I actually meant to post some feedback about this the other day, but got distracted with playing the game
.
Overall I think the quest is excellent. It does a good job of introducing the player to the game, gives a nice amount of denars for an entry level character, and I found it to be pretty entertaining as well.
I think it'd be good idea to put in some dialogue (or a popup box) with some instructions on ordering your soldiers around. Maybe something along the lines of the merchant suggesting that once you recruit your 5 men, that it'd be a good idea for all of you to stick together to avoid being isolated and taken out piecemeal (which is what happened to my recruits when I didn't give orders
). After this, the player could get a popup box describing the use of the army commands; it might even be good to suggest the alternate use of "Follow Me," "Hold Position," and "Charge". Perhaps telling the player that it's a good idea to use Follow or Hold commands if his soldiers are getting a little too eager and spreading out on the charge. Once his men are back together and the enemy is closing, issuing another Charge order will be effective; after all, an army requires discipline
.
My only suggestions for improving the quest itself, would be:
1) Either have the Looter spawn points at their hideout be a little closer together, or have the enemies be more proactive in seeking out the player's forces. I had a few cases where I'd "cleared" the camp, only to have one or two enemies relaxing back near the entry region. New players might be confused as to why the quest isn't ending, especially in cases where terrain blocks their sight and their NPCs are all dead or unconscious.
2) When starting at Sargoth, the Looter hideout was near an inland village, but the battle map was at a sea coast - complete with anchored/tethered ships in the water. A river coast would have fit with the geography of where the camp was, but the sea didn't
.
3) Maybe we should see/fight the guard captain at the final stage of the quest? We fight his bandit henchmen there, but I've not seen the ringleader. Perhaps just having him spawn and run up to the player and initiate dialogue (like the merchant and merchant's brother do at various points) would be good? Maybe he could curse us and vow revenge or something, before surrendering. Having him attack might be neat too, but in that case I don't think he should spawn in after his henchmen are dead, but rather be there from the get go (otherwise he's going to get taken out before the player really gets a chance to fight him).
A third but more involved option could be having us enter a building after the street battle, and facing the guard captain there (sort of like what happens at the final stage of some siege battles). It could either be he and a few henchmen against the player and townspeople, or the captain alone - facing the player 1v1. I think this would provide a neat ending for the quest, though it might not be doable in the couple days that are left before release.
One other thing to add - the quest text says that the volunteer "militia" army of townspeople have knives and clubs, but I really only see them using their fists. Not sure if this is a bug or what, but clubs and butcher knives usually defeat bare knuckles pretty easily
. Though once the townspeople get their weapons, I think it might be best if the streets didn't have guards hanging around that helped out.