Story and Games

[A Black Falcon]

There are lots of console RPG's where your choices in conversations have repurcussions later on (or immediately) in the game...

In response to ABF stating that most console RPG's don't. Couldn't be bothered reading the rest of this tripe.

I mentioned one (Tales of Symphonia)... but generally, console RPGs have a strong narrative structure which usually leads to less choice. Now, lots of PC RPGs are just as linear... can't deny that. But going along with other elements where PC RPGs have more choice (like usually being able to create a character instead of taking some specific one -- which reduces narrative potential, but increases user choice), more PC RPGs have real choice (and multiple endings) than console ones.

The point is, the stronger and more focused your story is, the fewer your nonlinear options will be. It is true that recently some console RPGs have been implementing some nonlinear aspects, but when you compare them to nonlinear aspects in PC RPGs, the difference is quite noticable.

It's okay, I get what he was saying, that it wasn't something TOTALLY new. I was just offereing a different way of doing it.

The point is that when you are given dialogue choices in a modern 3D game, you'd expect facial expressions too... the only real difference in your suggestion is that you're talking about facial expressions not in dialogue. In some ways it's a simpler way of doing things, and more subtle... I don't know if it's better, really. As I said, I'd rather just choose from things to say (or do) and expect appropriate facial expressions while saying them... (And OB1, facial expressions are a way to show an opinion or give a response to something. That's exactly the same thing that text does, except without text. See things like Zelda games, where Link responds to conversations with expressions. It's just another way of doing the same thing.)

Oh yes, and you are right ABF, that is subtle and people that aren't paying attention and are just blasting their way through the game won't notice it. What I'm hoping to do is expand on the story for those that care about the story, usually the ones who will pay attention. If you just want to get to the next room to blow things up, then just do that. If you want to look around everywhere, you can do that too. Just a warning, I plan on having puzzle hints hidden in ways similar to that . I dunno, it was really just something I came up with on the spot. Game design takes a lot of da time.

As I said, I like that approach... not holding the user's hand too much. It can make games frusterating, of course, but that's what FAQs are for... :) And it's more fun when your hand isn't being held all the time. Puzzles too? That's a more important thing to find, of course... some people wouldn't like that. :) Oh well, forget them... I think they're wrong anyway. Choice in story, and having to make choices which lets you play the game as you wish (at the risk of learning less of the story), is something I like.