Illegal Items and the logic behind it

[calvinfoo]

I know it is just a game, but what's the logic behind having some cat hair, chicken feather, or even a common house fly is "death sentence" to Manannan?

If having any of these items are considered illegal, Gwydion won't be stayed alive until 18, and would've sentenced to dead long time ago. I am pretty sure the cat would've lost quite a bit of hair around, and Gwydion sweeps the floor and decided to pick some up for some reason;
or chicken feather lost around the farm, Gwydion could've pick some up and use it as feather duster;
with plety of chicken around, I am sure there will be plenty of flies around too, and flies doesn't last very long, and I commonly found dead flies around, I could've picked it up...

I can piss off Manannan couple of times and he still can be patient and at most just some simple punishment, but I get killed because I have some car hair, a dead common house fly, or even chicken feather? It stills puzzles me after all these years.

Common items such as Salt. I need to buy salt from the store, because there is no salt in the kitchen, Manannan must have a very bland taste bud.

[Taryn]

It's because those items could potentially be magical spell ingredients ^_~

[Xandarius]

It could be argued that since Manannan is planning on killing off Gwydion very soon anyway, he's much less likely to tolerate spell ingredients that might be otherwise innocuous detritus Gwydion just happened to collect and keep with himself as part of his chores. And, yeah, one has to wonder about Manannan's taste in cuisine.

[TriniMage]

I know it is just a game, but what's the logic behind having some cat hair, chicken feather, or even a common house fly is "death sentence" to Manannan?

When he killed me in my first playing of the game for having the fly wings, this came to mind... If you are expected to clean then why punish you for picking up a dead fly?
Also it seems illogical that he punishes Gwydion for being in his study or room even though he has ordered him to dust or clean respectively...
Another 'bug' is when he kills you in the tower (if you speak to him too much) after you have completed the task he ordered you to do with the message to the effect that when he orders you to do a chore he expects you to do it...

[Gronagor]

Well. There are three possibilities I can think off.

1) We have no idea what happened in the first 18 years of Gwydion's life. Perhaps he did warn him before... even punished him! For all we know, we (taking charge of Gwydion at this time) are punished this harshly for Gwydion's previous misdemeanors!?!?!

or

2) Perhaps M knew about the prophecy and knew Alex would attempt an escape at some time. That could be why he's more vigilant at this specific age.

or

3) Considering all the previous Gwydions, perhaps he knows that at this age it would be dangerous for his slave to have potential ingredients for spells.

[TriniMage]

3) Considering all the previous Gwydions, perhaps he knows that at this age it would be dangerous for his slave to have potential ingredients for spells.

Yeh! I can accept that...

[Radogol]

For the sake of first-time players, I think it would be more intuitive to make only objects that came from outside the house to be forbidden.

EDIT: I mean common objects, of course, not things like the map or wand

[Xandarius]

Manannan's rules are contradictory and arbitrary, which is often the case in an abusive, dominant relationship. But all of you make a good point that maybe Manannan's jumping to conclusions when he's sees you with a pair of fly wings (presumably hidden securely within your pocket) and accuses you of being up to creating magic. But I wouldn't want to redesign the game in this respect. I like how this aspect is consistent with the original.

And jumping to conclusions or not, Mannanan IS correct about your intentions for 90+ percent of players.

[calvinfoo]

And jumping to conclusions or not, Mannanan IS correct about your intentions for 90+ percent of players.

Assumed Manannan knows every moves of yours, Well, if you argue cat hair or chicken feather, I can accept that... as I intensionly pick the cat/chicken up and pluck the hair, surely I must be up to something fishy. but house fly...? I just pick it up on the floor, even in classic KQ3, I saw, I pickup, then I die. Assumed Manannan the player read the spell book (user manual) before start the game

For KQ3R, for some reason Gwydion picks it up and THEN REMOVES the wing, you can argue that Gwydion did that on purpose and up to something no good, well, even he didn't read the spell book before. Why Gwydion removes the wing even he didn't read the spell book before is something beyond my knowledge.

[chucklas]

If you think about how the original games played out, if you were playing for the first time, the deaths actually helped the story move along and helped the player learn what to do. If you get killed for having spell ingredients, then perhaps you are going to have to do some magic. If you were playing for the first time, this would help you to know you have to actually find the lab and perform spells.

[DrJones]

At least is not like that SQ4 puzzle in which you have to save before buying a plug model, then play until you know which plug design you have to buy, then load your game and buy the correct one.

[chucklas]

I vaguely remember that SQ4 puzzle, but for some reason (I have not played it for a long time) I think you can look at the laptop to see what the plug should look like...or something. I don't think it was totally random, but perhaps it was.

[Brainiac]

At least is not like that SQ4 puzzle in which you have to save before buying a plug model, then play until you know which plug design you have to buy, then load your game and buy the correct one.

Technically, that's just the "simpler" way to do it. You can get into the Super Computer, find out what connector you need, and then go back to the Time Pod and buy the appropriate plug in SQ10 (or trade-in the incorrect one you already bought).

[Xandarius]

Actually, choosing the incorrect laptop adapter was part of the game design. The player was supposed to see that they had the wrong adapter, go back to the time pod, travel back in time, and exchange the adapter.

Whether or not this is good game design is a different story.

(And I don't think restoring worked, because I think the game always chose a different interface from the one you bought, provided you hadn't been in the super computer already).