41 replies to this topic

[Johnny Z]

Kristov Kerensky, on 15 June 2015 - 02:23 PM, said:

As pointed out, PGI was doing a 1:1 timeline with history and news of the day, and it was stopped because no one gave a surat's rear end about it, NOT due to them putting a hold on the timeline, it was stopped before that happened.

Seriously, no one gives a damn what the fluff, why we're doing what we're doing, why Mechs, why Clans and Inner Shere, what the Houses are and what they mean, they just don't care. The people who DO care, well, we already know the history and lore, so we're the ones who notice it's lack, and we bring it up on occasion and that's about it.

When we hit Steam, do you REALLY think the vast majority of that playerbase is going to give a damn that Stefan Amaris killed the Star Lord and started the Amaris Civil War that led the to Exodus which led the to the Succession Wars and the formation of the Clans and brought us to where we are now in the game? Do you think they'll care about how the F-K Jump drive works, myomer fibers, or anything else that's lore/fluff for the BTech universe? No, they won't, they'll just see giant stompy robots, kinda like that failed twice over game, whatsitcalled, like the skateboard dude, oh, yeah Hawken, it's like that, only more stuff! That's all they'll care about at first, and for most of them, it'll never get any deeper than that.

Some will be interested in the history and backstory, and they'll find out about Sarna and the novels and the TT game and they'll investigate deeper, but that won't be many of them. Hells just look at the MW2-4 playerbase, how many of them STILL know jack about the BTech universe?

If players care about the story or not is the mark of if the story is well implemented or not. Not to say making an engaging story line is easy, but the best games/books/movies have characters and story that players do care about, meanwhile poorly made games/books/movies have characters and story players couldnt care less about.

Again an epic story that engages players in Mechwarrior Online would be no easy feat but it is something that could be attempted and maybe even meaningfull characters and story added at the least. Maybe for instance House Steiner gets top rank awarded by Melissa Steiner. That would be a meaningfull character example. Maybe a charismatic tutorial trainer etc.

Meaningfull story and plot could be the results of battles on the Galaxy map for instance also. Poorly implemented, players wouldnt care. Same goes for the involvement of Units and so on. Mechwarrior Online has none of this yet.

Meaningfull setting could be imroved with the addition of a start up intro.

Backstory would also add to all of this and is not in game yet, but would be relatively easy to add via text and art.

Tooltips with various info are a basic that I could take or leave because although it would be a nice finishing touch it really is not meaningfull.

Edited by Johnny Z, 15 June 2015 - 05:14 PM.

[Kristov Kerensky]

Folks, I WANT the story, lore, and fluff, I love it, I look for games that have it and will play them even if they AREN'T awesome games, just because the story pulls me in.

I'm explaining what reality in gaming is, that's all, and why there's nothing really going on with it in MWO. Most gamers don't actually care, they want the eye candy and action, the rest is wasted on them. Again, LOOK at our own playerbase who've been around since MW2. We STILL have people who have played MW2-4 and know nothing of the BTech story or lore except what they MIGHT remember from the single player game, if they even played it. That's it, nothing more, they haven't bothered to learn it after 20 years because it doesn't matter to them.

Yes, there are some really cool storyline games on Steam, most players of them have no clue what that is however. WoW, millions of users, and MOST of them think the Horde are the bad guys still, they pay NO attention to the storyline even though it's FORCED DOWN YOUR THROAT! Seriously, too many people just don't care, it's not a selling point for the general masses, so it's not important.

Hell I'd LOVE to get the news feed back, to see actual BTech history and Mech lore on loading screens, to see fluff and lore used for every piece of hardware in the Lab, including the Chassis's themselves, just like Sarna, that would be freaking awesome. Clan players could learn about the Exodus and how the Clans were formed, what they represent, how they act, all that stuff that makes them so much more than Eugenically created Space National Socialist(freaking filters).

I just don't get my hopes up for that anymore.