How much text should there be in an rpg?

[Andhaira]

Are you a fan of in game books and written lore? Or do you like that to be kept to a minimum text wise, and instead have it narrated to you by npc's and stuff you see for yourself? (for exmaple, instead of reading a book on ancient ruins or StarFell, you can see the ruins in game when visiting a certain location)

I personally enjoy tons of text to read in rpg's. One of the reasons I liked the baldurs gate series so much. So many boks to read.

What about YOU?

Discuss!!

 

[Wyrmlord]

I started Betrayal At Krondor again, just to try out 0.73 DOSBox, and every word of it pours like liquid gold, so I guess I don't mind having a lot of good writing in a game.

 

[Andhaira]

The Exile and the Avernum series had a cute bit of literture called "The Tearing of the Bodice" which I still remember, for some reason.

 

[Wyrmlord]

Of course, I like the game's writing, because you actually have to pay attention to it to advance the game, and also find special items, locations, and leads.

I actually have an A5 notepad with 12 pages of notes of everything of importance I find in the game.

Raymond Feist > Chris Avellone

 

[Demnogonis Saastuttaja]

I hardly ever read those, I usually just click them once to see if they give some kind of a stat bonus. There are rare exceptions, like that TES book about some princess fucking left and right.

 

[Black]

Which text is better and why, DISCUSS

 

[Deleted Member 10432]

The question is less how much and more what quality. I'll take 3 words of text gold over 3,000 of shitty fanfic-quality emoshunising. And by jingo, there's a lot of the latter floating around.

 

[inwoker]

Words are bullshit!

 

[JarlFrank]

I like PST because of the well-written dialogue. And there's lots of it. And I like that. I also like the huge amount of ingame books in Morrowind. So yeah, I guess I like reading lots of words in my RPGs.

And there can never be enough ingame books. They help the player to get into the setting, they make it all more immersive and if they're well-written and worth reading they can add a lot to the game.
Like in Morrowind.

 

[Multiple Sarcasm]

A talented writer can paint a mental mural of a public toilet and make you savour the image. A talented designer can bring empty fields to life. Or they can both fail to even garner attention of all but the simplest life forms.
Medium doesn't really matter as much as the end result, as long as it captures imagination. The problem is, however, that it takes more time to read a poorly concepted text to see the waste of time than it takes to soak up an image, and that's a disappoinment multiplied.

To answer the question - yes, I like a long, captivating read. But making a habit of spewing preadolescent garbage or boring with pointless platitudes is the best way to secure the inventory from my prying hands.