Gargaune
Arcane
- Joined
- Mar 12, 2020
- Messages
- 3,483
Then shouldn't you have said... "write me?"Writing > Combat
Fight me
Then shouldn't you have said... "write me?"Writing > Combat
Fight me
>He fell for the Dark Souls has no story memeAnd From Software's success is a testament to it. Their games basically don't have characters and plot
I know it has a story, and a very extensive one.>He fell for the Dark Souls has no story meme
Not gonna make it.
One of the main appeals of Dark Souls are the iconic characters that keep appearing with each new entry. Nothing would be the same without the Firekeeper, Solaire, Artorias, Gwynevere, Gwyndolin, etc. And that's one of the main reasons their imitators fail. Because they think everything is about "le epic dark world where everything is dead."But for someone who's experiencing the game for the first time, it's almost impossible to understand or follow that story by yourself. Initially, everyone started to love Dark Souls and Demon Souls because of the world and the vibe it gave. It was through this love that they discovered the story behind it.
Yeah, but they're not really "characters" in the sense that Ashley Williams in Mass Effect or Triss in the Witcher are characters. They're either memes or expressions of the world building themselves.One of the main appeals of Dark Souls are the iconic characters that keep appearing with each new entry. Nothing would be the same without the Firekeeper, Solaire, Artorias, Gwynevere, Gwyndolin, etc. And that's one of the main reasons their imitators fail. Because they think everything is about "le epic dark world where everything is dead."But for someone who's experiencing the game for the first time, it's almost impossible to understand or follow that story by yourself. Initially, everyone started to love Dark Souls and Demon Souls because of the world and the vibe it gave. It was through this love that they discovered the story behind it.
All of them cringe and annoying.the Witcher series with their recurring characters (Diego, Gorn, Xardas, Dandelion, Zoltan, Vesemir, ...).
Never happened in my 25 years of PC gaming.what makes you return to a game over and over again are sympathetic characters.
I have to disagree here. Worldbuilding is the body of a story, but characters are the SOVL. In ultimate instance what makes you return to a game over and over again are sympathetic characters. Planescape and Bloodlines come to mind as examples of this.
Do you never feel a desire to keep (free)playing a game after the plot is finished?To each their own. I loathe sandboxes; unless there is also a well-developed plot and characters, it's a pass from me.
Arcanum worldbuilding is one of the greatest.Or, A Simple Primer to RPG Writing.
People often bring up romances and cinematic voiced dialogue as elements of decline, but I think the biggest one in RPGs is a focus on characters or plot over worldbuilding. If I recall RPGs that really stick out in my mind (Fallout, TES, D&D, etc, etc), what I remember are worldbuilding factoids.
Video games are an inherently different medium than books or movies. Older mediums are curated, linear experiences. They focus on characters or plot because it makes sense to them. Applying the same techniques here, in a medium that allows for player agency, is misguided.
That's not to say that characters and plot aren't important. If you're going to have them, they should be written well.
But the ideal RPG would be a fully realized world that you can just run around in as a sandbox.
At least four games over the last 5-6 years. But before that it was pretty dull after Stalker.When was the last time somebody here got genuinely invested in a new game world?
Not disputing OP's point, just curious as to the overall jadedness level
Pillows lore dumps agree with you.
When was the last time somebody here got genuinely invested in a new game world?
Not particularly, no. If a setting is engaging enough, I might want more stories in that setting. But I haven't found what passes for emergent gameplay in present-day sandboxes to be deep enough or compelling enough to stand in for a plot. Which is why so many sandboxes devolve into becoming murderhobo simulations or meme videos imo.Do you never feel a desire to keep (free)playing a game after the plot is finished?To each their own. I loathe sandboxes; unless there is also a well-developed plot and characters, it's a pass from me.
I think all of those aspects are important and you can’t skimp on one and still expect the others to pull the slack.
That said, it’s very easy for writers to fall into the trap of thinking excessive volume of irrelevant detail is equivalent to good writing. Any information given in a story should be relevant, not fat that can be cut without losing anything of value.
You don’t need to dump exposition onto the reader. All you need to do is convince them to suspend their disbelief. Give them enough information that they can draw their own conclusions. If you over-explain, then you risk making them bored or wishing they were somewhere else in the fictional world.
BTW OP, when are you going to make a non-degenerate game? You have some based takes and coding skills. Use that power for good.