So I thought this was an interesting question that hasn't been put into a poll yet (If it has, my apologies.. though I did my diligence and went all the way back to 2008 poll topics to make sure).
For me personally, I am expecting a LOT from the story of Diablo 3. I want it to be immersive, coherent and personally meaningful. I want to feel a part of an unfolding epic saga during every minute of gameplay.. If D3 just ends up a dungeon crawler with an unintelligible story that's completely overshadowed by loot and grinding, I'll be very disappointed.
But more specifically, I want Diablo LORE, i.e. the history of the diablo universe, to be very coherently explained, and utilized as the driving mechanism of the story. I want in-game events that tell the story NOT through picking up tomes, but by creative ways of in-game storytelling. Voice-overs to me is cheap exposition, only one step better than tucking lore away in a book no one will ever read.
A good story is one that tells itself, and requires no long-winded exposition (i.e. lore books or boring conversation wheels).
Your thoughts are more than welcome. I'm curious if I'm in a minority here.
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"Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions."
-Thomas Jefferson
I want tons of lore. Piles of it, but I don't want it to be shoved in my face, because when you're replaying a game and you have all these lore cutscenes and progression lore it can get tedious. I want it to be optional, in the form of books, side quests, optional conversation with NPCs, that sort of thing.
I really hope they have alot of lore in the game. I am a diablo lore junky
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If we could somehow make this
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By helping a neighbor
Or even a stranger
And to know who needs help
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I prefer when story is not invasive or forced on me... too much. And I don't really expect dialogues with options in this game.
Why wouldn't we have optional dialogue? I don't mean like a choice wheel, I mean like... you don't have to talk to them but you can. Like in D2 you could talk to the NPC's about other NPC's and places and stuff.
If npc's dont gossip in D3 im going to be pissed.............
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www.myspace.com/mpotatoes for all your Trans Siberian Orchestra listening pleasure
If you want to arrange it
This world you can change it
If we could somehow make this
Christmas thing last
By helping a neighbor
Or even a stranger
And to know who needs help
You need only just ask
I really don't see why they wouldn't with all the stuff they've added going on in side quests etc. The follower quests will have some lore, some of the random quests may have some unimportant just for fun lore, so keeping gossip in the game seems right. They want people to be able to find it if you look for it, but not have it shoved in your face, at least that's what I've come to believe.
7:10 in we hear Jay Wilson say that Diablo 3 will contain more quests, story, and events than the previous games. Then you see the Barbarian talking to Cain. I don't expect a dialogue wheel like the more hardcore RPGs this is after all a hacknslash dungeon crawler, but D2 had a lot of gossip.
I know you aren't talking about gossip, you're talking about dialogue wheels and choices now.
My hope is that lore will be elegantly revealed and integrated as a part of gameplay, not exposition. "Show me" as opposed to "Tell me." If it's tucked away in books, well ok, that's an admission that lore is kind of a mid-afternoon snack, as far as the gameplay is concerned. Not essential, but if you get a bit hungry between meals, it can fill you up a bit.
Far more effective is exposing lore naturally, and telling the story with a minumum of words and talking. Great stories are told through the actual sequence and pacing of encounters. A good example of this is one of my favorite all-time games: Myst. Now obviously that's a completely different school of game, but that method of storytelling can be applied to any genre, imo, by using the genre's mechanics not for the sake of themselves, but for the sake of the story.
Obviously the setting itself plays a huge role, both the macro setting (act) and the micro-setting (regions within each act). The monster types can help tell the story. The way gear drops change, how the visual/functional design of those drops apply to the region and support the story of that region.. Quests and puzzles to solve. ALL that stuff can directly move the story, and in so doing, reveal the lore of the Diablo universe.
If done mindfully and elegantly, there should be many layers to the literary devices in-game, such that a casual player can have fun hack n' slashing while ignoring the lore/story; or, the serious gamer can start peeling back layers of the onion.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions."
-Thomas Jefferson
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For me personally, I am expecting a LOT from the story of Diablo 3. I want it to be immersive, coherent and personally meaningful. I want to feel a part of an unfolding epic saga during every minute of gameplay.. If D3 just ends up a dungeon crawler with an unintelligible story that's completely overshadowed by loot and grinding, I'll be very disappointed.
But more specifically, I want Diablo LORE, i.e. the history of the diablo universe, to be very coherently explained, and utilized as the driving mechanism of the story. I want in-game events that tell the story NOT through picking up tomes, but by creative ways of in-game storytelling. Voice-overs to me is cheap exposition, only one step better than tucking lore away in a book no one will ever read.
A good story is one that tells itself, and requires no long-winded exposition (i.e. lore books or boring conversation wheels).
Your thoughts are more than welcome. I'm curious if I'm in a minority here.
-Thomas Jefferson
I prefer when story is not invasive or forced on me... too much. And I don't really expect dialogues with options in this game.
If you want to arrange it
This world you can change it
If we could somehow make this
Christmas thing last
By helping a neighbor
Or even a stranger
And to know who needs help
You need only just ask
Why wouldn't we have optional dialogue? I don't mean like a choice wheel, I mean like... you don't have to talk to them but you can. Like in D2 you could talk to the NPC's about other NPC's and places and stuff.
If you want to arrange it
This world you can change it
If we could somehow make this
Christmas thing last
By helping a neighbor
Or even a stranger
And to know who needs help
You need only just ask
Diablo II was entirely monologue, your characte rnever said a word.
7:10 in we hear Jay Wilson say that Diablo 3 will contain more quests, story, and events than the previous games. Then you see the Barbarian talking to Cain. I don't expect a dialogue wheel like the more hardcore RPGs this is after all a hacknslash dungeon crawler, but D2 had a lot of gossip.
I know you aren't talking about gossip, you're talking about dialogue wheels and choices now.
I want there to be plenty of lore and little pockets of story floating in the world, but for me the most important thing is hackin' and slashin'.
I wanna be a click ass.
For some reason, I really want to fight Astrogha and learn more about him. Like, really bad.
Far more effective is exposing lore naturally, and telling the story with a minumum of words and talking. Great stories are told through the actual sequence and pacing of encounters. A good example of this is one of my favorite all-time games: Myst. Now obviously that's a completely different school of game, but that method of storytelling can be applied to any genre, imo, by using the genre's mechanics not for the sake of themselves, but for the sake of the story.
Obviously the setting itself plays a huge role, both the macro setting (act) and the micro-setting (regions within each act). The monster types can help tell the story. The way gear drops change, how the visual/functional design of those drops apply to the region and support the story of that region.. Quests and puzzles to solve. ALL that stuff can directly move the story, and in so doing, reveal the lore of the Diablo universe.
If done mindfully and elegantly, there should be many layers to the literary devices in-game, such that a casual player can have fun hack n' slashing while ignoring the lore/story; or, the serious gamer can start peeling back layers of the onion.
-Thomas Jefferson