I think the strangest fact about all this is that people seem to have just forgotten that sidequests used to be good and have accepted fetch quests. The Witcher 3 is lauded for having meaningful quests, and while the praise is earned because I simply cannot stress how amazing the side content is (like seriously, you're not even getting half of the actual experience if you just stick to the main story - and I mean in a quality sense, rather than quantity), I feel is should be praised more for bringing it back, instead. I myself completely forgot that this is how things actually used to be before replaying the Infinity Engine games. Still, here's hoping that the quest structure for the Witcher, combined with its great success, is just the first case of a major comeback to meaningful side content. I'm not exactly thrilled about Cyberpunk, but I hope they stick to that formula for this and that it will be another huge success, so other RPGs just have no choice but to follow.
If I had to make an educated guest, it was a combination of Bethesda's Elder Scrolls/Fallout 3 in the West, while for Japan, it was likely Monster Hunter. I also wouldn't be surprised if MMO's like FFXI and WoW didn't play a huge part in all of this as well. But yeah, this is a weird gaming trend that kicked off in the mid 00s and has sadly stayed for some reason or another whereas more interesting side quests have greatly diminished over time. I imagine it's simply because these fetch quest style quests are just easy to program for and people mistake quantity for quality.
So I've noticed that in Torment, the sidequests remind me a lot of the Witcher 3 - there's fewer of them and they don't involve collecting vendor trash, and instead they are just smaller self-contained stories that are actually interesting and worth looking into just for the plots connected to them, rather than for the experience or reward. Then I remembered that Baldur's Gate was pretty much the same and that made me realize that this isn't a new thing - rather, old school RPGs put way more care and attention into a smaller pool of quests, as opposed to the practice that has become the norm, i.e. a huge number of quests that all amount to bringing people random trash. And now I wonder what was the turning point. Was it the MMOs that influenced the genre so much? Or was it Skyrim? I haven't actually played Skyrim so I can't really tell, though I do remember Morrowind's quests being fairly unremarkable (but then maybe I just don't get Morrowind because people praise the lore so much but I don't care about the world if I just have to read the in-game text instead of organically learning it through the game's story, but that's a topic for another day, I guess).
It's always fun when you discover those type of connections. My favorite dub of Castle of Caliagstro has Lupin III played by a young David Hayter. Interesting to hear a non-gruff Solid Snake trying to play a gentlemen thief.
So I've recently learned one of the characters in Torment is voiced by Walter Skinner himself, Mitch Pileggi, and I had a small existential crisis because I would never have guessed it just from hearing
I'm kind of the same? I've become really numb to being scared, and even though I love writing horror as a genre, I feel that reaching that real creep factor is far more difficult to me than conveying a general feel of unease, depression, and the uncanny. Which is precisely why I used 'spooky' instead of 'scary' And yeah, I figured as much and, as usual, don't worry. It's all good. I know we share pretty big messages and it can get pretty overwhelming to get to them, what with real life getting in the way.
I'm not sure if my story is even scary. More depressing than anything if I'm going to be honest. I've been learning that I don't really scare that easily. I think I'm going more for a SH2 vibe of just feeling overwhelming oppressed and drowned in negativity than actually scary. I'll get back to the Mognet Message to answer your questions soon. The last few weeks have been a little crazy for me.
Yeah, I know what you mean. These ideas can eaily get out of hand. Coming up with something that will be spooky, clever and brief all at once is pretty nerve-wracking.
Lol, its understandable. I've dabbled in some Amnesia the Dark Descent which has been interesting despite being pretty simplistic. I have my PS2 hooked back up, but my mind is too occupied with other things to start up SH3. I have a story I may submit that I had planned on doing for a contest last month. It needs a bit of rewrite because it starting going into a direction I didn't care for. The story wants to be longer, but I keep feeling like it's at odds with what I'm trying to do. I had a similar issue with the "I Think..." story I submitted two years ago. They want to be longer but it's murdering the pacing and tension.
Yeah, I feel Torment may be much more up your alley, but I still recommend Baldur's Gate to everyone that I can, because it's a seriously great RPG experience that's kind of a miracle, considering it was made by a bunch of doctors who had never made a video game before? Yeah, I've pretty much resigned myself to just cooking some nice seasonal food and maybe dressing up my kid. I guess Totment will have to suffice for Halloween entertainment, though I might as well beat it by then since it's short. I also really need to come up with a story idea because I totally slept on this this year.
