I did all the optional things like save all the Ostrons from the cells and veil, but I didn't get so much as an extra line from Konzu about it. Am I missing anything or were those things superfluous?

God I hope there's nothing important, I looked for like ten minutes for the last patron inside the tower and couldn't find em

I didn't manage to get any of them. And I was always one short. Everytime, just one dude missing despite me running up and down the level until I couldn't be bothered anymore. No idea if I got anything less reward-wise though,

I spent like 20 minutes looking for the last one in the first ostron camp, he was on the god damn dock with a fishing pole

Tip for when you are at the Ostron camp: Ostrons are fully colored in Red Arrows on your map, hollow red arrows are Deacons. Hollow red arrows that are filled in (not solid red) are deacons that have detected you, and are investigating. Sadly, I don't think this works in the tower

If the few of you that released or got all the veiled ostrons and got no bonus anything, not even a line? I suspect that its more along the lines of the devs just wanting you to look around the map and encourage looking in any nook and crany to appreciate all the details they put in a map. I myself spent a good 30 min searching for a single one out of a 7 group in the tower and just gave up cause it was getting annoying the tower growling at me. Definitely could be also an alignment, if you get some or all you get good alignment and if you dont you get dark alignment on that segment

I completed all optional objectives and I can't say I noticed some reward for this. Not even mentioned in a single line. So I guess it was just for them to get you exploring a bit

Could be an alignment thing ?

You got the 10 with the drifters intro, 10 in Cetus, 7 in the tower, 5 in a higher portion, and after I got those last 5 and activated the last crystal before the portion of tower covered in murex, I found yet another dude in a side room before continuing on. 33 ostron people, saved each one they marked and one that wasn’t, and they say nothing.

Well, I skipped those. I really hope I didn't miss anything good.

I think they are useless, and still got them because I'm stubborn as a rock. But if you are not, you shouldn't get them, some are very stressful to get.

I’m still trying to use the balloon it slows me to a crawl when I try to ride them and it won’t let me get altitude

Seen a thread earlier, you have to reset your controls to default on console and it should work after.

Check out my post i found a way to fix it!

Got all of them, couldn't tell any difference between how the quest played out for me compared to my friend who didn't, or any youtuber for the matter. Not even a voice line.

[Spoiler] For the Cetus section 2 are on the balloons as you go up I realized it too late and already went past them.

Made a video for them, at least the first 10 on Cetus. https://youtu.be/dvJauw-FqYY

I Wonder if it has any effect on the affinity/xp you earn from completing the mission.

I rescued all of them on each mission. Even restarted the missions that were bugged so I could get all 10, just in case.

Nothing. Not even a 5 second bit of dialogue from Konzu, or a thank you note in the mail, or any difference whatsoever in any of the NPCs in Cetus.

Infuriating.