Infamous Quests

The Games => Quest for Infamy => Topic started by: Bad2DaBone on July 27, 2014, 05:13:20 PM

Title: Bug testing
Post by: Bad2DaBone on July 27, 2014, 05:13:20 PM
Btw, just curious but any chance any of the people catching bugs for future patches can get their names in the credits as post-release testers? ;)
Title: Re: Bug testing
Post by: Dutchman on August 03, 2014, 09:19:16 PM
I only want to be credited if you do a naked pixel art of me.
Title: Re: Bug testing
Post by: Lambonius on August 03, 2014, 09:40:24 PM
I only want to be credited if you do a naked pixel art of me.


No problem.  Feel free to send any nude reference pics to steve@infamous-quests.com.
Title: Re: Bug testing
Post by: Dutchman on August 03, 2014, 10:10:53 PM
I only want to be credited if you do a naked pixel art of me.


No problem.  Feel free to send any nude reference pics to steve@infamous-quests.com.
Deal and sent.
Title: Re: Bug testing
Post by: miriya on August 04, 2014, 12:17:51 AM
Wait, are you really going to give credit to people who've submitted bugs?  I honestly can't tell how many of these posts are facetious (well, except for the naked pics one). 
Title: Re: Bug testing
Post by: Fizzii on August 04, 2014, 06:18:59 AM
If every game credited people who submitted bugs post release, then the credits will span thousands of lines.

In short, and sorry to burst your bubble Bad2dabone, but I don't think it's something that should be expected. You should've volunteered prior to release; we could've really used committed beta testers then!
Title: Re: Bug testing
Post by: Myrddin Starfari on August 04, 2014, 10:17:41 PM
you mean you didn't have the ones you got committed?
Title: Re: Bug testing
Post by: Fizzii on August 04, 2014, 11:55:27 PM
Testing isn't all that it's cracked up to be. Nearly everyone thinks that they can be a tester, but it really requires a good eye for detail, and huge dedication, and sometimes going through the pain of rechecking certain things to find out what exactly triggers a certain bug. Sometimes you might get some good feedback regarding gameplay from someone that just wants to play the game early, but usually they only end up playing a bit of the start then giving up.
Title: Re: Bug testing
Post by: Kaldire on August 05, 2014, 02:08:28 AM
Yea oddly most people .. not all,
watch grandmas boy and think testing is just like that

in truth it CAN be

with telltale games well, they make it fun
(and no I dont mean playtesting)
though thats a different ball o wax

not just an eye for detail,
its the ability to spot things in endless lines of code depending on engines and coding used
bottom line is
whomever writes the code LEAVE NOTES !!!
this helps the testers afterwards !! yes its tedious and very time consuming, frankly I  LOVE it.
it does take loads of dedication
and the ability to take bad feedback with the good
another KUDOS to this dev team for that
bt is great with bad and the good and the ugly  and not in that order lol
damn now I have that song in my head...
ahhhhhh... wah wah wahhhhh..
drawww!

Title: Re: Bug testing
Post by: Lambonius on August 05, 2014, 03:12:35 AM
Somehow I doubt thoroughly testing a Telltale game takes all THAT long.  ;)
Title: Re: Bug testing
Post by: Kaldire on August 05, 2014, 06:47:03 AM
depends what lvl you are in the testing hierarchy
some of the older games, for sure had almost no team and no real testing done and no playtesters

but the latter games and upcoming borderlands, game of thrones, and the testing of the friggen WII and the wii mote issues just ALONE are yes..tedious and long

compared to insane budget games.. like ubisoft, its a penny in a bucket but then again so are all of this teams games in that retro-spec

was this meant as a semi insult?

I spent loaaads of time just on strongbad
gawwd damn wii motes...

if you have no exp testing the code for that and then having playtesters and myriads of issues with just that alone.. well shrug

as for most ttg's   they are again about as difficult as any point and click advents with semi 3d environments
loads of issues vs say the 2d you guys do,
which is why LA and sierra games rock
yea they have issues but you can pump em out pretty quick and without to much hassle

but i feel kinda hurt in a way, from that post there lambonius
ive said nothing but praise about this group and loved IA before IS

shrug,

sorry for name dropping seems it mighta been the issue there..
wont happen again mate,
not sure what that post means really, kinda sitting in my brain making me wonder why it took us over a year just to get the friggen game to beta much-less a playtest phase (and thats just one episode of a game not all 5 of a season!)
now it seems ttg is pumping episodes out so fast as to get ready for the bigger budget games (not that dan conners needs more money lol)

but I ♥ttg
as I♥IS

shrug
Title: Re: Bug testing
Post by: chucklas on August 05, 2014, 08:04:38 AM
I think Lambo was just referring to his opinion about TellTale games in general as they do not allow for much exploration and are quite linear.  The more you get to know him, you will learn he doesn't shy away from bad talking certain games/companies.  There was no malice or personal insult there.


It is interesting to hear how some of the companies do their testing.  On our end I feel as though we had quite a few people on board to test.  Some posted a bug here and there, but many got access to the game early and were not heard from again.  It is quite hard to find good testers.
Title: Re: Bug testing
Post by: DrSlash on August 05, 2014, 08:43:35 AM
Somehow I doubt thoroughly testing a Telltale game takes all THAT long.  ;)
I just finished playing Tales of Monkey Island yesterday and found three bugs (nothing gamebreaking, though) xD
Title: Re: Bug testing
Post by: Lambonius on August 05, 2014, 10:52:24 AM
Heh...I meant no offense.  I'm sure testing Telltale's games is just as grueling and has its own unique issues given the 3D environments and multiple console ports.  I was just joking about the length and linearity of their most recent games.  As one who spent days upon days upon days and lost countless hours of sleep testing QFI, only to feel like I'd barely scratched the surface, I'd have KILLED to be able to test a short, linear game with almost no puzzles and NO RPG ELEMENTS.  :)  Even testing Space Quest 2 VGA felt like a breeze compared to QFI.
Title: Re: Bug testing
Post by: SarahLiz on August 05, 2014, 12:53:28 PM
Testing isn't all that it's cracked up to be. Nearly everyone thinks that they can be a tester, but it really requires a good eye for detail, and huge dedication, and sometimes going through the pain of rechecking certain things to find out what exactly triggers a certain bug. Sometimes you might get some good feedback regarding gameplay from someone that just wants to play the game early, but usually they only end up playing a bit of the start then giving up.




I'm one of those guilty of not testing as much as I wanted.  I did report some errors, but this was the first time I've ever tested a game, and it was WAY more complex than I ever could imagine.  Which is an awesome thing--but unfortunately, life & work just got in the way for me, so I wasn't too much help with that in the end I'm afraid.  (Excuses, excuses... :P )  But I definitely didn't choose to be a beta tester just to get my hands on the game...this is a project I've really believed in from the start and I have HUGE amount of respect for everyone who worked so tirelessly on it.  So my main contribution probably wasn't so much with the testing, but I wanted to help in any way possible.

 :D
Title: Re: Bug testing
Post by: Kaldire on August 05, 2014, 03:32:32 PM
well yea I get his post now

but really dislike for telltale?
you all love LA games ! thats 80% of ttgs staff .. or was,  its not anymore

and yea again my only question was compared to what...
but yes vs a non linear game  of any kind,  ttg's keeps games like LA games were
LINEAR,
always been that way... and yet LA games rocked hard (though I preferred sierra games)

do you really not like telltale games?

and I didnt mention them specifically in terms of testing but you do pay attention so ty!
worked for a many o companies in my distant past
kinda miss it, but my daughter had to grow up with one parent at least!
(I wont... get into that sad story)
but she is 14 and friggen a hell bucket now haha
ya know girls at that age

ty for that feedback
thought it was some poke at me or ttg's lack of testing

btw I didnt do every episode of monkey island, and yep there will always be bugs, and ttg's rarely if ever PATCHES ANYTHING!!!!

grr
Title: Re: Bug testing
Post by: Kaldire on August 05, 2014, 03:35:20 PM
Quote
It is interesting to hear how some of the companies do their testing.  On our end I feel as though we had quite a few people on board to test.  Some posted a bug here and there, but many got access to the game early and were not heard from again.  It is quite hard to find good testers.

ya got most of us here for the next game mate!
id be happy to playtest for ya
as im sure most here would and trust me , you cant get rid of me, im like a fungus i just grow on ya
no im more like the crabs, you'd have to shave me off just to get rid of me.. hmm
darn cant think of anything better in terms of a quip gasp!
hehe

only thing that would keep me from coming back is death
dun dun dunnnnnn

Title: Re: Bug testing
Post by: Lambonius on August 05, 2014, 03:48:24 PM
I don't dislike Telltale itself as a rule or anything, but their recent ultra-linear direction (basically everything since Back to the Future) just doesn't do it for me as a gamer.  And it REALLY rubbed me the wrong way when you had people like Dan Connors and Dave Grossman going around doing interviews and suggesting that making adventure games more linear and removing puzzles (or even the ability to walk around, which was something they were touting as a major game design breakthrough at one point) was somehow "fixing" the longstanding flaws of adventure games.   ::)

Tales of Monkey Island was the last truly satisfying Telltale game, in my opinion.
Title: Re: Bug testing
Post by: miriya on August 05, 2014, 03:56:08 PM
I think the hardest part of any beta testing is having the time to do it.  Just playing through the game once doesn't cut it.  Instead, every aspect of the game needs to be explored, and puzzles and dialog options have to be attempted in different combinations.  A good beta tester also has to be quite creative.  I've had some time off before my next job, and even without a job to get in the way, I don't feel I've completely explored the QFI world.  It's so vast and rich.  I wonder how helpful I'd be as a beta tester.

QFI comes across as having been extremely well-tested before release, and I appreciate the time everyone spent making it so polished.
Title: Re: Bug testing
Post by: Kaldire on August 05, 2014, 04:13:19 PM
I don't dislike Telltale itself as a rule or anything, but their recent ultra-linear direction (basically everything since Back to the Future) just doesn't do it for me as a gamer.  And it REALLY rubbed me the wrong way when you had people like Dan Connors and Dave Grossman going around doing interviews and suggesting that making adventure games more linear and removing puzzles (or even the ability to walk around, which was something they were touting as a major game design breakthrough at one point) was somehow "fixing" the longstanding flaws of adventure games.   ::)

Tales of Monkey Island was the last truly satisfying Telltale game, in my opinion.

yea thats because almost 100% of the original crew  left to start their own companies :(
and I agree with you to a point,
walking dead ep 1 was decent, then just dropped off like turd buckets,
its nice to have seen how far that interface came and where its going, i AM looking forward to borderlands  but if its like a wolf among us.. well.. yea
I think they have a 30min-1hr per ep play time max, and thats droll

but its neat to know they all came from mark and Jurassic park (the first game to use the interacive duck dodge etc interface )

Title: Re: Bug testing
Post by: Kaldire on August 05, 2014, 04:14:40 PM
I think the hardest part of any beta testing is having the time to do it.  Just playing through the game once doesn't cut it.  Instead, every aspect of the game needs to be explored, and puzzles and dialog options have to be attempted in different combinations.  A good beta tester also has to be quite creative.  I've had some time off before my next job, and even without a job to get in the way, I don't feel I've completely explored the QFI world.  It's so vast and rich.  I wonder how helpful I'd be as a beta tester.

QFI comes across as having been extremely well-tested before release, and I appreciate the time everyone spent making it so polished.
well tested compared to most hell yes

but just the many bugs ive found in the early game, are enough to make me wonder if there was any playtesters at all doing anything but just playing instead of reporting back,
ive found about 9 game ending bugs already  most are reported
posting yet another one ... now :P

Title: Re: Bug testing
Post by: DrSlash on August 05, 2014, 05:57:43 PM
I'd have KILLED to be able to test a short, linear game with almost no puzzles and NO RPG ELEMENTS.  :)  Even testing Space Quest 2 VGA felt like a breeze compared to QFI.
Heh, quoted for truth! I used to play through the whole game from start to finish three times a day back when we tested SQ2. Even apart from RPG-elements QFI is non-linear and big enough to make even one play-through a major pain in ass.

Quote from: Lambonius
Tales of Monkey Island was the last truly satisfying Telltale game, in my opinion.

Agreed. The story was pretty good and had some nice twists. The puzzles I enjoyed as well. Graphics-wise it was a huge relief after the horrible Special Edition of MI1 (with "switch to classic mode" being the only good feature of the whole Special Edition).

Can't say I didn't enjoy TTG's BttF, though. Sure, it was even more linear and puzzles were even easier than in Tales of MI, but at least the story was interesting and young Doc was awesome (as well as his voice).

TellTale's Sam & Max is the one I didn't like at all, but that's probably because I've never played the original games.

there will always be bugs, and ttg's rarely if ever PATCHES ANYTHING!!!!
Yep, that's what I figured when I found those bugs. As I said, at least it's nothing game-breaking. Just pointed out that ANY game could use more testing than it originally recieved.


As for actually poorly tested games, HD remake of Age of Empires II is still unplayable after more than a year since its release - the game crashes every ten minutes and even if it doesn't, official servers hardly suport even a 1vs1 player game.
Simillar story with HD remake of Baldur's Gates - there are tons of known bugs (including game-breaking ones) and devs haven't released a single patch since game's release.
Title: Re: Bug testing
Post by: Kaldire on August 05, 2014, 06:01:40 PM
I 100% agree with everything you posted :P

oh minus the sam n max,
as they are my fav characters in the world
just ... not in the game from TTG's
but the LA sam n max  oh yea
and the comics  yayaya
steve purcell is a demi god and an old long lost friend
:P

that game was kinda like bone (one of the first ttg games) they made it easy on PURPOSE just so you know :P
if you played bone you might see that one is also very... almost kid level playing 
freddi fish was harder :P
love those games tooo

I want a spoof like deady fish or something, undead fish (like flushed away the movie) only you see what happens when they come back ... for braaiinnnss

muhahah
Title: Re: Bug testing
Post by: Fizzii on August 05, 2014, 07:22:27 PM

I'm one of those guilty of not testing as much as I wanted.  I did report some errors, but this was the first time I've ever tested a game, and it was WAY more complex than I ever could imagine.  Which is an awesome thing--but unfortunately, life & work just got in the way for me, so I wasn't too much help with that in the end I'm afraid.  (Excuses, excuses... :P )  But I definitely didn't choose to be a beta tester just to get my hands on the game...this is a project I've really believed in from the start and I have HUGE amount of respect for everyone who worked so tirelessly on it.  So my main contribution probably wasn't so much with the testing, but I wanted to help in any way possible.
Yep, my earlier comment was speaking more generally (not just about QFI) about how a lot of people view beta testing as a way to get their hands on a game earlier / get a free copy, rather than those who are already supportive of the game like yourself. And it's fine to have people on board who wanted to play the game a bit earlier, as long as they contribute as they promised. And if they can't, then to let us know if they are too busy to help, like many people did :) 
 
I think the hardest part of any beta testing is having the time to do it.  Just playing through the game once doesn't cut it.  Instead, every aspect of the game needs to be explored, and puzzles and dialog options have to be attempted in different combinations.  A good beta tester also has to be quite creative.  I've had some time off before my next job, and even without a job to get in the way, I don't feel I've completely explored the QFI world.  It's so vast and rich.  I wonder how helpful I'd be as a beta tester.

QFI comes across as having been extremely well-tested before release, and I appreciate the time everyone spent making it so polished.
Indeed. For me it was time... I work full time in real life (which also requires some travel away), but I ended up spending nearly all my free time after work testing the game in the couple of months before release. Lambonius pulled out all stops right before release though, which really helped as I was very drained at that point. Plus, he found a bunch of stuff I wouldn't have found in that time. It does help to have different sets of eyes looking for different things, and we did have to look for cases where you could do things out of order and muck up the code/story continuity because of it. It's not easy :)
Title: Re: Bug testing
Post by: Kaldire on August 06, 2014, 01:02:43 AM
yea time is hard to come by for some,
again I lost my "free time" when my girl was a certain age, now that she is 14 .. well she runs her own life almost now lol

but if sitting and maxing my stats afternoon day 1 before being on ANY path, isnt putting effort in lol
no clue what is haha

i mean you cant max some stats as you cant unlock them yet, but combat.. wow
spent now 6+ hours getting back my max stats after the blood head blunder bug..
I hope to help if there is a next beta or demo, im one of the people that play those as a tester to TRY to break or find the bugs   its kinda.. not really enjoyable that way.. but its how you get the game to work better lol
not just .. play and done, but try everything on everyone and thing,
fun stuffs

fizzii again I cant say how much this team, (... and ive ran into MANY o teams) is just awesome
could the game have been tested better, sure but like I posted before, no matter how much you test, bugs will arise, usually...
I mean who the hell does some of the things that break the game lol
oh yea people like well me and other fellow testers haha

waves fist at the head on the spike   give me your Blooooooooood

btw is there a cap I should reach for block, seems it MIGHT go to 200.. where the rest I believe are only 100 
someone posted they hacked their save(which ive not, personally I have done 800 battles before day 1 night just to get cash for chain-mail and all goodies and im not using the loot restore loophole)
but someone edited their save to 200 max on stats and it crashed,
just wondering why block would go above 100.. much-less to 200, shrug


In contrast, im from so cal , san diego actually. born and raised. so being up here in sacramento or even the bay is not really nice for me,
i prefer off the grid beach life!
Its so free and relaxing to have almost NO worries, no texts no calls no emails, just the world and its awesome waves n beauty .. ahh
and of course comic con lol but thats a double edged hell blade o fury
but I digress greatly :P

Title: Re: Bug testing
Post by: Klytos on August 06, 2014, 08:47:39 AM
Bug testing games sucks. That's really the bottom line here. Fizzi and Lamb are two people who did an exceptional amount of work testing QFI and both of them found a stack of different issues the other didn't. People look at the world differently, so it makes sense that people look at different things in games differently. What might be a major issue for one person another person might completely overlook or maybe not even care about! That's why a beta group needs to be more than a couple of people, more people look at things in a different way than others.

A lot of people do ask for beta access just to play the game early, that's why companies like Blizzard now do open beta's in the hopes that of the 50000 people who sign up at least a number of them will report something and actually test things.

As for the Telltale conversation, well my opinion is pretty much the same as Lambs. I think their early stuff is great but I think their interpretation of what is an adventure game is becoming in my opinion just an interactive movie. I don't have a problem with linear storylines, not everything has to be as complicated as QFI, but I think what defines an adventure game is not JUST the story but the puzzles as well. Well designed puzzles advance the story, badly designed puzzles just feel like they're there so there's a puzzle for the player to solve.


EDIT: All stats should stop at 100, this has certainly been fixed in the upcoming patch.
Title: Re: Bug testing
Post by: Blackthorne on August 06, 2014, 10:55:48 AM
Lambo, Fizzii and Dr. Slash tested this game endlessly, and I just want to say thanks them, and give a reminder about how awesome they are.


Bt
Title: Re: Bug testing
Post by: SarahLiz on August 06, 2014, 12:59:55 PM

As for the Telltale conversation, well my opinion is pretty much the same as Lambs. I think their early stuff is great but I think their interpretation of what is an adventure game is becoming in my opinion just an interactive movie. I don't have a problem with linear storylines, not everything has to be as complicated as QFI, but I think what defines an adventure game is not JUST the story but the puzzles as well. Well designed puzzles advance the story, badly designed puzzles just feel like they're there so there's a puzzle for the player to solve.






Totally agree with that, 110%.  Playing a lot of the TellTale games makes me feel like I'm sitting there watching Saturday morning cartoons.  (Don't smack me, Kaldire... :P )
Title: Re: Bug testing
Post by: Kaldire on August 06, 2014, 03:20:49 PM
why would I smack ya? lol
its not like I work for them now..
its been yeaaaaaarssss

haha

and I agree with ya's!

I mean even walking dead feels like an interactive cartoon show,
but I do like the creative system they developed there, thats unique and original, but now over done and well, zzz what? was I playing a game?
oh doooh

my work was with early telltale, and they had a fire under their bum bums..
and again its NOT the only company ive worked for lol

again my reason for loving telltale is HOW they came to be, where they came from and why they did what they did, it was for the fans NOT the money,
not its in reverse it seems... grrrsss
but I still like em, just nothing like I used to.
But no one can take my sam n max away ( I have a huge collection of arts and such from steve purcell)
speaking of which anyone interested in a nice sam n max statue? I have a spare, id even give it away for just shippin  if someone is a die hard fan
comes signed and limited ed, its NOT FROM ttg!
http://www.mwctoys.com/images/review_sammax_6.jpg (http://www.mwctoys.com/images/review_sammax_6.jpg)
maybe ill start a thread once I get my kids ipod cam, and show ya all stuff steve purcell
including my zak mckracken nose glass display case! (missing nose glasses) only jake has that grr jakkkeee
haha


@ sly-klytos
so my blocking shouldnt be almost 200?!? what happens if it gets there will my save burst like the blueberry gal"Violet  your turning violet Violet!" in willy wonka?

and yea testing, well when you do it to test, IS WORK, for sure,
I rarely did beta normally my testing was done before that then after.. when holding playtesters meetings (getting people to come into ttgs office and play) almost none had feedback just the game rocked, and few found eggs or broken stuff we left there on PURPOSE to see if they found.. nopers

lol

dont worry about offending me on not liking ttg's games..
my reason for my earlier upset was it is indeed WORK to test ANY game, and I just misunderstood the post towards me hakuna matataaaaa


Steve

Title: Re: Bug testing
Post by: Kaldire on August 06, 2014, 03:21:31 PM
Lambo, Fizzii and Dr. Slash tested this game endlessly, and I just want to say thanks them, and give a reminder about how awesome they are.


Bt
can I get a whooop whooop

waise da woof!
ty mates and lasses!
Title: Re: Bug testing
Post by: Klytos on August 06, 2014, 09:28:11 PM
Although your stat will appear to be 200, the calculations inside the game still treat it as <=100 so it really doesn't make any difference.
Title: Re: Bug testing
Post by: Kaldire on August 06, 2014, 09:59:15 PM
yea after 100 it blocks about 99.99% of the time i was just wondering if it would break the game or not

and even though I have chain mail and 100% on hit 
I still get hit like I have cloth armor, and I still miss about 1/2 the time

but I know battle is being worked on

just I dont want to continue past day 1 until I know i didnt miss my bt bar trigger

also ive noticed on steam 6-7 achievements never unlock for anyone,
and in game they dont either...
pisshead being one,
pitch tent (which ive done never unlocks in game or steam)
sewer rat, junk collector etc,
http://steamcommunity.com/stats/264560/achievements (http://steamcommunity.com/stats/264560/achievements)

the ones with 0% mean NO one has gotten them, even in game (minus sewer  which I believe some have gotten in the game)

just wondering if those in game icons will be fixed in updates also
or why they dont trigger (not just in steam but in game)

cheers for the reply mate
back to bt search
looking for PI to bake in fire, or how to get in a coffin and pay off someone to ship me to the bar somehow haha
or to drown and find the bar that way.. shrug
oops digression
grr my bad

Title: Re: Bug testing
Post by: Sven_Q45 on August 07, 2014, 01:44:01 PM
It was not my first betatest but the biggest! (Well Moebius but I started to late with it.) :( And it was really fun! Loved to do this as a little "side job". :)

I forgot I tested Larry reloaded. It was the first Larry game I played. :D



I donīt like that open beta thing. Donīt know why.
Title: Re: Bug testing
Post by: Kaldire on August 18, 2014, 06:16:28 PM
found another one, not sure if its noted or not

if you are out in the forest .. (or anywhere)
before the execution
and you have the save load menu up and open,
and the bells ring  you still say you must make your way to the town square,
but...
the menu stays open, and it says bring out the prisoner, and the menu prevents the animations of this doing so, 
even pressing esc to skip it, locks the game up in a skull load mode forever, have to task kill

forgot to add that one on my 2nd play but it happens each time no matter where ya are,

Title: Re: Bug testing
Post by: Lambonius on August 18, 2014, 08:15:13 PM
Nice catch, Kaldire.  I'll log it in our bug-tracking database.
Title: Re: Bug testing
Post by: Kaldire on August 19, 2014, 11:01:19 AM
also not sure if it helps

but if you start the game by climbing you can get it to 50, on any char before the execution,
after that it locks around 21

also,
when the bell says maybe I should make my way to the town,  before it forces you there
if you keep going back n forth between screens (as I do to find battles)
the clock seems to not really keep track,
if I just wait about 10-20 seconds on any screen without a bad guy Im forced to the execution, buuuut
if i keep going back n forth between map sections left to right really fast looking for fights
im never forced to go to the execution until I stand to loot a body, if i choose not to loot .. well lets just say it was 2 hours or so before I finally just sat and allowed the game to send me to the execution

interesting? idk
got almost max stats on battle stuffs and hit % BEFORE the execution!
just not climbing or thieving... 

i do know stats and battle will be patched  so thats not needed to note down just wanted ya to know about how at the very start one can get climbing to 50(not 100) if you just skip everything and climb a tree before any battles (not sure if battle stats halt the climbing stat or something) but im sure you figured that one out.

cheers
kal-