Hi all,

I'm really trying to like this game after the few hours I've put in, but right now I feel like shelfing it.

Case in point: "The imprisoned Elf". I finally ended up searching a walktrough, and while it mentions a specific NPC that might have helped me find Griff's stuff, that NPC is not there in the Camp Kitchen in my playtrough.

Other than this one, how would I solve this quest without talking to flat out anyone on the whole place?

There's other stuff, like the (what seems interesting enough) confused cat following me. And no idea/suggestion at all how to progress there or how to find out what's going on. I dug up the grave near where I found her, and it offered no solution at all (which is what I might have expected).

So basically: I like games with little hand-holding and don't need babysitting. But so far DOS2 seems to me to rely on chance and luck and just clicking everything everywhere to find story clues. I can't see how logic is playing any part, there's a lot of things behing hinted at but zero way to get rolling.

Is my impression so wrong, or what am I doing wrong? Or is this really a game for people who like dialoging with every NPC and collecting every item? Is there a trick to get enjoying the game without what feels like tedious hours spent on random chance?

(Possible partial Spoilers)

Solving every quest line in Fort Joy is not required to leave Fort Joy...;) (In case you didn't know--this remains true beyond Fort Joy for the entire game, actually.) Also, there is more than one solution to most quests in the game. Last, recall that the reason for the existence of several quests in Fort Joy is that solving those quests helps provide you with a way *out* of Fort Joy--and there are *several* ways out of Fort Joy--not just one.

In this case specifically, some quests are designed around specific NPCs which may--or may not--be in your group. Sound policy for the *entire* game is that when you encounter a quest that doesn't seem amenable to being solved by your efforts, *drop* that particular quest (for awhile or permanently--you decide) and move on to other quest lines in which you *can* make progress.

You are a victim of *linear thinking*--and don't feel bad because I went through the same thing you are experiencing in relation to this particular quest--it was frustrating for me, too--until I did as I have advised you in the above paragraph...;) Don't get hung up thinking that every single quest must be solvable by you immediately, or that your forward progress in the game depends on solving every quest line you receive. It's not...;)

In short, just drop a quest pursuit if you cannot get anywhere with it--either you can come back later and solve it then because you have something required by the quest--either experience, objects, or other--or, you discover solving the quest isn't required for *your game* to advance. This is a *huge* game with many combinations and variables--according to choices you make, not all of them are viable or even applicable to your game. This is a great game!

SPOILER








Since you already searched a walkthrough, I'll just let you know your options here.

The NPC you are looking for is not at Griffs Kitchen, but rather along the beach next to the cave with the dog. This NPC is also crucial for 2 different party members' solo quests, so you might want to look that up if you have Red Prince or Sebille in your group.

If he is dead, there is a crate hidden nearby. There is an object in it. "use" the object. talk to griff. Quest complete.


OR, you can simply fight Griff and his team. If you do this however, I would save this quest for later, when you are ready to escape the Fort, as you will have to kill 2 skill book vendors, one of which also carries other good gear.


Have you played the first game? If not, it's amazing and now would be a good time for it while waiting for this games bugs to all get worked out. That way you will get used to the mechanics, and you would know to try things like I wrote above, even though D:OS2 is a bit different in some ways.

That's because the game has a really open quest system. There are a lot of ways to solve quests, heck you don't even need to "activate" a quest first in order to solve it. You can solve many quests just by "accident". But like waltc said don't think too linear. It's really important to explore, experiment, talk a lot, observe etc. But most importantly don't pay too much attention to the quest log, it really is just a reminder most of the time rather then a quest helper.

This open quest design makes it a lot more fun to replay the game, because you will find new ways to do stuff and not repeat most of the game almost exactly like you did the first time. I played through Fort Joy a few times now and the game really surprised me how open the experience as a whole is.

But as far as your quest goes you mentioned.

The imprisoned quest can be solved without ever talking to the Griff or Saheila or the imprisoned elf itself. If you choose Sebille as your main char you can go straight to the Lizard and interogate him and then kill him, if you choose to. You find the orange and solve the whole imprisoned elf quest without even starting it but you don't even have Sebille as your main or even in the party you just need to kill the lizard or pickpocket him. Another example is a weapon that is essential to leave Fort Joy. You can talk to some NPCs at a camp and find out where you need to go or you just find the location and the weapon without going to the camp. And there is not just one item that serve as a weapon for this quest, at least if I remember it correctly. There is one item that doesn't even involve the entire quest.

As for the cat this is just a fun little thing that happens to you. Just stick with it and you'll see, if the cat survives. There are more things like this. For example the boy in the cave where the elves live might give you a "quest" that doesn't show up in your journal. Or the plants and the chest event is another good example for a quest without any hints or even an entry in the log.

But as far as I know the later part of the game will be a little more straight forward. You will get more specific hints for some quest, but still the stuff above is still a big part of the game.


But if you are really desperate or just want some hints for the things you can do in the game. There is a very good wiki filled with all sorts of useful information

http://divinityoriginalsin2.wiki.fextralife.com/Divinity+Original+Sin+2+Wiki

Thanks all for the replies.

Just maybe to clarify my issue with that particular quest:... spoilers below....








Sure I can just talk to the "guilty" NPC and deal with him, now that I know (via Google) whodunnit. But without cheating the game gives me no reason to even suspect I should talk with him. The walktrough mentions a rat near the kitchen that would give the hint "A Lizard smells like oranges" which would have told me to look for a Lizard. But that rat is not present in my game.


****************************************

So basically my issue with the game, as exemplified by this particular quest is: You give me a task, but you don't give me any pointers how to solve that task. No trail at all. Similarly for the dog who's looking for another dog, or a bunch of other quests. I just get the impression I'm being handed a lot of beginnings, but no step stones into any direction... not that I want a yellow map marker "search here!!!" but by listening to conversations, talking to people nearby, looking for clues I want to be able to have a logical progression.


Thanks for all the ideas above, I'll try to be less linear :)

You don't really need clues, but there are plenty.

For Griff, you must have missed the initial script when you first enter his area; the guilty party is right there begging him for "something" and Griff refuses him. Later when I got the quest, I remembered that and immediately knew who the culprit was.

The cat, unfortunately, got killed on me while I was doing the steps for Ifan's quest ... which sucked, because after playing the first game, I was expecting some good things with that cat eventually.

The dog - I didn't really have any clues on this except that I was looking for another dog. But I kept it in the back of my mind as I moved onto other quests and simply exploring all of Fort Joy (sneakily, inside and out). While doing a companion's quest, I came across a room I knew must be related to the dog's quest.

"Pet Pal" is a crucial talent if you want hints, or even extra quests (ex. the dog's quest), but it isn't necessary. In fact I don't think I got anything for finishing the dog's quest anyway (though I was disappointed in the result, so I may have finished it wrong).

Speaking of "Pet Pal", the rat you were looking for may not have been right in Griff's area - rats tend to wander a lot. You should simply speak to every rat - every animal period actually - that you see: they say the same thing regardless of if you started a quest they are hinting about or not. To be honest though, I never found their hints to be anything I hadn't already suspected anyway.

You haven't mentioned this, but I feel compelled to mention it as it was the reason I restarted my game once, awhile back: The Arena. After completing this, I decided to go for extra xp and start a fight with the 'observing' team. They gave me a lot of xp, especially for early game, but then I left and spoke again to Griff's lady above and she mentioned 'had I met "The Burnished One"? I am sure you will see him again', so right away I knew I screwed up, but continued on anyway (in RPG's I like to keep going regardless of if I know I made a bad choice) until I read a big spoiler in a changelog alluding to there being future Arena's in the game with that same 'observing' team - which I had just killed.


The basic point is this: You don't really need hints for a lot of the quests, maybe all actually, in Fort Joy - after getting a quest keep it in mind and just continue exploring, don't try to just focus on that single quest - while exploring you'll figure it out. Remember to explore the entirety of the INSIDE of the Fort as well - you will have to sneak at first. Well, you don't HAVE to sneak, but I didn't want to go full Rambo on everyone until I exhausted my quests and decided to leave the Fort. Then I decimated the Magisters simply for the xp, even though I had found the other ways to escape already. And I'm sure helping the Paladin couldn't hurt ...

Once you are out of the Fort it feels a bit more like D:OS1.


*I didn't make it very far past the first island due to bugginess, so I can't speak to anything after that - except for a quest that really rustled my jimmies and caused me to quit playing for now and wait awhile until most bugs are worked out through patches. Then I'll restart. Until then, there is an "Epic Encounters" mod for the first game which changes a lot but keeps the magic and is incredibly fun to play. Rogues become epic, but not OP.

Okay, that's plenty cool. I must have missed it because I was running around looking for a shovel everywhere and just ran trough the areas... That's the kind of clue I would have expected...

Thanks for the other details and information - I'm going to be a lot more careful now when exploring.

* Spoilers below *

There are other hints as well. Saheila (the elf that sees things) mentions that you need to look for a lizard. And the lizard in question has a cough in his dialogue, much like Griff does. This is an effect of the drudanae they're addicted to. That last one is a bit obscure though, especially since you don't know that the stolen goods are drudanae until you've found them. But the imprisoned elf does mention something about it.

* End of spoilers *

Regarding Saheila: one way to get the quest is by talking to Saheila. If you don't get the quest that way, you'll likely still end up talking to her at one point or another, and can learn the information then. So, as others have said above, don't expect all quests to be solvable directly. By exploring a lot, you'll come across new things and new information, and things will often fall into place.

I agree that this can sometimes be frustrating, as you sometimes don't know whether there's something that you're missing, or whether you just haven't come across a piece of the puzzle yet. This is intentional, and on the whole I think it's really cool. For important quests that are designed like this, Larian have taken care that there are multiple ways to achieve them.

Thanks Chilling,

I missed a lot of detail there it seems ;)

It does restore my faith in the game design.