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Lore representation.
Hello, it's been a long time since I've posted on these forums. I haven't been following all the ins and outs, though, previous to posting this, I did a forum search.
I am not too good at putting my thoughts into words. Sentences form too quickly in my head, and I lose track of what I was saying. I will try and convey it as best I can, though.
Now, as I am sure many of you know. Most wonderful stories and long standing series start out with a protagonist that is essentially clueless. As a few examples, Star Wars has Luke, Naruto has Naruto. Dragonball has Goku, Lord of the Rings as Frodo. I could go on, but you can see my point. This serves a very simple concept, much like the main character, the audience is learning, details about the world are trickling in at a natural pace, and throughout the journey, the protagonist and the audience itself become more and more in-tune with the world.
How does this translate to gaming? Well, in a game, you are essentially both the protagonist and the audience. So how are Intrepid planning on bringing us the lore? Sure, there will be quests, and a general story. But most of the time, these things don't bring to light the history of the world.
This game, in the end is an RPG, an MMO-RPG. Steven himself is a gamer, and a dungeon master based on the highest kickstarter package (campaign) and the charity event a few days ago. So I have faith that the story and lore will be important, especially since he wants to make a franchise of it.
Though, considering this is in fact the first entry of the franchise in the making. Much like the movies and series mentioned above, pacing is going to be important. Luke started out as a simple farmer. Now, I am not saying we should all start out as a farmer or go the Bethesda prisoner route. But there is something to be said (even when picking your main class at character creation) for starting out without knowledge. This is a great way to get character growth, and a good place to start a game's tutorial. I'll use a mage as example. I go through character creation, and I pick the mage Archetype. In many games you start out with a basic spell, or a few. Which can work, especially in already established universes, like Star Wars and the Force. In a new universe, players, most of them anyway will go in and know less than their characters. There are several ways this can be rectified. Many games give you a load of text, which basically details your character's background. Some games have a different method. Ragnarok Online, which isn't a terribly good RPG arguably, they did have one thing going. You started out a Novice, had to level up a bit, to learn about combat and then you'd pick your class. You had to do a little quest. Now that's where the good part ended, as you just had to fetch items seemingly at random. No explanation given. Where this can be improved, is as you then pick your class you learn about it. I am not talking Harry Potter school levels of depth. But basics. Where does our magic come from? What types of magic are there? Possible strength and weaknesses. This is a natural way to let both the player and the character learn about where their strength comes from.
None magical classes, think of the typical warrior archetype. They can start out in a barracks, learning the basics of their tab-target and action target attacks. Types of moves best used in certain situations. And thus, the character grows through the tutorial. Then before they get to Vera after their training is complete so to say. The ones that send them there give them a briefing on Vera and what legends and myths survived throughout the aeons of them having left.
This is of course just one person's dream, tell me what you guys think? Or, tell me how I am a moron, should look better because Intrepid already said how, and I need to learn how to use the search button better.
I am not too good at putting my thoughts into words. Sentences form too quickly in my head, and I lose track of what I was saying. I will try and convey it as best I can, though.
Now, as I am sure many of you know. Most wonderful stories and long standing series start out with a protagonist that is essentially clueless. As a few examples, Star Wars has Luke, Naruto has Naruto. Dragonball has Goku, Lord of the Rings as Frodo. I could go on, but you can see my point. This serves a very simple concept, much like the main character, the audience is learning, details about the world are trickling in at a natural pace, and throughout the journey, the protagonist and the audience itself become more and more in-tune with the world.
How does this translate to gaming? Well, in a game, you are essentially both the protagonist and the audience. So how are Intrepid planning on bringing us the lore? Sure, there will be quests, and a general story. But most of the time, these things don't bring to light the history of the world.
This game, in the end is an RPG, an MMO-RPG. Steven himself is a gamer, and a dungeon master based on the highest kickstarter package (campaign) and the charity event a few days ago. So I have faith that the story and lore will be important, especially since he wants to make a franchise of it.
Though, considering this is in fact the first entry of the franchise in the making. Much like the movies and series mentioned above, pacing is going to be important. Luke started out as a simple farmer. Now, I am not saying we should all start out as a farmer or go the Bethesda prisoner route. But there is something to be said (even when picking your main class at character creation) for starting out without knowledge. This is a great way to get character growth, and a good place to start a game's tutorial. I'll use a mage as example. I go through character creation, and I pick the mage Archetype. In many games you start out with a basic spell, or a few. Which can work, especially in already established universes, like Star Wars and the Force. In a new universe, players, most of them anyway will go in and know less than their characters. There are several ways this can be rectified. Many games give you a load of text, which basically details your character's background. Some games have a different method. Ragnarok Online, which isn't a terribly good RPG arguably, they did have one thing going. You started out a Novice, had to level up a bit, to learn about combat and then you'd pick your class. You had to do a little quest. Now that's where the good part ended, as you just had to fetch items seemingly at random. No explanation given. Where this can be improved, is as you then pick your class you learn about it. I am not talking Harry Potter school levels of depth. But basics. Where does our magic come from? What types of magic are there? Possible strength and weaknesses. This is a natural way to let both the player and the character learn about where their strength comes from.
None magical classes, think of the typical warrior archetype. They can start out in a barracks, learning the basics of their tab-target and action target attacks. Types of moves best used in certain situations. And thus, the character grows through the tutorial. Then before they get to Vera after their training is complete so to say. The ones that send them there give them a briefing on Vera and what legends and myths survived throughout the aeons of them having left.
This is of course just one person's dream, tell me what you guys think? Or, tell me how I am a moron, should look better because Intrepid already said how, and I need to learn how to use the search button better.
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Comments
As much as I love lore I know a lot of people just want to enjoy a game and not learning about where magic comes from or other type of things.
I could have misunderstood your post entirely though .w.
It wasn't just about lore, though. The "suggestion" I suppose I gave took into account both lore and early character progression. And why I think it's important in what is essentially a new IP.