The story is a masterclass in saying nothing

[thekins]

Cool so now that you are mad about the title
Does the story ever actually explain anything? SPOILERS stop reading.....

spoilers
So i got to the white haired man and fought him at the manor weve now met 4? times and youve met the masked chick at least as many and while they have mentioned that maelle is the (person lady) they havent said.... ANYTHING.... i feel like the story blue balls everything at every turn
oh you wanted to learn about expedition 54? cool heres a short we did it we made it to the top of the mountain and it was.....
oh you wanted to learn about expedition 86? cool heres a jennifer killed 5 monsters so now im gonna go get 6 sure hope i dont die..... no tips on monster weakness nothing just a short meaningless story
oh you wanted to learn about what happened during the shattering? cool heres a we hid the children in the cellar surviving doesnt feel like surviving carlos you said i get to die first thats it thats the big reveal.
oh you want to know versos connection to the white man cool heres 4 cutscenes that say nothing followed by your team finding the journal that reveals hes OMG IS THIS TRUE???? and it......................................ENDs,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, boop oops hes my dad really? all that setup for that?

[Jester]

We all got tism in all of us some more than others.

[Havok]

Use some spoiler tags dingus. some people havent finished the game yet and would prefer not to hear you complain about what is actually a genuinely solid story.

Edit: Looking at some of the games you play, you wouldn't know a decent story if it were served to you on a golden platter.

[Veylox]

True, it's the weakest part of the game in my opinion. They had an ambitious story, that does end up making a lot of sense in act 3. It was also excellent during the prologue and beginning of act 1, but for some reason they did a terrible job bridging beginning and end. Instead of drip-feeding actual info to keep things moving forward, they just have characters you know NOTHING about yap for entire cutscenes about stuff you also know nothing about. You're watching alicia, renoir and verso interact in riddles about stuff that's meaningful to them but you're like... ok ? Can we maybe say something substantial ?

It stretches on for too long, they were going for the "now it all makes sense !" feeling at the end, where you can go back to previous cutscenes and finally have an idea what they're on about, but unfortunately that made watching them in the first place annoying / unfulfilling.

Excellent game, obviously, but way too much foreshadowing that gave nothing relevant to the player during the mid-game point was definitely the main weakness.

[Adun]

Since you're obviously not paying attention - otherwise you'd know the names of the characters you talk about - you will probably be stumped by the game's actual ending and story, and not understand the underlying message. Maybe this isn't a game for you.

I'm quite happy to finally have a game that doesn't constantly break the fourth wall and spoon-feed every insignificant detail to the player. Sometimes we don't know what's going on, that's life, deal with it.

[ShockedHearts]

as someone who went into this hoping for an original and well told story I think this game is phenominal.

damn near perfect game, original beautiful story with great themes and twists. hooks you in REALLY well too.

the characters are all interesting and complex having their own motives and relationships with one another, I love the dynamics between them and the stories overall message

even the gameplay kinda mixes in with lore from the story and when you look at it in a little bit of a more meta level, art analysis sorta deal you can really put together an interesting perspective on the story. its honestly mindblowingly simple and yet very complex at the same time.

art is like that, we all perceive it differently. and in a way even your (tbh) garbage take is valid because I think its fair to see things however you want. and live life the way you want.

EDIT:

also there is a ♥♥♥♥ ton of foreshadowing, hints, and context that help the player figure things out. I knew EXACTLY what was going on at the end, with every character. if you didnt thats because you didnt put the pieces together or bother to pay attention to social cues and clear connections between the characters.

[thekins]

Originally posted by Veylox:

True, it's the weakest part of the game in my opinion. They had an ambitious story, that does end up making a lot of sense in act 3. It was also excellent during the prologue and beginning of act 1, but for some reason they did a terrible job bridging beginning and end. Instead of drip-feeding actual info to keep things moving forward, they just have characters you know NOTHING about yap for entire cutscenes about stuff you also know nothing about. You're watching alicia, renoir and verso interact in riddles about stuff that's meaningful to them but you're like... ok ? Can we maybe say something substantial ?

It stretches on for too long, they were going for the "now it all makes sense !" feeling at the end, where you can go back to previous cutscenes and finally have an idea what they're on about, but unfortunately that made watching them in the first place annoying / unfulfilling.

Excellent game, obviously, but way too much foreshadowing that gave nothing relevant to the player during the mid-game point was definitely the main weakness.

yeah i was getting the exact same feeling you just used better words lol.
Im glad it does finally wrap things up cuz the constant blue balling is getting old. Gameplay is like you said fun and im enjoying it the story is just meandering and being cryptic as heck. its getting old

[thekins]

Originally posted by Adun:

Since you're obviously not paying attention - otherwise you'd know the names of the characters you talk about - you will probably be stumped by the game's actual ending and story, and not understand the underlying message. Maybe this isn't a game for you.

I'm quite happy to finally have a game that doesn't constantly break the fourth wall and spoon-feed every insignificant detail to the player. Sometimes we don't know what's going on, that's life, deal with it.

This post is actually me WANTING to know more rather than every single detail being hidden behind a riddle or half finished story im loving the game but the story keeps finding ways to give you a third of an interesting story then just tossing it away. I wanna know what the other expeditions found i want to know what happened during the shattering.
So... I am paying attention and im purposefully leaving names out so people dont breeze past and see real names I obviously dont wanna say OMG did you see how XX died and then XX became super saiyan 4???

[Baron]

Originally posted by Veylox:

True, it's the weakest part of the game in my opinion. They had an ambitious story, that does end up making a lot of sense in act 3. It was also excellent during the prologue and beginning of act 1, but for some reason they did a terrible job bridging beginning and end. Instead of drip-feeding actual info to keep things moving forward, they just have characters you know NOTHING about yap for entire cutscenes about stuff you also know nothing about. You're watching alicia, renoir and verso interact in riddles about stuff that's meaningful to them but you're like... ok ? Can we maybe say something substantial ?

It stretches on for too long, they were going for the "now it all makes sense !" feeling at the end, where you can go back to previous cutscenes and finally have an idea what they're on about, but unfortunately that made watching them in the first place annoying / unfulfilling.

Excellent game, obviously, but way too much foreshadowing that gave nothing relevant to the player during the mid-game point was definitely the main weakness.

Very nicely said, I have the same feeling. Quite loving the game, and the story in itself isn't bad, but the way it is handled is, unfortunately. By copying the codes of JRPG, they took the good ones, but also the bad ones, and "let's talk in riddles for ages" is one of the very bad ones.

Without spoiling, I was actually annoyed at a lot of cutscenes, where the characters were like "Why do you refuse to see the truth ?!", and I, the player, was like "Well, it would help if I knew whatever you were talking about". Then an event occurs, and everyone jumps onto it, forgetting the very last interaction. "I'm having nightmares, this is horribl...Oh, look, a shiny sword !"

Wanting a story to be a puzzle is all good, but when you deny hints for too long, people lose interest. A shame, as when the plot twist happened at the end of act 2 (via a whooping 30-40 mins of cutscenes, no less), I was actually bored, and just waiting to get control back so I could kill and loot. Not really a satisfying solution.

Once again, the game is good, but it's a real shame they "polluted" the story with a bad narration.