Stalkers Season 3 Post-Game Discussion and Feedback

[Neo Emolga]

I'd like to note that I didn't like that we had exorcism right away. It completely removes any impact our ability to assassinate people. I mean, if we can exorcise people right off the bat, why bother have assassinate as an option? It felt better when we had to find an exorcism teacher and learn it, so that saving the souls of those possessed by the enthrallers wasn't just a problem of identification but also of our own level of knowledge and skill.

Yeah, this is a good point, but picking Exorcism did eat up an Ability slot, so there was a price to pay in that. I wanted to think of a better way for the players to learn Exorcism that felt new and different, but I couldn't really come up with one and I didn't really want to do the exact same thing as last time though looking back now, maybe it wouldn't have been all that bad. And yeah, I get that about Assassination. That's going out the window because I don't think anyone will ever use that.

I have to disagree with shruikan about Tashy though. There were a huge number of samples to go through, plus we still had to actually search down all the various items needed for the ritual, as well as dedicate someone to protect tashy every single night. Honestly the only reason it really seemed to feel like a sure-win situation is because of how thorough we were in searching for the stalkers. If we had taken it slow and wait for tashy's ritual, it would have taken way longer and resulted in a lot more casualties.

I think her having to screen all the samples worked well, because that was a slow process and it would have been even slower if Tashy wasn't introduced so early. I think the material setup for the Sin Purge Ritual itself was probably a bit too quick. I didn't think it would be, but she really had more than enough very easily.

Also, I really liked the sanity boosts from the side quests, even if their context didn't always make sense. I mean, telling someone their lover died isn't really my idea of a mentally stabilizing activity.

Yeah, I know. XD

I wanted to make the side mission rewards a little more useful than they were in Season 2. But yeah, I'll admit maybe having Cev actually still be alive would explain the Sanity boost a lot better. Lesson learned!

I think I enjoyed the challenge of season 2 more, honestly it was how Imagined the stalkers RP should be. It felt much more like we were in actual living city and community doing detective work than a treasure-hunt feel I got from 1 and somewhat from 3. But I've been around the RP community here long enough to know long term RPs aren't the forte here, so... *shrug*

You would have died inside if you saw what needed to be done for Season 2's Sin Purge! I look back at it and just think to myself "this is just cruel." Season 2 would have gone on for years no matter what route was taken, and I think everyone would have just gotten bored and would have dropped out. Sure, I think I could work in some of the more trickier challenges of Season 2 and maybe make it a tinge longer, but you wouldn't want to have a mirrored setup. Plus Xanthe and I were just BEAT DOWN AND EXHAUSTED when we decided it was just too much to handle.

But if you felt there is room to make Stalkers and the Sin Purge Ritual a little harder, I could agree to that. But it wouldn't be by a huge amount.

I also would like to drastically change the Sin Purge Ritual to something completely new and different, as I think the bowls and candles thing was good, but it's good to keep it fresh with a different kind of alternative means to win. I like the style of Season 2's a little more and gathering and repairing those relics and things was something people weren't expecting and I think that's the kind of thing that needs to be done again rather than recycle the same old thing from Season 1 and 3.