Plot hole with Half-Ogre island

Kay, so we all know about half ogre island. It's like the X files, but not.
Anyhoo, I found a plot hole.
The real reporter says I have no evidence.
Thing is, I cast summon spirit on that gnome guy who was doing a smoking man impression after I killed him.
Why can't that count as evidence? I don't need the book, I've got an eyewitness.

 

Does he actually share this evidence though once you've raised him? If not, then it's not really going to help. Even if he did, it's still just his word the reporter would be believing - which isn't really substantial enough to base anything on.

 

Would that even help, though? Who's to say the real reporter isn't loyal to the gnomes as well. The editor is, one of the reporters is, the whole staff migh as well be. And your want to go to those people and admit to killing a gnome?

 

Yes. If they were working with the gnomes to kill me, then that would be an interesting plot arc and totally better then the end in in which the smoking gnome's ghost just sits around like an asshole and I can't draw attention to it.

Besides, you'd think the fact that I
A) Murdered one of their higherups via Quench Life simply because I had mana to waste
B) Nailed his soul to the wall
would be enough to stop them from trying to do anything to me.

 

If the real reporter is loyal to the gnomes, what would be the point to replace him? Also, it wouldn't be much of a conspiracy if every single newspaper employee knows about it.

I don't mind the quest ending as it does, but I'd definately like a few more options at the end. Gilbert Bates is a pretty powerful guy, isn't he? And I'm pretty sure he'd believe the player's word even without evidence.

Still, maybe good old Gilbert is in on it too...

 

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That's a fairly interesting line of thinking, Bates is portrayed as a fairly good character so it would give him another dimension if he were in on the whole sordid affair. I'd imagine, seeing as he is very powerful and the events concern the King of Tarant directly - you'd think he'd want to know what became of him.

 

Fairly good character? Are we talking about the same Gilbert "why their working conditions are almost human" Bates? The fact that Troika made a main quest giver into a rotten bourgeoisie pig is one of the things I like the most about Arcanum.

"You're not a labour sympathiser, are you? A unioniser perhaps?" Fairly good character! Hah!

Oh, and it's quite interesting that Gilbert Bates currently resides in the Tarant royal castle, is it not?

 

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I think that's representative of the times then, he's just your average industrialist I don't know how much of a bearing that has on his morality.

 

You're right, of course. I was just glad that they didn't turn him into a REAL good guy (and by REAL good guy, I mean socialist), as that wouldn't fit with the game's setting.

Still, you don't find the fact that he inherited the castle in Tarant after the royal family's disappearance just a tad suspicious? Or is that just me?

 

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That is correct.

There are things good guys do after someone reveals their lies to the public. Sending assassins after the said someone isn't generally one of them.

Indeed he is. As was the king of Tarant.

Side note, are we even sure that's the royal castle? I always assumed, perhaps falsely, that Bates' mansion is just a few dozen years old, whereas the royal castle was either dismantled or located elsewhere.

Either way it's irrelevant, though. Bates is the richest man in the world. He needed a fortress for protection and he of all people could just buy or build one.

 

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Huh, I guess that's why I must have such a bad reputation too then. Honestly, I'd forgotten about that fairly large indicator he's not a good guy - I suppose it's very possible he had a hand in the King's demise.

 

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I think you should at least have an option to talk to him about it. If he's in on it, he should yell "Chucka, attack!", if not he should promise to look into it and then mysteriously disappear after a few days, giving you the bad ending for Tarant. Or something similar.

I believe Appleby mentions that the secret entrance (at the cemetary) was to be used by the King as an escape route.

 

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Fair enough. Even if the option would lead to a dead end, going to Bates does seem like next/last thing that could be done in that quest.

Just checked, he doesn't mention that.

In fact, after some research I'm still partial to thinking Bates is the one who build the mansion. Whenever someone mentions it, he uses the words "house", "mansion" or "estate" rather than castle, suggesting that's how it's meant to be perceived. A king would live in a mere house, now would he.

Also, if Bates meets his demise, the player can purchase the mansion. in both the associated dialogue and the reputation the player receives after purchasing it, it is called the (famed) Bates Mansion. Now, it is custom that royal castles are remembered and named after their first residents, not last. It could function as the Bates estate during his life, but after his death, if he was not the builder, the name should retract back to the royal castle. Alas, it did not.

Furthermore, as opposed to the royal castles in Dernholm and Caladon + even the known necromancer castle-fortresses of Ashbury and S'nel N'fa, the Bates estate not only does not have a centrally located throne room, it does not even have a chamber that could have served as one in the past before a theoretical redecoration.

It's décor is also modern looking, being the only building from the ones I mention here that does not have visible brickwork on the interior. This alone could be explained by a renovation if it were the only available argument, but as it is I think it further suggests that the estate is fairly new.

 

Huh, I was fairly certain that someone somewhere mentions that it used to be the old castle but I'm you're probably right.

 

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Only mentions about the last king of Tarant seem to be with two people, ie. Willoughsby and clerk from Tarant library I ran search on all dialogue files with keyword "King" and "Tarant", but didn't come accross anything else. It is still possible I missed something. There's also dialogue with the demonologist mentioning certain less fortunate king of Tarant, but that is ancient history.

Btw, you can use an application called "Windows GREP" or similiar to search keywords from multiple text files. If you extract dialogue from DAT files you can easily run lore-searches to satisfy your curiosity or for modding purposes.

 

Ha! Nice one.

 

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That does indeed sound useful, thanks for sharing! Takes me back when I was playing around with the Infinity explorer or whatever it was called. That little utility gave you the ability to string search for keywords in all files used by the Infinity games. Very handy.

 

It's not the journey that is dangerous, it's that Thanatos is monster island. That other island is not 'monster island', so apparently it's not too dangerous.