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Showing results for tags 'Ego stroking'.
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Doing a pacifist run feel generally good. You outwit everyone, prove the validity of your philosophy, get the upper hand on known and powerful actors. Besides, you have to be tricky and resourceful to succeed. Therefore, any success is very satisfying. But what if there were more consequences? See, it's been several hours since you started the game. You did all the quests in the first village. You could unlock a quest or two as a result if you were a pacifist. After all, if you're good at not killing people, it means some NPCs could come to trust more easily, playing a part on your reputation. People would be less wary to see you arrive in town if you're not known for wiping out everything. Bandits could get c0cky, believing they're not risking anything. New dialogue choices could appear to convince someone who doubt your integrity. Companions could wonder why the hell they trained so hard. If I dared to go further, I could even talk about the stronghold and how a reputation as a good and peaceful sire could convince your new citizens you're a stand-up guy and give you room for some mistakes befoe they riot. But frankly, it would be too complicated. Why am I thinking about this? Well, like I said, while pacifist runs are satisfying by themselves, they can be hard, very hard. Rewarding the player with these little things could stroke his ego nicely. It's easy to implement them and would convince more players to give it a try, therefore giving Obsidian more reasons to devote time to pacifist playstyles. -
Whenever you travel with people, you generally bond, especially if you're on an adventure. You get to save their life, they get to save your life; you eat, drink and sleep together, sometimes over a camp fire; you meet new people, fight new threats and generally have to use teamwork to be able to get out of tricky situations; you share the loot and the gold and come out as a better, more experienced (wo)man. Then, why do I always a better relation with the Fighter I left at the tavern ? While we tend to agree on a lot of points, just because I stroked his ego once or twice shouldn't mean he's my best buddy. I think travels should naturally improve relationships. Since Project Eternity doesn't use the D&D morality system, it also mean we can tackle more morally grey issues. Sure, as someone who tend to good-oriented (if greedy) in my RPGs, I should hate the guts of the token psycho of my party, but he proved himself incredibly valuable. As a player, I feel like I owe him something, so should do my characters. On the other side, left out characters could threaten to leave. After all, unlike they're getting paid to guard the stronghold or something, they're just wasting their time. A flexible system could mean you've to change the party regularly and make the most of what you have without having to juggle everybody, even if I'm the kind of man who think limitations build strengh. If you really dislike some dudes and by no mean, want to have them in your regulars whatsoever, you could also convince to take them a job as mercenaries, watchers or crafters so they can bring some gold and bacon back home for the sake of the goal we share. Hey, it could even be interesting side-quests where NPCs would be the central point. You could see what their life is without the hero. Finally, always taking the same dudes with you could make them tired or strained over time.
