Different Starting Locations for Different Races

[Mamoulian War]

So after reading Update #3 and the emphasis on the different type of sub-races, ethnics and nationalities, I would like to ask what would you think about this option at character creation?

 

Would the added cost to the development be beneficial to the final product, or it is not worth the additional resources?

Edited September 18, 2012 by Mamoulian War

[Oerwinde]

I always support this. Makes replaying less tedious in the beginning. doesn't need to be a huge number, at most 3.

 

Tie the locations to background traits, so you can have a lot more options for backgrounds, but they all result in your character being in one of the few starting locations.

[Mamoulian War]

Even two starting locations add to more options and little bit more replay value. I like your idea of background traits based on the starting location.

[norfar]

i cant see this happen because of this:

 

The player witnesses an extraordinary and horrific supernatural event that thrusts them into a unique and difficult circumstance. ...

 

which means that we are thrown in medias res into the story.

 

except if they make some prologue (similar to Dragon Age) which then leads to this event regardless what we do.

Edited September 18, 2012 by norfar

[Oerwinde]

Well, simply based on that, any sort of "origin" type sequence could end with the PC travelling somewhere, and witnessing the event during the journey.

[Nakia]

i cant see this happen because of this:

 

The player witnesses an extraordinary and horrific supernatural event that thrusts them into a unique and difficult circumstance. ...

 

which means that we are thrown in medias res into the story.

 

except if they make some prologue (similar to Dragon Age) which then leads to this event regardless what we do.

 

I agree. I don't care where the player starts as long as he or she is not a prisoner of some sort.

[Lostbrain]

Different prologues for the different race... I like the idea, and it not necessary has to be long (just little more longer than we can see in Temple of Elementary Evil will be nice.)

[MNOne]

You needn't even have to have each prologue bring you to the same place, either. If the event is sufficiently far-reaching maybe it wouldn't matter where you were.

 

Either A) it's a highly noticeable event which shakes the world (but this would be much harder to make feel 'personal' for your character, be pretty generic and would be akin to the tired trope of 'you're special and destined to fix this big thing').

 

Or B) the repercussions of this event are felt in a few places, and the three or four prologue stories happen to be located near some of these places (part of the main quest might then involve tracking down some of the other locations, to learn more about The Event, and during a replay you may chuckle to yourself and say 'oh I remember, this incident I'm currently investigating was the inciting experience in my previous playthrough').

[mkreku]

This depends entirely how they build the world, I think. With an open world, it would be kind of 'easy' to make different races start in different parts of the game. If they have little villages (for example), one in the snowy mountains in the north, one on the open steppes in the middle and one in the swampy jungle in the south, then it's kind of easy to move quest NPC's around to these different geographical places (for the introductory quests, which should be quite similar for all races).

 

It's a good idea in any case.

[IrishLuigi]

except if they make some prologue (similar to Dragon Age) which then leads to this event regardless what we do.

I definitely like that! That would be a good way to make the character, whatever race he/she/it is, more familiar with his/her/its own background in their own unique villages before being introduced to the main event (possibly by being sent to the 'big city' to get something their village wants and having the event happen just then).

[Odarbi]

I'm totally in favor of different starting areas, so long as it makes sense within the story

[fan]

I'd rather not have the scarce resources of the project split in this way. For replay value I'd rather have several ways for the story to unfold.

[Mamoulian War]

I think, this would cut into budget even more than different starting locations...

[descalabro]

If the story is going to focus on one very special character I think it's best to invest on making that story and choices as rich as possible. Sacred had the characters start on different locations and it didn't matter enough. Of course on this case it would work better, but not enough I think.

[Lucas]

I really like how it was handled in DA: O, would like to see something similar (if it makes sense for the story, of course), but I'm not sure it's feasible for this kind of project (and inherent budget); I hope I'm wrong

[Tagaziel]

I agree. I don't care where the player starts as long as he or she is not a prisoner of some sort.

 

Thank M'Atra someone mentioned it. TES has been hammering the exact same plot device for years.

 

As for different starting locations, I think it could be solved simply by having all the characters see the event in the same place, but later wake up/travel to/be apprehended/pull a Ciri to a location determined by their race.

[Gibbscape_Torment]

Different origins would be great. Always enjoyed that aspect of DAO.

[Entropious]

Actually, I wouldn't be so much in support of different starting locations. Quite the contrary, I find the idea of starting in THE SAME city, but as different persona, to carry much more posibilities.

 

Imagine two characters played by two players: a thief from some discriminated against minority, and a paladin born within the rulling elite. One could only imagine how varied, within the scope of a single location, could their respective beginnings be: the attitude of citizens, accessability to locations, friends and enemies, tools of the trade, wealth etc.

 

Most importantly, however, I do not want each ethnic group to have an equally hard/easy time. Go ahead, be racist and let one group have a clear advantage at thre cost of the sweat and blood of those beneath. Be discriminatory against women (or men, imagine that). Racism, xenophobia, feudalism...all those elements enrich a give setting.

[Luckmann]

I would love something like the Dragon Age: Origins origins. It doesn't even have to be as elaborate - even if we just end up in different sections in a city, with slightly different starting circumstances, it would be a huge step upward from the whole "everyone is on equal footing" egalitarian mumbo-jumbo trope.

 

I agree. I don't care where the player starts as long as he or she is not a prisoner of some sort.

 

Thank M'Atra someone mentioned it. TES has been hammering the exact same plot device for years.

 

[...]

It's hardly a trope unique to TES, either. Let no-one ever forget the god-awful trudge through Irenicus' dungeon. Every. Single. Time.

[Shadow501]

I'd be in favor of a more personal background, whether it's a unique starting area or just a different perspective in the same city. I'd be happy with either since both bring in variety.

[Zephyr Falcon]

Yes, avoiding the overlong-non-skipable intro part before the free exploration part is very important to make the replay less frustrating. New Vegas did it best I think. The intro was very quickly over, gave you the main points and pointed you to an optional "training" for first time players. Even DA:O didn't solve the problem, but rather pushed the tedious part (Osligath, searching the woods, defending the tower) behind the Origin story.

I'd rather have a super short intro segment, followed by free exploration as early as possible and more reactions regarding to my background.

[dreamking]

I find different beginnings to be a very nice inducement to replays, because they pay off the decision to replay right away. They can be race-based, or they can be class-based--like if players always start in the same city, but different parts of it--or they can even be some sort of personal "background" story independent of race and class.

[Kilroy_Was_Here]

For some reason I'm recalling the beginning of Seiken Densetsu 3 (the Japan-only sequel to Secret of Mana that never got localized because Square hates you). You picked one character as your main and 2 more as your party, out of a pool of 6. The primary character got the full unique intro that ended up with them needing to go to the Holy City. When you met up with the other 2 you got a slideshow with the highlights of their intro (which would have been full and playable if you had picked them as the main instead) as they explained their own reasons for needing to reach the Holy City. Even the characters you didn't pick show up as NPCs when appropriate.

 

Wouldn't it be interesting if some of the companion characters had a more personal connection to some of the starting locations than others? Using Dragon Age: Origins as an example, what if the city elf's cousin, dwarven noble's friend etc were companions for all PCs but would have a special relationship with a PC from that origin?

 

Might be a lot of work for too little gain though.

[Pidesco]

This is something I'd love seeing in Eternity.

[Darkpriest]

Some backstory prologue similar to what was done in DA:O would be awesome. Unless the story specifically requires you to be from one place (like BG, Fallout, Planescape) I would love to see different backgrounds. It would also help you to sink in into the worlds lore... I imagine there are different relations among the elves, dwarfs, etc.

 

A prologue would be awesome (just making it obviously clear *hint hint*)