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A built in encyclopedia-type system?

An "encyclopedia"-type system is something I've seen in a fair amount of RPGs use to deliver lore, and I can't think of an example where it didn't really help flesh out the world and give players interested in learning more some perspective.

As an example, Dragon Age has the "Codex" where you could gain knowledge on topics.  The Witcher has the Journal/Bestiary that also tosses relevant information into it.  Even Black Desert Online actually has the Knowledge system, that works in this way as well.

In all cases, it allows players to go back and easily reference information their character would have learned.  Sometimes it's very useful, such as it hinting what combat approaches to take from an in-world perspective against a certain type of enemy—while other times it's simply "fluff" and you learn about something like the history of an area after having a conversation with an NPC about it.

I think, given Ashes's focus on adding so many elements around roleplay and storytelling, something like this could really go a very long way to helping people understand what they're encountering and become immersed in the setting.  Maybe Kaelar have stories of hippogriffs being majestic and peaceful beings but they find that wild Verran ones are incredibly dangerous, aggressive, and hard to tame.  Or maybe doing a quest on the Sladeborn gives players a few knowledge entries throughout about their former majestic home in the sky and how far they've fallen as a people.

There's just a lot of potential, in my opinion!

Comments

  • I did enjoy some of BDO Knowledge system and it novel to me.  BDO also had some libraries.

    EQ2 does it thru books, and collecting body parts to earn a Lore book, that gives info in some sort of story form.  You can also purchase books that give you quests to learn more on a subject.

    In Ashes, we have had glimpses of libraries, so there is hope that there will be some sort of book knowledge to procure.

    However, I did enjoy in the BDO knowledge system is where you could go back and re-read anything you had learned and potentially see if you had any missing info to find or just review, without having to search for a physical book.
  • Well as long as the information is learned through constant killing of mobs or reading books I think it would be nice, but they could also be compiled into books if players have a personal 'library' in their node :3
  • I think you should have to travel to a person to get this sort of information.

    And the NPC should be named Belewyn.   


  • The more lore we have the better. Liches need lore to keep young ^^
  • nagash said:
    The more lore we have the better. Liches need lore to keep young ^^
    How does a Lich even display his youth, the color of his bones ? 
  • nagash said:
    The more lore we have the better. Liches need lore to keep young ^^
    How does a Lich even display his youth, the color of his bones ? 
    You cant just ask a lich that
  • ArchivedUserArchivedUser Guest
    edited August 2018
    Neverwinter Nights had tons of lore and tomes to read in-game about the world and everything concerning it. Books would even drop randomly with bits about an aspect of the server when you hunt / kill mobs. It really adds to the rp atmosphere. The only downside is, in order for this to be accomplished on AoC, the devs have to take time off of whatever it is they are working on and manually write the lore and integrated it in-game for players. I'm certain Chronicles of Elyria has something like this, because it's a heavily focused rpg. But for AoC, where the rp is up to the community without staff direct influence, I'm not sure the devs will take the time to accommodate, maybe only to an extent.
  • nagash said:
    nagash said:
    The more lore we have the better. Liches need lore to keep young ^^
    How does a Lich even display his youth, the color of his bones ? 
    You cant just ask a lich that
    What are you a middle aged woman ? 
  • I'm pretty sure Ashes will be full of lore that Steven himself is writing.  He wants to save it for when the game launches so we will have surprises and discoveries.
  • ArchivedUserArchivedUser Guest
    edited August 2018
    I'm sure there will be lore on the game and it's aspect, but I believe he's talking about lore "in-game." (If I'm not mistaken). This is a little trickier, as they would have to incorporate all the lore on the website into an "actual" or actual encyclopedias that players find 'in-game.' As this adds to the rp elements, so if you kill a mob, a book might drop about lore of say the Vaelune's history on Vera. So if they have lore on Vaelune, then they have to have lore for practically every single other race or it will be unbalanced. As this was done for Neverwinter Nights, it was possible because the game is like, 20 years old. For a brand new game like AoC, the devs are swamped up to their foreheads on other things I believe. Don't get me wrong, of course there is going to be lore, but having it detailed on every little aspect of the realm and presenting it in-game for players is a whole other ballpark.
  • Darksaber said:
    I'm sure there will be lore on the game and it's aspect, but I believe he's talking about lore "in-game." (If I'm not mistaken). This is a little trickier, as they would have to incorporate all the lore on the website into an "actual" or actual encyclopedias that players find 'in-game.' As this adds to the rp elements, so if you kill a mob, a book might drop about lore of say the Vaelune's history on Vera. So if they have lore on Vaelune, then they have to have lore for practically every single other race or it will be unbalanced. As this was done for Neverwinter Nights, it was possible because the game is like, 20 years old. For a brand new game like AoC, the devs are swamped up to their foreheads on other things I believe. Don't get me wrong, of course there is going to be lore, but having it detailed on every little aspect of the realm and presenting it in-game for players is a whole other ballpark.
    Yeah for sure, I wouldn't imagine that they'd include lore on everything even if they did include it.  Like in BDO they had it for metals... different types of wood.. different stages of metal (Iron Ore vs. Iron Bars for instance)—and I can't imagine any game aside from that one going to that level.

    It wouldn't even necessarily have to be every element to be impactful—but I do completely understand what you mean.  If they can't do it due to time constraints and stuff like that, it's entirely understandable.  I have, however, seen it in enough new games that it doesn't seem to be an impossible task either, so much as needing to be managed so that it doesn't spiral into thousands and thousands of entries.  Not every creature needs a mention, nor every major NPC, or every location, etc. etc.  Some of the finer details don't really require one.  Walking up to a tree and getting three paragraphs of knowledge on that type of tree would be extremely excessive.  It can be as simple as killing a demonic bunny and getting a couple sentences about them.

    As for the "Vaelune" lore in Verra and it needing to be balanced—the Verran lore is likely more centered around four societies that we descended from:  Aela (who became the Vaelune and Kaelar), Pyrians (who became the Py'rai and Empyreans), Kai'vek (who became the Vek and Ren'kai), and Dünzenkell (who became the Dünir and the Niküa).  We all split up after we ran to Sanctus.  The main exception to this are the Tulnar, who fled underground and mixed a bunch of major and minor races together.  So in that respect they're more having to keep 4-5 cultures in mind.

    We also do know we'll be getting detailed race write-ups on each of the 9 races pre-launch though, and that'll include things like naming conventions!  So I'm pretty excited about those as well.  They've said that they've spent a lot of time on the lore and story element to the game—and that it's a huge priority for them.
  • I believe that Steven had some lore aspects already thought out before the game went into production.  I believe he has been busy with the lore of Verra ever since and probably will past launch.  Working on lore does not take away from the production of the game, it is the game and everything that makes what Ashes is.
  • T-Elf said:
    I believe that Steven had some lore aspects already thought out before the game went into production.  I believe he has been busy with the lore of Verra ever since and probably will past launch.  Working on lore does not take away from the production of the game, it is the game and everything that makes what Ashes is.
    Yes but keep in mind one has to allocate resources on the more important aspects of the game to make it thrive. That's the reason why there are only two nodes videos instead of the promised 4 or 5. Because they are allocating their resources for alpha 1 testing, which is more important. If they do decide to make encyclopedias of lore for players, it will probably be in the far future - probably 5 or 10 years down the line after the game has hit the market.

    Maevynn said:
    Darksaber said:
    I'm sure there will be lore on the game and it's aspect, but I believe he's talking about lore "in-game." (If I'm not mistaken). This is a little trickier, as they would have to incorporate all the lore on the website into an "actual" or actual encyclopedias that players find 'in-game.' As this adds to the rp elements, so if you kill a mob, a book might drop about lore of say the Vaelune's history on Vera. So if they have lore on Vaelune, then they have to have lore for practically every single other race or it will be unbalanced. As this was done for Neverwinter Nights, it was possible because the game is like, 20 years old. For a brand new game like AoC, the devs are swamped up to their foreheads on other things I believe. Don't get me wrong, of course there is going to be lore, but having it detailed on every little aspect of the realm and presenting it in-game for players is a whole other ballpark.
    Yeah for sure, I wouldn't imagine that they'd include lore on everything even if they did include it.  Like in BDO they had it for metals... different types of wood.. different stages of metal (Iron Ore vs. Iron Bars for instance)—and I can't imagine any game aside from that one going to that level.

    It wouldn't even necessarily have to be every element to be impactful—but I do completely understand what you mean.  If they can't do it due to time constraints and stuff like that, it's entirely understandable.  I have, however, seen it in enough new games that it doesn't seem to be an impossible task either, so much as needing to be managed so that it doesn't spiral into thousands and thousands of entries.  Not every creature needs a mention, nor every major NPC, or every location, etc. etc.  Some of the finer details don't really require one.  Walking up to a tree and getting three paragraphs of knowledge on that type of tree would be extremely excessive.  It can be as simple as killing a demonic bunny and getting a couple sentences about them.

    As for the "Vaelune" lore in Verra and it needing to be balanced—the Verran lore is likely more centered around four societies that we descended from:  Aela (who became the Vaelune and Kaelar), Pyrians (who became the Py'rai and Empyreans), Kai'vek (who became the Vek and Ren'kai), and Dünzenkell (who became the Dünir and the Niküa).  We all split up after we ran to Sanctus.  The main exception to this are the Tulnar, who fled underground and mixed a bunch of major and minor races together.  So in that respect they're more having to keep 4-5 cultures in mind.

    We also do know we'll be getting detailed race write-ups on each of the 9 races pre-launch though, and that'll include things like naming conventions!  So I'm pretty excited about those as well.  They've said that they've spent a lot of time on the lore and story element to the game—and that it's a huge priority for them.
    I just want to clarify that by no means am I saying I don't like your ideas, in fact, I absolutely love them because I am an RPer like you therefore I know where you're coming from. All these elements add to the interactive atmosphere of the game. But IMHO I don't think the devs will cater specifically to these bits of the game we're dishing out, because they're swamped to their foreheads with other things. But what I can recommend is taking the matters into our own hands, emulating what Stephen did with MMORPGs, and if we want to see something done, we will have to take measures in doing it ourselves.

  • ArchivedUserArchivedUser Guest
    edited August 2018
    Darksaber said:
    I'm not saying I don't like these ideas, I absolutely love them, because I am an rp'er just like you so I whole-heartedly understand where you're coming from. What I'm saying is that I'm not sure if all our RP ideas will come into fruitation because theres not going to be an RP server so the staff might not cater to our RP desires. But we will do what Steven did, if you want something done, you have to do it yourself, so we will have to be proactive in terms of what we would like to see / not see when it comes to RP or immersive content.
    For me really it isn't even just about RP—it's just something I enjoy about games I play that've had it, when it is there.  In many cases when you have a system for these sort-of things set up, they're pretty simple to add to and it's more about figuring out the triggers to make them 'activate'.

    But either way yeah, if they can't include it they can't include it and honestly I definitely wouldn't expect them to.  Just more of a "fun idea, probably won't happen" sort of thing.

    I appreciate the message, though!  Totally true.
  • Maevynn said:
    Darksaber said:
    I'm not saying I don't like these ideas, I absolutely love them, because I am an rp'er just like you so I whole-heartedly understand where you're coming from. What I'm saying is that I'm not sure if all our RP ideas will come into fruitation because theres not going to be an RP server so the staff might not cater to our RP desires. But we will do what Steven did, if you want something done, you have to do it yourself, so we will have to be proactive in terms of what we would like to see / not see when it comes to RP or immersive content.
    For me really it isn't even just about RP—it's just something I enjoy about games I play that've had it, when it is there.  In many cases when you have a system for these sort-of things set up, they're pretty simple to add to and it's more about figuring out the triggers to make them 'activate'.

    But either way yeah, if they can't include it they can't include it and honestly I definitely wouldn't expect them to.  Just more of a "fun idea, probably won't happen" sort of thing.

    I appreciate the message, though!  Totally true.
    Yeah I guess you're right, forgive me but RP is like, always in the back of my mind because I spent my entire youth with dungeons and dragons. But you're right these ideas really add to the immersion of the game and would make your journey through the lands that much more meaningful, even if you are soloing.
  • ArchivedUserArchivedUser Guest
    edited August 2018
    These posts disappear when I edit them and reappear like, two days later.

  • I personally want to see something like this for the events up to the cataclysm that forced people to leave. The only reason being is that when I play, I don't usually pay attention to the lore as it's presented, I get to distracted by the task at hand, completing a quest or fighting a boss, but afterwards I'll take the time to ingest it.
  • ArchivedUserArchivedUser Guest
    edited August 2018
    Hopefully they don't drop the ball like Destiny (2) did. I would love a lore / encyclopedia system that would require you to interact with things to learn about them. Regions, fauna and flora, races, professions, npcs, cultures, etc. I'd like a section for world events that could be unlocked as they happen. This would be like a server journal and every server's would be different. 

    In tOR I'd go around and collect all the info I could. I loved collecting info and datacrons.
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