What are the #1 mistakes that RPG Maker games make?

[Diretooth]

In a nutshell:

'Pressing the button' was referencing the need to pause to tend to other, more pertinent matters. (Such as taking care of kids and not being a neglectful parent to play a game.)

Saving all of the time does not equal not fun or unexciting. It just means you don't have to be frustrated by not being able to save often.

Limiting saving to increase tension for the game breaks Story and Gameplay Segregation, making the tension fake and frustrating. Having a doomsday timer creates real tension that does not break SGaS, save points, not so much.

And as far as the current topic is going, you're arguing because you're backed into a corner where you cannot effectively have your perspective heard and respected. You are parroting everything you say over and over again, in much the same way that ineffectual debaters do.

I suggest returning the thread to the rails and continuing on with it.

Something I despise about games: Gratuitous bad language. Even when justifiable, having Eff this and Eff that all of the time wears on the senses.

 

[Sharm]

Okay, this has been argued to death, and since both sides are starting to dig trenches and call names I'm putting an end to it. Any more posts arguing about save anywhere options will be deleted.

 

[Makio-Kuta]

This can't even be real anymore.

Something I despise about games: Gratuitous bad language. Even when justifiable, having Eff this and Eff that all of the time wears on the senses.

This largely depends on the game for me. I hate things that throw around offensive language in general, but I think it can be warrented in some stories. Overall though, when they use it to try to exploit it as some sort of way to make the game 'edgy' and 'gritting' yeah, that's annoying. (I haven't run into this too much in RM games though)

 

[Sharm]

Well, he did say gratuitous.

 

[Kes]

Edit

content deleted as just seen mod post.

 

[Diretooth]

This largely depends on the game for me. I hate things that throw around offensive language in general, but I think it can be warrented in some stories. Overall though, when they use it to try to exploit it as some sort of way to make the game 'edgy' and 'gritting' yeah, that's annoying. (I haven't run into this too much in RM games though)

Generally, the use of a curse word can be useful in setting up characterization, or showing seriousness in a situation. Such as, one character using a lot of curse words because they don't follow societal norms. Or, in the case of the big bad of a game threatening to kill a loved one of the hero, the hero saying something with a precision f-strike in the middle of a sentence.

However, when every character, even the ------ grandma is saying eff this and eff that, then you know something's wrong.

 

[Chaos Avian]

Using profanity in games I think purely depends on the mood/ setting of the game. I mostly tend to see it comedies or games with really dark/ realistic undertones. And even then I prefer it to be done in a tasteful manner. When a character's vocabulary consists of prominent profanity (See House of The Dead Overkill) it gets old fast. It's like "Ok, let me count how many sentences this guy/ girl can go before they swear agai-- OH, yup there it is, didn't even finish."

God help me I don't accidentally pick up something called "Ghetto Wars" or "Hood-rat Ratchets" *shudders*

 

[Zoltor]

Using profanity in games I think purely depends on the mood/ setting of the game. I mostly tend to see it comedies or games with really dark/ realistic undertones. And even then I prefer it to be done in a tasteful manner. When a character's vocabulary consists of prominent profanity (See House of The Dead Overkill) it gets old fast. It's like "Ok, let me count how many sentences this guy/ girl can go before they swear agai-- OH, yup there it is, didn't even finish."

God help me I don't accidentally pick up something called "Ghetto Wars" or "Hood-rat Ratchets" *shudders*

This is a very iffy subject. censoring a game is very bad, so don't do that(if the situation calls for such, curse), but making every other word coming out of a char mouth a curse, is even worse.

Barratte from FF 7 does both of these things  unfortunately, which makes his chats annoying as hell to read, as well as make you not give a crap about the char's story, since in your mind, the only thing coming out of his mouth, is a curse word.

 

[Diretooth]

Well, there's a major difference between writing a character who uses curse words and outright censorship. In the FF7 example, that's more along the lines of Media Watchdogs and the Radar getting antsy, but the overuse of curse words is rife with stereotype and unfortunate implications, both which are bad writing.

 

[Zoltor]

Well, there's a major difference between writing a character who uses curse words and outright censorship. In the FF7 example, that's more along the lines of Media Watchdogs and the Radar getting antsy, but the overuse of curse words is rife with stereotype and unfortunate implications, both which are bad writing.

True, however that's more of a reason to cut out the cursing altogether in their case, but seeing how that's pretty much the entire point of that char, they couldn't do that(there would basically be no char left lol)..

 

[Diretooth]

That's when you substitute for lesser swears or nonsense words.

 

[Sharm]

I'm a big fan of replacement swearing that adds to world building.

 

[TheRiotInside]

Okay, this has been argued to death, and since both sides are starting to dig trenches and call names I'm putting an end to it. Any more posts arguing about save anywhere options will be deleted.

Can we still talk about stairs?

My issue with excessive profanity is not with the profanity itself, but the usual root of the issue: poor dialogue. If it is fitting for a character to swear profusely and you can make it believable enough, then objectively I have no problem with it. Too many times it is a result of bad conversation writing in general, which in my opinion is why it leaves such a sour taste in people's mouths (that, or being offended by profanity in the first place).

 

[Makio-Kuta]

I am the sort of person who is offended by profanity in the first place, but if the writing is good then I can (and have) actually get over my squicked out reaction to swearing. So I certainly agree that how profanity is handled is largely a reflection of good or poor writing/world building/characterization/story telling.

 

[Diretooth]

@Makio: What if the swear is in cipher? It would look like a completely different word, but would be the same in context.

 

[Makio-Kuta]

That doesn't bother me at all. ((well, I mean if it gets overused and poorly incorporated, that would still be a pain, but it doesn't give me that sour taste in my mouth and icky ringing in my ears that a lot of our swear words do.)) It's just the way I was raised--these are bad, don't ever use them or say them. It's very ingrained and so hearing other people use them really bothers me. Especially when it is every second word. But I wasn't raised to be offended by whatever the ciphers are in the world of the game.

 

[Chaos Avian]

Can we still talk about stairs?

Please no. xD

When I use it, it's only when it's a life or death situation, especially if the character is somewhat like me I'd think (would I swear if I was in the situation?) since I'm not really someone who spits profanity like it's coming out of business and use sparingly and when/ it necessary. (Oh man, I should NEVER make the MC from my VN go down to Essex xD)

It's very ingrained and so hearing other people use them really bothers me. Especially when it is every second word.

Don't ever visit London if that's the case~ :3

Another thing that bugs me in RPGs are characters. If characters are poorly written I don't care how good the story is, they would break it for me. And/ or when a villain is done TOO well (i.e. Hearing their name makes you want to throttle their throat ¬_¬). I like the villains that just so fabulous you can't exactly bring to hate, like Kefka, Psaro The Manslayer, heck even Lysandre from Pokemon X/Y and although not from an RPG Dio Brando from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. Also horribly cliche runners. Stock dense male lead, healer woman who wants the D but says nothing about it, etc.

 

[GammaVector]

You know what honestly bugs me? "OLOLOL I'M BREAKING THE FOURTH WALL AND MAKING META JOKES I R SOOOOO~ ORIGINAL~"


No. No you're not. Please stop. "But it's a deconstruction of the rpg genre! NO ONE HAS EVER THOUGHT OF THIS BEFORE!!!"


Hunny, it's been done. A lot. By much better devs than you or I will ever be. Stop it.


Re: Profanity:


Dragon Age handled this really, really well. There's the occasional "damn," and a few instances of "s***." Never is it used for "shock value," or "characterization" (eg my character is a badass so imma make him swear a lot BECAUSE I F***ING CAN). It's there in situations where, honestly, people are going to swear in real life. Even if their swear word of choice is "dangit," they're going to do it. Find out you missed the bad guy by five minutes? "Damn, we'd better hurry." One of your friends completely screws their relationship with their sweetheart? "S***. How're we gonna fix this?" It's subtle, and s*** only shows up every ~10 hours or so. Damn shows up probably every 3 or 4 hours. Now, I know what some people are thinking, "Alright, so it wasn't outright obnoxious, but it still didn't add anything to the story and therefore shouldn't be there!" But it actually did add something. It added a bit of atmosphere (this isn't a sanitized world with clear-cut goodguys and badguys, but rather a world with selfish people and helpful people and drunkards and pirates and idealistic knight-captains and dwarves who may or may not run the local mafia), and helped to remind the player to pay attention in certain cases. (When Aveline swears, you know something has gone horribly, horribly wrong.)

 

[Diretooth]

Re: Breaking the Fourth Wall

Unless the story has no fourth wall, breaking the fourth wall is a touchy and difficult thing. A side conversation where the main characters consider the possibility is known as leaning on the fourth wall and can be good for ironic effect. But, if every game you make has this, it can get old real fast.

A legendary pseudo-example also happens to be a spoiler for Star Ocean: Till the End of Time. If you have not played it, but want to, then skip the rest of this post.

In Star Ocean: TtEoT, or SO3, the main characters learn that they are characters in a video game, specifically an mmo, and that the godlike beings trying to end their existence, the Fourth Dimensional Beings, are really normal people. This both completely plays straight and subverts breaking the fourth wall and is a very well done twist.

 

[GammaVector]

RE: Fourth-Wall


I guess what I'm talking about is less carefully-done fourth-wall breakage and more...Well, games that are trying to do basically the same thing as You Are Not the Hero, but failing miserably to be funny. It's so terribly overdone anymore.