[The Obsidian Order of Eternity wants YOU! part 5]

I'm pretty sure my post/question in the other thread was lost since it was kind of the last one before it got closed... So I'll ask again, just to be sure. I upped my pledge at the last moment in the hopes that it would also translate for this drive, though I'm not sure since it didn't end on an '8' (I doubled my pledge to $50 for a few things.) Did making it the even $50 end up negating the OO part of things? ^^''

[Romance and friendship?]

Loranc, I don't ever expect too much out of online discussions these days, that is very true. However, Ieo and I had a back and forth last night, around page 11 I believe, that was respectful and debated points and why we felt that way or what our concerns were. It was calm, respectful to each other, and expressed our opinions while explaining things to each other. So I was lulled into a moment of 'what a nice thread' for a moment.

[Romance and friendship?]

It is rather depressing isn't it?

 

Yes, it really kind of is. Especially when I see the factually incorrect comments made to support a 'not in MY game' argument or the flat out 'imma insult you in as many "creative" ways as I can including personally demeaning you with name calling' posts. It's really very depressing and not understanding of how in-depth stories with fully fleshed out characters interact with each other in short and long books of almost every single genre.

[Romance and friendship?]

I see.... Ieo and I went to bed(or off to wherever) and any kind of mature, respectful conversation regarding a topic that is tied directly into a fully fleshed out diverse and deep world was tossed out the window with insults, 'not in MY game' comments and other-company-bashing.

 

Riiiiiiiiight.

 

NOW I see why the mods kept closing the other threads about romance while I was a lurker.

[Which tier did you choose?]

I started off going with the $25 because I recently got laid off and have absolutely no income whatsoever...

 

.....that said, I finished the kickstarter by upping my pledge(which has been collected) to $50. I'm a sucker for music and in-game pets.

 

That's a whoooooole lotta instant noodles in my future. :\ (I had hoped to get into the OO, but I didn't realize that it needed to be $58 and thought upping to $50 would help cover that. I think I was wrong and I'm a sad little creature.)

[Romance and friendship?]

That said, forgive me if I don't consider SWTOR a valid implementation of potential party NPC interactions. Even if SWTOR didn't do that sort of dialogue right, well.... SWTOR didn't do a lot of things right.

 

No, you're basically right.

 

It was an experiment to see if they could take the BW style story-choice game and merge it into an MMO. I do like that they experimented with it and it had a lot of, in my opinion, potential... it just had ah... some issues. >_>

 

This is factually incorrect. I do believe Obsidian said in their streamed live KS video that players could have sex with all the dragons.

 

Wait, what? REALLY? Coooooooooooooooool!

 

Well, either way... at this point we have both explained and discussed our opinions on this idea. It's really up to the writers as to what will happen. I'm excited to find out... and yes, hopeful that it's inclusive for everyone who donated.

[Romance and friendship?]

(2) Errrm, forgive my confusion, but isn't SWTOR an MMO? I have no idea how dialogic content containing "memory" would work in that setting. It could be your poor experience with the proposal was hampered by the underlying technology?

 

Romance NPCs in an MMO? I'm still flabbergasted... How would that work in a group...

 

Ah, er... ahem. I feel a bit like I should explain a bit about that... >_> For ah... reasons.

 

SWTOR was an attempt to merge the 'party NPC' with an MMO in that players have companion characters that join them in the process of the class storyline. Among them are romance options that can be explored if the players want to, and ONLY if they want to, as they took work to up the character's opinion of the player with gifts, talking to them, and having them present during storyline moments where decisions made by the player gained them or lost them points with that character. It let players who played more 'squishie' types solo easier as one of their companions was always a tanky-class, and a tanky character could use a healie or dps companion at will. Groups were limited to 4 characters, so two friends could run around with 2 companions out and so on.

 

It was a neat take on it, however that turned out. >_>

 

Jarmo: Very funny.

[The Obsidian Order of Eternity wants YOU! part 4]

So... I doubled my pledge in the last hour before it ended from $25 up to $50... Does this count? >_> I mean, it bumped me up to a new tier, so I'm not sure. ^^'''' But I'd really love to be part of the order if it is still in line with the requirements. (And if I was, I'd love to be Dragon Lady of the Obsidian Order... I couldn't find that one as taken.)

 

Congrats to everyone, either way!

[Romance and friendship?]

I see your point, Ieo, and I respect the worry about time constraints. Still, even in my hackish purely-for-fun self-indulgent attempts at writing, which I never go so far as to claim any ability outside of my schooling to at least be able to get an idea across reasonably well, I have never found it takes a huge amount of time after the initial character has been created and fleshed out, to jot down and explore how that character can or will interact with another, equally fleshed out character. What I mean to say more simply is that I don't think that they would need months upon months to write up possible romance and rivalries once they have established each of the characters. I really don't. Maybe I'm naive, which is very likely even if I have worked in a limited area of the field, but I think that if they have A: the plot and B: the characters both established that it wouldn't take a massive amount of time to figure out variations for the established characters to take when interacting. This is going along with your desire that said interactions NOT be core influences in the actual flow of the over-arching narrative and ending. (Though I sure as heck want it to flavour my ending if I decide to romance person A or have a bitter rivalry with person B, even if it is just a text acknowledgement type thing.)

 

I don't argue that romances, or lack thereof, should NOT be a deciding factor on endings, happy or otherwise. But IF a player does go for one, it should at least get a nod for the player that decided to take the time and who care about it. I'm far more open to a balanced approach to the whole thing, so that everyone can enjoy an aspect of the game, than a restrictive 'no, never, I don't want to see it, not in MY game' mentality that simply alienates other players/backers. ^^

[Romance and friendship?]

I described the technical process for a single game writer to linearly (e.g. 3 months) create character content and the choices required in adding romances. How would you respond to that exactly?

 

Thank you, Ieo, for responding. I enjoy a dialogue about opinions between respectful individuals. ^^

 

Now, I understand your point in the post you linked me to, regarding the idea that: "Sawyer described how a character is always written by one writer to maintain consistency, which totally makes sense. This also means that development is completely linear." Some of the best story-telling I've seen has come from that area; one writer being in charge of a particular character. However, what made the entire story so amazing was that all of these writers came together to discuss how it all fit together like a giant puzzle. Just because one writer is in charge of one character doesn't mean that no other writers are involved in a solid production of any size. This means that after an over-all storyline has been decided upon, the writers of each section can come together and brain-storm what relationship options will work and how best to weave them into the overall narrative the game is delivering. I will also point out that, unlike other titles leading up to now, these writers are not under a tyrannical over-company's imposed time-limit on when they need to get things done. That was part of the reason for this kickstarter and I fully expect them to live up to that. This means that if they need to spend half a year working on the writing while the programmers create the world, art assets and the musicians get the scores written and recorded, then so be it. This is already an incredibly ambitious project and they were responded to by players in an overwhelming fashion, as the record-breaking numbers show. It makes zero sense to me that they would skimp on this aspect of the game when they are not being constricted with a publishing company's deadlines. I don't argue your 3-month numbers... at all. What I say is: So what? They HAVE the time to put into it.

[Romance and friendship?]

Well, just to poke my nub-let little nose in here but....

 

I do hope some romance options are added. I want a fully developed in-depth world to play in. That includes making friends, enemies, rivals and... yes... lovers. I replay games like whoa and I want to try different types of characters, different choices, and different relationships each time. The more depth there is... the more respect I have for the writers. Ignoring that depth often makes me feel that the writers are either lacking in that area... or are ignoring a very large amount of the fan-base, which is a big no-no these days.

 

I expect a lot out of professional writers and for a project like this I expect a very deeply fleshed out world. That includes in-depth characters. And that includes things like emotions. And emotions cover all bases, from revenge, pride, nobility, hate and love. I don't really buy into the idea that 'if they do romances it will take away from what *I* care about, so they shouldn't do it!' because that's... well... a selfish claim that brushes aside a group of players for personal benefit that is claimed to be more important. *I* believe that the writers at Obsidian have the ability to balance it out well. And I truly hope to see them do so.

[thank you!]

I'll poke my head in for my first comment before skittering back into the shadowy corners of lurker-dom...

 

CONGRATS and THANK YOU for this! As someone who was, up until just recently, working in the gaming industry I have to admit... I was really missing the authentic feel of the RPGs of old... my D&D/Firefly gaming group only meets once a week(D&D one week, Firefly the next) and it just isn't enough! Nor have any of the companies out there REALLY delivered in a long time. Sure, they were fun... including the titles I was lucky enough to work on, but seeing this just flat out excites the HECK out of me. And watching the outpouring of donations and comments from hopeful players makes me sincerely hope that the big names out there in the developer world take note. This shattered records and there's a REASON for it.

 

I donated more than I can, being jobless and without any money coming in, but I can survive on instant noodles and the weekend gaming binges if it means supporting this amazing effort. I simply can not wait to see the amazing game you are going to be able to make for us! (Esp since this allows you to avoid the 'entanglements' that I have personally watched destroy amazing titles...)

 

GO GO OBSIDIAN! GO GO PROJECT ETERNITY!