Yes, everyone's suffering a little from Kickstarter burnout, and I do get why... but I do think it'd be a shame to let this little number pass you by. :) A tactical strategy RPG? With a focus on story? I'm pretty much sold from that, but these people really sound like they know what they're doing.
Frankly, a Wizard can suck even more than a Fighter could ever dream of sucking. A Fighter can stab himself to death, but only a Wizard could Plane Shift to some horrible far realm to be tortured for an eternity of insanity.
I hate to say it, but I was sold on the artwork (I like eye candy). I dispute their definition of mature though - mature can include gore/violence and it does have a place in the type of story they're wanting to tell (especially when vikings are involved - ask any medieval monks).
I guess that what they meant was non-gratuitous violence, which I can understand.
I dispute their definition of mature though - mature can include gore/violence and it does have a place in the type of story they're wanting to tell (especially when vikings are involved - ask any medieval monks).
I don't interpret that statement as meaning that sex, violence, and swearing are inimical to a mature story. It's just that, normally, "mature" is advertisement-speak for "NSFW."
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A mature story for adults means forming relationships and making tough decisions; not sex, violence and swearing.
It's just clarifying the definition of "mature" ("This is what we mean by 'mature'; this is how a lot of people misuse 'mature'; please don't confuse the two") rather than excluding certain elements from that definition ("This is 'mature'; this is not 'mature'; never the twain shall meet!").
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Originally Posted by Winterwind
Mewtarthio, you have scared my brain into hiding, a trembling, broken shadow of a thing, cowering somewhere in the soothing darkness and singing nursery rhymes in the hope of obscuring the Lovecraftian facts you so boldly brought into daylight.
It's just clarifying the definition of "mature" ("This is what we mean by 'mature'; this is how a lot of people misuse 'mature'; please don't confuse the two") rather than excluding certain elements from that definition ("This is 'mature'; this is not 'mature'; never the twain shall meet!").
If their line had been "not just sex, violence and swearing", then I'd agree with you, but as that statement stands, it looks like they're planning to exclude most of these elements from their story.
Vikings without martial ability is like a samurai without honour. They're both stereotypes, but like all stereotypes, they have a significant grain of truth in them.
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Originally Posted by Leecros
"I can't think of anything more boring than doing something for the sole purpose of making money"
Man i wish that more people had that outlook, especially in the gaming industry.
A lot of people do - not many people enjoy going to work, but instead do it to fund the fun and interesting things they want to do.
Last edited by Brother Oni : 04-11-2012 at 12:22 PM.
If their line had been "not just sex, violence and swearing", then I'd agree with you, but as that statement stands, it looks like they're planning to exclude most of these elements from their story.
Your edit would imply that sex, violence, and swearing are part of a mature game in addition to forming relationships and making tough decisions. By their use of the word, a mature game is about forming relationships and making tough decisions, while the inclusion or exclusion of sex, violence, and swearing is another matter altogether (though they can be a part of a mature story, just like they can be used immaturely).
Besides, I can't speak for the sex or the swearing, but it's a tactical combat game; I'll be seriously impressed if they pull it off without any violence.
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Originally Posted by Winterwind
Mewtarthio, you have scared my brain into hiding, a trembling, broken shadow of a thing, cowering somewhere in the soothing darkness and singing nursery rhymes in the hope of obscuring the Lovecraftian facts you so boldly brought into daylight.
Besides, I can't speak for the sex or the swearing, but it's a tactical combat game; I'll be seriously impressed if they pull it off without any violence.
They'll just be playing Puzzle Quest for those situations.
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Rule of Cool Contributor and Goon
Your edit would imply that sex, violence, and swearing are part of a mature game in addition to forming relationships and making tough decisions. By their use of the word, a mature game is about forming relationships and making tough decisions, while the inclusion or exclusion of sex, violence, and swearing is another matter altogether (though they can be a part of a mature story, just like they can be used immaturely).
I agree with you on this, although to remain true to the depicted nature of vikings, we need some of the sex, violence and swearing.
Violence is part and parcel of being a warrior and conflict of some form is essential, especially for a game like this.
Warriors of all types, tend to be blunt speakers, thus in order to keep their character consistent, it should have a smattering of oaths (especially in combat), but the swearing should be appropriate for their era and culture.
I believe the western series Deadwood decided to take the option to update the swearing to be relevant to modern audiences because either the writer or director didn't want the dialogue to 'sound like your grandmother having a mild snit'.
I'm not saying that it was the wrong decision to make, but it was a deliberate decision to retain the coarseness of the characters and whatever the writers decide to do for The Banner Saga, any curses should be flavourful/appropriate rather than sounding like a bunch of 5 year olds hurling insults at each other in the playground.
Finally, intimacy of some form is inevitably a part of relationships, so excluding it doesn't really help the story that much. I'm fine with ME1 levels of hinting, but the characters shouldn't be made chaste.
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Originally Posted by Mewtarthio
Besides, I can't speak for the sex or the swearing, but it's a tactical combat game; I'll be seriously impressed if they pull it off without any violence.
Final Fantasy Tactics handled the combat with very little graphic (ie. bloody) detail and Vandal Hearts did mostly did the same (although they put the blood saturation up to nearly silly levels) so I'll personally be happy no matter what they decide.
That said, the top backing level is them rotoscoping and animating a person into the game, so it may be more along the Vandal Hearts and Mortal Kombat level of graphicness, rather than the FFT/Streetfighter abstractness.
Intimacy? Why would you want that in a game about viking armies murdering other viking armies? Screw the romance, bring on the fighting!
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Originally Posted by JaronK
Frankly, a Wizard can suck even more than a Fighter could ever dream of sucking. A Fighter can stab himself to death, but only a Wizard could Plane Shift to some horrible far realm to be tortured for an eternity of insanity.
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The Banner Saga [Kickstarter]
Thanks again!
