It does seem like they could have done the same "herding cats" semi-joke with, like, three cats instead of ten. It still would've gotten the feel across, without being quite so ridiculously frustrating.
EDIT: Or with unlimited food. That would work too.
@scriver I think what Skatan meant is jackjack liking, agreeing and checking insightful at the same time.
^- This.
I had assumed that the poster had edited the post to look like that as a way of saying he wanted to give him all three qualities, I didn't notice he actually managed to do it on the post until just now.
After which I too am furious what kind of arcane mysteries was used to accomplish it.
Actually I liked this quest. It was fun having to manage the way to carry all those little motherfuckers. And, when you guys talk about fetching stuff quests: how many does BG have as this one? I can't remember many of them. Also, the fact of the cats escaping makes it harder and not just a simple "go get that stuff and bring it here" quest.
@CrevsDaak the escaping cats could have been an interesting mechanic, but in fact turns out to be just tedious, as there is no consequence. If a cat escapes, you just use more food. If you run out of food, it is another tedious trip to the mage camp to pick up some more. Neither the cats nor your party are in peril at any point - it is simply a matter of how much time you want to burn.
It is perhaps interesting the first time, when the it is all shiny and new, but it is simply tedious and frustrating for most of us by the time our third run hits this quest.
Perhaps all that is missing is a chance of wandering monsters on the wild-magic map - AFAICT, once you beat all of the set encounters, nothing else interesting will happen. Add some wandering monsters, especially monsters that find cats tasty, and this quest could be redeemed - although cat-wranglers that insist on trying to catch them all in one trip might be upset when kitties keep escaping and getting eaten...
@GreenWarlock I enjoyed it, but I don't know if I can comment that much since I only played it around three times (some times testing stuff, another one in which I had to reload but I don't know why), but I actually enjoyed it all those times. I mean, it's tedious, but IDK, I still like it. Also I remember once I abused of ctrl+j but that's basically what I do 99% of the time I'm not playing no-reload (which means I'm either testing or grinding XP because I have a party). I feel like they could have done better, or just give some random merchant (that can be found really early in the game) a spell scroll called "Summon Nearby Cats (100%real no-fake), INNAFFECTED BY WILD MAGIKS!!!" which can't be written (because "Level 2high, scroll over 420 9000").
Edit: sorry for the insane amount of meme'ing, also, a Wand of Hold Cat (2d4 rounds duration) could be added.
What I meant is that it's the only quest that is super tedious for most people (actually the quest I dislike the most is probably giving that kid in Baldur's Gate his Amulet of Protection +1 his mother sends him since I could never find the stupid boy, besides all the quests that include carrying corpses around when your a 10 STR Mage/Thief solo'ing the game... When I'm not playing as that I don't really care about those).
I just tried Neera and the wild magic quests. I saved before I started. I probably go back and never try it again. Pity, I like Neeras personality, but this - rather no.
First: Wild magic area. 4 casters, tried several spells including healing (a poisoned character) - not one spell worked. Nice. Antidote potions do not grow on trees - we had none, but several spells prepared. Character dies. AFAIK sometimes spells work even in wild magic areas? Or not?? As it is it's not a wild magic area, it's a no magic area, because you cannot use any spells there. Not funny. Restore.
Second: We tried to explore a bit, the party run into a trap in the grass out in the nowhere - 3 characters died. Nice. Never laughed more... Restore.
Third: So we explored the map with Jan walking before us looking for traps. Boring. Not funny, pain but no gain. Disarmed around 6 traps - but see below..
Nothing special to be found, except the bridge. Crossed it, found the camp.
The dialogues are actually quite nice and funny. So we talked, and then - came the cat person...
After borrowing boots of speed one character ran around like an idiot and collected cats. The rest waited at the bridge, to avoid the bumbling around of the entire party on the way. We collected one or two cats, crossed over to the camp, the cats run into the camp. This way we collected 8 cats. One can count them in the camp. But - no cigar.
And this does it for me. I was bored nearly to dead for no gain at all. The bit of fun with the NPCs does not compensate for this atrocity. Did anybody of the devs ever try this quest??? It does not work. After collecting 8 cats, running in several traps we had already disarmed, and bringing them back, nothing is acknowledged, obviously we have to continue. Having wasted already one hour on this nonsense I've had it now. If it says bring 8 cats, why must I bring 9? Or 10? Or even more?
I did this quest three times already. I took me like 15 minutes max, everytime. You people are raging too easily. Just check your inventory regulary and recapture them. Little quest is very funny and purrrfectly finishable. The reward is meawthy. Stop whining like a bunch of little kittens.
I did that quest like, once, and I abused save/load mechanics a little because once a cat was killed by a fireball trap, but other than that everything goes well. Paws of Cheetah + a potion of speed oil + storm shield (or other elemental protections just in case you haven't disarmed all the traps beforehand) + PAUSE and TAB every now and then Or if you don't have the boot (which is likely) then I suggest multitasking, spread people out to scout the whole map, the cats are too heavy you can't keep more than 5 cats on one person anyway. Oil of speed is a must. It's not that hard if you do it right.
This post made me laugh, I thought it was a joke. Turns out there really is such a quest. Let's say I feel this quest perfectly fits the personality of Neera.
People actually do that quest? I've never finished it myself. Tried once I think (the only time I've actually completed it was with cheating IIRC) but that quest was not made for me. But that's ok, there's like 5000 other quest to spend my time on instead.
Comments
EDIT: Or with unlimited food. That would work too.
@jackjack casts: Simulacrum
(…)
It is perhaps interesting the first time, when the it is all shiny and new, but it is simply tedious and frustrating for most of us by the time our third run hits this quest.
Perhaps all that is missing is a chance of wandering monsters on the wild-magic map - AFAICT, once you beat all of the set encounters, nothing else interesting will happen. Add some wandering monsters, especially monsters that find cats tasty, and this quest could be redeemed - although cat-wranglers that insist on trying to catch them all in one trip might be upset when kitties keep escaping and getting eaten...
Edit: sorry for the insane amount of meme'ing, also, a Wand of Hold Cat (2d4 rounds duration) could be added.
What I meant is that it's the only quest that is super tedious for most people (actually the quest I dislike the most is probably giving that kid in Baldur's Gate his Amulet of Protection +1 his mother sends him since I could never find the stupid boy, besides all the quests that include carrying corpses around when your a 10 STR Mage/Thief solo'ing the game... When I'm not playing as that I don't really care about those).
However, now that I know i can save dude's life if I collect them all... it changes nothing.
I just tried Neera and the wild magic quests. I saved before I started. I probably go back and never try it again. Pity, I like Neeras personality, but this - rather no.
First: Wild magic area. 4 casters, tried several spells including healing (a poisoned character) - not one spell worked. Nice. Antidote potions do not grow on trees - we had none, but several spells prepared. Character dies.
AFAIK sometimes spells work even in wild magic areas? Or not?? As it is it's not a wild magic area, it's a no magic area, because you cannot use any spells there. Not funny.
Restore.
Second: We tried to explore a bit, the party run into a trap in the grass out in the nowhere - 3 characters died. Nice. Never laughed more...
Restore.
Third: So we explored the map with Jan walking before us looking for traps. Boring. Not funny, pain but no gain. Disarmed around 6 traps - but see below..
Nothing special to be found, except the bridge. Crossed it, found the camp.
The dialogues are actually quite nice and funny. So we talked, and then - came the cat person...
After borrowing boots of speed one character ran around like an idiot and collected cats. The rest waited at the bridge, to avoid the bumbling around of the entire party on the way. We collected one or two cats, crossed over to the camp, the cats run into the camp. This way we collected 8 cats. One can count them in the camp. But - no cigar.
And this does it for me. I was bored nearly to dead for no gain at all. The bit of fun with the NPCs does not compensate for this atrocity. Did anybody of the devs ever try this quest??? It does not work. After collecting 8 cats, running in several traps we had already disarmed, and bringing them back, nothing is acknowledged, obviously we have to continue. Having wasted already one hour on this nonsense I've had it now. If it says bring 8 cats, why must I bring 9? Or 10? Or even more?
No fun, no gain...
A better reward would be nice.
Paws of Cheetah + a potion of speed oil + storm shield (or other elemental protections just in case you haven't disarmed all the traps beforehand) + PAUSE and TAB every now and then
Or if you don't have the boot (which is likely) then I suggest multitasking, spread people out to scout the whole map, the cats are too heavy you can't keep more than 5 cats on one person anyway. Oil of speed is a must.
It's not that hard if you do it right.
C:CreateCreature("Ohncat")