I'm glad to hear you feel the characters' stories were the most interesting and important aspect of the games, since that was how I felt myself. It's why I feel that doing something like this calendar is more true to what the game's going to be than if I were to, say, boast about all the POWERFUL SKILLS!!! you'd be able to perform gameplay actions with or whatever.
I'm definitely aware of the Hero's Journey, and I've been thinking about it a lot recently as I plan this remake, wondering to what extent it actually fits with what I've got planned. Now that you've mentioned it, I'm curious to try to explicitly use it a bit to shape what I've already got.
Personally - though I'm saying this as someone who had at least a vague idea of where the whole eight chapters would go - I feel that "ROHOPH" would have been a better title for the series than "MARDEK". I imagined Mardek as a character who's sort of dragged along with the plot rather than driving it, while Rohoph's at the heart of everything (though we all interpret stories differently!). When I talked about a remake a few months ago, I wondered whether to call it "ROHOPH" for this reason. Similarly, "DHARMA" seemed a possibility for this version's title, since that's what he's called now.
I'm leaning towards Divine Dreams as a title because "Drealm" is just a setting name, whereas Divine Dreams is multilayered, and all those layers are applicable (the two-sixes is also deliberate, like with Taming Dreams). The world was literally dreamed up by the gods, so it's a setting name in that sense. But each character also has a personal motive or 'dream', which drives them; I'll probably do what I did with Taming Dreams and give each character a brief 'motto' encapsulating their personal dream (eg from Taming Dreams, Deugan's was "I wish a was a warrior instead of a worrier"). Divine also means to discover, especially through intuition or mystical means, and figuring out dreams - both in the 'hopes and purpose' sense, but also more literally later - is a big part of the story.
Perhaps that's the better title by far, actually...
I'm excited to see where this goes too, and appreciate your input!
2
JohnnyBoi45~4Y
Thanks for such a detailed reply! I definitely support your leaning towards Divine Dreams - I hadn't even thought of the connection of using Divine as a verb, which is great now that I see it.
I suppose I don't have the knowledge of where the series was going, but I certainly understand why "ROHOPH" would make sense as a series title. I'd say it's a strange choice because in my mind Rohoph was clearly shaping to be the main antagonist (though I imagine that was your intention), but Lord of the Rings is technically named after the antagonist as well so there's no reason that isn't valid. I always felt that the overarching plot was not just Rohoph's vigilante quest to destroy the rest of the GdM and enforce his views on others, but maybe that events were inevitably spiraling towards a real confrontation between Rohoph and Mardek, which I'd hoped Mardek would have outlasted. Of course, those were only my speculations and hopes for the series. Maybe those notes that you intend to put in the re-release will put some of my mind to rest.
1
Astreon152~4Y
The first paragraph of your answer (Tobias) made me think of a possible "goofy" feature : skills become more powerful if you press CAPS before you select them.
Or maybe it could be buff, like you cast the spell 'CAPS' (or reach a certain level of motivation if you go with emotions) and suddenly for a certain duration all skills' efficiency increase by a percentage, and they are written in caps when you select them: it's not "slash" but "SLASH" or it's not "healing song" but "HEALING SONG".
Though the sillyness of it might make it more consistent with Mardek's 1 chapter childhood period (like chunibyo, when you shout your moves outloud), and i don't know if you'll keep that in the remake.
I'm definitely aware of the Hero's Journey, and I've been thinking about it a lot recently as I plan this remake, wondering to what extent it actually fits with what I've got planned. Now that you've mentioned it, I'm curious to try to explicitly use it a bit to shape what I've already got.
Personally - though I'm saying this as someone who had at least a vague idea of where the whole eight chapters would go - I feel that "ROHOPH" would have been a better title for the series than "MARDEK". I imagined Mardek as a character who's sort of dragged along with the plot rather than driving it, while Rohoph's at the heart of everything (though we all interpret stories differently!). When I talked about a remake a few months ago, I wondered whether to call it "ROHOPH" for this reason. Similarly, "DHARMA" seemed a possibility for this version's title, since that's what he's called now.
I'm leaning towards Divine Dreams as a title because "Drealm" is just a setting name, whereas Divine Dreams is multilayered, and all those layers are applicable (the two-sixes is also deliberate, like with Taming Dreams). The world was literally dreamed up by the gods, so it's a setting name in that sense. But each character also has a personal motive or 'dream', which drives them; I'll probably do what I did with Taming Dreams and give each character a brief 'motto' encapsulating their personal dream (eg from Taming Dreams, Deugan's was "I wish a was a warrior instead of a worrier"). Divine also means to discover, especially through intuition or mystical means, and figuring out dreams - both in the 'hopes and purpose' sense, but also more literally later - is a big part of the story.
Perhaps that's the better title by far, actually...
I'm excited to see where this goes too, and appreciate your input!
I suppose I don't have the knowledge of where the series was going, but I certainly understand why "ROHOPH" would make sense as a series title. I'd say it's a strange choice because in my mind Rohoph was clearly shaping to be the main antagonist (though I imagine that was your intention), but Lord of the Rings is technically named after the antagonist as well so there's no reason that isn't valid. I always felt that the overarching plot was not just Rohoph's vigilante quest to destroy the rest of the GdM and enforce his views on others, but maybe that events were inevitably spiraling towards a real confrontation between Rohoph and Mardek, which I'd hoped Mardek would have outlasted. Of course, those were only my speculations and hopes for the series. Maybe those notes that you intend to put in the re-release will put some of my mind to rest.
Or maybe it could be buff, like you cast the spell 'CAPS' (or reach a certain level of motivation if you go with emotions) and suddenly for a certain duration all skills' efficiency increase by a percentage, and they are written in caps when you select them: it's not "slash" but "SLASH" or it's not "healing song" but "HEALING SONG".
Though the sillyness of it might make it more consistent with Mardek's 1 chapter childhood period (like chunibyo, when you shout your moves outloud), and i don't know if you'll keep that in the remake.