So, I'd like to get enough work done on DWT to write a daily blog but I know that it's not going to happen. So until I have enough new information to report, I thought I would talk about process and motivation. I touched on motivation in my last entry, so I'm going to address process first.

I don't know if anyone really cares how it happened, but the way that the I wrote the story in DWT was by creating a horizontal branching time line. In the beginning of the game, you are on a linear course moving forward through time. However, that single horizontal thread quickly branches into multiple threads. The threads part and cross throughout the story but the other characters remember what you did and how you got there.

This opens up a world of play styles. Some people might want to play the knight in shining armor. Other's may want to opt for a more devious experience. But life is not always black and white. While players can choose absolutes, they don't have to do so. In DWT, there are shades of gray. There are changes of heart. There are chances for redemption OR damnation. Tired of being Mr. Nice Guy? Change. Ready to stop being evil and do what's right? Go for it. Just don't expect the villagers to forget right away!

There is no "morality" system in this game. There is no virtual clipboard counting how many times you kicked a puppy or saved a baby. Dragon Warrior Tactics assumes that there are pivotal moments in our lives. It says that there are times in a person's life when the decision they make at that moment will change everything forever. You may come back to this place some day but you cannot erase everywhere you have been and everything that you have done between now and then.

Time marches on. While drawing a branching horizontal path for the player to take, I also drew vertical lines. These represent things that will happen at that point in time. The player will experience these events very differently depending on which path they were on when the event happened. In DWT, you are a lowly soldier. You do not decide whether battles happen or not, leaders do. Battles will happen whether you like it or not. They will happen if you pick one side or if you pick the other. They will even happen if you don't show up at all.

All of this is an important aspect of another part of the game, the proposition system. As you play DWT, you will be able to pick up various odd jobs. These tasks or mini-quests will vary depending on where you are, what time period it is, what choices you have made in the main storyline, etc. However, unlike in Final Fantasy Tactics, the proposition system in Dragon Warrior Tactics is not about choosing a person to do it and then coming back later to find out the results. In DWT, you have to actually take the characters through the task.

Space_Bone