Josh:"The Watcher don't have particular reason to fight Eothas."

Right, whatever.

All your examples are of movies. Can you name any video games where the hero's participation doesn't matter?

 

 Of course - you can too. Sports games (the home team won, but Joe Blow still needs to go to work and pay his mortgage - nothing has changed). quake 3, racing games, rhythm games etc. and, of course, some games don't have a hero.

 

So, let's restrict it to RPGs.  It's a good question. Are there RPGs where the main character could have just stayed home, like Indiana Jones?

 

 I arrived late to the RPG party (as an 'old', I don't have as much experience as many others here who have been playing games since birth) .

 

 So, I will leave it here and see if we get an answer from someone with a wider RPG experience. 

 

 Regarding the subject of this thread, I wouldn't put Deadfire in that category. The main character does change the power structure of the Deadfire and also convinces Eothas to do something that will have an effect on how people react to the breaking of the wheel. Either of those two things is more influence on the world than most people will have in a lifetime (in the Deadfire or in R/L).

 

So if you think the player has no agency, an opinion which is outright contradicted by the facts, it might be worthwhile to examine exactly what is making you think that.

This is a function of people confusing gratification with agency. The former is apparently what the medium exists to provide and must be heaped upon the player at every possible opportunity, regardless of all other considerations. It’s not enough that we get to kill every god in the next game, I need to a video game to make me feel powerful and important *right now*

 

 

Your every post in this thread is pretty much revolving around how anyone who did not find the main plot as satisfying as you is either stupid or uncultured. This is a quite entitled opinion.

 

 

So if you think the player has no agency, an opinion which is outright contradicted by the facts, it might be worthwhile to examine exactly what is making you think that.

This is a function of people confusing gratification with agency. The former is apparently what the medium exists to provide and must be heaped upon the player at every possible opportunity, regardless of all other considerations. It’s not enough that we get to kill every god in the next game, I need to a video game to make me feel powerful and important *right now*

 

 

Your every post in this thread is pretty much revolving around how anyone who did not find the main plot as satisfying as you is either stupid or uncultured. This is a quite entitled opinion.

 

 

To say that the main plot is incomprehensible is factually wrong.

To say that the player didn't have agency or that there were no choices with consequences in the game is factually wrong. 

To say that those choices and consequences should have included stopping Eothas just because you think that's what the main plot should have been is an "entitled opinion".

I'm not sure you know what factually means.

 

 

ukaizo. not gonna belabor the point as others has already spoken to the issue, but ukaizo is wasted content.  unlike the guardian, there is anticipation and wonder surrounding ukaizo. is the city on the edge of forever... is eora's el dorado and atlantis, is shangri-la and avalon. nevertheless, our chance to interact with ukaizo is tragic limited.  

 

 

Yeah, if we can fault the story and the way it built its climax up, it's this^!

That is clearly anti-climactic. I really, really wanted a huge island of yore, ripe with ancients secrets, wonders and various spirits and weird puzzles, interactions, and lore. Ukaizo was very much a dud.

I'm not sure you know what factually means.

I’d offer to use it in a sentence for you but...

I was a little disappointed in Deadfires mainstory. Was expecting it to struggle with agency and pacing like most (all?) openworld games do. Was not really expecting to fight Eothas either. So I dunno what it is exactly. Maybe it didnt stroke my massive ego enough! Or like some mentioned, it's Ukaizo. Or the lack thereof. Either way it's a fantastic game nevertheless and looking forward to pillars 3.