDIT: D'oh!!! Ninja'ed by Drac again.

 

[vanderminde]

@vanderminde Post moved to a new thread. Also, please write in English if posting on the English forum (I've edited out the Russian bit).

As for the topic, I disagree.
A) You do have a Bestiary entry about plague maidens if you completed "On Death's Bed" and/or read the book "Of Sweat and Blood".
B) There are clear clues in the quest's dialogue implying that Anabelle is not telling the (whole) truth. You just won't get all the pieces without going through every single dialogue option. I remember one comment Geralt makes that openly accuses her of not being entirely truthful. In the world of the Witcher being too trustful is a bad idea.
C) This doesn't make sense. A stillborn is not the same as someone who was eaten alive by rats. At all.

All that being said, I also got the bad ending for the quest the first time I played it.
The quest writers have done a great job at making Anabelle's story sound believable and her seem like an innocent victim. But it's hardly the only quest where the real truth is far uglier than the seeming truth.

Excuse me, but how the player must get to the right conclusion, if the most important part of the quest information is hidden from him? And this is a pure luck to get such information via random occasion. Im not a witcher myself, im an engineer. No one ever told me how to lift curses properly, what to do and what not to do.

B) Meaning of truth is clear in conversation between human and... human. Anabelle isnt human anymore. How i can be sure he thinks in the same way as humans do? In this case i just remember Claymore manga where Clare speaks to Isley and he reveals to her difference between human mind and the mind of awakened. Human and not human think in different way. Why i must consider Anabelle to be completely sane after her terrible death?

C) Both Anabelle and Dea Strenger were killed and left behind without proper burial. Dea was burrowed by the baron and that was a right solution. Why Anabelle being burrowed by Graham isnt right? In both cases someone close and responsible for the death will perform the same procedure. But in one case its right and in another its wrong. Where is the logic?

 

[Draconifors]

And this is a pure luck to get such information via random occasion.

It's not random, at all. The quest I mentioned is almost impossible to miss. Besides, the dialogue clues are enough to make one suspect something is wrong, there's no need to even know about plague maidens. Something being clearly fishy is enough of a clue.

B) Meaning of truth is clear in conversation between human and... human. Anabelle isnt human anymore. How i can be sure he thinks in the same way as humans do? In this case i just remember Claymore manga where Clare speaks to Isley and he reveals to her difference between human mind and the mind of awakened. Human and not human think in different way. Why i must consider Anabelle to be completely sane after her terrible death?

Not sure what this means. If you don't think she is sane then you should have even less reason to trust her.

Both Anabelle and Dea Strenger were killed and left behind without proper burial. Dea was burrowed by the baron and that was a right solution. Why Anabelle being burrowed by Graham isnt right? In both cases someone close and responsible for the death will perform the same procedure. But in one case its right and in another its wrong. Where is the logic?

The logic is that being born dead has nothing to do with getting eaten alive. An entirely different concept; there is no connection (well, other than death).

 

[vanderminde]

B) Well, the only thing i mentioned here is about supernatural creature like Anabelle may not follow human logic at all. And its absurd to suspect deception from ghost. Or plague maiden. Thins 'thing' is not human. This 'thing' does not think like human. Her consciousness may be shattered or fragmentary because of her terrible death. But an author of this quest is completely confident about spectre to think and to act exactly like human. Well, let it be.

C) If you dive into quest details you will learn the reason of Dea's death. Baron beat Anna and she lost her pregnancy. Technically baron is responsible for her death. And in the similar way Graham is responsible for Anabelle's death.

Maybe im digging to deep. Anyway, this is just a game. Thank you for your response. I appreciate this.