Is This Typical For Wraith: the Oblivion?

[GrandMajora]

Alright, despite being a WoD fan, I know very little about Wraith: the Oblivion beyond the bare bones basics. So I've got to ask if this game does an accurate portrayal of how a game of Wraith typically goes?

While the game is better than most (if not all) WoD games to be released in recent years, I feel like this game dropped the ball on making the player feel like their character is supposed to be a Wraith. They just seem like a mortal who's been trapped in a haunted house and needs to avoid drawing the attention of vengeful ghosts. Like, I get that Specters are dangerous, but why does that mean we have no capacity to fight back? If they can harm us, we should be able to harm them.

Maybe I'm too used to Vampire and Werewolf giving you more overt super powers, but if this is what being a Wraith is, then it seems like they're on the low end of the power spectrum.

[Lupin III]

I don't have VR, so I can't play this and don't know how it plays, but...

...Wraiths in WOD use the same formula that vampires and werewolves do. There's a bunch of different types of wraiths, all of them have powers. The main threat to wraiths are their own shadow, which is their alternate persona that tries to become the dominant personality, and make them give in to oblivion instead of reaching transcendence. Specters are wraiths that have succumbed to their shadow, and are a more typical threat, one that wraith empires have armies just for fighting them.

A newly created wraith, by itself, would definitely be better off evading the specters, because specters are going to be way more powerful, and the dark arcanoi gives them much more ability to destroy a wraith than a wraith would have to destroy a specter. Wraith abilities are more about having some limited interaction with the mortal world, and wraiths generally have to rely on using stygian steel weapons or soulforging to truly wreck a specter's afterlife.

[thisserviceismadeoffail]

Honestly I get slightly more Orpheusy-vibes.

[GrandMajora]

Originally posted by Lupin III:

A newly created wraith, by itself, would definitely be better off evading the specters, because specters are going to be way more powerful, and the dark arcanoi gives them much more ability to destroy a wraith than a wraith would have to destroy a specter. Wraith abilities are more about having some limited interaction with the mortal world, and wraiths generally have to rely on using stygian steel weapons or soulforging to truly wreck a specter's afterlife.

I'm a bit more educated on the setting now, after watching Galliard Group.

After watching a play through series, your shadow confirms that you've actually been dead for several years (specific time not given). So by rights, you should have at least picked up something during that time.

Like you said, Wraith society has entire armies dedicated to opposing them. Which means it's not impossible to defend yourself.

Sadly, while the game looks better put together than most WoD titles to be released lately, that doesn't detract from it just being another walking simulator. I don't know how you take a game in which you're the one playing as the ghost, and somehow make it so you're the one constantly being terrorized throughout the game, but the developers found a way to do so.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKIxrC-cgGo

[thisserviceismadeoffail]

Originally posted by GrandMajora:

I don't know how you take a game in which you're the one playing as the ghost, and somehow make it so you're the one constantly being terrorized throughout the game, but the developers found a way to do so.

Honestly, they COULD have made it work a lot better by focusing on having you use your Arcanoi across the shroud to protect some mortals walking around the mansion in the skinlands from the angry spectres in the house. Make something more like one of Supermassive's games, but instead of actively inhabiting one of the people you are trying to keep alive, you're the only one who can see the monsters coming for them and are using your poltergeist abilities to indirectly get them out of harm's way.

[GrandMajora]

Originally posted by thisserviceismadeoffail:

Honestly, they COULD have made it work a lot better by focusing on having you use your Arcanoi across the shroud to protect some mortals walking around the mansion in the skinlands from the angry spectres in the house. Make something more like one of Supermassive's games, but instead of actively inhabiting one of the people you are trying to keep alive, you're the only one who can see the monsters coming for them and are using your poltergeist abilities to indirectly get them out of harm's way.

Charon gets pissed when ghosts start interfering with the mortal world, though.

Like, that's one of Wraith's society's biggest rules. Don't mess with the Skinlands, or Charon will send somebody to kick your ass.