Please coool it a little with the millenial writing.

[Raubritter]

I mean no disrespect to the writers. I've done pretty much every quest in the Horns of the South and for the most part the writing is solid. However I couldn't help but notice a few instances of cringy dialogue, the like you would find in a Marvel movie or on Reddit.

Such instances are:

- When rescuing the Dal Riata smuggler woman, one of the dialogue options for the character is "Superstitious much?" There must be a better way of saying that without sounding like a 2025 Californian person. Maybe simply "You sound superstitious." or something like that.

- I can't remember which NPC (maybe the healer in the Keep?) uses the word "literally" in a way only modern people do.

- The entire druid prank quest. I get that the devs want to put some comedy into the game, I assume so that the game isn't so dark and depressing as becoming an edgefest.
But the Druids are hyped up as being this elusive force that people are terrified of, and the first time you finally encounter them, they are a complete joke. This feels completely tone-deaf. If this quest was somewhere in the middle in the game, it would be fine, but the first encounter with Druids should be much more serious IMO.


Now I understand that going for a more archaic type of writing full of "Thou" and "I shall bring you succour" like in Dark Souls or Dragon's Dogma is not everyone's cup of tea, even though personally I think it does a good job at immersing you in a fantasy world.

But on the other hand, it should be possible to use "normal" modern dialogue, without resorting to expressions that are so modern they completely pull you out of the experience.

Again I've only seen these few instances, I don't want anyone reading this to think that this game is some Veilguard-tier cringefest full of Marvel dialogue. I just hope the writers will try to avoid any such instances for the later parts of the game.

[brianloveslisa]

Art thou not amused.

[Raubritter]

Publicado originalmente por Spook Rooster:

how does "modern writing" take you out of a game that has no actual historical setting?

Because this game is medieval fantasy, inspired my the Arthurian legends.
It's not historical but it is based on medieval culture. Californian linguo just doesn't scream "medieval European culture" to me.

[simplyforgaming]

I agree, there tend to be some lines that aren't hitting the tone the world is trying to convey. In a grim dark fantasy setting you have people talking like old English citizens speaking in modern big city ways.

[LeftPaw]

Also dev's need to be careful, some slang can and will be interpreted as some form of woke injection and the way things are these days I'm sure they can do with out attracting the attention of certain party's.
Bought on GoG. Loving the game so far.

[Heebe_Jeebe]

I've played the demo. Bought it EA and waiting for 1.0 to sink my teeth in to it properly. The issue I can see with modern writing style in general is that most of it lacks finesse, elegance, and authenticity within the settings its being employed.

While it is inevitable that language changes and adapts to the zeitgeist, not all change is valuable, nor worth adopting.

Consider for a moment that many millennials once thought the phrase 'totes amaze balls' was the pinnacle of linguistic development. How wrong we were in our hubris. A mere 15 years later and that phrase causes shudders of embarrassment when remembered.

The best possible metric for any writer is to convey authenticity within the narrative they are crafting; which necessitates a respect for the language, the world, the lore, and the characters that reside within that narrative. Too many games are eschewing authenticity, sometimes out of fear, sometimes of out of misguided attempts at relevance, and sometimes because HR is looking over their shoulders.

This is not a critique of the writers. Merely my musings on the topic. Thank you OP for a thought provoking post.

[diessa]

Related to the initial point, I think a lot of writers feel pressured to recreate the punchy, quippy, humorous dialogue that the Marvel movies made so popular. I found it jarring, for example, going to the keep in Chapter 1. It feels like the writers are trying too hard to make every single character notable relying too heavily on humour and/or "this NPC's quirk is..." It's okay for some NPCs to be boring and for others to be uninterested in speaking with you. I think this pressure to make everything relevant and immediate (along with standard of "everything gets voiced!") can hollow out the experience as well as invite stuff like modern slang into dialogue.

Edit: the in-world notes tend to be excellent. Similar to a game like Grim Dawn in that regard. I'll read those while skipping any side-quest NPC generally. There's some good writing and excellent world building here, so I wonder about getting out from the pressure of trying to make every voice over memorable.

[ELDEN LORD]

just started game myself and i have to agree the writing is pretty cringe.

[The Emperor Of Milfgaard]

Publicado originalmente por Spook Rooster:

how does "modern writing" take you out of a game that has no actual historical setting?

Because you have avowed :)

[wmdkitty]

Publicado originalmente por ian.fant:

Honestly, the other examples went over my head but the druid prank quest was very disappointing. I wanted something dark and cool, not a couple of ghosts talking smack

I'll admit it went in an entirely unexpected direction, but I loved it! Oh, sure, it didn't "match the mood" or whatever, but I laughed. My head-canon is that those two druids were the local equivalent of frat-boy "pranksters".

[Raubritter]

Publicado originalmente por wmdkitty:

Publicado originalmente por ian.fant:

Honestly, the other examples went over my head but the druid prank quest was very disappointing. I wanted something dark and cool, not a couple of ghosts talking smack

I'll admit it went in an entirely unexpected direction, but I loved it! Oh, sure, it didn't "match the mood" or whatever, but I laughed. My head-canon is that those two druids were the local equivalent of frat-boy "pranksters".

The problem is that the Druids are hyped up by every NPC and note you find until that point as being a dark and mysterious force. Making them a joke was very tone deaf considering the game is dark fantasy, IMO.

[wmdkitty]

Publicado originalmente por Raubritter:

Publicado originalmente por wmdkitty:

I'll admit it went in an entirely unexpected direction, but I loved it! Oh, sure, it didn't "match the mood" or whatever, but I laughed. My head-canon is that those two druids were the local equivalent of frat-boy "pranksters".

The problem is that the Druids are hyped up by every NPC and note you find until that point as being a dark and mysterious force. Making them a joke was very tone deaf considering the game is dark fantasy, IMO.

That's just, like, your opinion, man.

[Raubritter]

Publicado originalmente por wmdkitty:

Publicado originalmente por Raubritter:

The problem is that the Druids are hyped up by every NPC and note you find until that point as being a dark and mysterious force. Making them a joke was very tone deaf considering the game is dark fantasy, IMO.

That's just, like, your opinion, man.

...yes, just like you stated your own opinion that this quest is well written. I guess that's what a forum is for, eh?

[Wille84FIN]

Publicado originalmente por Raubritter:

Publicado originalmente por CitizenKing:

"Millenial writing" like its some young and hip way of talking when Millenials are now in their 40s.

What? I'm 28. This type of writing is precisely what you expect someone in his 40s to come up with.

What are you talking about? I have never heard anyone my age talk like that. And i'm born in -84, so unfortunately a few years to the generation Y. That kind of dialogue is something my generation would relentlessly make fun of. Maybe, just maybe it's the writers in question that are at fault here and not an entire generation of people. Have you considered that as a possibility?

[Raubritter]

Publicado originalmente por Wille84FIN:

Publicado originalmente por Raubritter:

What? I'm 28. This type of writing is precisely what you expect someone in his 40s to come up with.

What are you talking about? I have never heard anyone my age talk like that. And i'm born in -84, so unfortunately a few years to the generation Y. That kind of dialogue is something my generation would relentlessly make fun of. Maybe, just maybe it's the writers in question that are at fault here and not an entire generation of people. Have you considered that as a possibility?

I guess the living embodiement of what I'm talking about would be Joss Whedon, who after checking his wikipedia page is apparently from 1964.

Regardless, this type of writing has really boomed ever since and traces of it are present everywhere in western pop culture now. At the end of the day I don't really care which generation is to blame (and yes I do realize not EVERY single person from said generation is to blame, I just speak in generalities like every human being), I just would prefer not to have this kind of dialogue in a dark fantasy game, that's it.

[Wille84FIN]

Publicado originalmente por Raubritter:

Publicado originalmente por Wille84FIN:

What are you talking about? I have never heard anyone my age talk like that. And i'm born in -84, so unfortunately a few years to the generation Y. That kind of dialogue is something my generation would relentlessly make fun of. Maybe, just maybe it's the writers in question that are at fault here and not an entire generation of people. Have you considered that as a possibility?

I guess the living embodiement of what I'm talking about would be Joss Whedon, who after checking his wikipedia page is apparently from 1964.

Regardless, this type of writing has really boomed ever since and traces of it are present everywhere in western pop culture now. At the end of the day I don't really care which generation is to blame (and yes I do realize not EVERY single person from said generation is to blame, I just speak in generalities like every human being), I just would prefer not to have this kind of dialogue in a dark fantasy game, that's it.

Oh, ok. Also, i agree with you. That kind of writing immediately break even the little immersion the game might have had at that point. Also any IRL-crap in a fantasy game that i know beforehand is a instant skip.

Sure, we play a somewhat predetermined character in the game, with minimal customization, but still the immersion is a important factor for me personally in a RPG (i use the term very loosely here).

Of course i also like games where that isn't the main focus, like Mario but when investing tens/hundreds/thousands of hours to a game immersion is vital. Otherwise what is the point? What do you play for at that point? If you don't get something out of it, like a rewarding immersive experience, it's 100% just a waste of time. Time spent better elsewhere, like going outside and talking to people.

Don't know about you or other people, but If/when i want that crap i go outside and talk to people. I play games to.. not do that. To recharge my social battery/reserves to be able to do that when necessary, like when i go to work for example.