Development Cycle Archive
Thread: IC4: Path of the Jedi
Page 122 of 122
echo1371
Wed Aug 25, 2004 4:20 am
#1574
YES!!! The empire is not doing their job very well, yesterday alone I saw 6, 6 pc jedi. Running around out in the open, showing off. Why aren't they in hiding, cause they have nothing to fear. There needs to be a balance issue here, it shouldn't take 40 pc's to drop a lone jedi. On the same note, just giving everyone jedi is a bad idea, a very bad idea. Then it would be a bunch of jedi running around, no other proffessions would be pursued. The quests to become jedi should be hard, the reward is pretty good.
Bkiddin
Mon Aug 30, 2004 12:38 am
#1576
Make Light Jedi more interesting, everyone is already always a Dark Jedi.
Buka_Starwalker
Mon Sep 06, 2004 12:01 am
#1577
There needs to be more storylines that are non-linear in this game. Currently, we have a village quest system that assumes, based on the old man appearance, that we want to work against the Sith. We have no choice in the matter. The crystal must be relinquished to progress to get to the village. Why does SOE assume we want to work against the Sith? Creating a pick-your-path stage, in terms of story, should allow a toon to choose the path they will ultimately lead as a jedi (or anything else in this game for that matter). The choices in story currently are primarily based on SKILL SETS. +5 lightsaber this, +10 doohickey that, WHO CARES, the bigger picture is let US decide how to accomplish these skills. We are being railroaded by the linear quests into the same outcome that everyone who takes the quest gets. My quest outcome, and reward and story text is identical to everyone who chooses to talk to the same NPC. No diversification. Let me vent for a bit, cause after 6 months of waiting for this patch to get this junk is mind numbing. Then I will get to my suggestions.
Waiting 6 months for patch 10that has so little content is pathetic. How about building a story around the old man. How creative for a name, "an old man"! Why can't he even have a name? Do any characters in the movies that play a major role have titles like "a shuttle driver". Comon SOE, we need more thought put into even little stuff like this! Little details like this build something called IMMERSION. If you are generic in your approach, well guess what the outcome will be, generic fun.
Some "old man" comes running up to you in the middle of nowhere, hands you a crystal and disappears and the whole transaction takes place with only 2 sentences???? Who is this guy? Why me? Why was I chosen? Don't I get to choose here which side of light or dark I want to pursue? WHERE IS THE STORY THAT INVOLVES STAR WARS??? WHERE IS THE IMMERSION INTO THE ROLE we all play here? This is what people have waited all this time for a real storyline. When was the last story? 4 months ago beforedevs werepulled to do JTL, which will have more linear content? We should have a mandatory story thread EACH AND EVERY MONTH that expands the breadth of this universe as #1 priority for this game. THEN, build the skill sets, weapons, gear, spaceships that are needed to accelerate the gamebased around those stories. You guys are working BACKWARDS. Its 2 patches of Jedi, JTL, combat revamp, THEN GCW? Why am I holding this DE-10? Why am I using this mandolorian armor? Whats the point of having these and other toys without a story that unfolds slowly over time? Stop giving out skill set sets and Jedi abilities without a story to fuel this entire deal. Otherwise, guess what, we have more grinding to get jedi slot in this village's quests. But for what purpose? Granted the village is being attacked and all that but how does this village relate to the bigger picture?
The level of immersion into the seems to be create patch X > create content based on patch X> create patch Y > create content based on patch Y. They the missions in this village in no way relate to any other mission from any other theme parks. They are all stand alone and linear in progression. Then lets say, if you have done the second quest for Han Solo you will actually get different text, mission and reward in the Villagefrom someone who hasn't done the second quest for Han solo or 3rd quest for Darth Vador as examples. The Theme parks should all be intertwined like a web and choices in one affect the outcome in another theme park. The current system has no diversification between toons performing the samequests.
If the story was slowly unfolding then trying to get skills like vehicular control because u need to become a better swoop racer or fly an X-Wing at greater efficeincy to take out specific gun emplacements on a Star Destroyer would have more meaning. But without a story to give us a reason to pick these and other abilities abilities, whats the point? So we can buff up, kill each other and log off only to repeat this whole process the next day? The skills and abilities you grant us in these quests have no meaning for anyone now. The quests themselves are completely linear and getting force persuation, for example is retarded. If there was a bigger plot that would allow for this skill or some explanation why we need it then the grind to get it would be way more tolerable cause someone would know, "hey, once I get this skill I will be able to sneak into that star destroyer undetected and disable its shields!" Do you see what I mean? No story to revolve around getting a new schematic and there is no ABSOLUTE REASON TO GET IT OTHER THEN BRAGGING RIGHTS!
If you guys need to pull a dev away from creatingmore story in this gameto make a new patch or create expansions (like JTL that will be just as linear contentwise as land based quests are) then HIRE MORE PEOPLE!!! SWG falls under SONY Online Entertainment not Joe and Bob's Online Entertainment. It's not like Sony isn't one of THE biggest and richest companies on this planet!!!! HIRE MORE PEOPLE, CREATE MORE JOBS!!!! The stories in this gameshould bethe CORE of this game and that cool jetpack is just a small widget in how the story unfolds. To get a jetpack, for example, should not be the endgame for people since in the bigger scheme of being a bounty hunter, tailor or jedi, WITH A PURPOSE, in this galaxy will fuel the desire to get these items. Effort on the writers to create an immersive story in SWG will lead to an effort on the players part to partake in this ongoing war. Right now, you are putting the cart before the horse. We will have jet packs and x-wings and other nonsense BUT FOR WHAT REASON???? The story needs to progress us and the items to complete the story get released to coincide with the plot. Not the other way around. Currently we have more junk being thrown at us in terms of loot drops or quest item rewards withlittlepurpose to em except for bragging rights in the big picture of things.
JTL is gonna be more mechanics and niftygraphics and only LINEAR content!!! If we receive a non linear story line thats akin to the level, of lets say, Neverwinter Nights puts into their game, it would be absolutely incredible. I would strongly suggest you guys fire up that game and see how the progression of the interface between the NPC and the player leads a player down the correctpath in the bigger scheme but you get different jouneys before u get there. And the its the JOURNEY in the story thats supposed to be the fun not the getting there. Its more based on a pick-your-path sort of journey. Right now the journey in SWGis still grinding after u read a few sentences of text. The story needs more depth to it to make it plausible.Even after patch 10 you have to grind away to get Jedi. Where is the non-linear story to fuel the need for this grind? There is only ONE ultimate choice you have with each npc you talk to and once your done talking to them you have a quest and then again more linear progression to complete the sequence. Let us pick our own path the way Neverwinter NIghts does in their NPC interaction system. If SWG had some sort of interaction of this caliber OMG this game would take on new heights!
SOE, how about creating audible speech for the NPC? How about creating non-linear communication with the NPC? You have several choices and based on what you say back to the NPC determines your path in the quests and locks you out of performingthe otherquests. This will force players to choose WISELY for themselves. And I'm not talking choices in skills boxes here but choices in intelligent story threads. And take a few days to create more npc interactive NPCtext. Reading a 4 series of sentences at best is lamebefore yougo on to do your mission. Have each NPC have more depth to their personality when talking to them. Each choice branches you off into unknown territory so that EVERYONE who talks to the same NPC does not get theSAME outcome and the SAME loot and the SAME speech text. BOOOOORIIIINGGGG!!!! If you choose one path talking to an NPC you get "this" outcome for more series of quests and"this" reward and are locked out from doing other quests based on your series of choices. This will also foster more trading and commerce between players as well since they won't be able to procur the same items if they talk to the same npc becuase their path will differ. Now the quests are based on text 1 > text 2 > text 3 > mission > reward. Rinse and repeat for the next mission.This is way too linear and above all BORING! It should be:
choice 1 > mission > reward 1 (locked out from doing choice 2 and 3)
choice 2 > mission > reward 2 (locked out from doing choice1and 3)
choice 3 > mission > reward 3 (locked out from doing choice1and 2)
All it takes is hiring some writers!! You know those people, the ones that aren't left-brainedcoders but people who are creative and think outside the box!!! You need more REAL writers and if you are wanting for lack of inspiration, how about picking up any of the already 35+ Star Wars paperback novels. OMG, I would love to have quests that are akin to the Tales of the Bounty Hunters series of stories. There is all your content RIGHT THERE!!!
Most peopleWOULD RATHER HAVE MORE STAR WARS STORY AND PLOT then more graphical goodies bells and whistles.Take Hollywood as an example, the best special effects moviessuck if the storyline sucks as well. Once the oooh and ahhh of the special effects wears off, what you are left is remembering and talking about is the STORY and not a special effect. Even the Matrix special effects are now duplicated in other movies, but the storyline is still what I remember the best and has yet to be duplicated. Or how about a plot line akin to a David Brin novel? The way he weaves a story by jumping around in the plot is almost unparralled in writing. And since this isn't a book we will be able to pick how the story outcome unfolds for our toon. My quest progression will be unique to me and only a few handful people not EVERYONE who takes the samequest. This will allow ppl to specialize in certain areas based on their completed quest even if they areidentical tailors or bounty hunters based on their profession skill boxes. The game as it stands has cool gear and awesome graphics but no story in the big picture. We shouldn't have to wait 1 1/2 - 2 years to get the story rolling along. Becoming a Jedi or fighting the GCW is cool but give a reason why and how our toon fits into the bigger picture. The story has to start NOW. We shouldn't have to wait for the GCW revamp to figure out whywe chose the quests in the Village to get the melee accuracy tree under combat prowess.
Don't you get it SOE, a grind is a grind is a grind but if there is more story then it makes it more bearable. It doesn't make a difference if you are in space or on land you still have to grind but having a more complete immersion into the world of Star Wars is the reason most of us evenbought this game! The GCW and the fight between forces of good versus badis the endgame in this game and NOT jedi. They are just another weaponeach sides arsenal to combat one another.Non-Jedis like Lando Calrisian (sp?) showed how great of an impact he had on taking out the 2nd Death Star when he came charging in like the cavalry.If you notice in the movie, jedi's have their own war going on far away from the actual battle in space. Darth Vador, the Emperor and Luke are very far in the window compared to the actual battle. But I digress.
Having an NPC say 2 sentences then disappear is NOT immersion into the story. I mean how lame! 6 months of wait to get the process started with a 2 sentence deal? Couldnt you guys have come up with the groundwork a little better? And the siths barely say anything before theydie? Heck, maybe I want to be rewarded by the Siths for giving them my crystal? Maybesomeone would have liked to become a Sith by working for them? The wasted potential in actually creating a diversified storyline that leads to eitherlight or dark branches of progressive quests was totally missed right there. 
Why are we always led to assume we want to follow the path the devs create for us in this linear fashion of story thread like sheep? And the village quests, OMG, don't even get me started! The Captain's 80 patrol points you have to do is boooooooooring. The person who thought of that quest should be fired! (again more venting)
Why are we always led to assume we want to follow the path the devs create for us in this linear fashion of story thread like sheep? And the village quests, OMG, don't even get me started! The Captain's 80 patrol points you have to do is boooooooooring. The person who thought of that quest should be fired! (again more venting)GIVEUS THE CHOICE to decide onthe path in this game not have some linear quest system thatwe must follow without any thought like a monkey on a string. This is LAME-O!!!!! We deserve better then this! We waited so long!!!
Message Edited by Buka_Starwalker on 09-05-2004 12:29 PM
Solen80
Sun Sep 12, 2004 11:56 am
#1578
Thuderheart , for ideas on quests, you should look to ancient Chinese history.
Almost everything of what a Jedi stands for is based of a Taoist principles.
Anyone who has read any works dealing with Tao will realize this.
It is based mainly off of:
The Tao that can be explained is not the eternal Tao...
In where Tao is viewed and the force that binds the universe together.
Sound a little bit like "The Force"? Wonder where Lucas got his ideas...
Almost everything of what a Jedi stands for is based of a Taoist principles.
Anyone who has read any works dealing with Tao will realize this.
It is based mainly off of:
The Tao that can be explained is not the eternal Tao...
In where Tao is viewed and the force that binds the universe together.
Sound a little bit like "The Force"? Wonder where Lucas got his ideas...
Jediforcefighter
Thu Mar 31, 2005 11:21 pm
#1579
I have to agree with Inferno_Intellgence about you getting jedi footprints from everything that you do. But the flaw is that players would have to be trained by another jedi is not a good idea. If that were to happen there would be a complete imbalance in the force because players of opposing faction, that know your guild, or who you are, they wont want totrain you. And to add, mostly one faction side would achieve jedi, which would be unfair to others.
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