DARKEN'S PROFILE

author=Solitayre
I don't think I even have the courage to read my own opinions on this topic from over ten years ago. Would it be better if I deleted it, do you think?

i have dumb shit I said as an 17 year old since 2008 how do you think I feel? but really i don't mind it, I can say I changed my mind and move on. I get that political subject matter might be another thing, but that shit requires growth/cultivation more than anything else.

At a glance though I don't see this article as too out of left field compared to a recent youtube essay about the same subject. So maybe things haven't changed much.

4 - Surprise me
Our mind is designed not to waste unnecessary attention with stimuli that are familiar and predictable to us I will kill you in your sleep. It works in "low-energy mode" when stimuli are familiar, and "high energy mode" when facing the unexpected. When you add something unexpected to dialog, players will wake up. You don't want them sleeping while reading your dialog. Not literally sleeping, but maybe just forgetting everything they read immediately after they do. WAKE THEM UP.

Predictable: "You killed my father. He was the most important person in my life. I will never forgive you. It may take days, months, years or my entire lifetime, but I will avenge him. I will kill you."
Less predictable: "You killed my father. He was the most important person in my life. But he had terminal cancer, so he was going to die soon. You made him a favor by relieving him of his pain quickly. Thanks for that, no hard feelings. Just kidding. I will kill you!"

Predictable: "The only way to kill the demon lord is by piercing his heart with a sword made from the metal of the forgotten dwarven mines. We must find a blacksmith capable of forging such weapon."
Less predictable: "The only way to kill the demon is by piercing his heart while he's laughing. But he's got a very unusual sense of humor. We must find someone who's capable of making him laugh".

Agree with all the points made, however I feel like these examples rely on adding additional plot points or potentially confusing the point of the scene.

The movie Ex Machina I think does a wonderful job at sidestepping "obvious" dialogue and making characters spontaneous and surprising. Mainly due to the Nathan CEO character.

I'd suggest watching the movie if you (or anyone) hasn't seen it, but I think this scene illustrates what I mean (minor spoilers):


Nathan introduces a painting, that's seemingly unrelated to the plot of the movie or even anything. I didn't know who Jackson Pollock was before seeing this scene, but I think the trick to this scene is that we as an audience are learning a tidbit about art history before arriving to the actual point and we do find out the painting is actually related. It's a neat distraction trick much like Resevoir Dogs opens up the film with a debate about tipping of all things. The point of the scene doesn't change if you removed the bit about the painting, but it would have been less interesting.

The movie doesn't do everything perfect I think when the movie talks about the turing test (which is a thing any sci-fi nerd knows) was a little more straight forward and boring. The same way hearing about the legend of a demon lord being sealed away for 500 years is. The exercise/examples should be less about adding a surprise twist element to a premise but rather how the characters go about exposition in a way that accomplishes the same thing a boring exposition dump typically would.

Obviously there are way other tricks than just add some seemingly educational trivia but if I knew all the tricks to surprise people with writing I'd write a book on it.

THE NUMBERS

Also a really good trailer I rewatched several times:

I think at this point it's best not to further this particular discussion anymore... Maybe carry it on in https://rpgmaker.net/engines/rt2k3/utilities/207/

much like the ring menu, talking to bulma is a matter of going in circles.