TRANCE2'S PROFILE

My NPCs used to be the old pointless drivel of "Welcome to Corneria!" and "This town is so nice!" Then I played Grandia. Just the simple act of the PCs actually INTERACTING on some level with the NPCs just created a total paradigm shift in my understanding of how players interact with characters. Not only can NPCs give information, but they can also engage the player in conversation, if only through the words of the PCs. Add onto that a great love for the verbosity that characters in RM games like Love & War and Phylomortis have and you basically have my idea of a "good" NPC.

This is really talking about the NPCs that wander or don't have much emphasis on the plot, so like minor NPCs as opposed to major NPCs. I kinda exempt major NPCs since their dialogue can be mostly plot-driven, so that falls under a different issue, imo. But yeah, NPCs are there for just about EVERYTHING. At least that's how I use them - character backstory, world-building, flavor text... There's almost limitless possibilities to the kind of information a NPC can disperse.

*le gasp* I actually finished the world map area for Chapter 1. Now I've just got to decide whether to keep on working on the world map (which is a decent idea), and if so, which parts to work on. Part of me feels the much smaller new Chapter 3 area would be the best, since ya'know, it's smaller. It's still a decent sized continent, but it's nothing like Chapter 1/2/4/5. Though a lot of the stuff in Chapter 5 is wide-open areas, which poses a lot more challenge than the more content-packed world map areas...

It's like, I want to make the map both aesthetically and geographically pleasing but while still not making giant plains for the player to traverse. I can do this with either rivers or mountains - the latter being the cheap way out since geographically speaking, those don't typically work as well as one would think. Of course, then I'm reminded of FF2j's world map where the ENTIRE northern section was partitioned off by mountains.

Still, if I do rivers, that poses a navigation problem, since they inevitably do flow out into the sea/ocean, and by doing so block the player's path indefinitely. The easy fix is to put a bridge over the river, but in the middle of the frigid/arid wilderness, there ain't gonna be anyone there to make a solid bridge. Part of me thinks I'm just thinking too hard about all this and I should just make a GAME instead of some kind of geographically and geologically correct world. :P

Otherwise... being a derp and running the intro a bazillion times (which I still have to solidify and not make into a textdump) and brainstorming skill names so I'm not stealing from another series.

'Course my brain is getting into a mood that no one really cares anymore, but this is also after reading that huge topic on PP and wondering whether I should represent myself in the conversation (which I probably shouldn't), and also seeing one of my old supporters go apeshit on my choice of engine. BUT, yeah, sensitive me needing to grow skin.

*goes back to mapping*

Working on Dragon Quest V on my 3DS. Mostly because I'm dangerously close to the end and I really do need to finish it sometime... Otherwise... I've been playing the heck out of Project Diva for the PSP. Just have three more swimsuits to unlock... </rhythmgaems>

author=Avee

author=trance2
That being said, Super Princess Peach is so chock full of sexual innuendos, I'm giggling myself to death.

I was curious so I looked at a few minutes of a walkthrough and couldn't believe it.
Right at the beginning when the koopas are like "Let's take this Vibe Scepter for a test ride" and all, I was like :O

Did Walt Disney make that game or what?

I KNOW RIGHT?! It's like they marketed this to young girls what? Then again... :x

That's dumb.