Ascension Quest FAQ
Ascension Quest FAQ
Who can play?
The following requirements must be met to participate:
1. This is a special game for our more experienced players. You must have achieved at least level 100 before you can start this game.
2. Player must be a Gold Member, as this game uses numerous Gold Member features.
What is it?
Ascension Quest is a trivia adventure similar to the Great Trivia Race, but much longer and more elaborate. It also has elements of a classic text adventure game: You may sometimes reach a location where you can't immediately continue, but you can come back later once you have done something else or picked up some information. Finally, there is a treasure hunt involved. Similarly to the original treasure hunt, you will receive clues during your game which you will need to track and combine. These will always be presented to you in relation to your equipment, so always take notes if the game tells you that you pick up any items or gives you information about them.
How difficult is it?
Designed to challenge those who have solved most of the challenges on the site, it won't be easy. However, you very much have it in your own hands to determine the difficulty level: If you want to solve the game quickly, you will face very tough challenges, but if you can't meet them right away, there is often an option that can be solved just through persistence - and almost all of the harder game score requirements will come down over time. So if you are eager to solve the game in a record time, you should be prepared to go beyond what you are used to, but if you give it time and take it slowly, any player who has reached level 100 and meets the other prerequisites of the game should be able to make it to Mount Olympus.
How have requirements been determined?
All game requirements have been based on a snapshot of the real-life scores played by our level 100+ player base over two weeks. If a particular score is mandatory to achieve and there's no way around it, it's set to something almost everyone achieves with some regularity - on the other hand, when the game leaves you multiple options to progress, you will find that requirements are higher - but in that case, you can pick your best game.
Oh, there may be some requirements that are really hard and not meant to be beaten - if you encounter one of those, you are on a wrong path. You can get past those if you're really good at a game, but it's not the way you're supposed to go - look for some other path!
The game text and requirement disagree on a point score - which one do I need?
When you are at a stage requiring a point score in a game, the requirements may go down with each day that passes. This will be reflected in the small "Requirement: score X points in the described game. Your required score has been lowered due to your time here." text. However the story text is static and cannot reflect this lowering - thus always refer to the "Requirement" text when checking what score you actually need!
Why are there two score thresholds for Who am I?
The Who am I game is a special case among all hourly and daily games in that it has two modes of quite different difficulty. In addition, some players are forced to play the difficult game for being champions while others want to use difficult mode to ensure they will provide team points.
To compensate for the difficulty levels, the required score to pass any Who am I stage in difficult mode is 150 points lower than the one needed in easy mode. Non-champ players can pick either mode and be scored accordingly.
Is there an alternative to the tasks that require X points per day?
Several players have reported that they could not play for high point scores per day, either to simple time reasons or due to health issues. In order to accommodate these players and allow them to enjoy Ascension Quest, an alternative requirement is provided for all endurance stages that ask for more than 10,500 points per day.
This alternative can either be a completely different requirement (e.g. authoring a quiz or playing a game score) or it can be a "persistence" stage in which you can fulfill the requirement in multiple days, scoring 7,500 points for each day. Of course, by taking the multi-day path, you will need to score more total points since this rounds up, so for example a 20,000 points requirement will translate to three days of 7,500 points or a total of 22,500. Those days don't need to be in sequence - you can rest in between as you wish.
During play of these stages, you'll notice that the story description is rather generic - this is because the persistence loop is the same code regardless where you are coming from - but don't worry: when you're done, the game will remember where you were and put you back in the correct place!
What should I know about completing individual challenges?
There are some new challenge types in this game, in particular those that require you to gather a certain number of points per day and those that ask you to perform at a certain level in Knockout.
These two challenge types are time-dependent: You must go back into the game, claim them and advance to the next stage on the day you have met the requirements (Knockout always looks at the previous day to see whether you have won your game, so you need to check that on the very next day).
What's with those 'go back' links?
The "Go back" links are meant as a way to leave a place whose challenge you currently cannot or do not want to complete, often to try an alternate path (which may be better or worse). Their effect can be anything from restarting a complete fight to actually advancing you past an obstacle that is meant not to be overcome, so pay close attention to any text in those links and the way you got to the point you are now at before using one.
Also remember that going back and later returning to the same stage will reset everything you have done there so far. Wait timers will reset, a score already decreased will return to its original value and a quiz you may have begun writing will no longer count. Use caution and make sure that what you do is really what you want to do.
I retreated and now I'm back to where I started - what's up?
Retreating is an option offered in some fights which will inevitably set you back to the very beginning of that fight even if it consists of multiple stages. This has the advantage that you can reconsider your play strategy and approach the fight entirely differently. Do it only if you feel you cannot win with your current strategy and want to start over!
Does the game involve authoring?
Yes - considering that this game is supposed to challenge you in all aspects of FunTrivia, there is a small authoring component. If you're not much of an author, you can get by with writing just two quizzes - one will give you a variety of subcategories to choose from and the other will have to meet some requirements regarding the title. If you like authoring, however, some stages will give you additional options to get around difficult or lengthy requirements by writing a quiz. Like many things in the game, it's up to you!
Can I leave a quiz authoring stage and come back later?
You can, but be aware that leaving an authoring stage will disqualify any quizzes you have been working on from consideration - when you come back to the stage, you would have to start a new template.
So make sure you do not leave an author stage while your quiz is submitted and being edited!
I just wrote a quiz but it gives me the same choices again, asking for another?
This can happen. One character in this story is notoriously hard to please and if you don't have some special status or training influencing things in your favor, you can expect to need multiple attempts to amuse him/her.
What happens if a player misses some key information?
Near the end, players will have the option to revisit any chapter of the game that held any required information. But be careful - if you do so, you'll have to actually play through the chapter a second time, so you'll have to meet any game score and authoring requirements again. Standard quizzes, of course, will remain solved.
What if a player gets stuck or gives up?
You can't get completely stuck. There's no way to "die" in the game - although a few really (and obviously) bad decisions can result in somewhat lengthy pit stops. Even if you don't complete the game all the way to Ascension, however, the Questian badgelet is a special reward - it will change to reflect the chapter you reached, so you should always strive to just go for the next chapter and the prestige that comes with getting there.
Isn't there a typo in chapter 3?
If it's related to something Golden, no. It's just following the pattern established by its predecessors :)
One of the logic puzzles is unsolvable! Help!
No, it's not. Try solving it when you actually have all the items needed. You may be missing a crucial piece of information!
I can't get through the maze. Help?
Mapping the maze will help you a lot. The maze is a square and the individual cells are square as well. If you arrive at any other shape, you've mis-mapped somewhere. Return to a unique location (the entrance, for example) and start another map...
Is there any inside information before the start?
Well, I'd be saying too much. You should discover things for yourself. And don't share information and solutions with each other - except for the one bit of information where the game explicitly allows and asks you to exchange with some friends!
Come on... one bit, just for reading through all this...
Oooo-kay. Just one thing, however and that should be enough: Before getting on a raft, look for a very well hidden place.