SE: Please tone it down a hair

[KaplanHomahru]

Excellent point. He does have a personal relationship with us. He knows who we are...we've talked before, etc...We are the ones with the power to resist him. He is thriving off of watching us struggle, and he is eagerly waiting for us to fail or give up. He wants to see it and then have the satisfaction of killing us after we've been defeated.

Guess you wouldn't know that if you don't read anything.

[Eagleheart]

I think that her problem is because the game's narrative treats you as if you were a great hero and not a random soldier, and stuff like 'twenty thousand people killed Garuda' does not, actually, happens in the narrative, it was just you, but that is entirely different of how the mechanics work.

It requires a little bit of suspension of disbelief, but if you're not aware that you need to treat things this way, yah, you might get mixed signals.

That's common to MMOs, though. o.o

[Majidah]

Here's a good way to put things....


This isn't NES era. We don't need to condense dialog into single paragraphs anymore.

We can actually tell a story, with fleshed-out characters with goals, hopes, fears, replete with moments of triumph and dismal, abject failure, without resorting to the kind of to-the-point chatter that made Mystic Quest a laughing stock.

Incidentally, I loved MQ. (>.> ) Great music.

NES era? What. What are you talking about?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8NFi...feature=relmfu

See how the pace in this dialog is great? See how they don't give out all their plans? They say whats necessary.
And even then, when speaking with you they do it because they need the stone and because you have a princess with you AND because you broke into their airship. And they don't just shoot you all only because of the princess.

See how its all WELL justified and concise?

[Eagleheart]

See how the pace in this dialog is great? See how they don't give out all their plans? They say whats necessary.
And even then, when speaking with you they do it because they need the stone and because you have a princess with you AND because you broke into their airship. And they don't just shoot you all only because of the princess.

See how its all WELL justified and concise?

Different characters, different story. (>.> ) Different motivations, different personalities.

If you don't like the story, that's fine. But damn, just say so and be done with it.

[Starlord]

NES era? What. What are you talking about?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8NFi...feature=relmfu

See how the pace in this dialog is great? See how they don't give out all their plans? They say whats necessary.
And even then, when speaking with you they do it because they need the stone and because you have a princess with you AND because you broke into their airship. And they don't just shoot you all only because of the princess.

See how its all WELL justified and concise?

Again your opinion, will you stop pulling things off as facts.. because all of it is just opinions. Can you leave it be now? or you want to chomp at this some more and keep this flame war going? :/.

[KujinRen]

I don't mind the current level of speech however a more simplified version like this video would suffice:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M4wz4F3gSs

These are cut scenes from Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions (PSP). The speech isn't too complicated but keeps the seriousness of the situations that happen.

[KaplanHomahru]

....the difference is that it is spoken and that it isn't a monologue

[Majidah]

...you're not a run of the mill adventurer. He's already mentioned to you, after killing Ifrit Lv.25, how impressed he is with you.

Then the leaders of the individual nations mention how impressive you are.

Then von Darnus walks up, having come to kill Garuda himself, only to see that you just slew what amounts to a god in Eorzea, again. AGAIN.

Did you read ANYTHING ANYWHERE?! O_O

You did his job for him twice.
In return? He gives you a report of his plans.
How does this make sense? Wouldn't you have said "hey, coolio." and turned back?

Hardly a relationship there. It isn't personal. You are just some gun for hire he saw shooting twice now.
FFXI would elevate you from the ground to this grandiose hero status, NPCs recognizing you everywhere after many, many meetings, plans foiled, plans supported, etc.

This doesn't constitute a personal relationship...

[Rydin]

I was just going to say that, LOL

Just because you understand it doesn't mean it was explained well (or couldn't have been explained better)....

the story is GREAT
the Dialogue is decent... but, as is the case with most things, it could be written better

Final Fantasy has always been in a weird place...
Stories written in Japanese, with themes that you wouldn't expect a western audience to accept....
Specific concepts like:
Sephiroth's (And Jenova's) will
The Guardian becoming the Final Summon which in turn becomes the new sin (Spoilers much?),
A Sorceress going back in time to harness the power of another who could take her further back in time to achieve time compression
Garland creating soulless beings to be future vessels of the Terrans....
Also, being written in Japanese, they feature references and anecdotes specific to Japanese culture.
But the result is... incredible and awe inspiring....
And as a western audience... we ate it up... every drop
Somehow the localization teams always seem to take all of that Japanese goodness and make it so that we understand it, feel it, and don't miss out on any of the subtle nuances that make these games an experience

My point is... the current dialogue is not bad... it's decent... but doesn't quite live up to any of the past writing...
From this angle though, it's hard to tell if that is because of the writing, or something lost in translation as it was localized...

Is it bad dialogue.... no... but the magic isn't there.... It definitely isn't an Aaron Sorkin story...
It has nothing to do with how easy it is to understand (Although it could stand to be more concise)
Writing isn't judged only on how easy it is to understand... but also not by how pretty the words sound together...

There is a flow... a natural progression. the dialogue helps to weave the story... and this dialogue comes short quite a few times...


I had a thread that was a plot analysis and the prevailing comment was "Thanks, I've read all the text thus far and had no idea what was going on"
If you understand the story... great... good for you... but Stories aren't written to make you feel intelligent for being able to keep up....

Also... if the underlying story is great... but that point isn't getting across to most readers... then I don't know what else to blame than the dialogue

[KaplanHomahru]

lol. damnit it took me this long to realize you are just trolling.