#ok got this out of my system back to baldurs gate | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

katewalker · 10 months ago

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hiiiii i wanna ask about delphene!! i have some general character building things i'm curious about! sorry if you've talked about it before and i missed it! what's her favourite colour? does she have a favourite perfume? would she prefer to go to an open field full of flowers, the ocean and beach, or a bustling city? what's her favourite animal - and does she relate to an animal? has she ever had pets - does she want pets? does she want a funeral - to be buried or cremated? ok that's it :D !! <3

oh thank you for the ask <3 i love talking about my short queen. every answers are pre-abduction as i have yet to play a full run with delphene and despite knowing how the game goes in general, i still need to work on how it will affect who delphene is.

surprisingly despite her hair (an accident) or her pendant made of the forgotten realms equivalent of charoite, her favorite color isn't purple but blue-green, the type you can find on chrysoscolla. why? because her grandmother was a pro at cutting and sculpting cameo this mineral.

delphene can't quite shake the perfume of her ex-fiancée from her system, which was a fresh citrus perfume with mandarin scents, very subtle, but which made her heady. delphene herself used to buy more floral perfumes, a bit heavier too, giving warm and cosy vibes, with iris or mimosa scents. she often changed between two or three perfumes, never settled on one. but that was before leaving baldur's gate, she doesn't use perfume anymore, a clean neutral scent is more than enough on the road.

she's a city girl, member of the jewellers' and merchants' guilds, baldur's gate is the only home she has ever known before and that's where she is the most confortable, but now after having seen more of the realms, she loves being near water, there's something calming for her about contemplating the vastness of water.

she doesn't really relate to any kind of animal, she likes animals like most people, but doesn't really have a favorite and if she has to give an answer she'll probably say "dog, i guess". she's a bit more weary of tentacles thingies now, to be honest. she never had pets before scratch and the owlbear (there were some cats coming and going within her familiy's shop but she never took an interest to try and keep them, they were like curious customers who end up not buying anything like many others, except they jumped and napped on the display cases), so she was a bit surprised about how you could get attached to an animal so quickly.

she never really thought about death before leaving baldur's gate, that was not in her mind at all and i think she figured her body will be put to rest in her family vault in a stone sarcophaphus put in the wall, maybe if she was lucky she'd get to be put not far from her grandma. now it's different. because she's persuaded she's going to die once she'll claim back her ancestors land and her patron will claim her soul for good. she wants to die a hero, an inspiration for the other dwarves who got kicked out from their lands thousands years ago by the gobblins. she hopes, when tales of her exploits will reach the city to be buried by her people under the lands she'd have freed, with a cairn the only indication of the duty she accomplished for her people.

#thank you so much for the ask!!! <3 #answers #illithiad #oc talk #oc: delphene

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mattkenzie · 5 years ago

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My Highlights of 2019

So with 2019 coming to a close (and I have to say that the year has come and gone... but I strangely had times that slowed down). This year I recently started to use hashtags so that is a learning experience and maybe get myself noticed for a while.

Ships of 2019 ❤️

Beau and Jester (Critical Role Season 2)

Catra and Adora (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power)

Movies 🎥 🍿

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This year my local cinema was closed for refurnishment so I never got to watch much movies this year. I used to like going to the movies but there is this unwritten rule where ‘you can’t go into a cinema on my own’ and ‘going to a U-Rated (Universal) as an adult without a child is frowned upon.’ So I think you know what? I’ll get the movie physically so I can watch it twice as it pays for my cinema ticket. Maybe in the new year I’ll hunt down the MCU Boxsets.

Avengers: Endgame 🥇

🍿 Captain Marvel 🥈

Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse 🥉

Sonic the Hedgehog (So glad Sonic got an update!)

Avengers: Infinity War

Spider-Man: Far From Home

🍿 Steven Universe: The Movie

🍿 Black Panther

Doctor Strange

Frozen 2 (My principle still stands that I detest Frozen)

How to Train Your Dragon

💿 Lord of the Rings

💿 Thor Ragnarok

Guardians of the Galaxy

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Spider-Man: Homecoming

🍿 Toy Story 4

The Hobbit (ONLY the first 2 films!)

Spirited Away

Movie Characters

Live Action TV 📺

Animated TV 📺

TV Characters

Music Groups 🎤🎸🥁

Musicals 🎭

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Just the one musical that I’ve enjoyed this year and that is...

Beetlejuice (Beetlejuice, being young and naive doesn’t mean that I’m an easy mark.)

Books 📚

This year I have promised myself that I’d read a new book once a month back in 2018 and it came back with a vengeance in 2019 and I have been enjoying reading more that I prefer fantasy and built such a small library. Yes, this year I’ve been spending less time watching television and giving my imagination a creativity an exercise. I think in 2020, I’ll try to give YA novels a chance... yet I noticed the YA protagonists are female. I want to try Leigh Bardugo’s Trilogy, The Throne of Glass, The Mortal Instrumentals and more of Rick Riordan. I do kind of feel bad for not reading The Simarrillion (as I never got into books as a child/teenager).

Harry Potter series 🥇

Percy Jackson and the Olympians 🥉

A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones)

Discworld

Good Omens

Authors and Poets 📚✒️

Video Games 🎮

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So I’ve been spending less money on video games this year it feels like it’s a good thing but sometimes we have to be adult about things in this day and age because responsibility demands sacrifice. I do find life difficult at times but I know that I can pop in a CD and find enjoyment in the games that I want to play. So what about the video games that aren’t on the Tumblr fandom list? Well to abridge my list... Trails of Cold Steel 1 & 2, Baldur’s Gate 1 & 2: Enhanced Edition and Planescape Torment & Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition, King of Fighters 2000, King of Fighters ‘97, Fatal Fury Special and Garou: Mark of the Wolves. I was ecstatic to hear Terry Bogard being in Smash. But what about those games that are no Tumblr but not on mine? It’s simple, I’m not interested in them.

Overwatch 🥇

Minecraft 🥈

🎮 Fire Emblem: Three Houses 🥉

Undertale

🎮 Pokémon Sword and Shield

🎮 The Sims 4

🎮 Persona 5 (I can’t wait for Royal)

Deltarune

🎮 Danganrompa

🎮 Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Can’t wait for the sequel)

Stardew Valley

🎮 Borderlands 3

🎮 Kingdom Hearts III

Detroit: Become Human

🎮 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

🎮 Ace Attorney (Still salty about not having Miles Edgeworth Investigations and The Great Ace Attorney though)

Taletale: The Walking Dead

🎮 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

🎮 Animal Crossing: New Leaf

Cyberpunk 2077

Dragon Age Inquisition

🎮 Fallout 4

Minecraft ⛏

I’ve stopped watching Minecraft videos for about 2 years now (as I loved the Yogscast), but I somehow do miss playing it on my phone or on a console, I think in 2020 I will get a copy on the Switch because one of my friends have been playing Minecraft on the Switch.

Mobile Games/Apps 📱

To be honest, I don’t do any form of mobile gaming (I’m mostly against the idea of ‘micro transactions’ just the sake of pay to win). Like when it comes to video games on computers and consoles I will gladly get the DLC to give my games more depth and longer replay value.

Video Game Characters

Raphael (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)

Pokémon

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So with Pokémon Sword and Shield being released, I was having some mixed feelings about it. Did I like the Thanos snap? I can live with it. Did I like the new pokémon? Some of them are a hit and miss (I liked the starters, I chose Scorbunny at first but when I was spoiled with Grooky’s final evolution... I jumped ship). Do I like the Dynamax/Gigantamax system? To be honest I was hoping for Armoured Evolutions.

Brand New World

Grooky Gang

Anime & Manga

Web Celebrities

Web Series

So with me losing interest in television comes a rise in watching my shows online. I normally do enjoy watching Critical Role on Monday (as I need some sleep on Friday at silly o’clock in the morning) but I have enjoyed discovering Sander’s Side (YouTube’s version of Pixar’s Inside Out) and listening to The Adventure Zone that I bought the comics (I can’t wait for Volume 3) and Dimension 20’s Fantasy High.

Critical Role 🥇

RWBY 🥈

Sander’s Sides 🥉

The Adventure Zone

Camp Camp

Hazbin Hotel

gen:LOCK

Dimension 20

Memes

I will never understand memes (so please don’t ask)

OK, Boomer!

Raiding Area 51

Thicc is the new Phat

Tumblr Communities

So I stated that this year that I would be reading a book once a month and I have started to appreciate them more than I do with Television and Video Games so I’ve been blogging what books that I have read and eventhough I don’t know what is getting released (like I do with video games and movies). I have been enjoying starting out with bookblr.

Bookblr

Art Styles

Beauty & Fashion Brands 👕👖🥾

Sadly, I gained a lot of weight this year that I now have to get size 46 waist jeans and chinos so I buy clothing from Bad Rhino (I am not proud of myself for that), but the good news is that my brushing/flossing have been improving and I have stopped biting my nails ever since I bought myself nail clippers.

Astrology ♒️

I don’t really follow astrology but I like to look at the Aquarius posts for fits and gigs so apparently Aquarius is in 3rd place in the trending.

Aquarius ♒️🥉

Tumblr and Social Impact

LGBTQIA+

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geekekitten · 7 years ago

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Divinity Original Sin 2: Close to Perfection

I’ve played well over 70 hours of this game and kept putting off writing a review of it because I keep learning more about it and felt like my review could NEVER possibly cover all that this game has to offer. And you know what? I was right. It can’t. But it doesn’t have to. All I need to do is tell you enough about this game to make you want to try it, or at least check it out on youtube.

Some might call Divinity Original Sin 2 the holy grail of RPGs. Or maybe that’s just me. But this game has gotten A LOT of positive attention. It got game of the month in the Game Informer magazine just recently. A lot of youtuber’s have been singing it’s praises. Sometimes a lot of hype over a game ends up leaving you feeling cheated, like there was just TOO much positivity and excitement and pomp and circumstance surrounding it that by the time you get to the game you’re like, “Meh”. I don’t think that’s going to happen to you with this game. I was introduced to it by a fellow gamer I hold close to my gamer heart (MFPallyTime). OK so I don’t know him personally but I wish I did he seems wicked nice and cool and his build videos for Heroes of the Storm are great. Anyways, he was playing Divinity Original Sin 2 on Twitch and I just happened to poke on over to his channel out of curiosity. This game looked so intriguing within 10 minutes of watching him play that I went to the steam page for it and started reading reviews. I bought it about 15 minutes later.

This game just has so much to offer, especially for the mega geeks like me who enjoy things like D&D. Actually a lot of the game systems are loosely based on D&D, so a background in that or relevant games (like Baldur’s Gate) certainly helps you get started. But not to worry--you do not need any background to figure it out, it just takes longer, and youtube videos help. I tried Baldur’s Gate and couldn’t get past the tutorial because I was so confused (this coming from someone who plays D&D recreationally). This game makes more sense.

So here’s a rundown. You can either make your own character or play one of the 6 available. Everyone recommends for your first time playing one of the “origin” characters because you get more out of the story that way. I have to agree with this, and the story is worth knowing. There are 4 races to choose from: Human, Elf, Dwarf, and Lizard (you can also play an Undead version of any of these races). Each race has a few unique things about them, making them better suited for particular classes (I will not be getting into the nitty gritty of that, it is better explained in lengthy youtube class building videos). There are 14 classes to choose from, revolving around the presets all gamers are used to (warrior, rogue, mage, ranger). The great thing is though that this class you start with is subject to tinkering (you can change your attribute point and skill presets right away) and later on you’ll get access to a very cool tool that will allow you to go back (over and over again) to change all your point distributions. So you’re not stuck playing exactly what you start with. In fact, I recommend that you don’t. Taylor it to either what you want or if you’re not sure look up builds on youtube. There are TONS of them.

The general story (without spoiling anything) is that you are a Sourcerer (a person who wields the power of Source, or Magic) and because of that you’re considered dangerous. Something has gone terribly wrong in the world, and use of Source is causing awful creatures (called Voidwoken) to sprout up all over the place, causing mass death and chaos. There’s a cure for being a Sourcerer, but I bet you can guess it’s not a nice one. So you’ll spend part of your time in this game as a prisoner, and you can be damn sure there will be a lot of people on the look out for your kind. You’re not just a Sourcerer though, you’re even more than that, something very special, but we’re getting into spoiler territory, so you’ll have to find out what you are in game (or by watching lets play videos, you cheater). You will be able to play with up to 3 other characters (either AI controlled or controlled by real people...or your dog, if you want to great really creative). I have been playing singleplayer and co-op and I personally enjoy co-op more, but you can DEFINITELY get all you need out of this game on your own. Having friends is NOT a prerequisite of this game.

The characters you can play as (or with) are lush and interesting and it’s really a joy to get to know them and help them on their own journeys. I think it’s also great that you can potentially start up romantic relationships with them (or certain NPCs). I haven’t gotten there yet, but I heard you can even engage in “private affairs” with them later in the game. But whether you care about letting your character be easy or not is just a very tiny blot on the page. There is so much to do in this game that you can really stretch it past what most people are saying they’re finishing it in (70-80 hours I’ve been seeing). My advice is to try to do it all. You’re missing out if you don’t. And do more than one game! Try new approaches, try a new character, try a new team, try a new class, be nice in one game and a jerk in the other, have fun with it.

One thing I have to say I really admire about this game is that EVERY NPC is voice acted. Everyone. Even the squirrels (you have to know how to talk to animals to communicate with them, its a talent you can get). And the voice acting is solid, more solid than most games I’ve played. It doesn’t sound belabored or fake, it all sounds appropriate. Now granted, graphics in a top-down RPG aren’t the most impressive, but they’re still pretty good, and they definitely don’t take away from the game. If you want to get more up close and personal, just zoom in. Although I recommend zooming back out for battles, otherwise you’re going to be super confused. Which brings me to another point: battling. I haven’t had this much fighting in a game since...actually I don’t think I ever have. I am not usually a big fan of turn based combat (despite playing games like Persona) but when a game does it this well, I’m in. Besides this game’s combat is WAY too complex to not be turn based. If you tried to do it real time you’d be dead in three seconds flat. Being turn based gives you as much time as you need to assess the situation, the environment, your positioning, the strengths and weaknesses of the enemies, if you should be focused on offense or defense, if you should attack or use your turn to buff your allies, if you should be retreating...you get the point. It’s a lot. And there are so many skills in this game to try out. Some of them are really powerful and just a delight to see go off on screen. On a side note, the music is pretty good too. Granted, I wish there was more to the soundtrack (more actual tracks I mean) but what they do use is done very well. It sounds authentic. But they let you choose from 4 instruments while creating your character for the “lead instrument” in the songs that will be played, and that is pretty cool.

There is so much to this game I’d love to go on and on about it, but that’s probably not what people want out of written reviews anymore. That’s more for youtube videos nowadays. If you DO want more on this game in the written word versus video, please let me know. I would be happy to indulge if the interest is there. But that aside, please check this game out! It is too good to miss. It is by far one of the best games I’ve ever played. And if you’re a D&D fan, or are interested in D&D but too intimidated by its complexities, this is a great place to start.

#video game reviews #divinity original sin 2 #Divinity Original Sin 2 review

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pixelrender · 5 years ago

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My 5 genres of video games

I used to spend my time on a variety of games from AAA open world titles to small flash tower defense games. I’m still quite fond of many of these games and Kingdom Rush in particular has a special place in my heart as the smoothest tower defense game I’ve ever played. I got obsessed over niche genres from time to time too. I had a short period, in which I read many articles on hg101. Naturally, I got super interested in shmups back then. I still like to play a simple free shmup from time to time, but I avoid more difficult entries these days and I can’t call myself a hardcore fan of the genre.

For the longest time I was big on RPGs and Boiware in particular. I loved Dragon Age and I still plan getting my hands on Inquisition one day. I need to replay Mass Effect 2 and finally finish the trilogy. Baldur’s Gate is still on my shortlist of games to finish and Jade Empire is one of my favourite underrated games to recommend. There were other RPGs than those from Bioware too. Gothic 3 probably qualifies for the game I spent most time with as completing it took me half a year. I still like low fiction of Gothic series and admire compact worlds of the first two games and Risen. Oblivion is my favourite roaming game. The best part about it was bumping into a small settlement in the middle of nature and just be there. The last not least I should mention RPG Maker. I developed few small games in it and I still sometimes work on three more. 2 of them are actual RPGs. I played and enjoyed many RM games, some of them epic fantasies. So, why is this genre only a honorable mention? I don’t find myself as attracted to it and its power fantasies as I used to. I don’t have time for sprawling epic and there are certain strategy games fulfilling my lust for medieval and characters better. The two basic premises of RPGs aren’t as interesting for me as they used to be. I don’t really care about hero’s journey narrative and I’m little bored with basic mechanics. For example leveling up can be such a chore.

Now my choices are way narrower than they used to be. I still play other games and especially hobbyist and micro RPGs, which might enter my top 5 one day. These are the five genres I purposely follow, build up libraries or knowledge of their game design and talk about on Discord the most.

1. Non-linear platformers

I enjoy myself a good metroidvania. There’s only one thing, which makes a foggy, rainy better. It’s not alcohol. Also, I used term non-linear platformers on purpose. I enjoy sideview platforming and not every metroidvania’s that. There are many different movements and some of them are less fun and there are 3d games, which use Metroid inspired progression. Also, I haven’t played a single Metroid or Castlevania proper. I don’t have any excuse for the travesty. Ok, not being a console guy might give you an explanation of my situation. And with so many likes and clones on steam, I have enough to eat through without touching emulators.

I enjoy the genre’s level design in particular. I think that adding multiple layers and making souls inspired timing based combat or adding too many rpg elements rarely helps. Movement’s still the core. Upgrades/progression is at its best, when focused on obtaining new ways of movement and not stronger weapons. Clever boss fights are always important, but I prefer them to be a puzzle rather than an endurance competition. I have a huge, almost endless list of metroidvanias to play and to base my own one on.

2. Walking simulators

Sometimes I just need to turn off. Games in general are a good resting activity, walking sims and ambient games take it little further. And I usually feel enriched by playing them. I don’t feel like an overgrown child. Walking around studying original aesthetic of their creators. It’s a dialogue, in which I confront and reflect their approach to architecture and aesthetics They are definitely better enjoyed on a big screen with proper audio and smooth performance. They’re quite power hungry as even low poly ones are usually 3d. That’s a problem with my current hardware and software. In general I enjoy low poly and minimalist walking sims the most. They tend to focus more on composition.

Almost walking sims present you with a sense of wonder. You explore unknown and often massive lands. They should let you find your own way, but some of there are more focused and lead. Even if the land’s strange, it’s for the better when it rings a sense of familiar. Going cheap surreal isn’t the way. Landscapes in walking sims can be way weirder than Dali, but they should have their own nature. Walking sims are usually very slow. There’s no activity besides walking, maybe you can pick up an item. Sometimes, you follow a story. It’s hard to define a hard border, where walking sims end and other genres start. Gone Home is about something completely else than pure walking sims, but I still enjoy it for its pacing and ambiance. That brings it very close. Curtain certainly isn’t a walking sim, but the way you move around the apartment and then walk through a corridor to bend time is very much close to timeless scenes of walking sims.

3. Art games - game art

This is a difficult category to define. Art games are usually aiming for more than entertainment. They’re deeper with references to other media or filled with social critique. Having fun sometimes feels bad in them. Game art is even more difficult to define. To put it simply, it’s usually a piece of art using games as its medium. It can have a form of an interactive executable or weird modification of an existing game but the artistic concept is more important than it being a working game. In terms of mechanics, this is a diverse group and vague one, when it comes to game design. Here I can learn from areas more relevant in the real world. They often take on philosophy, ethics, politics, aesthetics and other fields I’m interested in more than in violence and loot.

Some game are clear art games. An easy example is Kentucky Route Zero, which despite it’s artsy nature is clearly defined by its mechanics and sense of progress. The other example from my favourite games would be Little Party. This one’s lighter on mechanics, but it tells a very subtle and civil story and it uses art and creativity more than being a product of it. Proteus would be my personal borderline example. The game’s about complementing and its island are small art pieces. This is actually very close to an ambient video installation and could be considered game art.

4. Turn based strategy games

Games my brain enjoys the most. I get satisfaction from solving. Solving concrete situations of strategy games is closer to me than abstract puzzles and logic games in general. Into the Breach is close to the latter in terms of mechanics but I love it, because it’s not cold, it makes me feel and every time I fail and an enemy hits one of the cities, I stop breathing for a moment. It makes me feel heroic to put one of my mechs in front of houses and almost sacrifice its pilot to save those lives.

There’s a huge influence of Heroes of Might and Magic. That game has many flaws, but its pace is perfect. Battles are usually either swift of epic. Heroes were my first love and I still fondly return to them from time to time. They’re not as challenging or complex as most tactics/strategy games, but they’re perfect rewarding fun. I only left them as my default turn based strategy to branch out. Series like Civilization and Warlock are building more consistent worlds. Especially in Civ its super fast turns and ties to the real world’s history make it a captivating game, in which you need to strategize on several fronts at once. Tactics are the second path I currently follow. There are closer to RPGs, but for reason your characters becoming stronger makes more sense here. It’s often because you can lose them and losing a level 10 character hurts more. I enjoy the small scale of tactics games too. The smaller the better. Again it’s a game design challenge of going further without sacrificing complexity.

5. Grand strategy games

I wonder how longer this one sticks. I love engrossing myself in Paradox games, losing track of real for weeks and becoming weirdo obsessed with my own history of the world. But it’s weird and disconnecting and you can’t talk about it with your friends, because explaining it is impossible. You can share some stories with fellow grand strategy players, but it’s not difficult to realize the weird nerdness of the company.

So, what’s so good about them? They simulate politics on a world-wide level with an amount of realism, which just feels right. You can change history, but only within borders set up by Paradox. For example you can conquer France as an Aztec, but it stays France. Shapes are the same, systems too. This shade of reality makes fiction in Crusader Kings, Europa Universalis, Victoria and other games much more easy to engage with. That’s also why I find Stellaris boring. Leaving reality, there’s nothing to compare your fiction with. It renders my choices irrelevant and different developments have same impact on me. Multiplayer probably changes this.

Civilization is far less complex than grand strategy games. It’s simple and easy to explain and to change. Yet it keeps certain connection to the real world and it has great modding scene. There isn’t an infinite number of expansions for it, which would make it bloated with features. And one run lasts a lot less. Civ isn’t a simulation, it’s still a very long puzzle. One day, I will only stick with one of the two. Now It looks better for Sid Mayer than Paradox.

Pictures are from following games: Caged Bird Dont Fly Caught in a Wire Sing Like a Good Canary Come When Called, Gunmetal Arcadia, Mura Toka (1 and 2), Morphblade, Victoria 2

#feature #genres

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symbianosgames · 7 years ago

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Games Have Too Many Words: A Case Study.

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

In this chapter, I unwisely critique the work of my betters.

I recently wrote an article about how video games have too many words. We designers don't properly edit our writing to make sure our words are worth a player’s time reading them.

I want to do a case study where I go through a wordy game, step-by-step, and show what it's doing right and wrong and how it could be doing better. Most game criticism frustrates me. It tends to deal with generalities and floaty ideas, instead of dirtying its hands with specifics that could actually help make for better games. This is my chance to egotistically provide a different approach.

This breakdown will be long and gritty, but I'll try to include a lot of solid pointers. I'll throw in some jokes along the way.

The Subject

Let's look at the very beginning of Pillars of Eternity, developed by Obsidian and released in 2015. This game was a huge hit, critically and financially, taking advantage of a shortage of quality Baldur's Gate-style, gritty, isometric-view, story-heavy titles.

I really wanted a game like that, so I bought it. I finished it in a little over 20 hours. The combat was fine, though really chaotic and hard to follow. (The best description I read was "clusterf***y".) The story was OK, but the game is loaded with words, many of them written by Kickstarter backers. I ended up getting through all the conversations in the back third of the game by typing the '1' key as fast as I could.

I did play Pillars until the end, which is rare for me. Overall, it was pretty good. It made a lot of money, and the crowdfunding for the sequel is doing quite well.

I don't usually like being negative about the work of other sincere, industrious creators. Luckily this game got enough cash and acclaim that its creators can comfortably ignore the nattering of a non-entity like me.

This is how I picture the devs of Pillars of Eternity. They walk everywhere with big clip art watermarks floating over their chests.

"So What's Your Complaint?"

Too many words.

Pillars of Eternity wants to have a really elaborate world and story, which is fine. It wants to have a creative game system, with new, innovative sorts of character classes and spells, which is great.

However, it doesn't do a good job of communicating stuff to the player, because there's no editing and care in giving out information. The game just floods the player with text, important bits buried in gushes of irrelevant detail, practically training the player to think that the words aren't really important. (Again, I played a huge chunk of the game without reading anything but the quest log.)

To illustrate this, I'm going to go, step by step, through the introduction and character creation, the stuff anyone who tries the game is sure to see. Let's see what the game thinks is worth the player's time and how good a job it does splitting up vital knowledge from static.

"So What? You're Just Scared of Words, You Sub-Literate?"

No, I have a problem with the pacing. The human brain can only absorb so many random facts about game systems and lore at one sitting. This stuff needs to be carefully paced out, or it'll just slide off of the brain.

But character creation in this game floods the player with tons of facts, both about the game and the world. I came out of it feeling numb and confused, and almost none of it stuck.

So. You start the game. You pick your difficulty. And then you begin the eleven (!!!) steps of character creation.

I. Introduction.

A pretty graphic and some basic text saying what is going on (you're on a caravan going to some fantasy town, you feel sick), read by an old guy. About 140 words. It's fine.

II. Pick Your Sex

And now the troubles begin. You need to choose whether you are male or female. Here's a description:

Describing the sexes is about 160 words total. But look, it mentions a bunch of different countries. Let's mouse over one of them and see what their deal is.

Yikes! That's a lot of words. All the descriptions together are about 330 words, much of it references to random game locations the player has no knowledge of. "Ein Glanfath" "Dyrwood" "Glanfathan" "Ixamitl" "Naasitaq" How can anyone get anything coherent from this tangle? This is literally the second thing the game shows you.

Seriously, try this: Read the description of "Eir Glanfath" above. Then close your eyes and count to ten. Then say everything you recall about Eir Glanfath. I'll bet you retained very little. And that's setting aside whether this stuff is actually necessary to play the game. (Not really.)

And, worse, it's all irrelevant to the actual choice the player has to make, because the vast majority of players will know whether they want to play a man or a woman before they even launch the game. If a woman only ever plays female characters, telling her, "The men of the Derpaderp Tribe of Sirius XII are in charge of all of their basket-weaving!" isn't going to turn her head around.

My Friendly Suggestion - Go through all these random facts and see if there are one or two of them the player MUST know. Pluck them out and put them in the Introduction. Cram the rest of the lore in books the player finds in the game world. Then make Male/Female be a toggle in the next screen.

III. Pick Your Race

OK, we're into solid fantasy RPG territory now. Here are six races to choose from:

You've never heard of three of the races. This is good. Pillars's desire to create new, weird things is one of its good points. Each race has about fifty words of description:

Now, this is a description of a "dwarf." But, if you have even the slightest familiarity with fantasy, you know what we're talking about here: Standard-issue, Tolkein dwarves. Short. Stocky. Like digging holes, gold, and ale. Grumpy. Scottish accents. We get it. All you need to say here is, "Strong, durable, great warriors."

For each of the races, the description mainly says the lands they live in. Let's be clear. This is useless information. If I tell you dwarves come from New Jersey, whether or not you've heard of New Jersey, this tells you nothing about whether you want to be a dwarf in your adolescent power fantasy.

It's a total cliche to say, "Show, Don't Tell," but this is a PERFECT example of why this is a key concept in writing. If I say, "Dwarves come from New Jersey," and you've never even heard of New Jersey (or dwarves), you won't care. But if you go to New Jersey, look around, and see nothing but dwarves, you'll instantly be all, "Oh, I get it! I'm in Dwarfland!"

But it gets trickier. This is the first choice you make that has actual impact on the gameplay. There are six statistics in the game, and your race affects what you start with. Each statistic description is 50 more words. Let's take a look at one:

What "Might" means is important information. The player needs this. This text needs to be punchy and clear. Something like, "Improves damage from all attacks. Gives a bonus when healing. Helps intimidate people in conversation."

And this description does that, but messily and with lots of extra words. Pillars tries to do a lot of things differently from other RPGs, so it needs to be extra-clear about the surprising stuff. Having the strength skill also improve spells and healing is neat, but it's also really unusual. ("Dwarves are better wizards? Wut!?")

My Friendly Suggestion - Editing pass. Shorter and clearer. Ask, "Why does the player need to know this?" If you don't have a good answer, save this lore for much later.

IV. Pick your Sub-Race

This is where the seriously over-designed quality of Pillars starts to show up. Picking a race isn't enough. You have to pick your sub-race:

So about 160 words (not counting rollover text), to learn about the woods dwarves and the mountain dwarves:

None of this lore has anything to do with the actual game.

What bugs me here is that this choice has gameplay significance. One choice gives you resistance to Poison and Disease (though you have no idea how serious these conditions are or how often they appear in the game), and one gives you a bonus against "Wilder" and "Primordial" creatures (though you have no idea what on Earth those are, let alone how often they show up in the game).

Giving a player seemingly high-impact decisions with no ability to tell which one is correct is stressful and confusing.

My Friendly Suggestion - Ditch sub-races. Instead, give Dwarves BOTH of these bonuses. This creates more distinction between the races and getting multiple bonuses helps the player feel more powerful instead of confused and stressed.

"Cutting Out Lore? What Is Your Problem With Lore In Games, You Jerk?"

Lore in games is great, as long is it's not thrown at the player too quickly and without any gameplay context that makes it mean something.

If you love lore, I want you to get lore, but in a way that spares the people who find huge dumps of it grueling. There are ways to make everyone happy!

Anyway, let's keep going. There's a LOT more screens to go.

V. Pick Your Class

Hokay! At last, this is the big one! This makes a huge difference in your play experience. Here are your eleven choices:

One of the coolest things about Pillars is that they tried to make some weird classes unlike anything in other games. The cost of creativity, however, is that you have to be extra-careful when explaining to the player the weird stuff they've never seen before.

When I started the game, my eyes were instantly drawn to "Cipher". That sounds neat! And here is the description ...

Yikes.

The main description of the class is four long sentences, but only the second sentence actually says much about what the class does. Then a very vague description of the powers, which involve something vitally important called a "Soul Whip," with no explanation of what that actually is. Then a bunch of algebra.

That's about 120 words, for one class. You have to go through all of it to get a vague idea of how the class plays. The other ten class descriptions are comparably complex.

This is just too much stuff to muck through, too early, for a choice so important to the play experience. Bear in mind that we are still less than halfway to actually playing a game.

My Friendly Suggestion - For each class, only show the stat bonuses and two or three carefully written sentences describing what it's like. Move all the weird lore and mathematical formulae to a different tab that can be opened by those who care. When the player starts using the class in the game, bring up some tutorial windows saying the key details of how to actually use it, like what a "Soul Whip" is.

VI. Pick Your Class Details.

If you're a priest, you have to pick your god. If you're a caster, you have to select a spell or two from the starting list. For the Cipher, the list looks like this ...

The spell descriptions look like this ...

Again, a ton of reading, referring to statistics, distances, statuses, damage amounts, damage types, etc. that mean nothing because you've never actually played the game.

My Friendly Suggestion - Lose this screen entirely. Pick one basic, useful ability (the best one) and give it to the character automatically to get through the tutorial. Then, after the first bunch of fights, have the player meet a trainer and be able to choose new abilities in an informed way.

VII. Edit Your Character Attributes.

Figure out how many points of Strength, Constitution, etc. you have. The game, to its credit, says which ones are most important for your class. Standard RPG fare.

VIII. Pick Your Culture

IF YOU'RE JUST SPEED-SCROLLING THROUGH THIS ARTICLE, STOP HERE AND READ THIS!!!!

Yeah, I know you aren't reading all of this. This post is wayyyyy too long and gritty and nit-picky and tedious. But reading this article takes much less time than actually picking through all of these windows in the game. Which is too long. That is my main point. Now scroll to the end and call me an idiot in comments.

Anyway, yeah, pick some country you're from ...

Each of the 7 contures has about 70 words of description.

None of this has anything to do with playing the game.

This is the most unnecessary step in the whole process. When making an RPG character, you need to build two things: Its stats/abilities and its personality.

Knowing your character is from "The White that Wends" tells you nothing about its abilities, and it's a lousy way to determine his or her personality. If you read the description of "The White that Wends," and learn that people from there are mean and selfish, that's still not the way you want to player to create a mean, selfish character. You do that by giving play options in the game that are mean and selfish and letting the player pick them. Show, don't tell.

My Friendly Suggestion - Lose it entirely.

IX. Pick Your Background.

Choose from one of nine backgrounds.

The main thing this affects is that, every once in a while, it will open up a new dialogue option. This never makes a big difference.

My Friendly Suggestion - There's a real lost opportunity here. Once again, "Show, Don't Tell." Instead of having me declare that my character is a Slave or Aristocrat or whatever, why not, once you’re in the game, make every conversation option for all of these different nine backgrounds available to me when the game starts.

Then, if I keep making the "Aristocrat" pick, start removing the other options, so that I end up always talking like an Aristocrat. Then my character's personality emerges organically from the sort of dialogue choices I make in the actual game.

X. Choose Appearance and Voice.

Standard appearance editor and list of different voices. It's fine.

XI. Choose Your Name.

Gladly.

XII. The Game.

And, finally, the games starts with the tutorial. Which begins with a long conversation. Which I barely pay attention to, because my stupid brain is tired.

It's all way too much. Too many words, too many irrelevant choices, exhausting when it should be informative. Not that they will listen to me, but it might be an improvement to look for in Pillars of Eternity 2, because the market is not what it was in 2015.

"But Who Cares? The Game Was a Hit, Right?"

The real test of how good a game it is, is not how it sells, but how much its sequel sells. And it is entirely fair to ask what business a pissant like me has criticizing a hit game written by a bunch of big names.

Let's leave behind the idea of craftsmanship and a desire to always keep improving our work.

Lately, sequels to hit RPGs have been selling far worse than their predecessors. Obsidian's successor to Pillars, Tyranny, by their own words, underperformed.

Also, I looked at the Steam achievement statistics for Pillars of Eternity. According to those, fewer than half of players finished the first chapter. Only about 10% of players completed the game.

Now granted, this is not unusual. Most games remain unfinished. But that still invites this question: If the vast majority of players didn't want to experience the Pillars of Eternity they already paid for, why think that they will want to buy more?

Everyone should keep improving, if just for their survival in this mercilessly competitive business.

Video games are a new art form, and there is still so much we have to figure out. That's the terrifying and awesome thing about making them. And now, having already written way too many words, I will take my own advice and cease.

###

The author sells his own flawed, wordy, old-school RPGs at Spiderweb Software. He opines on Twitter.

#IFTTT #Blogger

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symbianosgames · 7 years ago

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Games Have Too Many Words: A Case Study.

In this chapter, I unwisely critique the work of my betters.

I recently wrote an article about how video games have too many words. We designers don't properly edit our writing to make sure our words are worth a player’s time reading them.

This breakdown will be long and gritty, but I'll try to include a lot of solid pointers. I'll throw in some jokes along the way.

The Subject

I did play Pillars until the end, which is rare for me. Overall, it was pretty good. It made a lot of money, and the crowdfunding for the sequel is doing quite well.

This is how I picture the devs of Pillars of Eternity. They walk everywhere with big clip art watermarks floating over their chests.

"So What's Your Complaint?"

Too many words.

"So What? You're Just Scared of Words, You Sub-Literate?"

But character creation in this game floods the player with tons of facts, both about the game and the world. I came out of it feeling numb and confused, and almost none of it stuck.

So. You start the game. You pick your difficulty. And then you begin the eleven (!!!) steps of character creation.

I. Introduction.

A pretty graphic and some basic text saying what is going on (you're on a caravan going to some fantasy town, you feel sick), read by an old guy. About 140 words. It's fine.

II. Pick Your Sex

And now the troubles begin. You need to choose whether you are male or female. Here's a description:

Describing the sexes is about 160 words total. But look, it mentions a bunch of different countries. Let's mouse over one of them and see what their deal is.

III. Pick Your Race

OK, we're into solid fantasy RPG territory now. Here are six races to choose from:

You've never heard of three of the races. This is good. Pillars's desire to create new, weird things is one of its good points. Each race has about fifty words of description:

My Friendly Suggestion - Editing pass. Shorter and clearer. Ask, "Why does the player need to know this?" If you don't have a good answer, save this lore for much later.

IV. Pick your Sub-Race

This is where the seriously over-designed quality of Pillars starts to show up. Picking a race isn't enough. You have to pick your sub-race:

So about 160 words (not counting rollover text), to learn about the woods dwarves and the mountain dwarves:

None of this lore has anything to do with the actual game.

Giving a player seemingly high-impact decisions with no ability to tell which one is correct is stressful and confusing.

"Cutting Out Lore? What Is Your Problem With Lore In Games, You Jerk?"

Lore in games is great, as long is it's not thrown at the player too quickly and without any gameplay context that makes it mean something.

If you love lore, I want you to get lore, but in a way that spares the people who find huge dumps of it grueling. There are ways to make everyone happy!

Anyway, let's keep going. There's a LOT more screens to go.

V. Pick Your Class

Hokay! At last, this is the big one! This makes a huge difference in your play experience. Here are your eleven choices:

When I started the game, my eyes were instantly drawn to "Cipher". That sounds neat! And here is the description ...

Yikes.

That's about 120 words, for one class. You have to go through all of it to get a vague idea of how the class plays. The other ten class descriptions are comparably complex.

This is just too much stuff to muck through, too early, for a choice so important to the play experience. Bear in mind that we are still less than halfway to actually playing a game.

VI. Pick Your Class Details.

If you're a priest, you have to pick your god. If you're a caster, you have to select a spell or two from the starting list. For the Cipher, the list looks like this ...

The spell descriptions look like this ...

Again, a ton of reading, referring to statistics, distances, statuses, damage amounts, damage types, etc. that mean nothing because you've never actually played the game.

VII. Edit Your Character Attributes.

Figure out how many points of Strength, Constitution, etc. you have. The game, to its credit, says which ones are most important for your class. Standard RPG fare.

VIII. Pick Your Culture

IF YOU'RE JUST SPEED-SCROLLING THROUGH THIS ARTICLE, STOP HERE AND READ THIS!!!!

Anyway, yeah, pick some country you're from ...

Each of the 7 contures has about 70 words of description.

None of this has anything to do with playing the game.

This is the most unnecessary step in the whole process. When making an RPG character, you need to build two things: Its stats/abilities and its personality.

My Friendly Suggestion - Lose it entirely.

IX. Pick Your Background.

Choose from one of nine backgrounds.

The main thing this affects is that, every once in a while, it will open up a new dialogue option. This never makes a big difference.

X. Choose Appearance and Voice.

Standard appearance editor and list of different voices. It's fine.

XI. Choose Your Name.

Gladly.

XII. The Game.

And, finally, the games starts with the tutorial. Which begins with a long conversation. Which I barely pay attention to, because my stupid brain is tired.

"But Who Cares? The Game Was a Hit, Right?"

Let's leave behind the idea of craftsmanship and a desire to always keep improving our work.

Lately, sequels to hit RPGs have been selling far worse than their predecessors. Obsidian's successor to Pillars, Tyranny, by their own words, underperformed.

Also, I looked at the Steam achievement statistics for Pillars of Eternity. According to those, fewer than half of players finished the first chapter. Only about 10% of players completed the game.

Everyone should keep improving, if just for their survival in this mercilessly competitive business.

###

The author sells his own flawed, wordy, old-school RPGs at Spiderweb Software. He opines on Twitter.

#IFTTT #Blogger

0 notes