This is another "old man yelling at clouds", but I wanted to share my thoughts as a long-term player regarding DT.
Who am I and why is my opinion important? It's not, really. This is probably more of the same. I figure, I'm a 10 year veteran of the game, and have thoughts I'd share. Agree or disagree, all good. Just my opinions.
Foremost, a review:
I enjoyed it. The main plot of Act 1 was solid. Some bits were better than others, but it did what it needed to do, and I enjoyed seeing Lamat and Koana become who they are.
The yeehaw wild west zone was entirely forgettable. There was nothing about that zone that did anything for me. Even Pipboy with the rubber bullets.
The finale was solid, but this is where I started to really wonder why the story took certain direction, and is where most of my concerns are (see below).
And now, criticisms:
1) Please stop introducing "the real villain" so late in the story.
You had a great manipulator Kefka-figure in Sareel Ja who could have easily been poisoning Zoraal's mind. He was built up throughout the whole Act 1 and then carelessly cast aside.
IF Zoraal was meant to be your big bad, then stick to him being the big big bad. Otherwise, it REALLY should have been Sareel ja as a Kefka-like manipulator/madman.
2) Speaking of Zoraal, why was he so so flat?
If his father is such a wise, loving man, he surely would have noticed something off about his son.
Perhaps show that Zoraal was an only child, and Galuul too hard on him. By the time Zoraal was a young adult, Galuul adopts Koana/Lamat further isolating him. ("Why does he need to adopt kids when he has me? I'm not good enough??"). No parent is perfect- Galuul could have wanted to have more children because he wanted to help Zoraal feel more love for others, even though it ultimately failed. Couple that with Sareel poisoning his mind and you've got a solid Vader-trope.
Sareel should have been the big bad!
3) Why not build more on existing lore???
So, towards the end of dungeon 3 we saw some distinct stone-robot-enemies. Holy crap this civilization is RONKAN. Wait, hexigons and black metal... Omicrons!?
Ah, they require souls to live... so they're behind the purple crystal thing at the House of the Crooked Coin in the Azim Steppe that's sucking souls?? WOAH.
Ah, their city is Alexandria... so they're from the dark future that used Alexander as a base for time/space travel... which means part of their civilization got sent to the wrong space/time in an experiment (RONKA AGAIN!).
Ah, no. Ok.
Well that's fine I guess. At least we'll finally get to see the Whalaqee. Wait.. where are they? We can't even just..visit them outside of future BLU content?
4) I like the zones, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of thought on how we'll use them POST MSQ.
The final zone I get why it is the way it is, and I'm fine with it as a story beat. No complaints on that.
Rather, why are 2 of the 6 zones "Thanalan, the sequel, but this time with rubber bullet cowboys". If you were going to model that region on North America, there was a lot you could work with.
Might I suggest Yellowstone with the colorful pools and geysers? The very wide and prominent Mississippi river with a steamboat? How about, I dunno, an actual honest-to-god swamp or everglades style area? Like a miserable fly ridden bog. If it's gotta be desert, why not painted desert? Or Monument Valley? Give us some unique landscape bits to look at.
Alternatively, add more structures we can utilize on our own for Gpose or just as an interesting place to hang out. I would love to be able to go sightseeing. (See Yanxia, with the cherry blossom grove, rainbow pools and shipwrecks)
Continue reading...
Who am I and why is my opinion important? It's not, really. This is probably more of the same. I figure, I'm a 10 year veteran of the game, and have thoughts I'd share. Agree or disagree, all good. Just my opinions.
Foremost, a review:
I enjoyed it. The main plot of Act 1 was solid. Some bits were better than others, but it did what it needed to do, and I enjoyed seeing Lamat and Koana become who they are.
The yeehaw wild west zone was entirely forgettable. There was nothing about that zone that did anything for me. Even Pipboy with the rubber bullets.
The finale was solid, but this is where I started to really wonder why the story took certain direction, and is where most of my concerns are (see below).
And now, criticisms:
1) Please stop introducing "the real villain" so late in the story.
You had a great manipulator Kefka-figure in Sareel Ja who could have easily been poisoning Zoraal's mind. He was built up throughout the whole Act 1 and then carelessly cast aside.
IF Zoraal was meant to be your big bad, then stick to him being the big big bad. Otherwise, it REALLY should have been Sareel ja as a Kefka-like manipulator/madman.
2) Speaking of Zoraal, why was he so so flat?
If his father is such a wise, loving man, he surely would have noticed something off about his son.
Perhaps show that Zoraal was an only child, and Galuul too hard on him. By the time Zoraal was a young adult, Galuul adopts Koana/Lamat further isolating him. ("Why does he need to adopt kids when he has me? I'm not good enough??"). No parent is perfect- Galuul could have wanted to have more children because he wanted to help Zoraal feel more love for others, even though it ultimately failed. Couple that with Sareel poisoning his mind and you've got a solid Vader-trope.
Sareel should have been the big bad!
3) Why not build more on existing lore???
So, towards the end of dungeon 3 we saw some distinct stone-robot-enemies. Holy crap this civilization is RONKAN. Wait, hexigons and black metal... Omicrons!?
Ah, they require souls to live... so they're behind the purple crystal thing at the House of the Crooked Coin in the Azim Steppe that's sucking souls?? WOAH.
Ah, their city is Alexandria... so they're from the dark future that used Alexander as a base for time/space travel... which means part of their civilization got sent to the wrong space/time in an experiment (RONKA AGAIN!).
Ah, no. Ok.
Well that's fine I guess. At least we'll finally get to see the Whalaqee. Wait.. where are they? We can't even just..visit them outside of future BLU content?
4) I like the zones, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of thought on how we'll use them POST MSQ.
The final zone I get why it is the way it is, and I'm fine with it as a story beat. No complaints on that.
Rather, why are 2 of the 6 zones "Thanalan, the sequel, but this time with rubber bullet cowboys". If you were going to model that region on North America, there was a lot you could work with.
Might I suggest Yellowstone with the colorful pools and geysers? The very wide and prominent Mississippi river with a steamboat? How about, I dunno, an actual honest-to-god swamp or everglades style area? Like a miserable fly ridden bog. If it's gotta be desert, why not painted desert? Or Monument Valley? Give us some unique landscape bits to look at.
Alternatively, add more structures we can utilize on our own for Gpose or just as an interesting place to hang out. I would love to be able to go sightseeing. (See Yanxia, with the cherry blossom grove, rainbow pools and shipwrecks)
Continue reading...