Tendo City

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It looks fantastic! I'm looking forward to it, that's for sure...

Yep!

It's looking incredibly good!

I will only get interested if the story is compelling. I've played far too many of the most bland and uninventive D&D stories on the PC, so only a very few really catch my attention. I really couldn't care less about goblins threatening a nearby town unless in reality the goblins are a distraction from some great evil trying to convince everyone in the world to commit suicide because they believe all the world is nothing but suffering.

But, I do realize that you enjoy a LOT of fantasy novels that I'd absolutely hate for being far too derivative.

... So you didn't like the Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, or Neverwinter Nights games? Seriously? Or Fallout: New Vegas (by the same designer as this game, Josh Sawyer)?

New Vegas was great, but yeah, I actually couldn't stand the story of Neverwinter Nights. I enjoyed that game because of the fan created content, but I absolutely HATED the main stories. Ugh. (Neverwinter Nights 2? I've heard the Mask of the Betrayer expansion is amazing, a great storywriter apparently came along and "fixed" the utterly cliche and boring initial campaign by turning it completely on its head. I really need to get back into that game, but wow that initial campaign just seems to drag ooon.)

I tried getting into Baldur's Gate, and maybe I should give it another chance, but I got bored all too quickly. There's just nothing at all compelling about the story (I believe I had to defend a town from kobolds?). Maybe it gets more interesting, but there weren't any "hooks" earlier in the game hinting at that.

Basically, my problem with a lot of those games is they all feel like 80's adventure stories (like from movies such as Willow or Conan the Barbarian) with some name changes here and there. Don't get me wrong, I can take a cliche and accept it but only if the characters actually grab me. My own characters, the ones I created myself, bored the hell out of me. Maybe that says more about me than the game.

For all the flack Fallout 3 got, I actually really liked the basic story of helping my dad, Dr. Quest. I hadn't seen the super scientists ultra dad in a game before.

I say all this but if the story itself is well written with a compelling history and (most important of all) compelling characters (ALL stories will die without characters I actually care about with actual personalities, and seriously, it doesn't take that much to drag me in, I actually consider Toon Link a compelling character for Chrissakes, but it does require some EFFORT). I can safely say the artwork for those regions is incredible. I love that background art. However, what worries me is how incredibly, unforgivably cliche that elf looks. I don't care how many tatoos are on her face or how many suns and moons are etched into that armor. There's nothing about that elf that makes me the slightest bit interested, and if you asked me to identify that silhouette, I'd be at a loss. Technically, it is well drawn, but it isn't compelling. It is generic, in the way that the murals carny folk draw on travelling fair rides are generic. I could look at double stonehenge up there all day, but remove that elf from my sight.

I hate to harp on that elf even more, but I want to make a point. That elf looks like the "all-elf", the template, the "average" of that elf's entire culture. The most boring elf that elf's homeland has to offer. It looks like every action that elf does, every word it says, is calculated to represent the "every elf", in a way that's almost... well racist. It looks like my conversation options as an elf would be limited because "an elf would never do that". I don't care what "AN" elf would do though, I care what MY elf would do. Think of it this way. "American society" can be defined. One can say we have a gun culture, for example. You could state a "US opinion" on just about every issue and accurately reflect the US average on that opinion. Heck that's an important task we need I would go on to say. However, having done so, I would challenge you to find any ONE individual that actually represents that "societal average". If you could, it would certainly be a rare person indeed. Just as you can have an "average" of a set of numbers which isn't found in that set, it is possible to have an "average" overview of a society that doesn't actually represent any ONE person in that society. There are going to be people that believe in American exceptionalism, but only in very certain respects. Some people may think we need gun rights and for separation of church and state. Others may believe we need gun rights, believe that religion should "guide" government decisions, and in fact believe in gun rights BECAUSE of their religious views. Many people love sports, but a significantly sized minority can't stand, say, football.

Give me the elf that actually LIVES A LIFE full of personal views. That's the elf I want to play as. The elf that may have grew up being groomed for military life but personally agreed with a different party of elves that thought it would be better to isolate their kingdom from outsides. Maybe this elf really likes to cook, and is travelling the world to find rare ingredients. Give the elf a PERSONAL story and PERSONAL motivation is what I'm saying, and then DRAW an elf that looks like an individual. Clearly society would have a powerful hand in SHAPING that elf, but it wouldn't determine that elf's personality in a cookie cutter way. And now, yes, I may have made a lot of assumptions (in fact, I know that I did). They may very well allow for this sort of actual PERSON instead of generic "this is the elf, elves like the woods so this elf likes the woods, and that is this elf's personality". No, having an elf counter someone's assumptions about elves with "we aren't like that" doesn't count. All I'm saying is I've seen far too many RPGs that work like that. I don't want "the mutant", I want the mutant who's a prisoner, specifically running a small cell block but actually has a kinder heart than it looks at first glance. That's Xenogears, but it is also my point. I hate starting in a town full of all the same boring bland "townspeople", every last one having the EXACT SAME OPINION of the world, the current events, and me as a character personally. I want ONE townsperson to distrust me, and ANOTHER to ALSO distrust me, but for different reasons fueled by their unique history in that town, and yet another to fail entirely to care about my existence either way, because he's too busy trying to make ends meet, his farm has been failing you see.

Now on the other hand, take a look at Project Torment. Each and every character design just SPILLS... character! They are all very compelling and I want to know more about each of them.

Sorry, I went a little harsh for the sake of comedy, but I can only say this. If the characters are interesting with their own unique story arcs that do things I haven't seen a billion times in fantasy stories, I'll play Project Eternity. Short of that, I'll stick with stuff like Torment.

This prototype boxart looks very nice! It's quite reminiscent of the Baldur's Gate games, but is slightly different, which is good.