diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index 36b17ef..ffa9256 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -60,23 +60,24 @@ Morrowind never *explicitly* answers what *exactly* happened to the dwarves - Ya * [ ] navigating vivec - each canton's location is intuitive. No other game would let you be confused by it - even reference in game that people can't navigate it. but hlaalu is as close as possible to ebonheart, the foreign quarter is where you're going to land when you arrive by boat or silt strider, redoran is at the heart, telvanni is close to the center of the country. Vivec's palace is secluded peacefully with the waterfront view, and the temple is the one between him and it all. Saint something-or-other and the other guy are between the temple and the normies. I think you go foreign -> arena? that would make sense. * [x] more on Navigating with your Brain: finding the cup in kogoruhn. [1:15:34] *deep breath* cup: check. back to my Treasured Pile Of Crap, and we're recalling home. You may hear that i'm a bit exhausted from backtracking every step of this place since I happened to miss it the first time I was in here. And maybe that makes you think this is bad game design, that it should have been utterly unmissable, like with a quest marker. I disagree. This is exactly the ashkahn's test. He wanted me to comb over this dungeon, and pay attention. I did it wrong, and having to search the entire stronghold is the consequence that teaches me to keep my eyes open. There's a sort of mood out there that video games must give you nothing but happy good feelings at every moment. That's the design philosophy of someone who doesn't really like to play video games. -I think it's more clear if we focus on PVP. -I'm not great at mortal kombat. But I have some skill. If I play with people who are *vastly* better than me, It's not fun - I can't do anything, I'm just waiting until the game is over. But imagine approaching it from the other side - imagine setting up a console in an elementary school, and racking up double-flawlesses on children for hours and hours and hours. Wouldn't that also be boring? +* [x] I think it's more clear if we focus on PVP. +* [x] I'm not great at mortal kombat. But I have some skill. If I play with people who are *vastly* better than me, It's not fun - I can't do anything, I'm just waiting until the game is over. But imagine approaching it from the other side - imagine setting up a console in an elementary school, and racking up double-flawlesses on children for hours and hours and hours. Wouldn't that also be boring? ## it's possible to roleplay -* [ ] you can make your own story. Like actually though. As long as you free yourself from the need to see credits roll. talk about that - XCOM will roll credits when you die, and we're happy to not count that. Nier Automata has lots of endings, but we add our own assertions about which are more "real" than others. -* [ ] here's my "primary", here after the end of all things: z'app. He'll do the main quest. -* [ ] here's my murderhobo: Not Important. Goal: murder every NPC. or at least, every NPC in a cell that has a square. -* [ ] with murderhobo, bring up "Persist in the doomed world you've created" -* [ ] here's my coveter: Cementha. Goal: 1 million gold. also, fuck it, i have 2 dudes so this one's a girl. -* [ ] chim starts when you want to avoid "cheese" - exploiting the jank. Now you're roleplaying. +* [x] you can make your own story. Like actually though. As long as you free yourself from the need to see credits roll. talk about that - XCOM will roll credits when you die, and we're happy to not count that. Nier Automata has lots of endings, but we add our own assertions about which are more "real" than others. +* [x] here's my "primary", here after the end of all things: Samael. He'll do the main quest. +* [x] here's my murderhobo: Not Important. Goal: murder every NPC. or at least, every NPC in a cell that has a square. +* [x] with murderhobo, bring up "Persist in the doomed world you've created" +* [x] here's my coveter: Cementha. Goal: 1 million gold. also, fuck it, i have 2 dudes so this one's a girl. +* [x] chim starts when you want to avoid "cheese" - exploiting the jank. Now you're roleplaying. + ## some things we've lost * [ ] water walking, water breathing. in what other game would that matter? * [ ] lateral move at best, oblivion to skyrim: removal of spellcrafting. todd howard: "spellcrafting makes magic feel spreadsheety". fair, but did skyrim deliver on non-spreadsheety magic? and to that end.. the spreadsheet is a necessary evil. if looking through a spreadsheet lets me levitate, fine. -* [ ] having to navigate using your FUCKING BRAIN is a good thing. show Bacola Closcious giving directions "go out the front door - not the upper door to the terrace". show that 3rd imperial legion quest where they point you to the ashlander camp. +* [x] having to navigate using your FUCKING BRAIN is a good thing. show Bacola Closcious giving directions "go out the front door - not the upper door to the terrace". show that 3rd imperial legion quest where they point you to the ashlander camp. ## flexibility diff --git a/script artifacts/script.md b/script artifacts/script.md index c125ed6..5b5a15b 100644 --- a/script artifacts/script.md +++ b/script artifacts/script.md @@ -24,26 +24,30 @@ Consider Nier: Automata. It famously has lots of endings. Most would consider en Now let's consider morrowind. [Footage of samael] -Here's my primary file, Samael. His goal is to seek new experiences. he did the main quest. +Here's my primary file, Samael. +[Samael (the swedish metal band), Slavocracy] I wish, that I could, take you by the hand, lead you through blurry visions, and give you access to your own self +His goal is to seek new experiences. he did the main quest. [//TODO: double check] In morrowind, the way to get the credits to roll is to select them in the menu. -The game doesn't privilege the main quest as more real than any other quest line. Or whatever else you do. the game says "you're on your own now, good luck", and it means it. -[Footage of cementha] -Let's look at another file. I forget why I named her Cementha. Her goal is to make 1 million gold. she came out of the census and excise office, dropped her "orders" on the ground, and started making money moves. -Turns out, ra'virr restocks his fiend/devil weaponry, so you buy what he has, get sent to caldera, do a quick creeper shuffle, back to balmora to do it all again. -So that file is basically solved, and I'm bored with it. Guess she didn't achieve CHIM. (we'll come back to CHIM later.) - -Let me harp on assassin's creed again: number 2 was almost comically generous with the money it gave you. Altair, as a murder-monk, did not take part in economy in any way. Ezio swam across Italy on a wave of gold. Screed 2 did not balance its economy such that money mattered. -Morrowind does. Money makes the world go 'round. So building up a lot of it does actually matter. -Unfortunately I know too much, maybe I should restart that file with a clause that I can't use creeper. or the mudcrab. (I think I remember a 3rd creature merchant somewhere?) - +The game barely privileges the main quest as more real than any other quest line. Or whatever else you do. the game says "you're on your own now, good luck", and it means it. [character creation in mw] -How about another quest. Check out this orc. +Check out this orc. [Jiub] now, what's your name? [from the opening cinematic of Hatred] My name is not important. [show Not Important's character sheet for a beat] His goal is to kill every NPC in the game. But we'll let him train, and build up some money first - so he starts in the imperial legion. Otherwise, the first town guard will just one-shot you, game over. [show exactly that] +When he kills someone vital to the main quest, the game pops up a window to lay its cards on the table; you are absolutely free to follow your dreams - but in this file, you won't be following the main quest. Later Elder Scrolls games would not allow you to kill some NPCs - you will do the quest their game lays out for you, anything you want to do in the meantime is a begrudgingly tolerated way to waste time. +[Footage of cementha] +Let's look at another file. I forget why I named her Cementha. Fully embracing the undeniable truth that money makes the world go 'round, her goal is to make 1 million gold. she came out of the census and excise office, dropped her "orders" on the ground, and started making money moves. +[//TODO: how do I want the VA to pronounce "fiend/devil"? "fiend and devil"? "fienddevil"? "find slash devil"] +Turns out, ra'virr restocks his fiend/devil weaponry, so you buy what he has, get sent to caldera, do a quick creeper shuffle, back to balmora to do it all again. +So that file is basically solved, and I'm bored with it. Guess she didn't achieve CHIM. (we'll come back to CHIM later.) + +Let me harp on assassin's creed again: number 2 was almost comically generous with the money it gave you. Altair, as a murder-monk, did not take part in economy in any way. Ezio swam across Italy on a wave of gold. Screed 2 did not balance its economy such that money mattered. +Morrowind does. Money makes the world go 'round. So building up a lot of it does actually matter. +Unfortunately I know too much, maybe I should restart that file with a clause that I can't use creeper. or the mudcrab. +[//TODO: 3rd creature merchant?] ## morrowind will let you be bad at it @@ -59,3 +63,16 @@ If you're a certified, card-carrying morroboomer, you've heard people's number o Let's look at an example quest: kogoruhn. The Ashkahn wants us to prove our worth by clearing kogoruhn out. maybe that makes you think this is bad game design, that it should have been utterly unmissable, like with a quest marker. I disagree. This is exactly the ashkahn's test. He wanted me to comb over this dungeon, and pay attention. I did it wrong, and having to search the entire stronghold is the consequence that teaches me to keep my eyes open. + +[show the meme of the guy with such an oversized brain he reclines in it] +having to navigate using your massive human brain is a good thing. +[show Bacola Closcious giving directions "go out the front door - not the upper door to the terrace". Go out the upper door to the terrace. Show the corresponding dent-head opposite of the guy reclining in his brain meme. Go back inside. Have Thanos' face over Bacola Closcious.] +[thanos/Bacola Closcious] you couldn't deal with your failure. and where did it lead you? back to me. +[show that 3rd imperial legion quest where they point you to the ashlander camp.] + +Navigation is only the most obvious way to point out: the way to be bad at morrowind is to refuse to engage with it. For example, imagine if there was a massive, immersive, hand-crafted world, but you just opened the pause menu and selected "fast travel". +[show footage of doing so in oblivion] + +## travel + +In