Please add an option to remove the Out of Character memorials

[Sherr]

Yeah, its horrible. I'm 100% sure Obsidian regretting putting this into price goal. Too late i guess, damage already done. But option to turn it off would be life-saver.

Edited March 25, 2015 by Sherr

[Gromnir]

people will complain.  

 

ferris bueller broke the fourth wall?  

 

*gasp*

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Azmodiuz]

You can see them in some of the feeds. Everyone ends up reading them until they realise they are OOC and from the backers. Wastes some time in dungeons. wtvr

[Roby Atadero]

 

You could...not click the tombstones... do you really need a mod for that?  Is your self-control so weak that any clickable object MUST be clicked? 

 

If this is the thing people are complaining about, Obsidian did a good job.

 

Except.. you don't know about it until you press them. And the NPC:s are a bit hard to avoid, they're standing out in the open.

 

 

To be fair, the NPC interactions should feel more integrated into the game as you are "seeing" into the back story of the character and they were more heavily vetted. Judging by the tone and reaction of recent Kotaku article that brings these NPC stories up, I don't think Kotaku even realized those were actual backer character submitted stories.

 

 

You could...not click the tombstones... do you really need a mod for that?  Is your self-control so weak that any clickable object MUST be clicked? 

 

If this is the thing people are complaining about, Obsidian did a good job.

So backer memorials are the only "tombstone" content?  If so, I can indeed refrain from clicking, but if they're also used for lore/quest info, that's not an attractive choice.

 

 

There is nothing else to find on tombstones besides backer memorial text and backer memorial text only shows up on tombstones. Those will be very obvious that they were basically unedited backer strings.

[Diogenes]

Have a madman NPC standing next to the first set of gravestones you find. "Have you seen these messages? People say they make no sense! I'll figure it out... I'LL SHOW THEM ALL!"

Edited March 25, 2015 by Diogenes

[Gairnulf]

I came thinking this is about dev commentary and I would tell you that there is an option to stop it.

 

Then I saw that someone was actually whining about clicking on ingame buttons and I'm too shocked to respond.

[nikolokolus]

This is like a direct callback to the gravestones in Nashkel in BG 1. You people asked for a spiritual successor and now you've gotten your wish.

 

Honestly, while it doesn't bother me, I'm sure there will be some way to mod this out. Especially if text strings are stored in XML files or other easy to get at formats.

[Luckmann]

This is like a direct callback to the gravestones in Nashkel in BG 1. You people asked for a spiritual successor and now you've gotten your wish.

 

Honestly, while it doesn't bother me, I'm sure there will be some way to mod this out. Especially if text strings are stored in XML files or other easy to get at formats.

 

What? Which gravestone in Nashkel breaks the fourth wall and references forum users and backers directly? Name one.

[Prideaux]

 

To clarify a bit, it's an isometric game set in an industrial-era world with magic where you need to click on people's portraits to use them and press the space bar to pause combat.

 

A tombstone that reads "Here lies l33t h4xx0r, he hacked too much time" is where you draw the line?

 

Yes exactly.  You win strawman argument of the year award, and worst analogy ever award as well.  I've said what I need to say.  My feedback is for Obsidian, not you.  I'll wait til somebody mods this garbage out of the game.

 

Won't be responding in this thread after this.

 

 

I find as soon as anyone uses the word 'strawman' out of the blue, normally negates the very point they are trying to make. Its such an overused and little understand term. I read his remark and though it was over the top it but sum up his point rather comically. 

[Prideaux]

I certainly hope they went through some sort of censorship or moderation. i dont mind that people got to do this, and in fact those very people helped this game come a long way but I certainly hope there is anything too roleplay breaking. defeats the very purpose of this game... though that said some of my favourite moments in BG are the META ones in which the characters acknowledge they are just part of a computer game.

[Prideaux]

 

But some stuff in PoE, practically everything centred around backers, isn't just silly, it's flamboyantly breaking the 4th wall. And seriously, **** that ****, it ruins the integrity of the setting, breaks the suspension of disbelief, and comes across as incredibly jarring.

 

Let the backers have their toys and let the ones that don't mind or doesn't care keep it, but the game and the experience should come first, which is why all of that should be optional.

 

 

but the original Baldur's Gate did that themselves. "Oh, yes omnipresent authority figure?" and "stop touching me" as just too examples of many. Even after all these years those lines still make me laugh. If just depends how they are handled in game.

[Ohioastro]

The tombstones in games like these are always filled with pop culture references, and clicking on them is utterly optional.  This is just about the least intrusive in-game thing that they could do, and I'm not bothered by it.

[Elerond]

 

This is like a direct callback to the gravestones in Nashkel in BG 1. You people asked for a spiritual successor and now you've gotten your wish.

 

Honestly, while it doesn't bother me, I'm sure there will be some way to mod this out. Especially if text strings are stored in XML files or other easy to get at formats.

 

What? Which gravestone in Nashkel breaks the fourth wall and references forum users and backers directly? Name one.

 

 

"Beneath this stone, a lump of clay

Lies Mark D the young

Who on the twenty-third of May

Began to hold his tongue"

 

Forgotten Realms don't know month of May

 

"Here lies Kelly, an Atheist

All dressed up

And no place to go "

 

Forgotten Realms don't have atheists or understand concept of them as gods walk there among people (at least sometimes), closest thing are those who don't worship any of the gods.

 

"stranger, Tread this ground with gravity, Dentist Mark B is filling his last cavity."

 

Gravity, Dentist and cavity are things that would be unknown concepts for at least common people of Forgotten Realms.

 

And I would say that other Tomb stone texts are also such that they would not exist actually exist in setting, but they don't as blatantly break forth wall.

[Luckmann]

The only one of those that are odd is really the month of May, and that's only if you know that there's no May, which is a fair point for those that are really into the Forgotten Realms.

Atheists exists in Forgotten Realms, and even if most people don't understand gravity, there's no reason they wouldn't know about it, it's Faerun, not the mud-covered dark ages of Europe. Dentists and cavities has existed in our own world since forever, although under different names, and it's varied between rock-to-face and what we have now.

[benbe123]

 

 

But some stuff in PoE, practically everything centred around backers, isn't just silly, it's flamboyantly breaking the 4th wall. And seriously, **** that ****, it ruins the integrity of the setting, breaks the suspension of disbelief, and comes across as incredibly jarring.

 

Let the backers have their toys and let the ones that don't mind or doesn't care keep it, but the game and the experience should come first, which is why all of that should be optional.

 

 

but the original Baldur's Gate did that themselves. "Oh, yes omnipresent authority figure?" and "stop touching me" as just too examples of many. Even after all these years those lines still make me laugh. If just depends how they are handled in game.

 

Those lines are two of my favourites of any games. 4th wall breaking stuff can be good.

[PrimeJunta]

Mark D and Kelly are no less immershun-breaking than Hiro Protagonist though IMO.

[Veevoir]

If Bester is to be believed - in IE mod they will all read as below. There always a reason to install IE mod and toggle some stuff up

It will also have an option to replace backer names with generic setting-related names.

""Centuries have not been kind to this memorial stone. As you attempt to read the names, you realize they've all been but erased by the harsh elements. Strangely, walking away you feel a slight relief in your heart."

Edited March 25, 2015 by Veevoir

[drithius]

Just another reason to  wait on my playthrough.

[KingsGambit]

I understand the sentiment, but hope that Obsidian and the generous backers between them put these memorials and content in in such a way as to blend in with the world. Without all of the backers, particularly the most generous of us, this game wouldn't exist. If the cost to us is these things in game then it's one I pay gladly and would again. I trust the team at Obsidian to have made an epic, consistent RPG world without any compromise to storytelling or world-building despite the obvious real-world influences.

[Zwiebelchen]

This discussion is among the most absurd I have ever read on these forums.

 

Seriously, just don't click the ****ing tombstones.

 

 

And besides, gravestone jokes have been the bread and butter of RPGs for over two decades now. Heck, I can't even name one RPG or adventure that doesn't have at least one gravestone joke. It's a classic!

[WDeranged]

I find them a bit jarring but I can avoid clicking, it's a shame the original idea couldn't have been used.

 

"Your unique message will be encoded into Glanfathan runes, and can be decoded using a unique in-game ring." 

[Hiro Protagonist II]

Then you would have people decoding the runes and complaining they just wasted time finding out 'leet haxor has left the house'.

[Bryy]

This discussion is among the most absurd I have ever read on these forums.

 

Seriously, just don't click the ****ing tombstones.

 

 

And besides, gravestone jokes have been the bread and butter of RPGs for over two decades now. Heck, I can't even name one RPG or adventure that doesn't have at least one gravestone joke. It's a classic!

Seriously.

 

Whimsy in video games is seriously a lost artform.

[Cantousent]

Okay, this will probably cause a couple people to chuckle.  My dad died during the kickstarter.  I thought about donating money somewhere for him, but I'm a gamer.  I've been a gamer my whole life.  So, I decided that, instead of spending the money to get my sorry name, about which no one cared, into the game, I would ask if they'd let me use it as a memorial to my dad.  So, if you're in the graveyard and see one that says, "Athos Mazzanti, noble father to a grateful son," that's mine.  I know folks get all kinds of goofy about these things sometimes, and I agree sometimes the gravestones are sometimes beyond ridiculous, surpassing sublime, and rest completely in Twilight Zone territory.  So what?  I've actually read some crazy assed tombstones in real life.  Anyhow, I will say that I appreciate the fact that Obsidian was willing to let me use my pledge to honor my dad, a person considerably more worthy of honoring than myself.

[WDeranged]

Then you would have people decoding the runes and complaining they just wasted time finding out 'leet haxor has left the house'.

Fair point.

 

 

Okay, this will probably cause a couple people to chuckle.  My dad died during the kickstarter.  I thought about donating money somewhere for him, but I'm a gamer.  I've been a gamer my whole life.  So, I decided that, instead of spending the money to get my sorry name, about which no one cared, into the game, I would ask if they'd let me use it as a memorial to my dad.  So, if you're in the graveyard and see one that says, "Athos Mazzanti, noble father to a grateful son," that's mine.  I know folks get all kinds of goofy about these things sometimes, and I agree sometimes the gravestones are sometimes beyond ridiculous, surpassing sublime, and rest completely in Twilight Zone territory.  So what?  I've actually read some crazy assed tombstones in real life.  Anyhow, I will say that I appreciate the fact that Obsidian was willing to let me use my pledge to honor my dad, a person considerably more worthy of honoring than myself.

 

My dad died just after the Kickstarter finished, I remember excitedly telling him about crowd funding and as sick as he was I remember him being interested in the concept, he always loved new ideas.  I'll keep my eye out for your father's memorial and have my character drink a toast in his honour