Tropes that could be avoided

[Tamerlane]

No romances please. I've never, ever, seen them done well in a video game. They usually come across as shallow, gimmicky, cheesy, or all three.

 

Yeah, better safe than sorry I think. I actually think some (especially older) JRPGs have done romance decently, however. Like JRPGs in general they were highly scripted, but effective ones were developed slowly and generally told by the small things with an element of real, albeit sometimes somewhat childish, humanity. Lots of room was left for the imagination of the player. I don't think I've ever felt emotionally invested in a WRPG romance and often it's just the opposite--I'm frequently annoyed and distracted by them.

Eh. While it's often done wrong, I'm plenty willing to trust Obsidian to handle the "romance" angle.

 

It's a pretty major part of human existence and something that naturally happens when you have a set group of people undergoing adversity together; I wouldn't want to see it gone simply because "a lot of developers" do it poorly. A lot of developers do basic plot and character development poorly; that doesn't mean Obsidian should abandon those, too. This isn't me going "Every RPG must have a romance subplot also I'm a dinosaur roar," just... well, "small groups of people from all different backgrounds going through incredible hardship together for extended periods of time" is something I've got a lot of first-hand experience with. And here in the real world, that leads to whole lot of tent sharing on those long, cold nights.

 

No comment on whether or not I am indeed a dinosaur, roar.

[poejjafers]

- Armour is for protection, Coc*tail dresses for showing (avoiding censorship)

 

-Dragons are ment to be hard and ****ing scary

 

- Romances are subtle (Visas Marr), Lust is not

Edited September 15, 2012 by Gorth
Language

[Shitizen Gayne]

I really dont have anything against any of these tropes. Every trope mentioned in the first post and then the weapons and armour ones mentioned by Nonek really seem fine to me. It's not the tropes themselves that are bad it's the way so many game designers use them that sucks. Read a comic called All Star Superman. Grant Morrison took every clich

[Moonlight Butterfly]

Just...a better straight female romance than Anomen and something more subtle and grown up than get points with people = get sex. I completely trust obsidian with this though.

[Nakia]

One I don't see mention and that really annoys me is wolves. Why does every fantasy RPG have zillions of wolves. Many of them running around alone and attacking armoured adults for no reason. Wolves run in packs normally. Wolves do not go out of their way to attack people. Sheep yes and maybe a stray child but a party of adults? Please Obsidian some more interesting monsters than wolves. I am sick of them.

[Moonlight Butterfly]

Zombies and Vampires, I'm so desensitised to them I think I could like meet one and just shrug my shoulder and casually eat another potato chip.

[Ieo]

Don't anything because you have to. You owe nothing to nobody. You are making a work of art that is yours. Do it your way.

 

Actually, no. This is a Kickstarter project, crowdsourced, so they are actually more beholden to fans than after-the-fact consumers because we're initial investors, and the bottom line is a bit different concept in this business model.

 

That said, it would be a bad idea to always listen to us all the time. The ideal scenario is thus the creators wanting to create the very thing players want to play. With wiggle room on the details.

 

And so, since the old school Infinity Engine games were used as marketing hooks, we can and should expect those lines and then some.

[Oerwinde]

No romances please. I've never, ever, seen them done well in a video game. They usually come across as shallow, gimmicky, cheesy, or all three.

 

Yeah, better safe than sorry I think. I actually think some (especially older) JRPGs have done romance decently, however. Like JRPGs in general they were highly scripted, but effective ones were developed slowly and generally told by the small things with an element of real, albeit sometimes somewhat childish, humanity. Lots of room was left for the imagination of the player. I don't think I've ever felt emotionally invested in a WRPG romance and often it's just the opposite--I'm frequently annoyed and distracted by them.

Eh. While it's often done wrong, I'm plenty willing to trust Obsidian to handle the "romance" angle.

 

It's a pretty major part of human existence and something that naturally happens when you have a set group of people undergoing adversity together; I wouldn't want to see it gone simply because "a lot of developers" do it poorly.

 

There doesn't even need to be a whole lot of romance options as long as the one or two that are done are done well. If people don't like the options, they don't have to go that path.

 

If there are elves, I'd like to see some that aren't typical fantasy tropes. Have one who thinks Dwarves are awesome, or one that loves technology, or one that owns a logging operation or something.

[Nakia]

Zombies and Vampires, I'm so desensitised to them I think I could like meet one and just shrug my shoulder and casually eat another potato chip.

 

I agree we need new monsters. I hope the Devs have good imaginations. Also a little dialogue other than, Ugh, Now you die might add to the game.If we have to have vampires at least give them some intelligence and the stats that vampires are supposed to have.

 

Sorry folks, I recently finished playing Skyrim and am just plain bored at the idea of fighting mindless beasts.

[Bos_hybrid]

Bloody rats, giant rats and rats in sewers. The pc is adventurer, not a pest exterminator. (Well I'm assuming)

[Takamori]

Well I'm not obsessive regarding tropes, women right's won't alter if someone do a bikini chain mail or add a thief girl with cat ears.

But I'm against like, the men in that setting have realistic plate armor and then for no reason bikini chain mail , feels like out of place.

Now for romance, chill guys after playing F:NV there won't be any romances just the "almost" there.I like that way, your character is too busy being the bastion of heroism to fall in love.

Or the women have their own plans already instead of following your crazy quest to save the world (or destroy dunno how you roll).

[Starwars]

I agree with pretty much all of the things in the OP, but especially about the romances... Please, please, for the love of god, skip them.

[Majek]

Obsidian/Black isle romances were passable and skipable so i don't care if they're in or not.

 

But yeah bikini armor should not be in, unless it's some ancient falling to pieces barely usable piece of chainmail that will disintegrate if getting hit a few times. :D

[Bos_hybrid]

Now for romance, chill guys after playing F:NV there won't be any romances just the "almost" there.I like that way, your character is too busy being the bastion of heroism to fall in love.

 

What? There were no almost romances in NV.

[Monte Carlo]

Chainmail bikinis: good

Romances: bad

 

Comedy anime-inspired mega-weapons also suck.

[Sensuki]

Making the game too easy (screw difficulty sliders too, I want something that requires me to learn the game mechanics to win, not just be able to win first go)

[Nakia]

Making the game too easy (screw difficulty sliders too, I want something that requires me to learn the game mechanics to win, not just be able to win first go)

 

Which reminds me I do not want to be able to do everything first go. I want choices and consequences. I want to think about what I am doing. I want to be challenged.

[Monte Carlo]

Making the game too easy (screw difficulty sliders too, I want something that requires me to learn the game mechanics to win, not just be able to win first go)

 

Which reminds me I do not want to be able to do everything first go. I want choices and consequences. I want to think about what I am doing. I want to be challenged.

 

And I just want to fight in tunnels, but different strokes for different folks.

[mkreku]

What's wrong with having sexy women in the game? I like having sexy women in my games.

[WorstUsernameEver]

What's wrong with having sexy women in the game? I like having sexy women in my games.

 

You're framing the issue disingenuously. The problem isn't sexy women, but treating female characters as eye-candy for the male audience. That's also why guys usually have big, stylized armor: they're also meant to titillate male fantasies, except they're fantasies of power rather than of sex.

 

There is, of course, a lot more nuance when it concerns art direction, the tone of the setting, whether it's meant to be serious or a parody of established conventions, etc. but that's the very very rough, simplified description of the problem.

[mkreku]

It's actually because I don't think it's an issue. Games are entertainment, a number of people are entertained by having these representations in their games, it doesn't have to be more complicated than that. But of course, if you're hell-bent on cooking up a **** storm by bringing inequality issues into the discussion about a game, go right ahead, I'll stick to my disingenious comment because, frankly, I live in Sweden and we have this very discussion about everything every day and I'm a bit tired of it.

 

I wish there was some arena where designers and artists could do whatever they wanted without people bringing in real life problems whenever they get the chance. So yeah..

 

I like having sexy women in my games.

[Monte Carlo]

I'm with the Swede on this one.

[Humanoid]

Depending on the prevailing game society's social norms, I don't see a problem with having a broad selection of 'townie' clothing, much like the real world, some of which may be designed to ...enhance, more than others. Armour though, I favour the practical and low key designs.

 

Guess what I'm saying is that it's a valid and meaningful motivation for some game characters to want to increase their appeal to the player characters or any other NPC. It's a character to character interaction as opposed to a character-to-player one.

[Starwars]

I don't think it's much about sexiness as pointless objectification (though I guess some would call that entertainment).

 

Sexy people are great, there are sexy women out there. I like sexy women. But there is a way to do sexy without it having be "hey guyz, I dress in bikinis even though I'm supposed to a heavy warrior who fight in deadly combat situations".

 

Some people are sexy, some people are not sexy. But have it make sense within the game-setting. Then you get like... both sexiness and some form of semi-realism (yes, I know it's a game but some realism is good if you're going for a RPG that aims to draw the player in through the setting and characters). Best of both worlds!

 

I think New Vegas handled its characters very well, so I'm not too worried either way.

[Nakia]

Women play these games too. More and more women are playing them. Treating female characters as sex objects and eye candy is demeaning. Wearing bikini armour is just plain unrealistic. I play male characters sometimes and other times I play female. If you guys just have to have your sex candy keep it to the inns or shop keeper or just a simple peasant woman. If a character is a warrior or a mage or sorcerer he or she should dress like one. I like muscles on the men but I wouldn't expect a warrior to walk around in an outfit that wouldn't protect them from a pen knife.