kierun

"What are you still doing here? Enough trembling in your boots. A hunter must hunt."

At moments like this I think back to Thief&Thief 2 and appreciate the way Looking Glass Studio used map as a world building and storytelling tool rather than UI. Ahhh... those times of wild creativity. Hey, there's Bloodorne way of doing quests… No log, no markers, no indication when a quest starts, updates, or ends. To be fair, there's only half a dozen or so of them and they are all quiet short if spread over time.

Ehh... it's not really about immersion. That's more of a side effect -- immersion being broken I mean. The main problem with default quest markers, at least (it's fine if there's some "I don't have time for this" mode/option you can turn on if you want everything indicated perfectly for you) is that you have the game presenting you with a challenge of "Find such-and-such," and it's pointing right at it, so you're not finding anything. The game world is telling you that your characters don't know something, yet the person controlling them gets to know it, straight from the game itself. Now, if your character speaks to someone and they say "Oh yeah, you're looking for Recluse Reynard? He's up on the mountain. Here... I'll draw you a map and/or elaborately explain exactly how to get to him, so you'll know where you're going," THEN I'd say "Okay, there's no reason my character shouldn't know where to go now." Even then, I'd kind of rather the character say "This is the tree I'm supposed to take a right at," etc. instead of just having a marker off in the nothingness that my character hasn't yet seen. Partially for immersion, sure. At this point, it doesn't much matter, objectively, as your character knows how to reach their destination. I just think it might be more interesting if they intuitively followed their directions rather than just knowing the exact GPS coordinates of the destination. Toward that end, it'd be even more interesting if people would actually lie to you, or provide crappy descriptions, in some instances, and the markers that the game gave you (because of the knowledge your character has) are actually incorrect. Sometimes, I mean. Not like "every single person in the game lies to me!" Look, stop reading my mind right now! This is not funny⸮ This is indeed a good system and balance between the two. If I need to find The Pouncing Pony Inn in Bree, then it is fair to assume that I can ask anyone in Bree about it. Whereas find the lost tomb of Fred… Well, clearly it's lost! There is no point in having a marker there. Unless you get hints that it could be over this hill or by that river…

I have seen much worst, I have seen better. Personally, I do like (current) quest markers. I have a limited time to play games, and remembering a dozen quests lines over weeks is just not feasible. I do get that some people hate it 'cause immersion and to be fair, a walk through will have a map with a marker on it. Allowing quests to be sortable by area, level, "treasure hunt", or main/sub-plot would be a good addition. It would be nice if there were links to names as well: Who was Fred again?… But that will get really complex really fast.

Setting a bigger font and going to the optician to get better glasses might help… Amateur text reading can be terrible indeed and I am not sure if there is a text-to-seach that work with games.

Hint: do not feed the troll… ☺

No background given, link to unreadable tiny green text, overboard claims not backed up by anything, appeal to SJW … Are you a troll?

I shall go to the corner and wear a dunce hat. ☹ Thank you for pointing it out. Prepare to Cry: Father Gascoigne (correct link)

As I never played that and never will, could you describe it in short words inside a spoiler tag, please? A lot of the story from From Software (Dark Souls I, III, and Bloodborne) is left to the imagination and interpretation of the player. Most of the past events are hinted at in item description, conversations, and far off places you can explore. Note that Bloodborne is mature content and contains horrible things, follow the link at your own perils! Prepare to Cry: Father Gascoigne is a good example of how Bloodborne tells its backstory story. It is about the first boss fight (Father Gascoigne), his daughter, and how tragic it all is… To get the full story as you play, one needs to explore, read descriptions, and keep an eye on what and how all those hints link. Link is now fixed! ⍨

I was expecting git gud casual for some reason…

Nope as I've never read the series. It is really good, if you wanted a totally unbiased opinion from a stranger on the Internet⸮… ☺

Anyone remembers the Helmsmen in A Land Fit For Heroes?…

Interesting. Though would a dragon in a womans body still count as non-kith? If that's who I think you're referring to. No, I was thinking a new dragon, in dragon form. However, the Arda Dragon would be an interesting addition indeed: "shame" if you killed her in PoE.

A dragon?…

As I understood you wrote, you don't need representation or that representation is insulting or bad. My point is not everyone thinks that way. Representation can be very powerful, especially if your identity doesn't get represented a lot or usually not in a good light. My argument you shouldn't need mediums to cater precisely to you and your sensibilities for you to enjoy it. That they shouldn't just be mirrors all the time. That just because you pay for something, doesn't not mean that you should expect that thing to be made for you. I draw the corollary that in Star Wars, and medium that we all have a expectations and preconceived notions of, we still want to be confronted with unknowns out of our control. My argument ultimately is that you shouldn't form entitlements. (At least, and especially, to luxury goods.) As far as representation, I believe it's very important to have it but also that it shouldn't be necessary or fundamental in the enjoyment of something. Additive to one's enjoyment, but not fundamental. But my main point in bringing up representation was that entitlements can pit the under-represented against themselves. As much as straight people are represented, gays are a far better represented minority than many many others. So well represented that it's pushed to the forefront of the mediums instead of just being a side note to the character. My ultimate argument here is that entitlements even fail to be justified when the goal is of better representation, because entitlements lead to self-serving objections, demands, and expectations. By all the Unholy Great Old Ones! Two people talking like civilised adults on the Internet! ☺ … Representation in any media can help people with no, or limited (and possibly flawed) knowledge of, a minority better understood it. Thus fighting prejudice. In addition, it can give a good positive role model to someone struggling with feelings/thoughts/whatnot that they cannot reason away. The whole "you are not alone" thing. And while this discussion is about sexuality, this is true of many things: PTSD comes top mind. However, diversity should not be a sprinkled condiment added to please such minorty. That is just condescending at best. As an example of it done right, have a look at Ringil Eskiath and Archeth from the Steel Remains, The Cold Commands, and The Dark Defiles by Richard Morgan.

My main issue with romances in computer games -- not that anyone cares for my opinion -- is that it cheapens relationships to "do X, Y, and Z to get laid". That is not how relationships works in real life, unless there is a money exchange⸮ I would like to see the reverse for one: an NPC trying to romance the PC… Do you respond? If so, how?… What consequences of your acceptance/rejection occur? This would maybe make the whole thing more interesting.

Here you go. (BRB. Gotta clean up desktop littered with "Untitled Project" and "Untitled Image" files. I guess I'll just throw it all in an Untitled Folder and call it a day. ) … I … am not sure if this is awesome or horrid?… Thank you. ☺

Lemme guess, we need a ⸮ in there somewhere … ☺

So, how do you define "music"?

Backing a game early means you take more risks and thus the rewards are greater. By the time the game is funded, getting it is more of a safe bet so prices raise. You could always wait till another sale to pick it up if money was tight. I suspect that the game extra special edition will retail at a lot more than the current $54… But it is $11 more: What does that really buy you these days, one Starbuck latte⸮ ☺ After all, it is $11 more that Obsidian can spend on making the game better or help feed the families of the developers…

OOPS! Missed that one. Thank you.

I was wondering if there was anything that would be imported via the save game that would not be configurable via the "generate your own save game" tool.

Now, that is a good point indeed. Although, do those make the game (after the expansion is played) easier since the balancing was done before the expansion? Unless, of course, there is scaling (yuck!). ☺

…

I would rather a late release than a rushed game… So, Xmas 2018 is fine with me. ☺