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| Obduction Backer |
Joined: Sat Dec 13, 2008 4:24 pm
Posts: 255
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First, I'll note that there are lots of various ideas people have for new ways to begin the game, both for game purposes and for new story ideas. Most, if not all, are simply infeasible, as such a change - especially with large areas of new content (which would be intended to be especially good quality as it would include some of the first things people would see) - would be major.
But anyway, focusing on the story:
sarpedon2 wrote: Now the new game would start out in the same location as Uru did, the Cleft. After either the Uru opening or MOUL opening (thinking Uru would fit better), the shot of the Volcano coming closer and closer appears, then there is a flash and the inside of a pickup truck, a messy dashboard with a little Myst-related bobble head on the front below an air fresher. The player's Avatar (now with improved customization) is sitting in the passenger seat. The driver, a fat, bearded New Mexican is driving you towards the gate of the fence that surrounds the Volcano. He comments of how many people he has to drop here all the time, each saying (the player themselves saying before the game takes place) that they felt called.
I'm not sure how necessary this scene is - and it would probably be a headache to implement (the new character who would have to be added in - voice, avatar, probably new animations for driving, and his position in canon [does he drop off everybody? did he drop off people before?] - there's the whole car scene [which graphically would not be much like anything in Uru - the camera angles and such]). The "feeling called" part is already covered by Zandi, although this would nicely explain how you got to the place (even for people dressed in horribly unsuitable clothes for just jogging out in the desert).
How about one of these:
1. As the beginning speech is made (whatever it is), the view pans through clouds or whatever to the desert where a car is seen driving across a dirt road from above. It turns off this road and then goes through the open desert where the camera pans to show the Volcano area coming closer. Then the game switches to the avatar standing in the Cleft as in Uru:ABM, but behind them is the sound (and, if they look, the visuals) of the car driving off.
2. The speech just pans over the desert (as in ABM originally, and I think in part of the MOUL intro too) and then shows the avatar as in idea 1, with the car seen driving into the distance.
3. The simplest to implement, of course, would just be to have the tire treads and assorted marks shown behind the avatar, with a small dust cloud in the distance (but no car models or animations needed), and a quiet sound as the car vanishes into the distance. This also lets people choose for themselves what transportation they arrived in. Maybe the starting view could be changed to show this more clearly.
Perhaps the avatar could have a temporary pamphlet in their inventory (just like the KI and Relto book slots - perhaps it could even be placed in one of those slots, and then removed when the person obtained the main thing [maybe the KI slot would be best - the pamphlet would serve to help people before they could communicate as well with the KI]) that would help explain the backstory more (published by the DRC or some other cavern group to tell people about the D'ni dig).
Quote: The truck reaches the gate and the driver lets you out, the game switches to 3rd person which can be toggled to 1st person. The truck drives away, leaving the tracks we saw in the original Uru. The Player opens the gate and so begins the usual routine. Except its now been 2 years since the last time the Cavern was officially open and 6 years since it was first closed. Zandi, still sitting in his usual clothes, under his usual Trailer, has now lost a few pounds and gained a stubble.
That would look cool.
Quote: Happy to see another fresh face, he says his usual stuff before adding two more things. He points out that a group of Explorers came a while ago, cut open the barbed wire fence that blocked the Volcano originally. They have also added a small piece of Scaffolding to the rim of the Caldera.
This is a popular suggested change, and I can definitely see why. I'd love to be able to go through the Descent all the way from the beginning. There might be some issues with licensing/modifying the Descent in EoA (or making something either very similar to it, or divergent) and adding in the later areas (but think of the puzzles that could be there).
Quote: Finally Zandi give you a tattered old linking book. Inside is the the link to an ancient Native American pueblo, one the Pueblo's of the Amad, the Native American tribe that Keta, Gehn's wife and Atrus' late mother came from, whom were once in possession of advanced holographic technology. You now have three choices, begin Yeesha's Journey, journey down into D'ni or link to the Pueblo.
Ordinary linking books cannot link between two points in the same Age. The Relto book seems to be one contradiction to this rule (due to Yeesha bending or ignoring D'ni tradition in book writing, or due to powers or techniques learned from the bahro, or due to some other reason), as are bahro stones. Are you suggesting that Yeesha/the bahro made or helped make the book (why would it be tattered, then?)?
We don't really know much about the Amad, and I don't think even Cyan does (originally a mysterious people and possibly originally intended for a different area entirely). We don't know if they were a pueblo building people (they are obviously somehow passed over by history - they might have been nomadic, or stayed in very temporary shelters, or lived in places archaeologists wouldn't think of), or any other detail of that culture.
I personally think it would be best to leave them as a mystery - all stories need some unknown factors in the details. I think it would be a confusing addition of an old canon point so early on in Uru (people might begin thinking the whole story is about the Amad) - people who really knew the canon from Riven would recognize it, but most people wouldn't. Also, giving three separate directions to go at the beginning could be very confusing.
Quote: If you link to the Pueblo, after solving a set of intricate puzzles which are built in a secret chamber under the Pueblo, you will be able to use a hidden Bahro stone, which links to the ruins of Tomahna.
I'm not sure where you are trying to go with this. Anyway, I'm fairly sure adding in Tomahna would be quite infeasible (adding in a new interpretation of an old place, avoiding any claims that Ubisoft would have over their design if we copied from that...). What is there in Tomahna that we must have, especially so early in the game?
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I had the exact same reaction.
