Journal Screen

Joff1981 · Feb 10, 2007

Nice screen but what happened to the sort options? Also I think this line would be better than the current one for the Imperial Guard quest. "Along with five other recruits your first ..."

Vault Dweller · Feb 10, 2007

Joff1981 said:
Nice screen but what happened to the sort options?

Unnecessary.

Also I think this line would be better than the current one for the Imperial Guard quest. "Along with five other recruits your first ..."

Definitely.

no · Feb 10, 2007

Looks great. I'm really curious what the "Techniques" and "Characters" menus are about. Known alchemy/crafting techniques? Skill perks/abilities learnt from NPCs? Standard dialogue history with a NPCs, or something more exotic like the player characters personal observations of NPCs dependant on stats/skills like perception or intelligence?

Vault Dweller · Feb 10, 2007

no said:
Known alchemy/crafting techniques?

Yep.

...or something more exotic like the player characters personal observations of NPCs dependant on stats/skills like perception or intelligence?

Yep.

no · Feb 10, 2007

Wow, the latter sounds interesting. Is it there just for literary/atmospheric flavour or does it actually introduce elements to raw gameplay? i.e. you get some info outside normal NPC interaction that gives you new ways to solve a puzzle?

Vault Dweller · Feb 10, 2007

No. It simply describes NPCs based on your experience with them. Using that stone guardian (see the questions on factions thread) as an example, if you buy his casual attitude, your notes will reflect that. If you see through his bullshit, your notes will be different. And so on.

Your relationship with NPCs will change throughout the game. Friends may become enemies, enemies may become friends (depends on your actions, of course). The journal will record the history of your relationship with different people.

no · Feb 10, 2007

Is there a falloutish ending slideshow for locations/characters as well, or are all the "consequences" told through such journal entries? (I take that the "Locations" menu is similar to the "Characters" one?)

Vault Dweller · Feb 10, 2007

Yes, there is a Fallout-style slideshow, although consequences are added to the journal as you go; and yes, the locations menu also reflects the changes within each locations.

We'll post some more screens tomorrow to illustrate what I wrote.

Veracity · Feb 10, 2007

Slylandro said:
I'd like an option to add/edit my own entries.

Agree that this is a kind of nice feature to have (as are user-annotated maps), but I'd personally be against it unless there's an easily integrable third-party library to hand that'll deal with it adequately. People seem to tend to underestimate how hard it is to write a decent text editor, and the ones built into games are more often than not unbearable. If adding such a thing is going to require significant time investment, I think a better solution is simply to ensure you're Alt-Tab safe and/or windowable, and let people make their personal notes in a decent external editor, or notepad, or (heaven forbid) with a pen.

KazikluBey · Feb 10, 2007

Not exactly what you'd had in mind when you signed up, but it's a start.

Every time I'm told by an RPG what my character thinks or expects, I murder a cute little bunny. Please, think of the bunnies!

Otherwise, pretty cool. And the journal screen looks awesome.

Claw · Feb 10, 2007

Well, do you just kill it or do you eat it too? There's nothing wrong about killing a cute little bunny and eating its meat.
My grandpa raises bunnies. Young bunnies are cute, but I never had a problem eating them.

Elhoim · Feb 10, 2007

Vault Dweller said:
Yes, there is a Fallout-style slideshow, although consequences are added to the journal as you go; and yes, the locations menu also reflects the changes within each locations.

We'll post some more screens tomorrow to illustrate what I wrote.

And here they are!

What do you think? It's too verbose or not? Or suggests too much?

Discuss!

Mr Happy · Feb 10, 2007

Looks pretty good, though in general, how much hinting does the journal give you in terms of quest info? Does it just take down what the things you learn, or does it give suggestions?

Ex: Kotor's silly journal that was always like "Maybe if you talk to <insert> you can find out more about Carth and his homosexuality, after you level up of course" even though you were never told anything like that.

Vault Dweller · Feb 10, 2007

Mr Happy said:
how much hinting does the journal give you in terms of quest info? Does it just take down what the things you learn, or does it give suggestions?

No suggestions, only what you've learned.

Fez · Feb 10, 2007

Sucks.

I jest. I do like it, I don't think it is too verbose. It's nice that you've got the journals to reflect the PC's thoughts and experiences, rather than giving them a more generic feel.

Fryjar · Feb 10, 2007

It's just a detail, but could you tarnish the quill a bit more?
Right now it looks a bit too clean and bright, especially when youn take the surroundings into account.

Elhoim · Feb 10, 2007

Fryjar said:
It's just a detail, but could you tarnish the quill a bit more?
Right now it looks a bit too clean and bright, especially when youn take the surroundings into account.

OK!

FrancoTAU · Feb 11, 2007

It's fine. Like others have said though, if you could crunch down each quest into a shorter description unless you click on it to expand it than that would better.

Ismaul · Feb 11, 2007

Vault Dweller said:
Joff1981 said:

Nice screen but what happened to the sort options?

Click to expand...

Unnecessary.

How come?
Is it that when you click on quests you have a choice of filters?
For what it's worth, I thought sorting would be useful to find specific information.

Plus, expanding quest info by clicking on the title is really a must.

Elhoim · Feb 11, 2007

Plus, expanding quest info by clicking on the title is really a must.

ThatÂ´s in

Azael · Feb 11, 2007

Looks fucking great if you ask me. I really dig the way the entries show up very different depending on your actions (and skills?).

Vault Dweller · Feb 11, 2007

Azael said:
Looks fucking great if you ask me. I really dig the way the entries show up very different depending on your actions (and skills?).

Yep, skills too. It takes a skill to figure out that Feng is lying to you.

Lumpy · Feb 11, 2007

"He could only be described as old, usually followed by <<bastard>>"?
Somehow, that doesn't sound right. Maybe "He could only be described as old - an old bastard, that is." would be better?

Kraken · Feb 11, 2007

The first one looks wrong. First there's a general description of Feng, saying he's and old bastand, very greedy etc. Then in the next paragraph, he's a nice old man. It makes little sense. The player will obviously know they are getting fooled, and the character would have to be pretty dumb to first hear all these nasty things about him, and then just forget about all of it. What about different intros, or at least make it more neutral?

Azael · Feb 11, 2007

"Friendly old man" sounds like sarcasm to me, but maybe it's not extreme enough.

Journal Screen

Educated

Commissar, Red Star Studio

Novice

Commissar, Red Star Studio

Novice

Commissar, Red Star Studio

Novice

Commissar, Red Star Studio

Liturgist

Cipher

Erudite

Iron Tower Studio

Scholar

Commissar, Red Star Studio

Erudite

Augur

Iron Tower Studio

Cipher

Thought Criminal #3333

Iron Tower Studio

Magister

Commissar, Red Star Studio

Arcane

Scholar

Magister