Tropes that could be avoided

[lord of flies]

Tropes are not bad.

TVTropes is a the stupidest website ever, and has basically the worst possible perspective on everything to do with fiction-writing due to its bizarre obsession with devolving all media into a series of cogs. Peace.

[Margaretha]

See, I can't understand this. If its OPTIONAL, you can just ignore it, but some of us DO like it. DOA was actually pretty good with bonding relationships (not just romances) and actually felt something for the characters. As for not feeling "love", there is a whole visual novel culture in japan who wants a word with all of you, also tali in mass effect 2 is one of the most memorable characters. Again, include it, but do it well and not slapped on or forced.

Writing a romance from a designer/writer perspective is difficult and time consuming. I'd rather see this talent used on dialogues of another kind.

 

Plus, I know me. If it is in the game, I'll want to play it, as cheesy as it feels to me. It's fine if you like it, I'll just complain if it is in the game. Not a big deal.

[Audiocide]

Whether people prefer to ignore it or not, the way most people are raised makes them weak. Also genetics.

 

There are hordes of princesses who can do nothing but demand attention when they're in trouble, in hopes of getting saved.

 

There are hordes of beta mommy's boys who will back down at the slightest suggestion of trouble, and complain about it much later.

 

This is the way the world works. I have immense respect for strong specimens of either gender, but they are very, very rare. Anyone who thinks otherwise is living in dreamland.

Edited September 16, 2012 by Audiocide

[The Sharmat]

Pretty sure anyone in an adventuring party is going to be an exceptional, very rare individual.

Edited September 16, 2012 by The Sharmat

[Audiocide]

Pretty sure anyone in an adventuring party is going to be an exceptional, very rare individual.

 

Of course. I was talking about the world in general.

 

Although party members with different faults and weaknesses also makes them feel much more human. But Obsidian's characters were always very solid, so I have nothing to complain about there.

Edited September 16, 2012 by Audiocide

[Troller]

Pretty sure anyone in an adventuring party is going to be an exceptional, very rare individual.

Or maybe you want to play as regular guy, his only "powers" are his companions that help him because he is so weak.This is an RPG, there should be freedom to play any role I want, apart from irrealistic ones that go without saying: a genocidal, racist, rapist nazi that kills children and eat their corpses for fun.

[KenThomas]

I am also opposed to a morality systems for similar reason, it limits my choices if I'm thinking, "I need renegade points so i have to be rude even though I would rather not". I don't want to end up grinding morality like xp.

 

That really bothered me in Mass Effect 2. The logical choice would sometimes be a renegade action for the better long term good, yet chosing that and getting the renegade points for it meant you couldn't paragon convince npc's later.

[KenThomas]

A few thoughts so far:

 

I have never understood the appeal of Dragons. Are they a throwback to peoples childhoods and being amazed by Dinosaurs? They seem similar. I found the demon in a box in Torment to be much more interesting. You let the demon out of the box, he looks like a huge fat disgusting human symbolizing all kinds of vice. He starts off moving slowly because he's lazy. You throw Litany of Curses at him and get him pissed off and suddenly he's charging after your party members as the fastest enemy you've fought yet. Pure awesome.

 

I would like to see more spins on humanity. I think the most compelling villains are those which are some kind of twisted version of ourselves. Like another poster said, killing wolves is boring. They're obviously filler. If there's one thing I'd like to see avoided, its mindless grinding. I've been finding lately that when I walk away from games is when I realize that I've learned all the mechanics the game has to offer and I'm just being given meaningless tasks and enemies for the sake of having me put more time into playing. I walked away from Kingdoms of Amalur for that reason. It didn't matter what future characters were going to say, i was going to walk up to a pack of hobgoblins or whatever, click that mouse a few times and hit a few keys and destory them with my rediculously overpowered combos and 10 hours later I'd go to the next zone and repeat.

 

With regards to sexy women, I am all for sexy women, just make them.. err. I don't want to use "realistic" because that's so overused its lost all meaning. I'm going to go with earthy or non-photoshopped to get the idea across. One of the appealing things about Megan in Mad Men is that she's incredibly sexy DESPITE her teeth because not only is she pretty in her other aspects, but her attitude is fantastic! The women should look like women instead of caricatures of women. No rediculously long legs and big busts with skinny arms and hooves that make their bums stick out like they're wearing high heels. Personality is also key.

 

I disliked Annah as a romance option in Torment because she was so ingenuine, always saying one thing yet meaning another. That's not to say I disliked the character, it was fantastic writing. I thought disliking her was a strength of the story in much the same way as Fall From Grace was also unappealing because she was too annoyingly striving for purity to the exclusion of all else. It'd be like living with someone who's always bitching at you to embrace Jesus. I did enjoy Morrigan from DA:O who a lot of people hated. She was darkly pragmatic and intelligent. She had reasons for being how she was and she was logical even though she was inflammatory beyond reason. I very much disliked the god girl, lillyanne or whatever her name was in that game. She wanted the player character yet acted so annoyingly aloof without having any justification for her attitude. I think characters with such strong personalities are good writing. In FO:NV I was interested in a whole lot of no one, not because they were written poorly, but because they were written well. The most interesting and appealing NPC as a romance option in that game would've been if Boone was female.

Edited September 16, 2012 by KenThomas