Why Ultra Sun, and which was the last generation you played before that? Thinking back, that one does seem unusually cutscene-heavy, I think? I was never bothered by it at the time, but I suppose it depends on your state of mind going in. I'm VERY EXCITED when I play any new Pokemon game, so I can forgive them for a lot, but I'm much more wary/judging when playing unfamiliar games (or things like Undertale which I'm forcing myself to play because I 'have to' rather than because I want to) so things are more likely to drag on or bother me. I imagine it's this way for most people, and I wish there was a way around it but there probably isn't!
I wasn't really planning to have any cutscenes, really! The 'cutscene' at the start is more like a battle intro, since it would have been way too jarring to just jump immediately into gameplay, but other than that I can only think of maybe one or two different (climactic) points in the story where everything would stop to just play a scene out with no player input?
One of the big things about Collie is that she was raised by the Blight Wolves to basically be a vulgar criminal, and she's in the process of becoming tame. It's where the aggression/inappropriateness comes from! I suppose in this case it would be a case of her having learned to deal with perceived conflict with threatening behaviour so as not to be walked over... though it also conveniently sets up a joke that helps characterise Pierce too. A meeting of two ill-adjusted minds isn't going to be polite!
Ha! I like those ideas! Particularly the contagious baldness thing. Maybe I'll STEAL that, if it fits anywhere!
I wanted to mention the dog-ears-hair because I wonder how many people would even see them as that!
Expressions are sure to add a lot; Savitr would look quite flat/tired while apologising to Pierce there! Though he's also trying to pacify him (contrasting drastically with Collie).
If miasma formed only after the link to the Aolmna was severed - and I do like the idea of miasma as essentially the drealm that's leaking into the world through literal wounds/cracks rather than a residue from the creation process - then there probably wouldn't be any obelisks, since the gods were meant to have made them! Monster 'species' form where a lot of people have had recurring thoughts over years, so I suppose they'd just be less likely to appear where thoughts haven't been as much? Animal minds wouldn't form them because they come from abstract thought.
I wondered about how you approach the dialogue in your quests! But I didn't ask you because I am weird and just complain about how I have nobody to talk to while actively avoiding talking to everyone. After I've replied to this I have to reply to an email I haven't replied to in weeks and have got two pestering "please reply" pokes about. Whoops. Do you plan the dialogue all out before you start or just write it as you go??
3
Maniafig219~3Y
My last three playthroughs were of Pokémon Omega Ruby, Y and Platinum in that order (Or Rising Ruby, Wilting Y and Renegade Platinum, since they were hard mode romhacks, basically), so I'm playing Ultra Sun (or Photonic Sun, really [LINK] ) now since I've not played any gen 7 game before. I actually wanted to play Ultra Moon instead, but it was easier to acquire the means to play Ultra Sun, and they're not that different anyway.
I went into this game knowing it has a reputation for being cutscene-intense, but I figured people were exaggerating since they said the same about gens 5 and 6, so it was somewhat disappointing to find out it's exactly as disruptive as people said!
Also, team pics since those are mandatory whenever discussing Pokémon:
Pokémon Omega Ruby: [LINK]
Pokémon Y: [LINK]
Pokémon Platinum: [LINK]
Pokémon Ultra Sun: [LINK]
The Platinum team is all-Ice types and the Ultra Sun one is planned to be all-Fairy types, since in that romhack Meganium and Ninetales are Grass/Fairy and Fire/Fairy respectively.
I suppose most dialogue would happen during combat and when talking to NPCs and other party members, then? How does it compare to Taming Dreams, which had those but also did have scenes where the party stops to talk about and do some things?
You are free to REAPPROPRIATE my ideas if you wish! Ideas as good as mine would be a shame to not share with all the world, after all. And I am incredibly generous, and humble.
IIRC the reason why you had Obelisks in the old lore from a Doylist perspective was to explain away why Miasma didn't form in towns and cities, since that's where most people are and most thoughtforms would gather. How does that work with the new explanation, does Miasma form often in Barbari settlements, or did they come up with their own solutions?
For my quests I tend to have an idea of how I want the important dialogues to go before I start writing them, some scenes are planned out specifically whereas some are general plans such as "character X and Y talk, X upsets Y for reason Z but they reconcile", but I don't exactly plan them out in minute detail, and some things do get shuffled around.
I had one quest where the two playable characters didn't really get along at all, so I had to adjust some dialogues to make sure the dialogue wasn't schizophrenic, one outburst got removed since I needed the two characters to get along in the coming scenes and it'd detract from a later, more important outburst.
And most of the unimportant dialogue isn't really planned out at all, such as talking with unimportant NPCs, examining furniture and triggers for going to the wrong places. Though those dialogues are good places to implement some foreshadowing, or sometimes they can even be sources for ideas to flesh out the world and whatnot.
Why Ultra Sun, and which was the last generation you played before that? Thinking back, that one does seem unusually cutscene-heavy, I think? I was never bothered by it at the time, but I suppose it depends on your state of mind going in. I'm VERY EXCITED when I play any new Pokemon game, so I can forgive them for a lot, but I'm much more wary/judging when playing unfamiliar games (or things like Undertale which I'm forcing myself to play because I 'have to' rather than because I want to) so things are more likely to drag on or bother me. I imagine it's this way for most people, and I wish there was a way around it but there probably isn't!
I wasn't really planning to have any cutscenes, really! The 'cutscene' at the start is more like a battle intro, since it would have been way too jarring to just jump immediately into gameplay, but other than that I can only think of maybe one or two different (climactic) points in the story where everything would stop to just play a scene out with no player input?
One of the big things about Collie is that she was raised by the Blight Wolves to basically be a vulgar criminal, and she's in the process of becoming tame. It's where the aggression/inappropriateness comes from! I suppose in this case it would be a case of her having learned to deal with perceived conflict with threatening behaviour so as not to be walked over... though it also conveniently sets up a joke that helps characterise Pierce too. A meeting of two ill-adjusted minds isn't going to be polite!
Ha! I like those ideas! Particularly the contagious baldness thing. Maybe I'll STEAL that, if it fits anywhere!
I wanted to mention the dog-ears-hair because I wonder how many people would even see them as that!
Expressions are sure to add a lot; Savitr would look quite flat/tired while apologising to Pierce there! Though he's also trying to pacify him (contrasting drastically with Collie).
If miasma formed only after the link to the Aolmna was severed - and I do like the idea of miasma as essentially the drealm that's leaking into the world through literal wounds/cracks rather than a residue from the creation process - then there probably wouldn't be any obelisks, since the gods were meant to have made them! Monster 'species' form where a lot of people have had recurring thoughts over years, so I suppose they'd just be less likely to appear where thoughts haven't been as much? Animal minds wouldn't form them because they come from abstract thought.
I wondered about how you approach the dialogue in your quests! But I didn't ask you because I am weird and just complain about how I have nobody to talk to while actively avoiding talking to everyone. After I've replied to this I have to reply to an email I haven't replied to in weeks and have got two pestering "please reply" pokes about. Whoops. Do you plan the dialogue all out before you start or just write it as you go??
I went into this game knowing it has a reputation for being cutscene-intense, but I figured people were exaggerating since they said the same about gens 5 and 6, so it was somewhat disappointing to find out it's exactly as disruptive as people said!
Also, team pics since those are mandatory whenever discussing Pokémon:
Pokémon Omega Ruby: [LINK]
Pokémon Y: [LINK]
Pokémon Platinum: [LINK]
Pokémon Ultra Sun: [LINK]
The Platinum team is all-Ice types and the Ultra Sun one is planned to be all-Fairy types, since in that romhack Meganium and Ninetales are Grass/Fairy and Fire/Fairy respectively.
I suppose most dialogue would happen during combat and when talking to NPCs and other party members, then? How does it compare to Taming Dreams, which had those but also did have scenes where the party stops to talk about and do some things?
You are free to REAPPROPRIATE my ideas if you wish! Ideas as good as mine would be a shame to not share with all the world, after all. And I am incredibly generous, and humble.
IIRC the reason why you had Obelisks in the old lore from a Doylist perspective was to explain away why Miasma didn't form in towns and cities, since that's where most people are and most thoughtforms would gather. How does that work with the new explanation, does Miasma form often in Barbari settlements, or did they come up with their own solutions?
For my quests I tend to have an idea of how I want the important dialogues to go before I start writing them, some scenes are planned out specifically whereas some are general plans such as "character X and Y talk, X upsets Y for reason Z but they reconcile", but I don't exactly plan them out in minute detail, and some things do get shuffled around.
I had one quest where the two playable characters didn't really get along at all, so I had to adjust some dialogues to make sure the dialogue wasn't schizophrenic, one outburst got removed since I needed the two characters to get along in the coming scenes and it'd detract from a later, more important outburst.
And most of the unimportant dialogue isn't really planned out at all, such as talking with unimportant NPCs, examining furniture and triggers for going to the wrong places. Though those dialogues are good places to implement some foreshadowing, or sometimes they can even be sources for ideas to flesh out the world and whatnot.