Quests

Quests are challenges presented in the game. As of the v.1.0.6 Update (July 2015) there are 450+ unique Quests available in the Seeker's Notes: Mysteries of Darkwood game.

Quests show up on the left hand side of a player's Darkwood Town Map. Quests can be part of a 6-quest sequence to combine a particular collection, with the first 5 quests asking to find each item belonging to the collection, and the 6th quest asking to combine the collection. Quests may also ask to find items unrelated to any known collections, or to simply play a Hidden Object Location in certain Modes or interact with different Darkwood Town inhabitants (such as Townspeople or Monsters).

List of Quests
Your active Quests are listed on the left hand side of the Darkwood Town Map. Each Quest is represented by a Quest bubble which has a gold border and a picture representing the quest in the centre. For quests that ask you to find or make a certain item, the image of the item is in the bubble. For quests that ask you to interact with a certain character in the game, the image of the character is in the bubble.

When a new Quest appears in the list of Quests on the left hand side of a Darkwood Town Map, it will have a bouncing dark green arrow (with the word 'New' written on it) pointing at the Quest in the list. There will also be a dark green exclamation mark in the top left corner of the new Quests. The bouncing arrow will eventually fade away, but the exclamation mark will remain until the Quest bubble is opened. New Quests typically appear at the top of list of Quests.

If the game is fully exited, the most recent Quests may have the 'New' arrow pointing at them again when the game is reopened (even if they have already been previously opened and accepted). They may also appear at the bottom of the list when the game is reopened (or in order within the list, depending on the level of the Quests around them).

If the Darkwood Town map is left idle for 10 seconds, then a blue arrow will appear pointing at one of your current Quests to give you a clue on how to proceed with your game. Pressing that Quest to open the Quest information box and exiting out of it by using the brown 'x' in the top right corner will remove that blue arrow, but 10 seconds later another blue arrow will appear pointing at another quest.

The dark green 'New' arrows and exclamation marks indicate new Quests whose instructions you may not have read yet, but the blue arrows can point to any Quest in the list, even ones that have been there for a very long time. They are simply meant as a guide on how to proceed, and are not offering new information.

If there are a lot of Quests currently active, then all of their Quest bubbles may not be displayed on the screen at once. In this case light green arrows at the top or bottom of the Quest list indicate that there are more Quests above or below the ones currently on display. Tapping on the light green arrows or simply dragging along the visible Quest bubbles will move through the list and display the other active Quests.

Once a quest appears on the map, it automatically activates. You do not have to tap on the Quest bubble and press accept for the Quest to activate. Completing the Quest instructions will automatically complete the Quest, whether the Quest has bee accepted or not. If the Quest asks you to find an item in a particular Location, the item will automatically appear in the 'You Can Find' list of that Location, even if the Quest has not been accepted. The Quest bubble being present on the the Left Hand Side of the Darkwood Town Map is all that is needed for the Quest to become active.

Quest Information Box
Tapping on the Quest bubble will bring up an information box about the quest that will give you more details of the Quest.Each quest is proposed by one of the Story Characters in the game. The Quest is usually proposed as a way for the Player, their 'Town Seeker' to help the character with a task.

The name of quest appears at the top of box, with a story description of the quest directly below it. Beneath this is a picture of the item/character/action that the Quest requires. Above this picture is the name of the item (not necessarily the same as the name of the Quest). Beneath the image the rewards for completing the Quest are listed, these are usually Experience points and Coins, but some Quest will reward Rubies. The harder a Quest is, the greater the reward for completing it will be.

At the bottom of the information box, the directions for completing the Quest are given in the form of a 'Hint'. You must follow these instructions exactly to win the item and complete the Quest. For example, if the Hint asks for a certain Game Mode in a certain Location, then the item will only be available to win when that Location is in the right mode.

There is a green 'Accept' button at the bottom of the Quest box, beneath the Quest 'Hint'. Tapping this 'Accept' button will exit the Quest box and trigger a Hint for the Quest. Either a large blue arrow will appear on the Darkwood Town map pointing to the where you should go to complete the Quest or the relevant Section of the game (e.g. Collections Window) will automatically open. If the Quest asks for a particular mode in a Location, and that Location is not in the correct mode, then a message will appear telling you

If you do not want the Blue arrow to help you with the Quest, you can use the brown 'X' in the top right hand corner of the Quest box to exit it. This will not trigger the blue arrow hint, and may be useful if you are simply re-reading a number of Quest instructions rather than trying to complete that particular Quest immediately.

Once you complete the task or find the right item, the quest will automatically complete and a new box will appear from the Character who proposed the Quest congratulating you and giving you the rewards for completing the Quest.

Types of Quests
There are 5 main types of regular quests in the game: Tutorial Quests; Key Quests; Collection Quests; One Off Item Quests; and Advertising Quests

Tutorial Quests
Many of the early Quests in the game take the form of Tutorial Quests. The main goal of these Quests is to teach you a particular aspect of the game or introduce you to a new character or function within the game. For example, there are Quests asking you to add new Friends, the hints of which explain the invite system of the game.

Other Quests will walk you through buying and using Tools and Boosters in the game, such as Talismans and Energy items. One Quest will ask you to buy the item in the Store for Rubies (the reward for completing the Quest will either be the exact price of the item, or even extra Rubies so that overall you do not lose any and may even gain some for completing the Quest). The next Quest will ask you to go to your Inventory and Use the item. This explains the game mechanics of these different items through the Quests.

As new Characters are unlocked in the game (as a player progresses through he Game Levels), new Quests will trigger asking you to interact with the new character. For early introductions these Quests explain the system at hand. For example, early in the game a Quest will start asking you to find a Flower Pot. This Quest shows how trading items can be won by playing different Hidden Object Locations and Puzzles. Once that Quest is complete and you have a Flower Pot in your Inventory, a new Quest will start that asks you to Trade with the Flower Girl. You need the Flower Pot to do this, and so the Quests combine to teach the player how to Trade with Townspeople.

Key Quests
As you increase your Game Level, new Locations become available in the Darkwood Town Map. When a new Hidden Object Location is introduced ('unlocked'), you must find a Key to Location to gain access (or 'Open' it). A Key Quest is triggered to find the Key for the new Location on the Map.

The Key Quest usually asks you to search the last Location that was Opened for the Key to the new Location. For the duration of the Key Quest, the Key to the new Location is listed in the 'You can Find' list in the Explore Window of the last opened Location. To win the Key you must successfully win Hidden Object games of that Location. Sometimes it takes many plays to win the Key.

For example, Marketplace is unlocked at Level 15, followed by Garden at Level 18, and then Docks at Level 21. The Key Quest for Garden asks to explore Marketplace, and then the Key Quest for Docks asks to explore Garden. There are some exceptions to this rule, such as the Key Quest for Ballroom (Level 9, pictured), which asks the player to Explore Train Station (Level 3), even though Alley (Level 6) was the last opened Location.

When new Puzzles are introduced, you must also complete a Quest to Open them. These Quests are not for Keys, but for pieces of the Puzzle. You may need to find just one piece of the new Puzzle to open it (such as for Mosaic), or you may need to find more than one piece before opening the new Puzzle (such as for Ancient Cards). Again, to find the pieces you must win games in other Locations.

Collection Quests
The vast majority of Quests in the game are related to collections. Typically, these quests appear in sequences of 6. The first quest asks the player to find the first item from the collection, the second quest asks the player to find the second item from the collection, etc. until all 5 items needed to combine the collection have been found. The 6th quest in the sequence is to combine the collection.

Although uncommon, it is possible for the Quests to break this order, and ask for the 5 items out of sequence. It is also possible for the same Quest sequences to skip between two different Collections. The first couple of quests may be for items in one Collection, with the next couple of quests to look for items in another Collection, before returning to finish the first collection.

Typically, these Quests are all proposed by the same Story Character and combining that Collection to create a new item is part of the Story arc for that Character. Such as the Ancient Ciphers Collections being part of your first introduction to Ben, who wants to be your apprentice "Town Seeker" and is helping decipher a cryptic letter that was sent to you.

Examples of Collection Quests are "Explore the Docks to find the item" or "Visit the Ballroom in Night mode to find the item".

Once Off Item Quests
Some quests ask the player to find items that do not belong to any collection. These items serve no purpose in the game and cannot be used. They do not appear in any part of your Inventory after you complete the quest.

The Once Off Items Quests at the beginning of the game tend to appear at random and come in groups, they are used to progress the storyline of the game, particularly when introducing new Story Characters. Some early one-off Quests may not even ask for an imaginary item, but rather that you Explore a particular Location in order to 'Meet' a new Character.

The Once Off Item Quests later in the game are more likely to come after a particular set of Collection Quests, with the item being thematically related to the previous collections.

Examples of Once Off Item Quests are "Search any Location in Silhouette mode" or "Explore Cafe to find the Cage Key".

Advertising Quests
At the beginning of a new game, players will be asked to do the developer's job for them and advertise the game as part of the Quests. These quests are included in the main quests of the game (and count towards your Quest total), but do come with an extra incentive of rewarding Rubies for completion.

Examples include liking the game on Facebook, or other social Media. Clicking on the link in the Quest bubble will bring you to your devices web browser, where the log-in page for that particular social networking site will automatically load and you will be re-directed to MyTona's page to complete the requirement of the quest.

Sometimes just following the link a number of times will complete the quest for you, which is useful for people who do not want to have to create accounts for different social networking sites just to progress in a game.

To skip the Quest pictured to the right ('Like' the game on Facebook), you can press Accept, which will bring you to the Facebook game for the game. Press 'Like' on any post and a log-in window for Facebook will appear. Close the browser, without logging in to Facebook, and return to the game, and sometimes the Quest will complete giving you the Rubies. This loophole, for as long as it remains in the game, means you do not have to have a Facebook account to continue on with the Quests.

This practice of forced advertising being integrated into game progress is becoming increasingly common in free to play games, and is lazy and insulting to players.

Repeat Quests
Some players may encounter repeat quests in the game. Glitches in the game may cause some Collection quests and once-off item quests to repeat. Not every player will experience repeat quests, as they are both related to general glitches but also player specific crashes. Some players may never encounter a repeat quest, some will encounter only 6 (replaying a single collection sequence quest of finding 5 items and combining the collection) and other players may have up to a thousand repeat quests if their game crashes and they continue to play the crashed game (without deleting the game and starting a completely new game) and need to replay all the quests they had previously completed.

Repeat quests will count towards the in game Achievements counters, allowing players to have more than 450 Quests according to the counter in the Achievements section of the game. However, they will not count towards the 'Seekers' section of the Top 100 players. Only unique quests completed by the player will appear in this list when other players look at the rankings.

Tips

 * Receiving an item as a gift from a friend that is needed for a quest will complete the quest when you accept the gift. Use your Wish List to enlist your friends help with particularly stubborn quests.
 * The majority of Quest in the game are Collection sequences. These are sets of 6 Quests - the first 5 Quests are to find each of the 5 items in the Collection and the 6th Quest is to combine the Collection. Combining Collections may also be referred to as 'Trading' or 'Exchanging' the Collection in the Quest instructions, but it always means the same thing - to combine the Collection in the Collections Window. If you already have at least one of each item in the Collection, you can combine the Collection before the Combine Quest activates. You will still have to do all the other Quests asking you to find the different items from the Collection, but the combine Quest itself will automatically complete when you reach it.
 * Using 'Luck' Talismans, such as the All-Seeing Eye; Eagle Eye and Seeker's Star increases the number of items you win for every Hidden Object or Puzzle game you win. By increasing the overall number of items you win when playing, you will increase your odds of winning an item for a Quest.
 * If you do not have any 'Luck' Talismans, you can Hire Friends with the Talent. This will increase your odds of finding items by 10% for the next play of a Hidden Object Location or Puzzle game.
 * You may not use more than one 'Luck' Talisman at a time, but you can use the Fortune Pearl at the same time as using a normal 'Luck' Talisman. You can also Hire a Friend in addition to using Talismans. The effects of the Talisman, Pearl and Hire will accumulate (as will a charge on the picture by a visiting Friend) to give an overall higher percentage increase in your odds of finding the item.
 * All Quest instruction boxes and hints will refer to the Hidden Object Location "Train Station" as simply "Station". They all mean for you to explore Train Station.
 * If you do not want the blue arrow hint to appear after opening a Quest information box, you can use the brown 'x' in the top right hand corner of the information box to close it instead of pressing the 'Accept' button. This will not trigger the blue arrow hint.

Related

 * SN Home
 * Darkwood Town Map
 * List of Hidden Object Locations
 * Location Ranks
 * Lists of Puzzles
 * Collections
 * Wish Lists
 * Hiring Friends