Re: Cultural identities of the settings in adventure-RPGs
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2018 5:13 pm
There's one screen of field/orchard, but it's implied to be much bigger than just that. And just to be really clear, I'm not criticizing the game for that sort of symbolic representation. Walking through an actual-size valley in real time would get really dull. And showing many streets full of residential buildings you can't enter wouldn't have much effect beyond annoying thieves (all of them would happen to have the door barred from the inside).
It's just something interesting to think about: even if you see every building/room/street/whatever in the game, that doesn't mean that those are only ones present in the location that the game is portraying.
As for Daventry, that's at the extreme end of player-centric design. Especially in the original KQ1, I'd say there's zero attempt at worldbuilding (i.e. making a believable setting which could plausibly have come to its current state and which could continue to "work" outside the story being told). It's all just puzzles and puzzle solutions. The entire visible human population there consists of Edward, Graham, the woodcutter and his wife, and the random sorceror. If you want to guess at what Daventry "really" looks like, the game doesn't even give you a starting point.
I do think Heroine's Quest should get credit for how it deals with NPCs. Instead of just standing around in one place, they move around and do their own thing. I think it's still just following a fixed schedule each day (aside from the special events), but it's a huge difference over how it works in the QfG games and does a lot for making the characters and the world feel alive.
It's just something interesting to think about: even if you see every building/room/street/whatever in the game, that doesn't mean that those are only ones present in the location that the game is portraying.
As for Daventry, that's at the extreme end of player-centric design. Especially in the original KQ1, I'd say there's zero attempt at worldbuilding (i.e. making a believable setting which could plausibly have come to its current state and which could continue to "work" outside the story being told). It's all just puzzles and puzzle solutions. The entire visible human population there consists of Edward, Graham, the woodcutter and his wife, and the random sorceror. If you want to guess at what Daventry "really" looks like, the game doesn't even give you a starting point.
I do think Heroine's Quest should get credit for how it deals with NPCs. Instead of just standing around in one place, they move around and do their own thing. I think it's still just following a fixed schedule each day (aside from the special events), but it's a huge difference over how it works in the QfG games and does a lot for making the characters and the world feel alive.
When I was reading Beowulf, I wasn't sure what it reminded me of.
While waiting for Volund to open up shop in the early game, for instance, my heroine was always either practicing her skills or resting. It was made clear that Volund - and the rest of the 'shop-keepers' - were not simply there for the heroine's benefit. They had lives of their own; and although I'm not sure what Volund does before opening his shop, I'm not sure that my heroine rogue can find out (or wants to)!