Erebus
Arcane
- Joined
- Jul 12, 2008
- Messages
- 4,773
In CRPGs with developed stories, discussions have the potential to be just as exciting and intense as combat, if not more. In practice, of course, it doesn't happen very often.
The two examples that come immediately to mind are the discussion with Ravel in Torment and the discussion with Myrkul in MotB. In both cases, the discussion is intense both because of the unique being you're confronted with and because of the answers you've been waiting for for a long time.
Aside from offering a fascinating interlocutor and answering mysteries in a gripping manner, discussions can also achieve intensity by making it possible for the player to achieve something important through words alone. It's the case in your discussion with TTO at the end of Torment. It might have been the case in the NWN2 trial, if only it had reached its full potential (even as it is, it remains the best part of the game).
Obviously, a really memorable discussion needs to be well-written, to have quite a lot of text and to offer many possible choices. Not many designers have been willing to invest so much effort in a discussion, perhaps because they didn't realize how interesting it could be or because they expected it would bore many players.
Thoughts ? Examples ? Ideas ?
The two examples that come immediately to mind are the discussion with Ravel in Torment and the discussion with Myrkul in MotB. In both cases, the discussion is intense both because of the unique being you're confronted with and because of the answers you've been waiting for for a long time.
Aside from offering a fascinating interlocutor and answering mysteries in a gripping manner, discussions can also achieve intensity by making it possible for the player to achieve something important through words alone. It's the case in your discussion with TTO at the end of Torment. It might have been the case in the NWN2 trial, if only it had reached its full potential (even as it is, it remains the best part of the game).
Obviously, a really memorable discussion needs to be well-written, to have quite a lot of text and to offer many possible choices. Not many designers have been willing to invest so much effort in a discussion, perhaps because they didn't realize how interesting it could be or because they expected it would bore many players.
Thoughts ? Examples ? Ideas ?