Hello everybody, I'm from Germany and I'm looking forward to the game! (Sorry for possible mistakes in grammar or expression.)
I would like to emphasize one point, which is very important to me, concerning the relation between the level of story integration and freedom of action in the game. What i really like, and at some point for me is determining for fascinating rpgs (like PE for me seems to become), is when you as a player get at the same time two things:
- a wide range of side quests and side events in addition to the main story (feeling of freedom of action)
- but also the feeling, that these happenings (actually all actions) are somehow connected to the main story, or at least advantageous for getting ahead in the game (for instance required experience)
The combination of these two things, is what i really like in games like BG II: for instance when you entered the open world of Amn, you had your first major goal: To find Imoen. The next step was to collect a certain amount of money to get some information from an obscure person. All the variing sidequests (were you can gain the required money) now that came to the player, maintained their connection to the main goal, also they had their own little stories. They kept their sense/meaning in relation to the main story, albeit not in a linear way.
This is what I miss in games like Elder Scrolls: The game advertises with it's large level of freedom of action, but at the same time the completion of all the (side) quests feels like totally meaningless in terms of a superior story. The story never gained momentum. There were no greater background story, no greater relations of all your actions and so there was nothing like a worsening of the story.
The negative counter-example would be strictly linear stories like you have in games like Neverwinter Nights II or maybe The Witcher II. Almost every event represents a strict (between) stage of the main story. Maybe that sounds like high expactations I have, but I think it is not too difficult to implement, as we can see in the example from BG II above.
What are you saying? Best wishes Sanjuro
Thanks for this more precise definition of the concept I tried to argue with. I like all the posts being made. Apart from that I've found a good analogy: Ask yourself if you can write a good and compelling book with all the narratives given in the game. I think games like BG II could set a good fantasy book, games like Skyrim rather not: or do you want to find yourself reading a bunch of unrelated shortstories? (the fight for supremecy in Ferelden, granted, was quite exciting, even it had nothing to do with the dragonborn story - this might be comparable to the Watching Stronghold story (or how it was called in english) in BGII - refreshing addons)
