I thought about having someone sing the lyrics to the music, but the reality of it (human contact and professional contracts, choosing the right people and rejecting the wrong ones, etc) all seems too much for me in my current state of mind and life! So instead I'm seeing the mottos as more of a concept to guide development. It helps to write appealing melodies if I have words first, and the creative challenge of compressing a character into a snippet like that helps me ensure their role in the story is clear and consistent. Most of them might never be seen by the player outside the in-game Encyclopaedia.
A few of these comments have taken issue with the meaningfulness of the names of things, which is surprising to me. Isn't it a JRPG convention to name a whole bunch of things after various mythological or religious concepts? I suspect there's resistance largely because it's jarring compared to what's familiar, as you mentioned. Personally having layered meanings in language is one of my favourite things.
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MontyCallay99~4Y
I don't think it's about the meaningfulness of the names per se, that's not something which I, at least, would consider a detriment – I think that it is in part due to not being used to the names yet (which will come over time, I still remember when I was confused when you renamed Dolour to Duhrge – funny how people get attached to things) as well as the fact that the names themselves are so whimsical and obvious (I keep wondering if I would prefer "Corpus Dei" or something like that to "Godsbod", even though the meaning is the same – Latin makes it feel more "churchy", and it feels less on the nose).
The major point with this, as I said, is probably to find a point where the world seems meaningful without feeling *oversaturated* (where characters artificially elaborate for ages about their deepest feelings and motivations, every tree represents one of Rohoph's body hairs, and your journey is through some deity's gastrointestinal tract). I personally find both the world being shaped like a person and the continents and locations being placed and named as such a bit too obvious, which isn't to say that I don't like the meaningfulness, but rather that it feels… allegorical and overly symbolic. I'd prefer it if the meaning was a bit more… subtextual, rather than overwhelmed with symbolism from the start, which would certainly make the game more approachable in general. But maybe I'm being too critical for something that's really only first impressions. I do like your approach with this in general, and the actual meaning you're trying to convey is certainly unique and interesting!
A few of these comments have taken issue with the meaningfulness of the names of things, which is surprising to me. Isn't it a JRPG convention to name a whole bunch of things after various mythological or religious concepts? I suspect there's resistance largely because it's jarring compared to what's familiar, as you mentioned. Personally having layered meanings in language is one of my favourite things.
The major point with this, as I said, is probably to find a point where the world seems meaningful without feeling *oversaturated* (where characters artificially elaborate for ages about their deepest feelings and motivations, every tree represents one of Rohoph's body hairs, and your journey is through some deity's gastrointestinal tract). I personally find both the world being shaped like a person and the continents and locations being placed and named as such a bit too obvious, which isn't to say that I don't like the meaningfulness, but rather that it feels… allegorical and overly symbolic. I'd prefer it if the meaning was a bit more… subtextual, rather than overwhelmed with symbolism from the start, which would certainly make the game more approachable in general. But maybe I'm being too critical for something that's really only first impressions. I do like your approach with this in general, and the actual meaning you're trying to convey is certainly unique and interesting!