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Looking at story of most RPG, they tend to pan out, like in the movies. Ten minutes into the game or less, you're introduced to the main plot where you have to do a specific big mission (kill evil guy, stop evil king resurrection, save the world, etc); and throughout the game from start to finish, it would be your main objectives and any kind of plot progression will stay true to that objective.
Meanwhile, I'm a big fan of Anime and Manga culture and their way of storytelling. They are often divided into multiple arcs and more often than not; what happened in arc 1 is revisited/referenced/influenced arc 2 or even later arcs.
As an example, I will talk about quite a popular franchise, Fairy Tail. Spoilers alert of course.
I'd stop here to not bore you guys non-FT fans.
Now, I'm wondering what are your thoughts on this kind of storytelling in an RPG gameplay; where you technically never exactly have one sole purpose in a game, but experience storytelling and character development throughout arcs with different objectives. Do you think this kind of storytelling can fit in an RPG game and still be something you'd be interested to play?
From a developer point of view, this is surely a different take in storytelling than most RPG.
It also eases the burden of development time, imho:
So what are your thoughts on this?
Meanwhile, I'm a big fan of Anime and Manga culture and their way of storytelling. They are often divided into multiple arcs and more often than not; what happened in arc 1 is revisited/referenced/influenced arc 2 or even later arcs.
As an example, I will talk about quite a popular franchise, Fairy Tail. Spoilers alert of course.
In the first arc, they introduced the main characters Lucy into the story and she joined the wizard guild, Fairy Tail. Then we have her going on her first mission to rescue the guildmate, Macao.
In the second arc, she took another mission, gaining a new Summon for her magic, and introducing more characters.
In the third arc, the 4th protagonist is introduced (Erza Scarlet), with another mission unrelated to the first and second arc.
In the 4th arc, one of the main character introduced previously, Grey, had his past revealed. The whole arc is about him meeting his fellow pupil from the same mentor who's attempting to resurrect a demon who was sealed by their teacher (which cost her life in the process), aided by his friends of course.
What happened in the previous arc are again reintroduced to build plot points for later arcs.
For example, the antagonist of the 3rd arc is reintroduced again in 10th and 15th arc as one of the arc's antagonist group member. Two of the antagonists in 4th arc later become permanent member of FT throughout the rest of the later arc, even as ally members (with prominent screentime too).
The ultimate evil of it all was referenced previously in lore background explanations, but never fully introduced until 13th arc. Not to mention, the history of Natsu (semi-love interest of Lucy, the protagonist who appeared in the first episode, and then further become the "Luffy" of the franchise), is only revealed at the 19th arc, and then further fully explained in the 21st arc. Before that, all we know about him was "he lost his father-dragon when he was a kid" character.
Even more,...
He's related to the ultimate evil of it all. That was one hell of a twist and it took 20 arcs before it is actually revealed.
In the second arc, she took another mission, gaining a new Summon for her magic, and introducing more characters.
In the third arc, the 4th protagonist is introduced (Erza Scarlet), with another mission unrelated to the first and second arc.
In the 4th arc, one of the main character introduced previously, Grey, had his past revealed. The whole arc is about him meeting his fellow pupil from the same mentor who's attempting to resurrect a demon who was sealed by their teacher (which cost her life in the process), aided by his friends of course.
What happened in the previous arc are again reintroduced to build plot points for later arcs.
For example, the antagonist of the 3rd arc is reintroduced again in 10th and 15th arc as one of the arc's antagonist group member. Two of the antagonists in 4th arc later become permanent member of FT throughout the rest of the later arc, even as ally members (with prominent screentime too).
The ultimate evil of it all was referenced previously in lore background explanations, but never fully introduced until 13th arc. Not to mention, the history of Natsu (semi-love interest of Lucy, the protagonist who appeared in the first episode, and then further become the "Luffy" of the franchise), is only revealed at the 19th arc, and then further fully explained in the 21st arc. Before that, all we know about him was "he lost his father-dragon when he was a kid" character.
Even more,...
He's related to the ultimate evil of it all. That was one hell of a twist and it took 20 arcs before it is actually revealed.
I'd stop here to not bore you guys non-FT fans.
Now, I'm wondering what are your thoughts on this kind of storytelling in an RPG gameplay; where you technically never exactly have one sole purpose in a game, but experience storytelling and character development throughout arcs with different objectives. Do you think this kind of storytelling can fit in an RPG game and still be something you'd be interested to play?
From a developer point of view, this is surely a different take in storytelling than most RPG.
It also eases the burden of development time, imho:
- Release shorter games. One can conclude 5 arcs, and leave open-ended for future development. More arcs can be developed through DLC or a separate game should major overhaul of the system takes place.
- A more flexible and versatile way of character developments. No longer are you bonded by the cliche of "we are fighting the same evil, thus I joined you", but having party members join you for different reason throughout arcs can allow a more focused character introduction/development. The story could be more character-oriented than plot-oriented. In most cases, you only get to know more about your party members through means of sidequest. Prominent example would be Persona 4 where you get to know half of the character background in the main story progression, but what happens to their developments are resolved through sidequest (known as Social Links).
- One database for all! (or not). You save up your development time because you can reuse the database without breaking immersion for future arcs in sequels. I know this can be seen as developer's laziness, but when you're doing a one-man-show game development and you are more of a storyteller than game developer, this can definitely ease your burden.
So what are your thoughts on this?
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Hello! I would like to know if there are any pluggings or any way to customize how battles look?
I was thinking that when you start the battle for it to appear the eyes of your characters and opponents sorta like Ace Attorney.
Sadly I don't know how that would be possible so I would be needing help! If you can help me in any way I would really apreciate it!
I was thinking that when you start the battle for it to appear the eyes of your characters and opponents sorta like Ace Attorney.
Sadly I don't know how that would be possible so I would be needing help! If you can help me in any way I would really apreciate it!
The biggest debate we need to complete on which is better, Waffles or Pancakes?
