Interview PAX Prime 2015 Interview Roundup: Pillars of Eternity, BattleTech, Banner Saga 2

[Irenaeus II]

You probably fantasize about brutally murdering some NPCs. What does that say about you?

 

[Mustawd]

You probably fantasize about brutally murdering some NPCs. What does that say about you?

Well that's a damn good point....

 

[Lurker King]

Are you nerds so starved for human interaction that you must LARP some shallow and derived bullshit of a romance? Fucking 'ell....

Not really. I have more human interaction than I want. My point is that with romance you have more dialogue, content and choices. The same thing applies to housing.

You want romance? Read a romance novels you pathetic man-babies.

Do you want combat? Read a military history book. Do you want dialogues? Read a fucking novel. I can do this all day.

 

[Jaesun]

But... but... what IS a RPG then?

I AM SO CONFUSE!!!

 

[Mustawd]

Not really. I have more human interaction than I want. My point is that with romance you have more dialogue, content and choices. The same thing applies to housing.



Do you want combat? Read a military history book. Do you want dialogues? Read a fucking novel. I can do this all day.

Dude...romances are fucking stupid..just admit it...

 

[Archibald]

Not really. I have more human interaction than I want. My point is that with romance you have more dialogue, content and choices. The same thing applies to housing.

I'd rather "more dialogue, content and choices" wasn't juvenile bullshit like romances.

 

[Lurker King]

I'd rather "more dialogue, content and choices" wasn't juvenile bullshit like romances.

They don't need to be implemented as juvenile bullshit, you know. A romance don't need to have BG2 or DA:O's level of writing.

 

[almondblight]

They don't need to be implemented as juvenile bullshit, you know. A romance don't need to have BG2 or DA:O's level of writing.

Actual romances could be interesting. Start a romance with your cleric, your wizard gets jealous and leaves the party, then later on your cleric leaves you for some noble (taking your best loot with them).

But there's plenty of other things - family, friends, hobbies, a career - missing from most RPGs that could be added to make things more interesting.

 

[Kem0sabe]

They don't need to be implemented as juvenile bullshit, you know. A romance don't need to have BG2 or DA:O's level of writing.

Point me towards an rpg that has managed that... I doubt there is one.

One of the best romantic moments in gaming is not even in an rpg or an adventure game, but in an fps. The relationship between the main character and his girlfriend in the darkness 1 is quite well done, with the highlight being the watching TV moment between the two.

 

[DeepOcean]

They don't need to be implemented as juvenile bullshit, you know. A romance don't need to have BG2 or DA:O's level of writing.

I agree with you but romances invariably take away attention from the rest of the story and most of the time are optional content so they can't even be integrated to the main plot. Look to Bioware games, every single one of them have awful plots, illogical plots with plot holes the size of black holes and melodrama that make anyone one with a sliver of taste cringe but because they have Waifus, people don't give a shit to any of that and just go on forums to debate endless about who is the best waifu.

 

[Lurker King]

But there's plenty of other things - family, friends, hobbies, a career - missing from most RPGs that could be added to make things more interesting.

Then the haters will say that you want this only because you have no family, no friends, no hobbies and no carrier – and if you want housing you must be homeless. I think that it’s quite telling about some (not all) people that argue that way: they see cRPGs as form of macho escapist entertainment that fulfill what they don’t have in real life. I WANT TO BE A GREAT WARRIOR IN AN EPIC ADVENTURE, because my life is so boring! I have romances in real life, therefore romances in games suck! Of course, in most cases, the motivation is despite towards Bioware’s fans, but that is completely irrational.

 

[Lurker King]

I agree with you but romances invariably take away attention from the rest of the story and most of the time are optional content so they can't even be integrated to the main plot. Look to Bioware games, every single one of them have awful plots, illogical plots with plot holes the size of black holes and melodrama that make anyone one with a sliver of taste cringe but because they have Waifus, people don't give a shit to any of that and just go on forums to debate endless about who is the best waifu.

But we have a lot of optional content in most cRPGs that take away attention from the rest of the story and people love this. Can you look at the amount of butsores caused by AoD’s no filler policy and tell me that most people don’t want this stuff? Imagine that things were different: Bioware never implemented any romances, the causals never got interested in games and the grognards rule supreme. Do you think that in that world the topic “romance” would generate any controversy? Of course not. This is a social stuff: we criticize romances BECAUSE OF THEM.

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

I think that it’s quite telling about some (not all) people that argue that way: they see cRPGs as form of macho escapist entertainment that fulfill what they don’t have in real life.

Don't really get your point - what's wrong with games being escapist entertainment?

 

[Lurker King]

Because it is a hypocrisy to argue against romance fans that they don’t have human interaction when in fact is the player who says this that want stuff that he doesn’t have in real life.

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

Because it is a hypocrisy to argue against romance fans that they don’t have human interaction when in fact is the player who says this that want stuff that he doesn’t have in real life.

Bioware never implemented any romances, the causals never got interested in games and the grognards rule supreme. Do you think that in that world the topic “romance” would generate any controversy? Of course not. This is a social stuff: we criticize romances BECAUSE OF THEM.

Ok. Although perhaps there are people who don't really want to mow people down with machine guns or roast them with fireballs in real life, but find it fun in a game as they try to overcome challenges. And perhaps some of them find a pixelated sex scene or some mushy dialogue a bit sad and lame compared to real life interaction. Are they really all being hypocritical? Are they really only criticising romances because they hate Bioware fans? Or is it that they just have different taste in games, just as many "romance fans" criticise violence in games.

 

[Sensuki]

They should just name it FAG and go stright for the AAA. It's not like they're even trying milk to cater to their core audience.

I believe the aim the whole time has been to find a new core audience.

 

[l3loodAngel]

I believe the aim the whole time has been to find a new core audience.

Well yeah, they just made it look like they are trying to expand it. I was also cought of guard as I wanted to believe that there is some sort of overaping of desires between audiences.
Josh's ignorance of so many briliant suggestions could not have been accidental. So they milked grognards and screwed them.

 

[Lurker King]

Ok. Although perhaps there are people who don't really want to mow people down with machine guns or roast them with fireballs in real life, but find it fun in a game as they try to overcome challenges. And perhaps some of them find a pixelated sex scene or some mushy dialogue a bit sad and lame compared to real life interaction. Are they really all being hypocritical? Are they really only criticising romances because they hate Bioware fans? Or is it that they just have different taste in games, just as many "romance fans" criticise violence in games.

You are misrepresenting their (and our) motivations to prove your point. We don’t want to kill people in real life, but we want to be powerful, be and adventurer in a fantasy world or whatever is that most cRPGs provide. I find embarrassing that I have to argue to prove my point. If cRPGs don’t provide anything that you lack in real life why are you playing them?

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

I find embarrassing that I have to argue to prove my point.

I find it embarrassing that I got drawn into romance debate #3479 on the Codex. So I'm off to contemplate this alternate universe where grognards rule supreme in gaming yet romances aren't controversial at all.