We do not need another story where the political depth begins and ends with one bad guy or villain being the source of all evil, and once defeated, we stop the problem.
Conflicts with valid political depth beyond a single person and a reflection of cultures, history, peoples, and limited resources are far more timeless. The Ascian crutch of storytelling has run its course of a few evil people ruining the world has reached its limit, and now it's time to take the lessons of other expansions.
This is the perfect time for the Grand Alliance to crumble without the unifying force of the Garlean Empire, and for the WOL in another reflection and distracted. The counterverse of the Ilsabard Contingent in Endwalker could make a perfect starting point. Wuk Lamat having a hard time dealing with cultural differences and foreign policies that see her as a naive and exploitable ruler would be interesting; her axe is not an army.
From the live letter it seems we have four new nations in Evercold and all of their political structures should be all valid but complicated relationships. I swear if we just get another Avatar with all of them being in harmony before the Fire Nation attacked, I will be very disappointed.
We have seen SE do this before in lots of parts of the MSQ and side content, and most importantly, no easy fixes with one side being the perfect good and the other selfish, evil stupid. Dawntrail showed that quick and simple fixes in stories with politically powerful characters have no lasting power that can hold players' attention for 2-3 years.
With the WOL so powerful, an entire city's electrical grid can barely slow him down, power scaling a big bad to overpower and be a threat (while at the same time someone we all know we will beat in a trial) can't be the way forward. Politics, soft power, and solutions that affect people beyond the WOL might be the only way forward.
TLDR: Many of the best video game stories are very political, and it is in their political complexity that makes them timeless. Emet Selch is not an iconic villain because of his fighting prowess and powers. Embrace more politics in games.
Continue reading...
Conflicts with valid political depth beyond a single person and a reflection of cultures, history, peoples, and limited resources are far more timeless. The Ascian crutch of storytelling has run its course of a few evil people ruining the world has reached its limit, and now it's time to take the lessons of other expansions.
This is the perfect time for the Grand Alliance to crumble without the unifying force of the Garlean Empire, and for the WOL in another reflection and distracted. The counterverse of the Ilsabard Contingent in Endwalker could make a perfect starting point. Wuk Lamat having a hard time dealing with cultural differences and foreign policies that see her as a naive and exploitable ruler would be interesting; her axe is not an army.
From the live letter it seems we have four new nations in Evercold and all of their political structures should be all valid but complicated relationships. I swear if we just get another Avatar with all of them being in harmony before the Fire Nation attacked, I will be very disappointed.
We have seen SE do this before in lots of parts of the MSQ and side content, and most importantly, no easy fixes with one side being the perfect good and the other selfish, evil stupid. Dawntrail showed that quick and simple fixes in stories with politically powerful characters have no lasting power that can hold players' attention for 2-3 years.
With the WOL so powerful, an entire city's electrical grid can barely slow him down, power scaling a big bad to overpower and be a threat (while at the same time someone we all know we will beat in a trial) can't be the way forward. Politics, soft power, and solutions that affect people beyond the WOL might be the only way forward.
TLDR: Many of the best video game stories are very political, and it is in their political complexity that makes them timeless. Emet Selch is not an iconic villain because of his fighting prowess and powers. Embrace more politics in games.
Continue reading...