1st February 2005, 11:26 PM
Yeah that examlpe of just a "you can only pick these responses" isn't nearly as good as the other thing I said, about a conversation changing in a much more complex way, more naturally.
Oh, regarding those false choices done in, for example, Ocarina of Time? Yes, those ARE pointless and really I felt more or less insulted when presented with those choices. Were they supposed to give the illusion of chioce or something?
Anyway, Wind Waker got rid of that completely. Every single moment where you think "oh boy, another false choice" is actually just answered automatically with a nod of Link's head.
King of Red Lions: Are you ready to save your sister?
Player: *gets ready to say "yes"*
Link: *automatically nods yes without insulting the player*
The only acception is when they ask if you want to hear some important quest information over again in case you missed it.
Ya know, a litte more choice in story development in Zelda would be interesting... Now, I'm not saying "let me be able to go evil" like EVERY RPG is doing these days, but you know, SOME ability to control the character. Link is becoming a little less of an avatar these days, just a little, and they could restore that if they let you behave as you wanted, to a degree, in the game. You'll always be the Hero of Courage, but you could give reluctant answers, or very eager ones, or just rash, frustrated, wreckless answers. Depending on the answers, various subquests, or a few main quest things, could be altered. Namely, NPC interaction. A very simple version of this would be a "just tell me what I need to know you old hag, I'm in a hurry here" response to a teacher getting you on the good side of the students but on the very bad side of the teacher, or "I'd be happy to help!" response getting you on the teacher's good side but the students all hate you now. Simple, but I think I get the point across.
Of course, Link's actual words are left out intentionally so you can imagine what he says, but it's hard to have much room to imagine that if he's expressing the feelings the game designer gave him through the whole event, on the face. Since the conversation option method would be limited due to sheer complexity and time constraints, they could simplify it to selecting... I dunno... smilies from a list depicting the response you want to give. For example, something like this for "I'm up to the task"
Or this if you just want the info 
but like, more fitting since I just picked those from our own smily list. That would allow you to imagine what was said on your own well enough.
Oh, regarding those false choices done in, for example, Ocarina of Time? Yes, those ARE pointless and really I felt more or less insulted when presented with those choices. Were they supposed to give the illusion of chioce or something?
Anyway, Wind Waker got rid of that completely. Every single moment where you think "oh boy, another false choice" is actually just answered automatically with a nod of Link's head.
King of Red Lions: Are you ready to save your sister?
Player: *gets ready to say "yes"*
Link: *automatically nods yes without insulting the player*
The only acception is when they ask if you want to hear some important quest information over again in case you missed it.
Ya know, a litte more choice in story development in Zelda would be interesting... Now, I'm not saying "let me be able to go evil" like EVERY RPG is doing these days, but you know, SOME ability to control the character. Link is becoming a little less of an avatar these days, just a little, and they could restore that if they let you behave as you wanted, to a degree, in the game. You'll always be the Hero of Courage, but you could give reluctant answers, or very eager ones, or just rash, frustrated, wreckless answers. Depending on the answers, various subquests, or a few main quest things, could be altered. Namely, NPC interaction. A very simple version of this would be a "just tell me what I need to know you old hag, I'm in a hurry here" response to a teacher getting you on the good side of the students but on the very bad side of the teacher, or "I'd be happy to help!" response getting you on the teacher's good side but the students all hate you now. Simple, but I think I get the point across.
Of course, Link's actual words are left out intentionally so you can imagine what he says, but it's hard to have much room to imagine that if he's expressing the feelings the game designer gave him through the whole event, on the face. Since the conversation option method would be limited due to sheer complexity and time constraints, they could simplify it to selecting... I dunno... smilies from a list depicting the response you want to give. For example, something like this for "I'm up to the task"
Or this if you just want the info but like, more fitting since I just picked those from our own smily list. That would allow you to imagine what was said on your own well enough.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)