DT: State of the Game

[Mioooh]

I wanted to make this a separate topic, but since you try to gather all of the information, I'll just put this here.

I want to talk about the DT Story-writing.

Short about me for context: I did NOT study creative writing. I write only as a hobby. I'm very passionate about it, I took several masterclasses and I love to analyze, but I'm NOT a professional writer in any way, nor did I ever publish anything. So take all of this with a grain of salt.

That being said: There is a reason why you can actually study creative writing. There are certain rules you have to learn if you want to write a compelling story that is generally received as “good”. Of course there is a lot of wiggle room within these rules, this is where the creativity and writing style etc. comes in place. And if you are really good at it, you can even very specifically break some of those rules to achieve a certain effect.

These rules are not in place to restrict the writer. Rather, they make sure, the reader (or in this case player) has an engaging and immersive experience regarding things like organic character-building and exciting story arcs for example.

Of course, you can also apply these rules to analyze stories to pinpoint problems. This is also the reason why big stories usually go through an extensive editing-process.

I read some comments saying something like: "I can't put my finger on it, but this part of the story just felt off to me”. That is most likely because the writer broke a rule, and you're might not familiar with the concept, hence it just seems "off".

The reason I'm saying this is because I also read a lot of comments saying that “well, in the end it's all just opinions” or “the story might just not be for you”. That is NOT the problem. Of course some just don't like the overall style and that's absolutely okay, you can never appeal to everyone. But the reason that DT got so much critique regarding the MSQ is because if you analyze it, you'll find out that the writers heavily violated the rules of story telling, from start to finish.

Now, do I think the writers a bad? No, I don't, or at least not THAT bad. I will explain: There are several scenes, that are very well written and could have been and excellent base for are smaller arc within the overarching story. The potential is there, the momentum just wasn't used.

At this point I will just assume, that all of the writers at CBU3 have studied the subject, or have at least the reputation to get the job in the first place, especially for such a heavily story driven game. So all of them will be at least familiar with the workings of story telling. And this is what gets me suspicious. I wanna point to a scene, that stood out for me (even tho this might be a very specific example): (Part 2)