Storytelling Through Gameplay

[Neon]

Possible spoilers.



Initially, there were a few complaints I had with the game and some of those are common opinions on these forums.
However I also feel that it's too much of a coincidence at times to be an accident that many of these game choices reinforce key story and character elements.

Diana: Frequently pointed out as being overpowered and a one woman army that can't lose. Poor balancing? No.

Diana is the embodiment of the temple, a literal walking goddess of war and vengeance. She's practically a house hold name lore wise. Diana is exactly as strong as the STORY makes her out to be. She lives up to the hype.

Barnabas: Frequently complained about as being under powered, and more useful as a way to level up other leaders than be a leader himself. Poor balancing? No.

Barnabas is over the hill. Past his prime. As a character he wants to pass the torch to the next generation. It's the sad state of the world that's forced him to play the role of Warrior when he really wants to be a Teacher.

We could do this with almost every character people feel is under or over powered.

Sybil: A poor leader in the story, a hot head, unfocused. Exactly the same in gameplay.
Jules: Water affinity makes him a sub par archer. Meanwhile, his personality is the personification of water affinity. Easy going, a great friend.



CHAPTER 12

Again, heavily foreshadowed in the story. Things are going too good, too easily. Multiple characters comment on this.

More importantly though, you the player feel invincible at this point. You're marching to victory. This mission will be the greatest fight, the greatest challenge you've faced they tell you. My greatest victory, you think.

And then you lose. It's not fair. It's frustrating. You feel cheated.

Which is EXACTLY how your character feels. Exactly what you're supposed to be feeling. All those squads and leaders and artifacts, all my hard work, all my planning. It's all gone. The future is unclear. Do I get them back? Do I start over? Could I have won? Was there a way? Would it have mattered?

Gamers are jaded. You can't always just throw a text wall at them and expect them to care, or get attached. But what you can do is reinforce the points of the story and the characters through gameplay and make them care.


Again, this is far too consistent throughout the game to be accidental or coincidental.

[Dancing Dragon Games]

Originally posted by Neon:

Possible spoilers.



Initially, there were a few complaints I had with the game and some of those are common opinions on these forums.
However I also feel that it's too much of a coincidence at times to be an accident that many of these game choices reinforce key story and character elements.

Diana: Frequently pointed out as being overpowered and a one woman army that can't lose. Poor balancing? No.

Diana is the embodiment of the temple, a literal walking goddess of war and vengeance. She's practically a house hold name lore wise. Diana is exactly as strong as the STORY makes her out to be. She lives up to the hype.

Barnabas: Frequently complained about as being under powered, and more useful as a way to level up other leaders than be a leader himself. Poor balancing? No.

Barnabas is over the hill. Past his prime. As a character he wants to pass the torch to the next generation. It's the sad state of the world that's forced him to play the role of Warrior when he really wants to be a Teacher.

We could do this with almost every character people feel is under or over powered.

Sybil: A poor leader in the story, a hot head, unfocused. Exactly the same in gameplay.
Jules: Water affinity makes him a sub par archer. Meanwhile, his personality is the personification of water affinity. Easy going, a great friend.



CHAPTER 12

Again, heavily foreshadowed in the story. Things are going too good, too easily. Multiple characters comment on this.

More importantly though, you the player feel invincible at this point. You're marching to victory. This mission will be the greatest fight, the greatest challenge you've faced they tell you. My greatest victory, you think.

And then you lose. It's not fair. It's frustrating. You feel cheated.

Which is EXACTLY how your character feels. Exactly what you're supposed to be feeling. All those squads and leaders and artifacts, all my hard work, all my planning. It's all gone. The future is unclear. Do I get them back? Do I start over? Could I have won? Was there a way? Would it have mattered?

Gamers are jaded. You can't always just throw a text wall at them and expect them to care, or get attached. But what you can do is reinforce the points of the story and the characters through gameplay and make them care.


Again, this is far too consistent throughout the game to be accidental or coincidental.

Thank you for noticing all these, and for supporting SoW!

[corisai]

Originally posted by Neon:

Diana: Frequently pointed out as being overpowered and a one woman army that can't lose. Poor balancing? No.

No, she's just a single mom. Later you will find a real overpowered woman ;)

Originally posted by Neon:

Sybil: A poor leader in the story, a hot head, unfocused.

Great leader. She's paired with dragon riders perfectly in late game.

Originally posted by Neon:

Jules: Water affinity makes him a sub par archer.

He's "Archer captain" trait >>>> tiny boost from skills affinity. Of course if you're not going to spend countless hours grinding.

Originally posted by Neon:

Which is EXACTLY how your character feels. Exactly what you're supposed to be feeling.

LOL?

He'd forget about recon (and it's not hard to spot an army on a march, you know). For a military officer - it's an utter stupidity. He's got what he'd deserved in the end.

Originally posted by Neon:

All those squads and leaders and artifacts, all my hard work, all my planning. It's all gone.

Except I won that battle. I even get an achievement for that - yet story mention nothing about my efforts into it.

Devs could at least change some text in that scene - like "we'd defeated an enemy vanguard but they're still too many of them. I'm going to cover your retreat, GL HF and so on".

[Panthaz89]

I wouldn't exactly call Sybil a poor leader and if you complete the one gaiden chapter her leadership tends to be one of the highest in the game. Even with the one bond with Abi I usually keep them separate since they can both easily cap out their parties since I usually run 3 dragons in Abi's party.

[Dancing Dragon Games]

Originally posted by Ogami:

I know its a small team but why try such a system when you clearly did not have the writing resources to pull it off? Just because its popular in Fire Emblem?

Because we have passion, big dreams, and a can-do attitude.

[Neon]

Originally posted by Panthaz89:

I wouldn't exactly call Sybil a poor leader and if you complete the one gaiden chapter her leadership tends to be one of the highest in the game. Even with the one bond with Abi I usually keep them separate since they can both easily cap out their parties since I usually run 3 dragons in Abi's party.

Sybil's growth as a leader and as a person is communicated in the story and reflected in the game yes. That's correct.

She does however start as a poor leader and there are/were many complaints about her in the forums. However part of my point is that she should be a poor leader at the start, that's her character.

You're absolutely right about the way she grows though.

[Throwaway Name]

Thank you for explaining this properly, all the complaining about characters and chapter 12 felt wrong to me