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AG Community Playthrough #61: Anna’s Quest

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Funniest moment in the game so far: handing Jacob’s poetry to Jannike... Grin


And I just witnessed the mocking of Wilhelm with his “super cool” beehive helmet. Oh, Sughly, did you put the Grimm brothers in your game just to get them to be the resident butt-monkeys??? Tongue

     

The truth can’t hurt you, it’s just like the dark: it scares you witless but in time you see things clear and stark. - Elvis Costello
Maybe this time I can be strong, but since I know who I am, I’m probably wrong. Maybe this time I can go far, but thinking about where I’ve been ain’t helping me start. - Michael Kiwanuka

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DCast - 23 August 2020 11:55 PM

P.S. Stay after the credits. There is a small dialog between 2 characters that I first assumed it meant a possible sequel (Do you read this Dane??)

Of course!! I actually sat down with the head of Daedalic and we chatted about the project and what we could potentially do with it in the future. Whether it’s due to sales not quite getting where they might have liked, or whether it’s due to a change of focus onto less traditional point and clicks, it’s something we didn’t revisit. There’s a whole truckload of fairy tales to pull ideas from, and a lot of potential tying up loose ends, so a sequel would come quite easily! C’est la vie… it’s Daedalic’s franchise now, and I have many, many other ideas that I’m moving forward with. You never know I guess!

Pegbiter - 26 August 2020 04:49 PM

I just finished the game. Great stuff!

There are a lot of things I need to process here. My first thought was however that we never got to know Reynard’s motives. Did he help in order to be in favor with the royal family, or was he actually already in that circle before (most of) the events of the game?

I definitely would have liked to highlight his story more in the ending, if we had the time. Myself and a few other stretched ourselves silly trying to make the ending cutscenes (from chapter 5 and 6) a good as they could be. We were literally adding in extra shots and getting the musician to make amends the night before we locked off the game build. Was a stressful night!! That said… Reynard was living up to his usual antics in his folk stories - his end goal is to always survive as best he can. The idea was that he knew about people with telekinesis based on people talking about her Grandpa over the years like Hans suggested (hence why he refers to her as ‘from the farm of the west woods’ in chapter 3) - he uses his knowledge of the world to outsmart people after all. So meeting Anna put into motion what he saw was a way to get out of his life struggling to survive, and saw through supporting her as a means to get a better life for himself. Somewhat selfish, sure, but we can’t deny he helped Anna on her quest Wink

TimovieMan - 26 August 2020 05:33 PM

Oh, Sughly, did you put the Grimm brothers in your game just to get them to be the resident butt-monkeys??? Tongue

Hahaha, yeahhh, I guess I did Grin Some other tie ins include Winfriede’s mother, Dorothea - she is named after Dorothea Viehmann, someone who the Brothers Grimm had collected a number of their stories from. In a bit of a cheeky way, you could suggest their fame is based off of taking Dorothea’s wisdom and getting the credit Smile

While I’m at it - the tea puzzle in chapter 6 is a throwback to my own mum! She is a HUGE fan of tea, and I would always as a kid jokingly refer to it as a gross leaf drink. Looking at the teapot will get a similar response from Winnie Smile I have so many of these inspirations behind aspects throughout the game, I’d have to take some time to sit down and really recall a lot of them… one is that the desks inside the classroom were a big inspiration from the game ‘Willy Beamish’ - I loved the idea you could explore Willy’s desk and use his stuff to get out of detention - hence the starting puzzle in the room Smile

     
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Finished the game! And what a lovely, lovely game it was - instant-classic material in my book. From the gorgeous animation to the music to the meticulously layered depth of the story, it’s such a wonderful fairy tale with a brilliant main character. I also quite love the fact that the game manages to make you feel sorry for the villain, showing how all her villainy actually came about from a cruel trick of the Devil. And bonus points for eschewing a complete happy ending by having Winfriede reject Anna’s hand - the now bittersweet ending works far better than a redemption would have, I feel.

Anna’s Quest - 4.5/5



I finished the game with 34 out of 39 achievements. I’m missing “Ooh, it’s shiny!”, “Guilty conscience”, “Bahahahaha…”, “What a mess” and “Posterboy!”.

More disturbingly: I’m missing 1 of the videos in the game’s “Bonus” content, and 8 out of 12 Ben drawings… Gasp

What did I do to miss all this stuff???

     

The truth can’t hurt you, it’s just like the dark: it scares you witless but in time you see things clear and stark. - Elvis Costello
Maybe this time I can be strong, but since I know who I am, I’m probably wrong. Maybe this time I can go far, but thinking about where I’ve been ain’t helping me start. - Michael Kiwanuka

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Some observations regarding the last chapter:

1. 15+ years have passed and the baby dragon didn’t grow an inch. Poor guy. Tongue
2. I am still not sure if the main villain award should go to the Devil or Mrs Voigt aka worst mother ever in an adventure game.
3. The entire story of the finale can be seen in the portraits in Wunderhorn’s church. They were painted from a muted child that was on the scene they said…. Wink
4. Daedelic must have some kind of fetish with endings that are rarely happy (most of them are great though).
5. Regarding the game itself, I read somewhere that is basically a story about fatalism vs free will. I could not agree more. The only reason everything happened was because a society was ready to accept their given fates, even for a mother to abandon her child, as fatal. Literally the only people in the game that are not willing to accept any given fate are two. Anna and Winfriede. But while Winfriede does believe that her future is “fated” and does everything in her grasp to prevent it by becoming more and more corrupted, Anna changes the fates of people around her with good deeds and kindness. Many times we heard through our journey the phrases “It is too late”, “There is no point”, “Nothing can change”, etc. Even from the Queen Herself! The Devil literally tried to “corrupt” Anna by convincing her that there is no point in trying and she should accept her fate in misery, that she cannot help anyone, etc! He failed and this is why Anna’s responses in the 4th Chapter were so important. When she says people can change, it is not her naivette that speaks. It is her real determination and belief on people’s free will.

TimovieMan - 26 August 2020 07:21 PM

“What a mess”

Pretty sure this is the achievement I described regarding the jester and the tomatos. Smile

     
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Sefir - 27 August 2020 06:00 AM

Pretty sure this is the achievement I described regarding the jester and the tomatos. Smile

I only sullied the kitchen (which is how I found out you could do that), and the room where it’s needed (because I correctly figured that would be it). Tongue

That achievement indeed comes from doing that in *every* room.


I found a thread on the Steam community with explanations for all of them. The ones I didn’t get are:

“Ooh, it’s shiny!”, which apparently is random (for every item you take in the game, if you check the inventory there’s a 1-in-200 (or so) chance that it’ll be a “shiny” inventory item, unlocking the achievement)
“Guilty conscience” is when you get the hermit to come out using telekinesis, but fess up instead of telekinetically slamming the shutter on him
“Bahahahaha…” is for giving the goat *every* possible food item in the dungeon
“Posterboy!” is for collecting all 12 of the hidden candies. I think I found 4, so maybe that’s why in the Bonus I can only see 4 of the 12 Ben drawings. Not sure about that last bit, though.

And the video I didn’t get was watching the Devil through the keyhole when he’s still in disguise (and thus not eating).



I’m a completionist player, but not *that* completionist. When I decide to replay the game (in a couple of years perhaps), maybe then I’ll hunt the other achievements down, but for now I’m good. Tongue

     

The truth can’t hurt you, it’s just like the dark: it scares you witless but in time you see things clear and stark. - Elvis Costello
Maybe this time I can be strong, but since I know who I am, I’m probably wrong. Maybe this time I can go far, but thinking about where I’ve been ain’t helping me start. - Michael Kiwanuka

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Sefir - 27 August 2020 06:00 AM

Some observations regarding the last chapter:

1. 15+ years have passed and the baby dragon didn’t grow an inch. Poor guy. Tongue

Noticed that too. Maybe dragons are near-immortal and thus also take hundreds of years to grow into adulthood? Or dragons only grow when in the presence of their parent. Or it’s a small goof. Crazy

2. I am still not sure if the main villain award should go to the Devil or Mrs Voigt aka worst mother ever in an adventure game.

I go for the Devil as he’s behind all of it - including everyone’s complete surrender to Wyrd, which is part of the “villainy” of Mrs. Voigt.

3. The entire story of the finale can be seen in the portraits in Wunderhorn’s church. They were painted from a muted child that was on the scene they said…. Wink

The sheer depth of this game… Gasp

4. Regarding the game itself, I read somewhere that is basically a story about fatalism vs free will. I could not agree more. The only reason everything happened was because a society was ready to accept their given fates, even for a mother to abandon her child, as fatal. Literally the only people in the game that are not willing to accept any given fate are two. Anna and Winfriede. But while Winfriede does believe that her future is “fated” and does everything in her grasp to prevent it by becoming more and more corrupted, Anna changes the fates of people around her with good deeds and kindness. Many times we heard through our journey the phrases “It is too late”, “There is no point”, “Nothing can change”, etc. Even from the Queen Herself! The Devil literally tried to “corrupt” Anna by convincing her that there is no point in trying and she should accept her fate in misery, that she cannot help anyone, etc! He failed and this is why Anna’s responses in the 4th Chapter were so important. When she says people can change, it is not her naivette that speaks. It is her real determination and believe on people’s free will.

Excellent analysis! Thumbs Up


An observation I made is regarding the Red Dragon:
If Philip Voigt died while summoning the Red Dragon, and the dragon banished the Devil underground, then why is he above ground to trick everyone as “The Wanderer”?

     

The truth can’t hurt you, it’s just like the dark: it scares you witless but in time you see things clear and stark. - Elvis Costello
Maybe this time I can be strong, but since I know who I am, I’m probably wrong. Maybe this time I can go far, but thinking about where I’ve been ain’t helping me start. - Michael Kiwanuka

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TimovieMan - 27 August 2020 06:40 AM

An observation I made is regarding the Red Dragon:
If Philip Voigt died while summoning the Red Dragon, and the dragon banished the Devil underground, then why is he above ground to trick everyone as “The Wanderer”?

I quote the Devil from the last scene. His very first words to be precise: “And with the dusk, a new beginning arrives…. What do you think Hans (he says while looking in the waters below)? Isn’t it…beautiful? How fortuitus it is. Of all the moments for the protector to neglect its duty in search of its infant… I wonder, will the girl from the west woods watch over this very instant? Hahha… who knows? Perhaps.. What does it matter? By then I would have had my fun”.

The dragon was away looking for her baby!
It is her seer presence (or its magic I guess) that keeps the Devil at bay.
So perhaps it was Winnie’s fault after all…. kinda. For playing with the baby dragon for too long.

     
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Sughly - 26 August 2020 06:55 PM

There’s a whole truckload of fairy tales to pull ideas from, and a lot of potential tying up loose ends, so a sequel would come quite easily! C’est la vie… it’s Daedalic’s franchise now, and I have many, many other ideas that I’m moving forward with. You never know I guess!

Too bad that a sequel isn’t on the roadmap. I would’ve eagerly looked forward to it. I’m glad to hear you’re moving forward with multiple other ideas though, especially if some of those ideas might end up as adventure games. Could we possibly see something of the upcoming murder mystery now?

Thanks for the details about Reynard!

     
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Sefir - 27 August 2020 06:00 AM

Some observations regarding the last chapter:

1. 15+ years have passed and the baby dragon didn’t grow an inch. Poor guy. Tongue

Hahaha, it is somewhat of a small goof. I remember stopping to consider this, but as we work through all the chapters sequentially and he was such an integral part of the story I couldn’t just not include him. TimovieMan isn’t far off with my supposing though - I did like the idea that he was perhaps stunted by Winfriede meddling with him.

Sefir - 27 August 2020 06:00 AM

3. The entire story of the finale can be seen in the portraits in Wunderhorn’s church. They were painted from a muted child that was on the scene they said…. Wink

I really love all the appreciation you all have for these details, never fails to put a smile on my face! She really became a favourite character of mine too - a tough life for sure (but at least she had some good years with her love, and continues to somewhere out there Wink).

Sefir - 27 August 2020 06:00 AM

5. Regarding the game itself, I read somewhere that is basically a story about fatalism vs free will. I could not agree more. The only reason everything happened was because a society was ready to accept their given fates, even for a mother to abandon her child, as fatal. Literally the only people in the game that are not willing to accept any given fate are two. Anna and Winfriede. But while Winfriede does believe that her future is “fated” and does everything in her grasp to prevent it by becoming more and more corrupted, Anna changes the fates of people around her with good deeds and kindness. Many times we heard through our journey the phrases “It is too late”, “There is no point”, “Nothing can change”, etc. Even from the Queen Herself! The Devil literally tried to “corrupt” Anna by convincing her that there is no point in trying and she should accept her fate in misery, that she cannot help anyone, etc! He failed and this is why Anna’s responses in the 4th Chapter were so important. When she says people can change, it is not her naivette that speaks. It is her real determination and belief on people’s free will.

Just, wow - one of my favourite things I’ve read about the game yet!! I doubt I could have expressed myself as well haha, but you’ve certainly honed right in on what excited me about this story as I was building it. I remember standing cleaning dishes with my partner at the time, and as I was shooting the breeze with the story elements I had so far, suddenly this duality of Winfriede and Anna just fell into place - I knew the game had its heart at that moment. I knew everything was going to revolve around this, and it became the driving force of everything. I look at children who are raised in conditions where they don’t get a say in how they see the world - they get told how to think, how to believe, that it’s like they never had the chance. A Louis Theroux documentary on children being raised by Neo-Nazi parents was quite inspirational, actually. All I could think about was that these kids needed more perspective. I wanted a story that showed the importance of free will, and that controlling your own story, being who you want to be, is necessary for everyone. I like to think that Anna and her Grandpa got to see the world together and in a more positive light - that Anna could help him enjoy it rather than see his last years in hiding from it. We can learn a lot from how children see the world too, after all!

I just want to take this time too to thank all of you for playing and being involved in it together like this. It’s been really, really special for me, especially to see so many comments on it being a memorable or even favourite title. Sometimes chipping away at the next game in the shadows can get a little hard, and the motivation can start to slide, but this has made such a difference. It’s really given me such a drive to make this next one even better. Work has had me flat out recently, so I’m hoping I can sit down soon to share some things like Simone’s photo, some bits of the new game, and some more thoughts on AQ. But still, thank you all!! Much much love Heart  Heart  Heart

Pegbiter - 27 August 2020 05:07 PM

I’m glad to hear you’re moving forward with multiple other ideas though, especially if some of those ideas might end up as adventure games. Could we possibly see something of the upcoming murder mystery now

Promise, I’ll put something together tonight! Sometimes the trick for me is deciding which story to pursue Tongue but needless to say I will be passionately making adventure games for as long as I can. This murder mystery is one I’m really excited for - I wrote the game design document in the first few months following Anna’s Quest’s release and have chipped away at it ever since. I don’t want to give much away, but so much is drawn from my personal experiences with depression, and I see these ideas being discussed and shared with so many people that I think it will be meaningful to many who play it.

     
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Sughly - 27 August 2020 07:12 PM

I just want to take this time too to thank all of you for playing and being involved in it together like this. It’s been really, really special for me, especially to see so many comments on it being a memorable or even favourite title. Sometimes chipping away at the next game in the shadows can get a little hard, and the motivation can start to slide, but this has made such a difference. It’s really given me such a drive to make this next one even better. Work has had me flat out recently, so I’m hoping I can sit down soon to share some things like Simone’s photo, some bits of the new game, and some more thoughts on AQ. But still, thank you all!! Much much love Heart  Heart  Heart

I’d like to thank you for joining in and providing your thoughts and giving us some behind-the-scenes info and anecdotes. It’s been greatly appreciated, and it added to the fun of the playthrough.
It’s always something special when we have the developer coming in on these playthroughs, and this time was certainly no exception. So thank you, Dane. Thumbs Up


And thanks to Sefir for leading the playthrough. I had an absolute blast with the game.
It’s not the first time that I needed a CPT to motivate me to play a gem of an adventure that would otherwise remain stuck in my backlog, and in hindsight I’m always ecstatic that I joined. Smile

     

The truth can’t hurt you, it’s just like the dark: it scares you witless but in time you see things clear and stark. - Elvis Costello
Maybe this time I can be strong, but since I know who I am, I’m probably wrong. Maybe this time I can go far, but thinking about where I’ve been ain’t helping me start. - Michael Kiwanuka

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Ok, so let’s see here… I’ll start with some memorabilia stuff. Here is a team photo we took in Hamburg of all the crew along with their signatures. The drawing is Simone’s of me and Anna (signatures are from a bunch of Daedalic staff, not necessarily just the AQ team). And yes, I got very VERY sick during production! I think it had a lot to do with me being used to Australian climates, but here I was in quite cold conditions (jumping in and out of heated buses and trains didn’t help!). Some AQ team members were bringing me back a lot of drugs during crunch hours to keep me going Tongue (I was often staying until late into the night every night I was there, also most weekend days while the office was completely empty!).

And now new game stuff. Well, as a little incentive for you all coming this far I’m happy to publicly announce the title for the first time ever - my new game is called ‘The Big Hollow’. Here’s a few little sneak peaks…

Sorry for the delay - I’m not so savvy when it comes to file sharing without my usual server space!! Just waiting until I have my ducks more in a row before getting space back up and running again for Krams Design Wink

     
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Sughly - 27 August 2020 07:12 PM

[...] but needless to say I will be passionately making adventure games for as long as I can.

This is excellent news for all of us adventure game enthusiasts!

Sughly - 28 August 2020 11:21 PM

And now new game stuff. Well, as a little incentive for you all coming this far I’m happy to publicly announce the title for the first time ever - my new game is called ‘The Big Hollow’. Here’s a few little sneak peaks…

As expected, this looks like a beautiful game. I had to ask Google about the title. Is it named after the deflation basin in Wyoming? I guess that gives us a hint about where the rural rural mining town is located.

Huge thanks for taking part and making the play-through even more rewarding, Sughly! Also thanks to Sefir for excellent leadership of course, and all other participants for insightful comments.

     
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This is amazing stuff Dane!!!
The game looks great!! Laughing
I hope everything goes well with it and we hear more news about it soon.

Thank you for sharing them with us and ofc again a big thank you to you for joining and to all participants who managed to make it through the end!  Smile

     
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Pegbiter - 29 August 2020 02:47 AM

I had to ask Google about the title. Is it named after the deflation basin in Wyoming? I guess that gives us a hint about where the rural rural mining town is located.

Good detective work, but sadly no. I did discover this place going by this same name, but it’s actually not located in this part of America at all! An unfortunate coincidence. The title is very much indicative of the deeper themes going on, while at the same time paying homage to detective titles that inspire it (The Big Nowhere, The Big Sleep, The Big Never etc). I was also somewhat pushed towards this because of a beautiful song I really hope I can use, if you want to keep researching Smile

     
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I’m getting there!  I completed Wunderhorn and had my suspicions confirmed about the sorceress.  There were some nice quests and puzzles in this chapter, although I had trouble trapping the kid-eating witch because I hadn’t picked up the clothesline.  It was an ah-ha moment when I did.

I absolutely love the baby dragon and was so glad it got reunited with its momma, but those lake ladies are really creepy.😳

I am now trying to figure out what makes sense to do next in the dungeon complex.  I’ve talked to everybody I can, and have some tasks to try, but I suspect I’ll be here a while.

     

Carpe chocolate.

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