Mask of the Betrayer '15

[hiver]

How is it pointless to explain anything to me?
Can you explain that idiotic statement you retarded shit?

I already did, twice. But just for your benefit let me try again. Ready?

ready for you literally proving you are a stupid shit three times already?

no surprise there you stupid laughable moron.

Well I usually play the neutral characters. And Spirit Eater shit on my plays. My true neutral Sorcerer ended up as a Lawful Good character just so I could continue playing the fucking game.

You cant play a neutral anything you cretinous stupid turd - in a story where the main plot is about a character who is cursed to become a soul eater.

 

[Seari]

Every game does the Hero's Journey; I can't think of any other that did the Villain's Journey as compellingly.

It's very cool to roleplay a fallen character in MotB, especially since most of your friends died at the end of OC.

 

[Nael]

Well I usually play the neutral characters. And Spirit Eater shit on my plays. My true neutral Sorcerer ended up as a Lawful Good character just so I could continue playing the fucking game.

You cant play a neutral anything you cretinous stupid turd - in a story where the main plot is about a character who is cursed to become a soul eater.

Dude, that's LARPing. Gotta play game to win. Get gud. Hurr derrrr...



Seriously though the Spirit Eater mechanic, for me, was a really accurate and compelling representation of addiction. As probably anyone with an addiction will tell you, whether you are clean or not, that addiction will always gnaw at you one way or another. It might make you a better artist, it might help you stay awake longer to finish a project, it might help you socialize more effectively but in the end it will likely destroy you unless you will yourself to tame it. Feeding a truly ravenous addiction (I'm not talking about chocolate or coffee here) WILL change who you are whether you like it or not. Deep down you might be the sweetest, nicest person but as an addict you will do absolutely horrid shit to yourself and others just to feed that addiction because without it you will feel like you are dying a horrible, horrible death.

To throw away that challenge that the designers of MotB put together so expertly and one that is so unique among video games really does say that you suck at life.

 

[Prime Junta]

Meth: good practice for MotB.

 

[Gozma]

My favorite thing about spirit eater was how it colored your conversations as a max craving character. Pretty much every conversation gets restructured as, "Stuff the person I am about to eat is saying to me." Feeding excuses and lies to Kaelyn everytime you murder someone to eat their soul and then having a little ain't I a stinker party with OoM about it is a close second.

I think they also figured out the ultimate bad guy PC RPG motivation - vindictiveness.

 

[hiver]

The scum retards like that are the reason why we got PoE where one of the main story motivating points is that you are going "craaaaaazeee" from all that watching of other people souls - only your character never ever goes crazy in any possible way, so one of the main plot cores is just a fart in the wind.

-
as for addictions, i have plenty of people i knew dead from heroin and several becoming intelligible from snorting meth, not to mention other details.

i have to say although you can draw parallels between addiction and Soul eater curse, that was of course much worse and a core of the whole story and the main plot.

 

[Maschtervoz]

Behead those who insult the spirit meter.

Seriously, that shit is amazing. Apart from discouraging rest spam and bringing a strategic aspect to combat, the relation between story and gameplay in a devour playthrough is among the best you can find in a RPG. You turning into a never satiated incarnation of hunger isn't something that just happens in a dramatic cutscene while movie trailer music plays in the background. It is what you actually do in moment to moment gameplay, the system both pushing you into a predatory mindset and offering the tools to sustain it as you progress from having to prey on spirits to just ripping people's souls right out of them.

Also, it never fails to annihilate the butts of retards, and that's always a plus.

 

[MRY]

If anything, the Spirit Eater mechanic seemed too gentle. Perhaps I was just metagaming too much, but playing as a goody-two-shoes, it was easy to suppress the hunger, avoid resting, avoid unnecessary map travel, and thus never actually need to eat except for the occasional low-guilt spirits you could summon up. I imagine the game plays differently (and perhaps better) if you make your hunger go up and don't metagame it as much. But I can't see why anoyone would need to take it out?

 

[ArchAngel]

The scum retards like that are the reason why we got PoE where one of the main story motivating points is that you are going "craaaaaazeee" from all that watching of other people souls - only your character never ever goes crazy in any possible way, so one of the main plot cores is just a fart in the wind.

-
as for addictions, i have plenty of people i knew dead from heroin and several becoming intelligible from snorting meth, not to mention other details.

i have to say although you can draw parallels between addiction and Soul eater curse, that was of course much worse and a core of the whole story and the main plot.

Ah that explains your brain. Too much meth.

 

[ArchAngel]

If anything, the Spirit Eater mechanic seemed too gentle. Perhaps I was just metagaming too much, but playing as a goody-two-shoes, it was easy to suppress the hunger, avoid resting, avoid unnecessary map travel, and thus never actually need to eat except for the occasional low-guilt spirits you could summon up. I imagine the game plays differently (and perhaps better) if you make your hunger go up and don't metagame it as much. But I can't see why anoyone would need to take it out?

Because suppressing gave you lawful and good points and turned you into a paladin. Shitty mechanic made by shitty game designers. I bet it was Sawyer's idea

 

[Maschtervoz]

If anything, the Spirit Eater mechanic seemed too gentle. Perhaps I was just metagaming too much, but playing as a goody-two-shoes, it was easy to suppress the hunger, avoid resting, avoid unnecessary map travel, and thus never actually need to eat except for the occasional low-guilt spirits you could summon up. I imagine the game plays differently (and perhaps better) if you make your hunger go up and don't metagame it as much. But I can't see why anoyone would need to take it out?

Good suppress run means that you will never have trouble with the spirit meter unless you forget to pause the game when you take your dog out for a walk. It's more interesting with a full craving bar, which does make your meter drain pretty fast, but you can then get Devour Soul which helps diversify potential meals and allows you to remain well fed. Even with basic Devour Spirit, the game goes out of its way to make sure it has eatable shit to throw at you in every level. I particularly remember random rooms filled with ghosts in the Red Wizards academy and some with shadows or elementals or whatever behind teleporters in the Founder's place.

Because suppressing gave you lawful and good points and turned you into a paladin. Shitty mechanic made by shitty game designers. I bet it was Sawyer's idea

Alignment effects of spirit eater abilities haven't been a thing since some of the first patches.

 

[MRY]

That's an interesting point, and not something I'd ever considered, in part because I tend to default to playing a paladin unless I force myself to play a moustache-twirling villain; in either case, I wouldn't have noticed the defect. I guess you're right that the game should account for either, "I'm a good guy, but I can't stop my hunger" or "I'm a bad guy, but I refuse to be a slave to my hunger," and perhaps the mechanic doesn't really allow that. It probably would've been best to limit the alignment effects to willful use of the power for advancement.

 

[Ivan]

Skein Temple: trying to find way out, trying to find some guy with an axe, pestered by weak air elementals, listening to some incessant rambling, this is the worst part of the game right?

 

[MRY]

Yes. I hated that part, but I don't remember any other really weak spots (maybe some of the late-game areas were a bit thin). If I recall correctly, it's easier than I was making it, and perhaps you're falling into the same trap. IIRC, the camera was making it tricky for me to navigate and I was missing some obvious pathway. It's a real shame because initially that area has a lot of cool ambiance with the rambling.

 

[hiver]

Ah that explains your brain. Too much meth.

More stupid statements by a complete imbecile dumbfuck.

All that explains is that shit in your stupid incoherent skull you fucking stupid moron.

 

[Prime Junta]

Yeah that part is tedious... ish. Soldier on though, it has a p. cool conclusion.

 

[Ivan]

Will do bros. So far I've repaired one of the machines. 2 more to go.

 

[ArchAngel]

Because suppressing gave you lawful and good points and turned you into a paladin. Shitty mechanic made by shitty game designers. I bet it was Sawyer's idea

Alignment effects of spirit eater abilities haven't been a thing since some of the first patches.

I guess I played it at start than and didn't bother coming back to it later.

 

[Bleed the Man]

Because suppressing gave you lawful and good points and turned you into a paladin. Shitty mechanic made by shitty game designers. I bet it was Sawyer's idea

Maybe you're just joking, but actually Josh convinced Ziets that the mechanic would have been better if toned down in some way (something I strongly disagree with, but whatever, they got to cater to retards too I guess. Making a game for the Bethesda audience must be able to change the way you view the world and think is full of retards), and Sawyer was barely involved with MotB, I think he only play tested the game and gave feedback to the team.

 

[Seari]

Because suppressing gave you lawful and good points and turned you into a paladin. Shitty mechanic made by shitty game designers. I bet it was Sawyer's idea

Maybe you're just joking, but actually Josh convinced Ziets that the mechanic would have been better if toned down in some way (something I strongly disagree with, but whatever, they got to cater to retards too I guess. Making a game for the Bethesda audience must be able to change the way you view the world and think is full of retards), and Sawyer was barely involved with MotB, I think he only play tested the game and gave feedback to the team.

That's why it doesn't suck dicks and why it is the best rpg they will ever make.

 

[ArchAngel]

Because suppressing gave you lawful and good points and turned you into a paladin. Shitty mechanic made by shitty game designers. I bet it was Sawyer's idea

Maybe you're just joking, but actually Josh convinced Ziets that the mechanic would have been better if toned down in some way (something I strongly disagree with, but whatever, they got to cater to retards too I guess. Making a game for the Bethesda audience must be able to change the way you view the world and think is full of retards), and Sawyer was barely involved with MotB, I think he only play tested the game and gave feedback to the team.

I am certain that is just a story they told others, actually Sawyer came up with it on some meeting.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

Because suppressing gave you lawful and good points and turned you into a paladin. Shitty mechanic made by shitty game designers. I bet it was Sawyer's idea

Maybe you're just joking, but actually Josh convinced Ziets that the mechanic would have been better if toned down in some way (something I strongly disagree with, but whatever, they got to cater to retards too I guess. Making a game for the Bethesda audience must be able to change the way you view the world and think is full of retards), and Sawyer was barely involved with MotB, I think he only play tested the game and gave feedback to the team.

I am certain that is just a story they told others, actually Sawyer came up with it on some meeting.

The Spirit Meter was designed by Eric Fenstermaker before he moved into writing.

 

[Seaking4]

Do you have a source for that?

Skein Temple: trying to find way out, trying to find some guy with an axe, pestered by weak air elementals, listening to some incessant rambling, this is the worst part of the game right?

I actually liked that part. Especially how it ended. Was bummed you never got to fight any of the tentacle things outside though.

 

[hemtae]

Do you have a source for that?

http://www.irontowerstudio.com/forum/index.php?topic=468.0

4. The controversial spirit meter. What are your thoughts on this feature, the implementation, and the media "uh, I think dis game is broken" reaction?

I'm glad we did it. I liked taking a significant gameplay feature and entwining it with the story. I liked that we tried something a bit different. And I liked how we used it to, in a way, address the problem that the "immortal party members" caused. (One of the goals behind the spirit-eater mechanics was to place a price on resting, increasing the importance of the decision to use or not use spells and abilities.)

Eric Fenstermaker, who is currently working on our Aliens RPG, was the designer in charge of the system and I think his implementation was excellent. You can blame (or credit) me with the decision to do it and for its high level goals as a game feature. I think we made it "easy" enough (see question 7 =) ) that even players who weren't thrilled about it could enjoy the game. And quite a few players did like it.

All things considered, it certainly looks like it wasn't the best decision I made with regard to MotB. =) But I don't know that it was a mistake (and I've made plenty in my career) and I certainly don't feel it was a terrible one by any means.

 

[Seaking4]

Do you have a source for that?

http://www.irontowerstudio.com/forum/index.php?topic=468.0

4. The controversial spirit meter. What are your thoughts on this feature, the implementation, and the media "uh, I think dis game is broken" reaction?

I'm glad we did it. I liked taking a significant gameplay feature and entwining it with the story. I liked that we tried something a bit different. And I liked how we used it to, in a way, address the problem that the "immortal party members" caused. (One of the goals behind the spirit-eater mechanics was to place a price on resting, increasing the importance of the decision to use or not use spells and abilities.)

Eric Fenstermaker, who is currently working on our Aliens RPG, was the designer in charge of the system and I think his implementation was excellent. You can blame (or credit) me with the decision to do it and for its high level goals as a game feature. I think we made it "easy" enough (see question 7 =) ) that even players who weren't thrilled about it could enjoy the game. And quite a few players did like it.

All things considered, it certainly looks like it wasn't the best decision I made with regard to MotB. =) But I don't know that it was a mistake (and I've made plenty in my career) and I certainly don't feel it was a terrible one by any means.

Thanks. Neat interview.