Villagers scared after "A princess in distress" quest.

[pebeem]

Villagers scared after "A princess in distress" quest.

I've started another playthrough and noticed that for some time all villagers across all Velen are constantly panicking and frightened (as if there's a fight going on/monsters around) no matter where I go. Unfortunately, this is extremely immersion-breaking for me.

:geraltsad:

I backtracked a little and discovered that this strange bug is being instantly triggered after I complete the "A princess in distress" (in which you have to retrieve the goat) for the Peller quest.
Verifying game's files or fast-travelling does not seem to help.

I've already sent my save to cdpred's tech support - I've created this thread to see if there are any other ppl with this issue and if someone maybe came up with some sort of workaround?

 

[Shavod]

Did you kill Baron's men at the beginning of this quest?

 

[cyberpunkforever]

i have this issue very often, since day 1 in every village before and after that quest i thougt there was some monster or bandit near the villages but there is nothing, it's very strange

 

[pebeem]

Did you kill Baron's men at the beginning of this quest?

I did not - I told them how they could cure their colleague.
Even if I did kill those men - it'd still be a bug. As I said, villagers across ALL of Velen turn on 'panic-mode' after that quest.

 

[Shavod]

It happens if you did some questionable things (like killing baron's men) that tarnish your reputation, with not enough good deeds on your account to even it out. They start being afraid of you, until you make up for it. If you didn't do any questionable things it may be a bug, but you can try clearing some abandoned sites and doing more witcher contracts, then see if it helps.

 

[pebeem]

@Shavod, afaik there's no such system in this game.
Besides and didn't do anything that could possibly lower my reputation even if such system existed in this game in a first place.
Considering it happens only and always after completing this particular quest it's definitely a bug.

 

[Shavod]

@pebeem There is a system like this in the game. I know, because I experienced it and I'm sure it wasn't a bug, because NPC's even had a unique reactions to me. It's the same system that makes bystanders praise you later on every time you pass by, after you helped the local community a lot.

 

[pebeem]

@Shavod I appreciate you chiming in into this thread - still this isn't the case here, the behavior I have described is being triggered globally after that particular quest - just wanted to make it clear that it's definitely a bug and not a feature we are talking about here.

Just to prove it's not only me:
http://steamcommunity.com/app/292030/discussions/0/481115363870205979/
https://www.reddit.com/r/witcher/comments/373t1z/possible_bug_villagers_are_always_scared_of_geralt/

 

[yogbhandari]

I'm having this exact issue and it's honestly kind of ruining the game for me. Any solutions/workarounds?

 

[bunsenbrenner]

had this issue on my ng+ in velen wearing the red vampire armor, really thought its the armor as ive never seen this reaction before.

 

[SigilFey]

Never encountered anything like this before. Any NPC reactions like the ones being described should be quest specific -- as far as I've ever experienced, Geralt's "reputation" in the game will mostly affect the passing comments that he receives.

I would send a save game into CDPR Support about this. Perhaps include a save immediately before taking the "Princess in Distress" quest and immediately after completing it to show the contrast.

 

[yogbhandari]

Good news...the problem resolved itself. When the Bloody Baron's village is on fire, its villagers panic...but I guess the code accidentally sets ALL villagers to panic. Once you finish the quest where you fistfight the Baron and the fire's done, villager behaviour goes back to normal.