Discussion : How to boost Alexander attractiveness ?

[Februs]

How about we don't make the goblins fight over a cheesemake, we get A LOT more of the super-steampunky, dark, smokey look that you get at the A1 entrance and some deep, overarching plot other than "robot awoke, will destroy world - plz kill".

Coil had a real draw in terms of presentation and story. Alex really doesn't. Hell, the reason I came back to the game in 2.4 after a six-month break is because I'd finally have the chance to finish it. Fight Bahamut, put an end to the epic struggle that was presented so well in the opening cinematic.

I feel like that opening cinematic packed a lot of punch into the intrigue of getting into Bahamut in the first place. Even though Bahamut is not technically part of the MSQ, during the entire time you play through the main story you are wondering "Where is Bahamut? / When will I see Bahamut? / What will Bahamut's role be?" etc. The opening cutscene really drives it into you, because you don't know what happened. So, when you get to the end and you hear the roar, you're like, "dude... now we're finally getting somewhere." That cutscene made me wait all MSQ for the resolution, because it built a tiny bit of underlying story within it that made me wanna know where it was going.

Alexander lacks that, and I think the fact that he had no cutscene to build up excitement and intrigue has a lot to do with it. I Know it's not easy or cost efficient for SE to just pump out compelling CG cutscenes on a whim, but I think some kind of scene that shows the threat of Alexander, or maybe some history... anything, really, would be nice to help build that driving interest. The concept art of Alexander was what made me interested in him in the first place (it was very majestic and intimidating), but the actual implementation of him has all but killed that little spark of excitement. There's just not enough story in Alexander to interest me, and what little story there is seems barely related to Alexander himself. He's just... there. The way this is now they could have replaced him with anything (like some kind of death ray) and it would read the same. Kind of a let down, really.

[seekified]

Lots of good points

Agreed. With Bahamut, we went from this:


... To this:



Whereas with Alexander, we kinda went from this:



... To this:



And it just sort of happened with no more drama than Cid clamouring in the background and goblins going #yolo #cheesemake.

Other than that, the fights just don't feel epic. Granted, Coil T2 wasn't that fancy either but all turns had a looming sense of extreme danger about them. We definitely haven't seen all that Alexander has to offer yet so there's a lot of room for fun stuff, but the build-up was non-existent.

[Februs]

[QUOTE=seekified;3367626] Good photo evidence.[/IMG]

I totally agree. Even now, looking at the picture makes me be like, "ALEXANDER!!!" And I want to go right into the raid... and then I remember what the raid turned into, and the stupid cheese-mongering lack luster steam punk rooms and I just get deflated.

T2 was good because it gave you a sense of a maze-like environment when you first went into it. I remember being like, "okay... so this is a place that I can easily get lost and die within... lovely..." Alexander is more contained and seems tiny by comparison. It should give me a sense of claustrophobia, but I'm too busy facerolling over enemies to feel any sense of threat, especially because all of the threats come from the goblins. Alexander just sits there while the termites play around with his insides.

A1's design showed promise. The hallway and room leading up to Faust made me feel confined and trapped, and the steam pipes made me think that Alexander might get up and move, or have some sort of internal defense system. But, by the time you get to the final boss it's just goblins throwing tinker toys at you and all sense of danger is eliminated. Suddenly I'm not dealing with an Elder Primal, I'm dealing with a bunch of chumps who think they're hard. After A1, there's no real sense of danger given off by Alexander himself, so you never keep that feeling of threat. By A4 I almost forgot that the raid had anything to do with Alexander. That's just poor design.