Sulphur on 23/4/2019 at 12:41

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RPGs in general should take notes from people who managed it successfully in the past. One of the benefits of Baldur's Gate-era Bioware's storytelling was that it was set in a universe that was already fleshed out and hence needed very little expository dialogue when it came to the world at large. I'd argue that even if your world is new, you still don't need to explain it to the player. Just present it along with your story, and let players figure it out. PS:T, Ultima, Fallout 1, VtM:B all let their plots and characters loose upon the world, and trusted players to figure things out. The thematic richness a world gains from a player discovering it on their own can't be understated - Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, and Dark Souls aren't even in the same genre, but they feature worldbuilding that remains in the background while foregrounding stories that draw on the world's history. There is of course a balance to be met between making things compelling vs. plain obtuse (example: E.Y.E Divine Cybermancy), but it's a sweet spot most people should try to aim for, I think. The Japanese term for their particular approach to this is sekaikan, and here's (https://medium.com/@MobiusCoffee/sekaikan-studying-game-creation-in-japan-4bbdcff71a95) a very interesting article about it.

VtM:B is a bit of an exception in that it starts with exposition, but it frontloaded that and then got it out of the way and let you absorb its systems and stories. And its stories were often as interesting for what they chose to not say as what they did say, which just goes to show how skilled the devs were when it came to storytelling.

Sulphur on 23/4/2019 at 12:57

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True, it had a lot of... wait, what

Are you really actually absolutely unequivocally complaining about tits in a video game

What the fuck have we come to, internet

froghawk on 23/4/2019 at 14:25

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I couldn't get into Skyrim at all, either. I gave it maybe 2hrs then gave up once I realized that it was going to be the same janky gamebryo experience as Oblivion, with terrible writing, bland environments, bad combat, and way too many loading screens.



It's MUCH more difficult than the first on account of the fact that enemies can attack you from offscreen. The levels are way bigger, making it a lot harder to complete a chunk of level segments in one sitting like the game forces you to when you're constantly being killed from offscreen. Also, the plot makes absolutely no sense without reading the comic first, and even then it's not the easiest to understand. I liked the game, but much less than the first title.

PigLick on 23/4/2019 at 16:04

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Yeh Kingdom Come is really good, although I suck at the combat.

Also, I have just replayed Vampire recently The first time I found it amazing and there were so many tits. Second time it was still amazing, but so many tits. Maybe I have just gotten older or something.

also possibly the fact I have 2 teenage daughters who are avid gamers and playing V:Bloodlines makes me realize how dated and basically sexist it is. "Hey check out this awesome series of sidequests! erm but ignore the fact I have a lingerie wearing blood/sex slave in my apartment eh"

froghawk on 23/4/2019 at 19:38

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Compared to Morrowind? Yeah, it was far less creative.