1. How long did it take to beat each of the two locations?
Keeper's Village was quick, only had to wait to have enough wood to bridge the chasms. The first time I think I beat it in a few hours. New Kyiv was a different story - I went there while still too weak, got flattened, repeated this process a few times. In real time it was days from when I first got there to when I finished it. Actual playing time, probably 4-5 hours.
2. In what order have you beaten them? Was it one first then another, or flipping back and forth? If so, at which positions?
Keeper's Village first, then New Kyiv, returned to KV to complete the Julianna quest.
3. If you have beaten Ruins of New Kyiv with NEW account, what kind of army allowed you to beat it? (For advanced pre-existing accounts this is not very useful because you are too strong for this location which is supposed to be unlocked earlier in the game)
My first character went to quest locations as soon as they opened (later ones use different strategy). So I went to NK with only 3 or 4 hunters and 2 or 3 braves; everybody died. I finally got through it with something like 8 nomads, 10 braves, 7 hunters, 5 archers, and 6 witchdoctors. (numbers might not be exact but it was something like that.)
4. Which characters did you managed to join your town?
First try, only Lester. Some later characters got Elueia to join by using different responses (but they haven't done NK yet).
5. How did you beat the Juliana quest?
Killed Fargred when he turned up, found the brooch lying around in New Kyiv, then returned to KV. Argued with her a bit about the purpose of it but ended up giving it to her in return for some coins. She's still there now but has reverted to the original conversation.
6. Puzzle in Keepers Village. Have you beaten it? How long / how many tries did it take? How hard was it for you?
Yes I beat it. I had two problems that confused me at first. First problem, I interpreted the clues wrong - I had 7=1 or something like that and I thought that meant I should take the flower numbers modulo 6. Second problem, I had only one clump of white flowers so counted the flowers (4 of them) instead of the 1 clump. After some frustration I was spoiled by a hint and figured out how to do the transposition and figured out how to count to 1. :) I had only found 2 hints, neither of which was the correct one, so just tried all possibilities until something worked. I think the puzzle is pretty challenging to figure out what to do. Once you figure it out (or are told) then it's easy to solve. A lot of people seem to have trouble with it, even with instructions.
7. How hard was items hidden in Ruins of New Kyiv? Which ones were the hardest? (not talking about gems)
I found most things pretty easily by wandering around, but had to ask for help on the snowflake and sun. With a couple of hints I found both. (For anyone desperately reading this thread for hints, try "They say it snows in the mountains" and "Sun sparkles near drops of water". :) :)
The weather tower was fun... I had already been spoiled by people talking about it so I don't know if I would have figured out on my own - I think so.
The weather dodecahedron thingy that you get from behind the puppy dog took some experimentation - it suggested that it should go on top of something so I just put it on top of everything in sight until something worked.
8. How many gems have you found in each of the two locations? Which ones are missing for you?
I collected gems but didn't focus on them - I think in both locations I'm still getting the "over half" message so still quite a few missing.
9. How did you like conversations with characters? Do they stand in the way of your gaming or compliment it well?
I like the conversations; they add dimension to the game.
10. How do you compare these 2 new locations with a) Opposition Hideout; b) original Totem Tribe locations; c) Keepers Village and Ruins of New Kyiv one towards another.
a - much more to do than in OH. I liked the variety of interactions and things to do.
b - compared to original TT, these locations were more like one of the islands. Just the exception is that you can't build up the strength/resources that you need on site, you have to do that in your town and bring them over. In terms of richness of puzzling, hunting for stuff etc I think they are in the same league. (Just to note that I have played TTG so many times that the freshness is gone - difficult to remember what it was like when it was new to me.)
c - Good balance between the two locations. KV has all puzzling and no fighting, NK has some pretty strong critters to be beaten before you can get down to the puzzling.
11. How did you beat each of the new quests available in those locations? Specify any significant steps / choices.
Julianna: described above
Eleuia: haven't beaten that one yet; the hint when dad says "NO!" implies that I can convince him if charisma is high enough. Don't know how high. With later characters I figured out how to get her to join me.
Lost Knowledge: had to figure out how to get the amulet, went back to OH. Interesting that getting the amulet depends on following conversations that aren't marked with keys.
Lester: unlocked the weather tower; he threw a fit about being a lousy treasure hunter, then I asked him to join me
Wee Doggie: not too difficult but I had a bad moment when I realised that the dog bones were necessary and I'd already used some found on NK to tame dogs elsewhere. However I eventually found enough. Warnings are sufficient to realise that attacking Doggie is a Bad Idea, so I didn't try that.