Comic relief in MMO's

Frostshot

After watching a lot of the posted videos there was one thing I hope we see in Ashes that some other MMO's were not very successful with, and that is Comic relief. The Dev team seem to have great sense of humor amongst themselves and I hope that some of this comes across in the game world.

WoW for example is great at poking fun at things and adding silly quests here and there to break up the boring grinds and leveling. Where as I just can't play ESO for long because everything is so Blah end of the world vibes everywhere.

Does anyone else feel this way?

George_Black

What are you talking about?
Everything is comic relief since 2005.
Eso? Every character says smthg smartass.
Ffxiv posh mini races or cuteness overload and chick mounts.
Bdo, every town npc is a comic relief to the point it feels like they are making fun of people with disabilities

I for one am sick and tired of comic relief.
Memes, relatability, puns, overreactions. Tired of it.

Give me an example of a game that has no comic relief.
I especially stopped carrying for eso because of all the comic relief characters, happy go lucky adventurers taking nothing seriously for more than a minute. Side quests full of ridiculous characters while the world is invaded by deadra, or burned by dragons run by cabals while all the races are at a 3way war.

I wish for once that an mmo was more like lotr and less like the hobit.
More like the dark knight, less like the avengers.

Frostshot

Well if you thought ESO was funny, I think that proved my point. Never played final fantasy, just didn't get into it.

BigPapa

I think good writing and character is important in general, not only limited to comic relief. I believe some amount of comic relief is inevitable in a game as large as AoC. Not every single quest is going to be serious business.

Merek

Comedic relief can naturally occur, but honestly, most MMO's force it so hard I feel like I'm watching one of the new Star Wars movies. I want a world that's taken seriously, not laughed at.

Lycancoffee

Not to go all Kojima, but he really does raise the bar on storytelling.

“Thus far, the biggest problem with games have been their expressive limitations - they are too simplistic. Laughter means comedy, horror means fear, and romance means love and passion. It's the same as movies that rely on genre tropes.

But there is more to capturing emotions than that. I want my gaming experience to convey real, raw emotion. Take, for example, the feeling when you combine happiness with melancholy, or being calm with an underlying sense of anxiety.

These are complex, realistic feelings and emotions.”

-quote paraphrased from Cyberpunk 2077-

Vhaeyne

Has anyone ever really laughed at a single piece of NPC dialog in a MMO?

I can't think of a single knee slapper from any MMO.

A lot of quest names are puns in many games, that is about as good as it gets...
That and some of the warrior sword names in Tera, "Arithmetic and Arithmetok".

Still, it doesn't seem like something I would ask the DEVs to go out of their way and try to do. If they are naturally funny it will show. If they force humor... that will show too.

I would prefer we just let this sort of thing develop on its own, and not ask the DEVs to do anything one way or the other.

Ravudha

Frostshot wrote: »

After watching a lot of the posted videos there was one thing I hope we see in Ashes that some other MMO's were not very successful with, and that is Comic relief. The Dev team seem to have great sense of humor amongst themselves and I hope that some of this comes across in the game world.

WoW for example is great at poking fun at things and adding silly quests here and there to break up the boring grinds and leveling. Where as I just can't play ESO for long because everything is so Blah end of the world vibes everywhere.

Does anyone else feel this way?

A while ago, the devs mentioned they won't put in blatant pop culture references, but the game might have nods and winks - i.e. subtle references.

I guess they could also just have a bunch of NPCs expressing humour in the game, which would be nice as long as it fits in the world - having joy and humour expressed can really help the world feel alive.

Noaani

Vhaeyne wrote: »

Has anyone ever really laughed at a single piece of NPC dialog in a MMO?

I can't think of a single knee slapper from any MMO.

I haven't laughed at any, but I have been amused at times by some developer writing/naming.

You're right though, it isn't something that should be pushed for - either by us or by Intrepid. If the developer/writer is funny, it will show.

The flip side of that though is that it shouldn't be looked down upon either, even if it occasionally misses the mark. Better that they try, fail and learn than not try.

Percimes

I used to be a comic relief like you, then I took an arrow in the knee.
Repetition kills the joke, but then it becomes a meme and the repetition makes it funny again.

I know I laughed a few time in MMOs, but the only specific example I recall was in Warhammer Age of Reckoning. In one quest you brought back a book to a dwarf only for him to be very annoyed finding out it was a book of grudges. They would have to be addressed now instead of being forgotten.

Asgerr

If we really want an NPC that is comedy relief, we need something like a Hildibrand series of quests from FFXIV. That thing has a some interesting characters and fleshes out some parts of the world and lore, but also is just really funny.

Frostshot

I do agree that it shouldn't feel forced. In WoW there were lots of little side quests and hidden missions that were comical. The saving AIMEE quest or whatever where you rescue the robot gorilla. The Nesingwary hunting quests had some funny moments, despite being horribly tedious. Gobbler gun where you get attacked by like a 100 little turkeys. I just hope there is some funnies around in AoC to break up the seriousness. And honestly I believe there will be.

Songcaller

I like this kind of humour:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjI7ay1tNpU

We saw it in the purple boss fight where Steven and other Devs were thrown around and into the sea etc.

Katak

I think they've got it covered: