KEEPING THE PLOT FOCUSED

author=LockeZ
We only care about things that we're given a reason to care about. Having not played Skyrim, I assume it makes you care about everything.

I think open world games tend to let the player choose what to care for.


Personally I will, again, throw out that whole "what makes an RPG" card (it's such a catch-all). RPGs with focused plots tend to be rare because it's not really in the nature of an RPG to be very focused. RPGs tend to be all about exploration and doing things in whatever order you like and with a goal somewhere in the distance that you may, or may not, do eventually when you get the time.

There's a reason "rail-roading" in roleplaying is a negative term.


One way of focusing the player is to put in a time constraint. Of course time constraints are often horrible, horribly implemented and/or horribly constraining. Personally I like the idea of a time constraint more than an actual time constraint. Sometimes when something is told to me in urgency "We need to save these fellas now, fellas!" I end up doing five side-missions and then when I go back it's the same "We need to save these fellas now, fellas!". There was never any danger of them not being saved. But as a player I also know that I would most likely be annoyed if those fellas were dead after I did a bunch of sidequests. So there's a slight balance. So while I like the idea of people going on with their lives without me I also know that it is something that is just impossible to do really.


Of course then there's also the part with "mandatory" sidequests. Tangents that you have to perform in order to continue the main quest. I guess these are really the things you are most railing against. And arbitrary dungeon on the road to your goal. An old lady asking you to do five trials in order to get a piece of fruit that may or may not help you on your way.

On one hand these might be infuriating because they can sometimes completely stop the pacing of a game/story. You were on the brink of entering the Lands of The Enemy but then it turned out you needed a piece of fruit from an old lady to bribe the guards with and now you have to do five trials which consist of planting crops and killing wild animals, turning them into fur coats.

On the other hand these complete stops can be used for character development. Especially if you've been on a crash course with the enemy before this. Maybe you'll learn a bit. It's the silent moment before the final act in any movie. (the part with the love scene in all action movies ever made)

And yeah sometimes it's gameplay padding. But then again it's actually primarily a game. So you could say that it's the story that is filler and the gameplay should come first. Of course sometimes the gameplay is stupid (like stealth missions in 90% of non-stealth games) sometimes it's simplistic (like turret sections in 90% of non-turret games) and sometimes it provides more of what you really love about the game in the first place.

author=Shinan
pretty plot-driven game where the direction is always "forward forward forward". But if take a second to think about what you are doing and what the plot actually is you find it incredibly shallow and stupid. And most of the things you do make no sense whatsoever.

A lot of RPGs fall into that trap. I found FF7 to be an example of a game that started down that route. The story was moving in the right direction, going at a decent pace and kept doing all the right things, but every so often the characters would make a decision that just baffled me. There seemed to be little sense in going through with the plan other than just to get you into the next dungeon.

FF7 isn't terrible for it of course; point was just that doing what you can to avoid irrelevant/unrelated dungeons sometimes just winds up with you having nonsensical dungeons. Relevance or logic: gotta balance dat bitch!

Thanks for sharing that video, Shinan.

I feel as though the game should focus on keeping the player's attention on its best qualities.
Do not throw non-optional content at the player, if it doesn't add to the main features of said game.

If a project is all about characters and gameplay, it doesn't matter if the plot is forcing them into a fire cave.

author=Milennin
In my game the way towards the goal is pretty much the entire game. There's this villain that lives in his dark castle of evilness, but before the hero can go there, he does other things first. Rather early on in the game, the main characters learn that they aren't powerful enough to beat this evil overlord. Though, there isn't enough of an imminent threat that they can't just go do something else for a while. So, it's basically shoved pretty low on the to-do list for the heroes. Meanwhile they just wander around the world, looking for adventure, going on side-quests, finding stuff, and getting stronger in preparation for the battle with the evil overlord at the end of the game.
Then again, the main thing in my game is about the heroes going on an adventure, and the many random things they encounter. It's not about this one main threat that's about the nuke the whole world into oblivion.

I'd say you're doing it right.

When you are experiencing any kind of narrative, be it a book, a movie or a game, chances are you want to get to the next exciting confrontation, and you don't want the pace to slack or pointless distractions in the form of 'filler'. However, the truth is that this 'filler' is a vital part of the pacing of the narrative; it is the substance of the story that connects and provides meaning and context to the points in the story.

LockeZ posted a link to Episode 7 of PA TV's Extra Credit a while back that I believe is relevant to this point:

http://www.penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/episode-07-pacing

Extra Credit used Star Wars as an example of solid pacing, but Star Wars owes much of its narrative structure to Joseph Campbell's monomyth, or the hero's journey, a basic narrative structure that is universal to human experience. Many variations of the monomyth exist, but the basic pattern is of a hero setting out from his/her home on a journey, being transformed through trials and temptations, confronting a challenge, experiencing death and wisdom, and finally returning, his/her transformation complete. In RPG terms, it is similar to what Milennin described; the heroes cannot confront the obstacle, because they have not undergone the trials to begin their transformation.

Consider this extremely simple RPG plot; suppose there is a dragon that is destroying the land and burning the fields of farmers. A normal farmer boy is inspired to stop the dragon when an old knight mentor figure gives him a sword. The boy wants to confront the dragon right away, but is encouraged to first train and learn about the world in which he lives, acquiring knowledge, allies, and most likely a love interest. Over time, the hero grows and becomes confident enough in his own abilities to confront the dragon...only for the dragon to defeat him and his allies. Devastated and alone, the hero now searches for answers within, rebuilding and rethinking everything he thought he knew as he journeys through either a literal or metaphorical underworld. Finally, the hero finds his way back, now truly wise, regains his allies and defeats the dragon for good. He then returns home, ascended beyond the experiences of normal men, to share his wisdom with a new, promising youth, just as his own mentor did with him.

In mechanical terms, the trials and the underworld are the valleys, while the confrontations with the dragon are the 'peaks'. If the story was all valleys, it would have no direction and no investment, but if it was all peaks, there would be no real sense of accomplishment in overcoming each obstacle. This is why, even in the absolutely worst-written RPGs, 'Distraction Cave' has a distinct purpose; it's there to provide a valley, a part of the heroic journey that will make the hero stronger (usually just through 'leveling up'). A cleverly written story uses these points to its advantage, as a clever author knows that the valleys are actually more important than the peaks in developing the narrative, the characters, and the world. In the Shandification video, talking to the aliens at the start was a 'valley', but it turns out that valley was critical to the player believing and accepting the world and the hero's journey within it.

One thing that the Shandification video didn't mention (I love that term) is that, even in a linear narrative, Shandification can and should always occur. Think about Final Fantasy XIII; it's pretty much a straight dash to the finish line, but along the way the valleys provide more details about the characters, the world, and, above all reasons for the players to care. Imagine if Final Fantasy XIII really was just a sequence of exciting boss fights; they might entertain for a while, but pretty soon the player would start to wonder about all the Shandification questions; where do these monsters come from, and what do they eat? XIII does provide answers to all of these questions, and those answers make the world more believable and, by extension, empower and give life to the hero's own narrative. After all, if the monomyth takes place in a stale, unrealistic and illogical setting, how can the player identify with the hero and his/her journey? Myths have power because they reflect the world around us, and because we can project our own experiences on to the protagonist.

There's a lot more to talk about, but to conclude for the moment, the valleys of your story serve a definite purpose, and should be treasured and polished even more than the peaks. If the player gets to the peaks, it's because the valleys kept him/her invested and attentive over time, and while one might think deviations or 'distractions' from the main plot are a bad thing, a clever game designer knows how to use the valleys to create proper pacing and investment.

Topic kinda died, eh? Was pretty interesting, too~

@Lucid: Well said on all of that. Made some good points, but I don't think it applies to every game without question; some games do benefit from just focussing entirely on the mission at hand and launching you dead into what you're doing next.

Albeit they tend not to be RPGs, soooooo.....