I’m a new player and I’m still quite early into the story and I found myself in a quite odd situation, forgive me if this was mentioned already, but I cannot seem to quite find this kind of problem, if it is, in this forum.
I’m doing the “quest” The Chandleress’ Complaint, right after leaving the prison, where I was talking to the Chandleress; one of the options is " Ask the Chandleress about the rat-catchers’ traditions".
The challenge is a persuasive one, where you ask her a question. I failed the first time and went back to the previous list to be surprised to find again the choice available, so I repeated it once more and this time seems like I succeeded, obtaining experience and a reward (x30 Whispered Hint).
I thought that maybe it’s something that you can try until succeeding, but I couldn’t see any apparent malus from failing it.
I see that after that, I could still click on it to try the challenge once more, which then was a bit weird. The game allows me to loop this challenge, failing/succeeding and eventually increasing persuasive points, plus reward. The phrases were the same, both when failing and when succeeding, I see no point why this should be allowed to the player, as they already obtained the answer/reward; is this a bug? or perhaps an intentional mechanic?
I guess that it could be only useful up to a certain point, after which it becomes increasingly costly to keep spending actions for that challenge, but seems very odd to me indeed.
I see, in that case makes more sense to have build up of potential for maluses/special bonuses, although I was a bit put off by the repeated question/answer (like, why would I fail next at getting her answer, if she already successfully answered to me previously?)
Yeah, repeatable actions are extremely common. It’s the reverse that’s rare.
Actions that can only be played once, or can only be tried until you succeed at them, are generally reserved for specific important moments in the stories. For most “normal” actions, you can do them over and over again if you particularly want to.
Essentially, you’ve discovered grinding. The action raises Persuasive and gives a small amount of goods, so that’s the benefit after the first time rather than story.
Sometimes repeated actions build a quality that is not immediately visible, but is required for the next step in a story.
There are some actions that never change but always produce a benefit that may be large or small. Some achievements within the game are extremely expensive, but people aiming for them will repeat a series of actions many times to gain the goods/money and ultimately, say, a hellworm or cider.
Other actions may give different benefits, e.g. the opportunity to reduce a menace.
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