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Has anyone else noticed that the XP awarding in Dragon Age seems to be very weird? Let's take the prisoner in Ostagar as an example. If you help him without asking about his key you get 100XP. That's perfectly reasonable. No material reward => XP instead. So far so good. That's how it's supposed to work imo.

Now comes the weird counter example, the Kennel Master Quest. When you return the Wilds Flower to him you have 3 options. Accept his reward of 20 silver, refuse the reward entirely or squeeze 50 silver out of him. As a kind and generous human noble I naturally refuse to take the money. And what do I get? ZERO XP! Zero XP, zero money. Now guess what happens when you take every last of the man's coin. You get 50 silver PLUS 500(!!!) f i v e h u n d r e d XP! Which is huge at that point in the game. Taking the standard reward grants you 250XP btw. Also note that it requires no presuasion checks whatsoever to get the 50 silver + 500XP.

What the....!? Bug or just stupidity?

There are a few other examples like this. Another one I can think of is one of the Banns who are in Denerim to attend the Landsmeet. When you rescue his son from Howe's torture chamber you can tell him and receive a reward, pressure him for a larger reward, or decline the reward entirely. I don't remember the exact values but pressuring him for a larger reward grants you quite a nice amount of XP while the no reward options results in zero xp, zero coin. This can't be intended, can it?


So long,
Sol

In real life ,when do you think that you would "learn" (hence the xp reward) more about your suroundings, in order to become more efficient in your interactions with others in a hostile enviroment(level adancement)? When you simply walk away with no material reward or when you negotiate for more an more, in order to augment your profit? Anyone can be a philanthropist but that would make him a poor survivalist!

I think that the extra "effort" of the character here to gain more, is considered the rewarding factor and not his moral integrity! In fact, if you want to walk away with no reward at all, the game satisfies your desire 100%! Let us not forget the "dark fantasy" element that the developers claim that it is a defining part of the game. In Thedas, despite teachings of holy Andraste, the wicked, and not the meek, shall inherit the Earth! :mischief:

Of-course ,my entire reasoning will colapse if this is simply a bug hehe!

Simply sounds as a bug. 500XP, 250XP and 0XP sounds as if they got it reversed.

Xandax wrote:Simply sounds as a bug. 500XP, 250XP and 0XP sounds as if they got it reversed.

I thought so, too. From a mechanical point of view it doesn't make any sense at all to give you maximum money + maximum XP. XP is supposed to compensate for the additional equipment you can buy when you always go for the money. That's what I think at least.


So long,
Sol

Elevoros wrote: ...Of-course ,my entire reasoning will colapse if this is simply a bug hehe!

I kinda like your reasoning, but I guess it's just a bug It indeed just doesn't fit in the typical cRPG mechanis.