This question if for the folks at Last Day of Work. There are a lot of threads about getting master doctors, but I have seen no comments from the LDW crew. So, my question is:

Why are the little villagers programmed to stop studying the strange plants as soon as they reach Adept Doctor?

This is one of the most frustrating things about this game, I love watching them walk across the island studying the plants (except for the sticky spot, gggrrrr), but then they stop !!

Please respond, LDW !!

That problem has been aired earlier. I believe it will be addressed in the update

And does that indicate anything to you?

Arnie, what it indicates to me is that there are a lot of bugs in this game that should have been worked out before it was released. All of the bugs from VV1 are still there, plus many more now.

No, not all of the bugs. There are many things that were problems in VV1 that are not any more. For instance: everyone in the village trying to bury dead villagers, women caring for babies late in life and then the baby also dies when she does, etc.

Yes, some bugs may still exist, and some may be new to VV2, but many were found and fixed before the game was released. If LDW waited until every _bug_ was fixed, the game might still not be released.

The LDW folks worked very hard to produce such an extraordinary complex game, and there were under time constraints by their "publisher." With all of the "match three and get points", or "repetitive mouse clicking" games on the market, the LDW games are a wonderful change.

Please try to be a bit more understanding.

Besides, it is possible to get Master Doctors without them studying the plants, and it is not necessary to the game to have a Master Doctor. I even have one game in progress where they didn't complete the herb puzzle (yet) but I haven't really needed an doctors; the stats show that I've only cured 13 villagers. (The oldest is now 54...)

sfrose, you don't need to get so defensive. I asked one question about the programming of the little villagers. Now this is going to turn into yet another thread about getting master doctors and that is not what I asked. sigh

Besides, I thought the little villagers carrying dozens of skeletons to the cemetery was wonderfully macabre, and I am disappointed that the cut off age for having babies is only 50. I wish I could bring my little villagers from the first game into the second game.

If you read the third installment of Arthur's Developer Blog you'll have an answer to your question.

zippie, sorry, but your mad icon set me off, and your complaints about the bugs seemed un called for, so that prompted my response.

Thanks, Barbara, that was interesting, but it didn't really answer my question as to why they stop studying the strange plants. Do you mean that the developers don't know why they stop their studies?

And sfrose, I'm sorry that I used an icon that you didn't like, but I am entitled to my opinion. I've had 3 villages running on VV1 since September, and the villagers in VV2 are just programmed differently in this game. The builders won't fix huts until the thing on the beach is uncovered. And if you take a master scientist and put them on farming, then that is what they will continue doing, even though you haven't checked that skill. There are a lot of great things about this game. I thought the way the puzzles played out was fiendishly clever the first time through the game. The graphics and added behaviors of the children are wonderful. My grandson loves the collectibles. However, after playing the first game for so long, I just find a lot of things frustrating in this version. So, I'm entitled to be a bit about it if I want to. I hate that they go grey at 55, that just seems too much like real life. And I'd prefer just to F6 my way through their clothes, and not have the sewing hut there to block the exercisers. It's cute to have the hospital, but the doctors get stuck pacing back and forth above the hospital. I miss having the drum to summon all the children. All computer games have bugs, and nothing in life is perfect, but I guess I just prefer the first game.

Actually, zippie, I think it did answer your question. You asked why the villagers were programmed to stop studying the plants when they became adept, and Arthur's answer is that they weren't programmed to do that. They were programmed to make their own decisions, and that's what they decide to do. Much of what the villagers do is not predictable ahead of time. We do the best job we can of coding and testing within the time constraints that we work under.