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Idea for PoE 2: Electric Boogaloo


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Your character is a perfectly ordinary person with no special powers and no relevance to the plot. However, your possible companions are all special in some way, and it's up to you to resolve their internal and external issues before going back to your village/shop/mansion/old life.

 

Example companions...

 

Companion 1: A godlike with reality warping powers that she isn't aware of.

Companion 2: A cipher who's part of a benevolent conspiracy.

Companion 3: A time traveling rogue whose boss is secretly her future self.

Companion 4: An animat wizard who looks completely human.

 

Cookies for those who got the reference.

 

Okay, so the companions ate a joke. But the main idea still stands. It'd be a massive RPG subversion for your toon to be completely ordinary,

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A one-off animancy experiment whose like a cipher, except instead of a focus pool he has a mana pool that slowly regenerates over time and some unique powers. That would be an awesome companions for PoE 2.

Edited by Katarack21
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A godlike with reality warping power could be anybody. Completely lost here.

Companion 2 reminds me of The Incrementalists, which probably isn't what you're referring to.

Companion 3... I got that reference, yay!

Companion 4 sounds like R. Daneel Olivaw but he would probably be a Cipher instead of a wizard, so... again, probably not what you're referring to.

 

(So what are the references? I'm curious now.)

 

As for a normal protagonist - yes, please! There are too many CRPGs where your main character is somehow special. The worst ones are those where you're special because you're the reincarnation of someone special. That basically just lessens anything you do in the game, it makes me feel less special actually.

(Haven't finished PoE yet, so no spoilers please. If it turns out that this reincarnation thing is part of the protagonist's story in PoE, I'll definitely furrow my brow a bit. But so far my main character is defined by his actions and not by his soul, and that is something I like.)

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I dunno man, I prefer universes where I start off as a completely normal dude that turns out to be special in some way. You just never know where those end up! Will I be humble and return to my farming/blacksmithing roots, or become a benevolent king? Maybe I'll even win The Hunger Games? The choices are virtually endless.

Edited by evensong

"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth." -Marcus Aurelius

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A godlike with reality warping power could be anybody. Completely lost here.

Companion 2 reminds me of The Incrementalists, which probably isn't what you're referring to.

Companion 3... I got that reference, yay!

Companion 4 sounds like R. Daneel Olivaw but he would probably be a Cipher instead of a wizard, so... again, probably not what you're referring to.

 

(So what are the references? I'm curious now.)

 

As for a normal protagonist - yes, please! There are too many CRPGs where your main character is somehow special. The worst ones are those where you're special because you're the reincarnation of someone special. That basically just lessens anything you do in the game, it makes me feel less special actually.

(Haven't finished PoE yet, so no spoilers please. If it turns out that this reincarnation thing is part of the protagonist's story in PoE, I'll definitely furrow my brow a bit. But so far my main character is defined by his actions and not by his soul, and that is something I like.)

dQtv5Vg.png

From left to right:

 

Companion 4 - Yuki Nagato. Actually an alien in a human shell. Stoic. Rational.

 

Main Character - Kyon. Real name unknown, the only normal person in the main cast. Maybe. The sole viewpoint character of the novels, which are written entirely in first person perspective. Everything that happens in the books happens before him. Clever. Rational.

 

Companion 1 - Haruhi Suzumiya. A teenage girl with literal godlike powers that she is completely unaware of (her human mind is willfully blind towards the weirdness that her powers causes). Essentially a Mary Sue. Reality revolves around her subconscious whims. Aggressive. Passionate. Before meeting Kyon, Cruel.

 

Companion 2 - Itsuki Koizumi. A powerful psychic and founder of a grand conspiracy whose goal is to monitor Haruhi and keep her from destroying reality. Ambiguous age. Deceptive. Diplomatic.

 

Companion 3 - Mikuru Asahina. A time traveler sent on a mission to the past (present day Japan). Unbeknownst to her, she is taking orders from her older self, who possibly brainwashed her into loyalty to keep her from revealing "Classified Information." "Present" Mikuru is Benevolent and Honest (maybe). "Future" Mikuru is Deceptive and Rational (maybe). Ambiguous age as well.

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oh, at first it sounded kind of cool, reminded me of Wizard of Oz and Star Wars, but then I saw the anime pic

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Walsingham said:

I was struggling to understand ths until I noticed you are from Finland. And having been educated solely by mkreku in this respect I am convinced that Finland essentially IS the wh40k universe.

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Okay, correction: I totally did not get the reference for Companion 3. :p

 

I thought you were dreaming up a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen type of group with main characters from different fantasy/sci-fi books.

Edited by Fearabbit
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PoE 2: Electric Boogaloo MMO Edition

DU4h171.jpg

 

I liked the Haruhi reference, even if I hated the series.

Edited by SeekDWay

Derpdragon of the Obsidian Order

Derpdragons everywhere. I like spears.

 

No sleep for the Watcher... because he was busy playing Pillars of Eternity instead.

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well im pooping a bit of rules here, but here's my concept for 3 companions

 

Companion 1: The Adra Dragon/Falanroed, Class Paladin, Race: High Elf - a Immortal Dragon who spent her new life learning about the world with her new and young body, that once belonged to a legendary Dragon Hunter, now she is trying to find peace with her former and new self(Lawful Neutral, Chaotic Good or Lawful Evil depending of how do you solve her quest, and how you treat her)

 

Companion 2: Johann Cassitus, Class Priest, Race: Moon Godlike - A Veteran Knight of the Crucible who is traveling around the world in a mission to investigate the Engwithan machines that caused the Waidwen's Legacy and more about his race(Lawful Good)

 

Companion 3: Sydnae, Class Ranger, Race: Human - A Relic Hunter Working for the Valian Republics, her father disappeared after a job when she was young and her mother died a year later at the hands of unknown assassins, years later she discovered that her father was working for the Aedyan Empire who discovered the location of an old Engwhitan superweapon, now Sydnae is trying to discover his fate and the location of this weapon.(Neutral Good)

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Companions can be pretty much anyone as long as they're witty or otherwise interesting - it's a good place for writing staff to dump their best one-liners and short speeches. You don't need these huge backstories or huge goals. Essentially, take the cast of Archer (the cartoon), dress them like a Renaissance fair, maybe add a pinch of pathos and you're good.

 

It is the villains which deserve the extra work. (Potential) villains are the characters that the player tries and sentences in the courtroom of their heads, and thus adding depth to make the trial as interesting as possible is what a good game tends to do. A lot of the appeal of Final Fantasy 7 was forged by a slow exposition on the genesis of its villain, and Bioshock IMHO completely nails it with Andrew Ryan. It is probably no coincidence that the most popular Chrono Trigger companion was one set up to be an adversary, not an ally.

 

So in short: no need to focus on companion or hero backstories so much, focus on villains instead, and Eder is awesome.

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The next villian should make Irenicus weep with envy.

 

Spirithold, here we come!

 

Shadows of Eternity!

 

Hehe...

 

Only to culminate in Throne of Spirits!  Yup.

 

And in Watcher's Keep, you get to battle the Super-secret God-diety itself!

 

Word.

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