Q & A for Dark side (helps with quests)

[J.B.]

Originally Posted by jahes64

Thanks for the answer, but can you explain more?

You're welcome. I will try to give you some more details from what I remember.

Originally Posted by jahes64

Right now I am playing as Daert the vampire lvl 65 (I think i am near end of the game)

I remember that before fully conquering Portland, i traveled to Atrixus and then to Helvedia, for easy loots, free units and important scrolls. I am sure i have talked to everyone while i was exploring those maps, but i don't remember him talking about such things.

Could it be that this quest is broken because of early visit?

I don't think that the quest is broken. It might be, that you first need to fulfill all quests in Helvedia, but I'm not sure. Normally with Level 65 you should be far enough in the game to get the quest. I've always completed Helvedia as one of the last regions and never had problems to get the quest. What makes it a bit tricky is the fact, that there seems to be no obvious trigger for the art/painting-dialogue with Demiurge.

Originally Posted by jahes64

I also gave Julia's potrait back to herself. (I read somewhere that i should not have done this, but i am not sure whether it breaks the quest or not)

You should be able to get 10 protraits, even if you're playing the Standard-Edition (without Amazonia) and gave back Julia's Protrait to her. It is really close, but should work.

Originally Posted by jahes64

Do i need to do anything special before that option appears?

I'm not sure (see above). There is a trigger, but I have no idea which.

Originally Posted by jahes64

Also in case that this quest is not broken, does he take portraits one by one or take all of them in one go?

Good question. I went back to him after having collected all possible protraits. When you then talk to him, he will ask you what portrait you want to give him for the exposition....this dialogue is one by one, but I have no idea how it works, when you go to him with one portrait after the other. I think you will then get only one dialogue-option for the portrait you have in your inventory.

Hope it will help you a bit!

BR

J.B.

[jahes64]

Originally Posted by J.B.

You're welcome. I will try to give you some more details from what I remember.





I don't think that the quest is broken. It might be, that you first need to fulfill all quests in Helvedia, but I'm not sure. Normally with Level 65 you should be far enough in the game to get the quest. I've always completed Helvedia as one of the last regions and never had problems to get the quest. What makes it a bit tricky is the fact, that there seems to be no obvious trigger for the art/painting-dialogue with Demiurge.





You should be able to get 10 protraits, even if you're playing the Standard-Edition (without Amazonia) and gave back Julia's Protrait to her. It is really close, but should work.





I'm not sure (see above). There is a trigger, but I have no idea which.





Good question. I went back to him after having collected all possible protraits. When you then talk to him, he will ask you what portrait you want to give him for the exposition....this dialogue is one by one, but I have no idea how it works, when you go to him with one portrait after the other. I think you will then get only one dialogue-option for the portrait you have in your inventory.

Hope it will help you a bit!

BR

J.B.

Thanks for the reply.

I have already finished Atrixus and Helvedia but Galenirim, Bear Butte, Okkarland, and Amazonia completely remain. I was trying to do harder enemies first and then come back to weaker ones, for sake of obtaining absurd medal of "Mercy", which now seems impossible to get! because now even "very weak" enemies fearlessly attack my strong army headlong!

I remember that at some point my leadeship gain increased to 500 but next levelup it reseted to 250. Now i always gain 250 leadership for level ups!

Maybe this a bug which make me unable to have larger army and thus unable to obtain this medal!
In case you have played as Orc or Demoness, can you tell me whether leadeship gain resets for them too or not?

You should be able to get 10 protraits, even if you're playing the Standard-Edition (without Amazonia) and gave back Julia's Protrait to her. It is really close, but should work.

Does it mean that Normal Edition lack this island?
As i understand this portrait quest is only present at Premium Edition pf the game.
Maybe this portrait quest is somehow related to that island too!
I am going to do Amazonia quests to see whether this assumption is true.

I have two questions about Amazonia:

There is a girl at the only land-able spot of the island, which attacks as soon as we land. Right click tooltip on her says that she has 12 Dragon Riders in her army, but there is none of them in her army to fight with. Do i need to do any special quest before encountering her, for making those Dragon Riders participate in fight?

Also there is an enemy hero with the name of "Unknown Pirate", is he connected to any quest?

[J.B.]

Originally Posted by jahes64

Thanks for the reply.

I have already finished Atrixus and Helvedia but Galenirim, Bear Butte, Okkarland, and Amazonia completely remain. I was trying to do harder enemies first and then come back to weaker ones, for sake of obtaining absurd medal of "Mercy", which now seems impossible to get! because now even "very weak" enemies fearlessly attack my strong army headlong!

The Mercy-Medal is nearly impossible to get, even on easy difficulty. You named the problem: Also very weak enemies attack you in most cases. And there is another point! Some enemies carry quest-related items (e.g. weapons for one of the Tristrem-Quests...I found one of those on Inselburg!) and you will miss them, if you let them flee in order to obtain this medal.

Originally Posted by jahes64

I remember that at some point my leadeship gain increased to 500 but next levelup it reseted to 250. Now i always gain 250 leadership for level ups!

Maybe this a bug which make me unable to have larger army and thus unable to obtain this medal!
In case you have played as Orc or Demoness, can you tell me whether leadeship gain resets for them too or not?

I played as demoness and the only thing I've figured out is the fact, that there is a point (after reaching Level 50 iirc) in the game, after that you get less runes and leadership. But the leadership you get after each Level-up always stays the same. As demoness it was +500 after Level 50.

Originally Posted by jahes64

Does it mean that Normal Edition lack this island?
As i understand this portrait quest is only present at Premium Edition pf the game.
Maybe this portrait quest is somehow related to that island too!
I am going to do Amazonia quests to see whether this assumption is true.

The normal Edition does not contain Amazonia and Okkarland, but you should be able to get the portrait-quest even in this Edition, as there are exactly 10 Portraits to get (if you gave Julia back hers) without the content of the premium edition.

Originally Posted by jahes64

I have two questions about Amazonia:

There is a girl at the only land-able spot of the island, which attacks as soon as we land. Right click tooltip on her says that she has 12 Dragon Riders in her army, but there is none of them in her army to fight with. Do i need to do any special quest before encountering her, for making those Dragon Riders participate in fight?

You have to fight this girl (Princess Marina) when you arrive at Amazonia for the first time. It's a kind of test, if you're worth to visit the amazones.

Attention: As you may have seen, the landing spot for your boat is very small! If you travel to Amazonia for the first time and get out of there with Blackies help (Teleport), your boat might get stuck, as another one appears in the "Harbor" after you get the first quests (or come back the second time...don't know exactly). As you are not able to fly (!!!) on Amazonia, but need a boat there for some parts of the quests, you should travel to and from Amazonia by boat only, until it is no longer required!


Dragon Riders: When I fought her, she never had Dragon Riders in her army. Most of the troops were Amazones, so if you see the Dragon Riders in the tooltip and they do not participate in the fight, this might be a bug.

Originally Posted by jahes64

Also there is an enemy hero with the name of "Unknown Pirate", is he connected to any quest?

As far as I remember, he is not related to any quest. For one of the Amazonia-Quests new enemies on sea will be generated after obtaining it.

BR

J.B.

[jahes64]

The Mercy-Medal is nearly impossible to get, even on easy difficulty. You named the problem: Also very weak enemies attack you in most cases. And there is another point! Some enemies carry quest-related items (e.g. weapons for one of the Tristrem-Quests...I found one of those on Inselburg!) and you will miss them, if you let them flee in order to obtain this medal.

Yeah, this certainly sucks big time.
As a mage character i should concentrate on mana/intellect increasing items but i ruined my play-through by buying and equipping every item that reduce undead/vampire/necromancer/black knight leadership requirement (Also because of another unpleasant aspect of the game that prevented spawning of some of such items, i gave one of each such items to myself via cheat codes), and filling rest of my slot with leadership increasing items, in hope of obtaining lvl 3 of this absurd medal. Also i have lvl 3 of the medal that reduces female leadership requirement. Now at lvl 65 with 27000 leadership i have a gigantic army that consist of 1000 female vampires, 950 normal vampires, 400 ancient vampires, 300 necromancers and 400 black knights, but still failed to scare enough stacks to even get lvl 1 of this absurd medal!


They should have made the game, in a way, that number of times, that we use merciful spells (such as blind, slow, sheep,...), would be counted toward this medal.

I played as demoness and the only thing I've figured out is the fact, that there is a point (after reaching Level 50 iirc) in the game, after that you get less runes and leadership. But the leadership you get after each Level-up always stays the same. As demoness it was +500 after Level 50.

So this situation is not exclusive only to vampire. Thanks for confirmation.

The normal Edition does not contain Amazonia and Okkarland, but you should be able to get the portrait-quest even in this Edition, as there are exactly 10 Portraits to get (if you gave Julia back hers) without the content of the premium edition.

My assumption turns out to be true. The special line that trigger portrait's quest at Demiurge's shop shows up after you receive Amazon Queen's portrait from Don Romantic. He promises to reward you with a lvl up and tells you that you can't get such a reward from anybody else, right? (Nergal promised the same reward for bringing 5 captive kings to him and also said the same thing that you can't get such a reward from anybody else!)

You have to fight this girl (Princess Marina) when you arrive at Amazonia for the first time. It's a kind of test, if you're worth to visit the amazones.

Attention: As you may have seen, the landing spot for your boat is very small! If you travel to Amazonia for the first time and get out of there with Blackies help (Teleport), your boat might get stuck, as another one appears in the "Harbor" after you get the first quests (or come back the second time...don't know exactly). As you are not able to fly (!!!) on Amazonia, but need a boat there for some parts of the quests, you should travel to and from Amazonia by boat only, until it is no longer required!

You can always teleport back! Teleportation also spawns a boat!

Dragon Riders: When I fought her, she never had Dragon Riders in her army. Most of the troops were Amazones, so if you see the Dragon Riders in the tooltip and they do not participate in the fight, this might be a bug.

I guess this is a bug, as i only fought with Amazons.

As far as I remember, he is not related to any quest. For one of the Amazonia-Quests new enemies on sea will be generated after obtaining it.

BR

J.B.

Thanks for the info.


BTW i just discovered a real nice Easter Egg. After you got Amazon's queen and Okkarland's king married and completed "Ring of Abundance" quest, equip Old Shoes and talk to the king and you get 2 Princesses for free! Maybe there is a similar situation with Dragondor's king if we give him a princess and wear a certain item before talking to him!

[J.B.]

Originally Posted by jahes64

Yeah, this certainly sucks big time.
As a mage character i should concentrate on mana/intellect increasing items but i ruined my play-through by buying and equipping every item that reduce undead/vampire/necromancer/black knight leadership requirement (Also because of another unpleasant aspect of the game that prevented spawning of some of such items, i gave one of each such items to myself via cheat codes), and filling rest of my slot with leadership increasing items, in hope of obtaining lvl 3 of this absurd medal. Also i have lvl 3 of the medal that reduces female leadership requirement. Now at lvl 65 with 27000 leadership i have a gigantic army that consist of 1000 female vampires, 950 normal vampires, 400 ancient vampires, 300 necromancers and 400 black knights, but still failed to scare enough stacks to even get lvl 1 of this absurd medal!

Same for my Demoness. Even the tiniest enemy plays martyr after having noticed my 30.000+-Ledership-Army. Ridiculous!

Originally Posted by jahes64

They should have made the game, in a way, that number of times, that we use merciful spells (such as blind, slow, sheep,...), would be counted toward this medal.

Yes, something like this! Or something related to the Diplomacy-Like skills.

Originally Posted by jahes64

So this situation is not exclusive only to vampire. Thanks for confirmation.

No problem.

Originally Posted by jahes64

My assumption turns out to be true. The special line that trigger portrait's quest at Demiurge's shop shows up after you receive Amazon Queen's portrait from Don Romantic. He promises to reward you with a lvl up and tells you that you can't get such a reward from anybody else, right? (Nergal promised the same reward for bringing 5 captive kings to him and also said the same thing that you can't get such a reward from anybody else!)

Thank you for sharing this Information about the trigger! That offers new options for my next attempt. I think, I will try to visit Amazonia as early as possible then and see, if this brings some changes for other quests or dialogues. I have done the same with the "Media Sabotage"-Quest in order to find a way to solve it, but I only got more entries in the quest-journal and the quest was still open at the end.

Originally Posted by jahes64

You can always teleport back! Teleportation also spawns a boat!

Yes, I know, but in that situation the two boats in the small harbor got stuck, so I had to teleport to another Island and sail back to Amazonia, in order to battle the enemy heroes on sea. After that, I had to sail back to another Island and teleport back to Amazonia. Everything else but easy and relaxed travelling!

Originally Posted by jahes64

I guess this is a bug, as i only fought with Amazons.

I will check in my next playthrough, what will be displayed in the tooltip, before fighting Marina.

Originally Posted by jahes64

thanks for the info.

You're welcome.

Originally Posted by jahes64

BTW i just discovered a real nice Easter Egg. After you got Amazon's queen and Okkarland's king married and completed "Ring of Abundance" quest, equip Old Shoes and talk to the king!!! Each time you speak with the king with Old shoes equipped you get 2 Princesses for free

OK, this is very interesting! In Warriors of the North there is also an Easter Egg with the Old Shoes. And another one with the Clay Bowl! So, there might be a chance, that there is another Easter Egg in Dark Side, related to the Clay Bowl, too. Maybe on Drokkentier!

Did you check, if there is a limit of princesses to get? If not, maybe one can figure out, how many princesses Oncologon needs to get the "Dragon Riders"-Quest solved!

I think, my next run starts within a few days!

BR

J.B.

[jahes64]

Same for my Demoness. Even the tiniest enemy plays martyr after having noticed my 30.000+-Ledership-Army. Ridiculous!

Well, My female vampire stack in fact had a leadership of ~180,000 and other stacks were in fact ~80,000 leadership armies. Without leadership reduction items i couldn't have such a huge army. I couldn't manage with this huge army, let alone a 30,000 army which is several fold smaller! Next time i won't waste my time for this absurd medal.

OK, this is very interesting! In Warriors of the North there is also an Easter Egg with the Old Shoes. And another one with the Clay Bowl! So, there might be a chance, that there is another Easter Egg in Dark Side, related to the Clay Bowl, too. Maybe on Drokkentier!

Is there a way to find these things out by opining some game file?

Did you check, if there is a limit of princesses to get? If not, maybe one can figure out, how many princesses Oncologon needs to get the "Dragon Riders"-Quest solved!

I noticed that this princess gain is a one-time thing if Rorik is chosen as king.
Its seems that there is a bug that let you get more if Erik is chosen as king.
Sorry for misinformation and thanks for replies given.

Also it is a huge shame that this game does not spawn all spell and items -at least all of which that have been added in darkside- in every game.

[J.B.]

Originally Posted by jahes64

...Is there a way to find these things out by opining some game file?

I'm sorry, I have no idea if this is possible. The only thing I know, is that the Easter Egg with the Clay Bowl in Warriors of the North is related to the Dragon in Verlon Wasteland, so I thought that, if there is a similar Easter Egg in Dark Side, it could be related to one of the Dragons on Drokkentier. Could be the one, who imprisoned the princesses you can free, because you can fight him, when you visit his flying island on another trip to Drokkentier....but this does not work in every playthrough (only met him once) and I have no idea why.

Originally Posted by jahes64

I noticed that this princess gain is a one-time thing if Rorik is chosen as king.
Its seems that there is a bug that let you get more if Erik is chosen as king.
Sorry for misinformation and thanks for replies given.

No problem! I will check it out in my next attempt.

Originally Posted by jahes64

Also it is a huge shame that this game does not spawn all spell and items -at least all of which that have been added in darkside- in every game.

I agree. At least they should implement all scrolls needed for the quests. The major problem is, that some of the islands seems to be deserted regarding runes, chests, scrolls and stuff, but on other islands you have plenty of them. I think that is the result of a lack of time while finishing the game towards the given milestone "Publication".

And the biggest issue for me is, that so many clues for the relationship between different quests and questlines are missing. Even when you read everything carefully, you have to guess most of the time or will never have a clue, that there might be some links to other quests, persons or objects. I guess, that is the reason, why there is no detailed walkthrough, containing all quests, options and possibilities the game offers, to find. I wonder if there is such a script in developers hands?!

BR

J.B.