Torment Torment: Tides of Numenera Pre-Release Thread [ALPHA RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

[Abu Antar]

Not expecting this to be the best game ever is doing it wrong. Hyping oneself up is a must. How else is one going to get butthurt?

 

[Sordid MCA/Prosper Hybryd]

Something wrong with you, guyz. Ksaun is just trying to be honest with us. So he doesn't use all this typical for big publishers AAA-AWESOME-GOTY bullshit. Really don't see how it's a bad thing.

 

[SarcasticUndertones]

Something wrong with you, guyz. Ksaun is just trying to be honest with us. So he doesn't use all this typical for big publishers AAA-AWESOME-GOTY bullshit. Really don't see how it's a bad thing.

..and I'm pretty sure we all appreciate the honesty.. It's just unfortunate that that truth isn't really on a par with pre-statement expectations.

..and I don't like the slant of this post.. you seem incredulous that the 'truth' isn't welcomed with open arms despite that 'truth' being not what some (most/all/none?) have wanted (been led?) to believe.

OK, thank you for the truth.. but can we now address that truth.

 

[Bubbles]

I hope this is just a first pass, because it's a little repetitive how so many the qualities are described in pairs with plenty of "and"s and "yet"s (blotchy and patchwork, head and neck, bob in greeting and move like broken, like broken yet in no pain, quick and assured, sonorous yet fluting, twitch and bob).
Also "as if he had lost a great deal of weight" indicates that it isn't actually true (otherwise you'd use "as if he has"), although that might be foreshadowing.

 

[undecaf]

Never expect anything even moderately acceptable, not even when you're excited. That's the way to cope with the shitty fucking world of cRPG's. You're always either right or positively surprised.

 

[tuluse]

Never expect anything even moderately acceptable, not even when you're excited. That's the way to cope with the shitty fucking world of cRPG's. You're always either right or positively surprised.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

Something wrong with you, guyz. Ksaun is just trying to be honest with us. So he doesn't use all this typical for big publishers AAA-AWESOME-GOTY bullshit. Really don't see how it's a bad thing.

There's only one guy here trying to get one over on ksaun and I'm pretty sure he's doing it for a tag.

 

[SarcasticUndertones]

Something wrong with you, guyz. Ksaun is just trying to be honest with us. So he doesn't use all this typical for big publishers AAA-AWESOME-GOTY bullshit. Really don't see how it's a bad thing.

There's only one guy here trying to get one over on ksaun and I'm pretty sure he's doing it for a tag.

I'm not trying to get one over on Kevin.. I have reason to respect Kevin.. as far as this is going it's a discussion. Most of it might not be what either of us want to hear, but at the moment, it's still honest discussion.

 

[hiver]

 

[Tigranes]

ITT: rehashing an old old discussion without any new points, then bubbles tries to nitpick dialogue and demonstrates lack of english

It's a whole new world when hiver returns and he's not the one shitting all over the forum.

 

[undecaf]

Just a regular Codex friday.

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

Goddammit, came to read about the game I'm probably looking forward to most, to find people who didn't pledge to the kickstarter moaning about being 'misled' during the kickstarter.

 

[DollarSign]

Casting Pearls Before Swine: The Thread

 

[Lord Andre]

I don't know what parallel universe some of you fell from, but Kevin and Colin's performance so far has shown remarkable competence. I see zero reason to lower my expectation.

 

[Athelas]

Everyone in this thread:

 

[undecaf]

Pretty much.

Everything sounds like it's going the way it should, and due to that I'd have some inquiries about stuff less relevant than core mehcanics and narratives, like mostly flared world interactivity, but numerous examples have shown that premonitions about a creative projects are usually wrong. I anticipate very little these days.

 

[Bubbles]

ITT: rehashing an old old discussion without any new points, then bubbles tries to nitpick dialogue and demonstrates lack of english

It's a whole new world when hiver returns and he's not the one shitting all over the forum.

There's an ignore button, you know.

- I also find it odd to state that somebody's voice "grates on your nerves" in an introductory paragraph, especially when the greeting that follows is only six words long. Maybe he has a long scene monologue?
- in general, the character is described as so weird that it's hard to even imagine them. What does a bobbing face with twitching and bobbing muscles and loose and blotchy skin, on a broken-seeming neck that moves quickly and assuredly actually look like? A sonorous, yet fluting voice with a strange buzz? I appreciate the idea behind it, but it seems a touch too much.
- I don't really like that the player dialogue shown in those images is typical informal modern dialogue - "Seriously, I need to know more about those soldiers" - when the scene descriptions are obviously far removed from everyday speech.

 

[DollarSign]

I also find it odd to state that somebody's voice "grates on your nerves" in an introductory paragraph, especially when the greeting that follows is only six words long.

Six words is more than enough for a voice to be recognized as grating. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMU2o4qJsLM Here I want to stuff my ears literally in the first 2 seconds.

in general, the character is described as so weird that it's hard to even imagine them

You're not supposed to "imagine" them, you're supposed to take in the essence of the description, forming an impression of the object being described.

I don't really like that the player dialogue shown in those images is typical informal modern dialogue - "Seriously, I need to know more about those soldiers" - when the scene descriptions are obviously far removed from everyday speech

Agree with this one, responses should follow the same style as the rest of the writing.

 

[tuluse]

Agree with this one, responses should follow the same style as the rest of the writing.

These characters have backgrounds from different cultures. So they would have different mannerisms.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

The best part of this thread is SarcasticUndertones casting aspersions on the ability of InXile to deliver the product they promised while simultaneously defending Cleve in the Grimoire thread.

TOTALLY NOT TROLLING GUISE!

 

[DollarSign]

Agree with this one, responses should follow the same style as the rest of the writing.

These characters have backgrounds from different cultures. So they would have different mannerisms.

Nonetheless, casual modern-day dialogue carries a very certain intonation that is entirely out of place in a (scifi ish) fantasy setting. All the okays and be ready in a jiffys are a cancer that plagues even some of the best RPG writing out there. Besides, it's not like your character's dialogue responses change, depending on selected background. Right?

 

[Tigranes]

ITT: rehashing an old old discussion without any new points, then bubbles tries to nitpick dialogue and demonstrates lack of english

It's a whole new world when hiver returns and he's not the one shitting all over the forum.

There's an ignore button, you know.

- I also find it odd to state that somebody's voice "grates on your nerves" in an introductory paragraph, especially when the greeting that follows is only six words long. Maybe he has a long scene monologue?
- in general, the character is described as so weird that it's hard to even imagine them. What does a bobbing face with twitching and bobbing (remuscles and loose and blotchy skin, on a broken-seeming neck that moves quickly and assuredly actually look like? A sonorous, yet fluting voice with a strange buzz? I appreciate the idea behind it, but it seems a touch too much.
- I don't really like that the player dialogue shown in those images is typical informal modern dialogue - "Seriously, I need to know more about those soldiers" - when the scene descriptions are obviously far removed from everyday speech.

When you look at something for about 50 times longer than you should, it is possible to find a flaw in every single aspect of it. What has in fact happened is that you have flawed your own eyes through the exercise.

 

[Bubbles]

Agree with this one, responses should follow the same style as the rest of the writing.

These characters have backgrounds from different cultures. So they would have different mannerisms.

The question is which style you want the player character's speech to follow. He doesn't have to speak like the narrator, but having him speak like a 21st century average Joe swings hard to the other extreme. That specific line might be an exception though - "Seriously, I need to know more about those soldiers" is supposed to be a joint Persuasion/Intimidation check, so it probably needs to be as bland as possible. Not that this is my favourite approach to dialogue design, but at least I can understand it.

It's less-than-ideal that a critical success and a critical failure in Intim./Pers. are based off the same line of PC dialogue. Obviously there are also body language and inflection at play, but with such verbose scene descriptions it seems odd that speech check success or failure is conveyed purely by the other person's reaction (at least in this example).

When you look at something for about 50 times longer than you should, it is possible to find a flaw in every single aspect of it. What has in fact happened is that you have flawed your own eyes through the exercise.

What about people who notice these things the first time they read them?

 

[Lord Andre]

while the dialogue in the screenshot is not stellar I expect the final in-game result to be more in tune with what was shown here:

Torment: Tides of Numenera pre gameplay

 

[Infinitron]

Looks indistinguishable from PS:T dialogue to me.