Author Topic: Cultures  (Read 1217 times)

Hunter

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Cultures
« on: May 14, 2003, 06:05:06 pm »
yeah i know all races have theres own histories and back grounds , but in my opinion there should be more, like each race has it\'s own flaws and merits, and even some, it own languages, i just think some of the stuff on each character should be more indepth, to make each race more defined from the rest, not just in appearance but also in psyical attributes ;)  8)

Mehallie

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« Reply #1 on: May 14, 2003, 06:20:06 pm »
There are some physical attributes which have already been addressed on the site (metal allergies, intolerance to holy objects, weakness to blows, etc etc).

Language:  this has been done in other games.  It would have been cool if it had been kept up, but what usually happened was people started shouting \"Speak Common plz!\"  So, that rather quickly defeats the language thing.

There\'s all sorts of cultural things that could be explored, and I\'d certainly like to see more history of the various races, historical lore (heroes, enemies, tragic tales etc etc) for all of them.  Hopefully in time, as a good rpg is only as good as its storyline.  I wouldn\'t even care if the graphics were less that perfect if the story-line could blow me away.  The story line and history, however, still needs work.

But I\'d like to see some things explained or at least explored, as some of the races are so original, so bizarre, that it\'s just not enough to have a real basic story of a paragraph and not feel a little cheated:

Like, why are the Klyros so ambivalent to gods?  Most races, for good reasons, would at least be a little awed and intimidated when face with an immortal, powerful deity.  The Klyros, however, seem to care less.  Where are they from?  What is their history?

The Enkidukai, as a nomadic tribe, strike me as being more \"verbal-lore based\".  Most cultures that are on the move don\'t bother to write in books as they\'d be too heavy.  But they DO have good memories, and perhaps, like the Navaho, they have their storytellers to keep lore alive, and said lore is spread from tribe to tribe so each storyteller has memory.  The Navaho believe that history and memory are different.  History can be written to suit a man\'s idea of what is right - but memory cannot lie to you.

What in the world were the Xacha doing down in the Labyrinths?  How did they get there, and how was it that these \"other gods\" didn\'t know of their existence?  Is there other cities down there, crammed with history and technology from their \"better days\", like the temples of the Inca, the Maya, the Toltec - abandoned for no reason anyone can discover?

Who were the \"ones who came before\"?  What did they leave?  Where did they go?

There\'s a lot of lore that could be gathered in the world to make it a richer place.  I was rather hoping that various stories, either ingame or out of game, could later be scribed into library books in the world itself,  but perhaps that\'s a bit too ambitious.  However, the culture and history is something I\'d really enjoy seeing.

Kuiper7986

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« Reply #2 on: May 15, 2003, 01:05:37 am »
I agree with Mehallie, Historical context would be good.
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Hunter

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« Reply #3 on: May 15, 2003, 06:58:20 pm »
I agree as well, and i\'m not saying that we should speak the language of the race i\'m just saying it as if we know that they have there own language, and really what  i was getting at is i think the histories of the characters should be more indepth but yeah i do agree with you

Axioma

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« Reply #4 on: May 15, 2003, 08:24:08 pm »
Yep yep, true. History is very important, and it is one of the things rpg fans like the most. Playing a game that has a good story behind it.

Who wrote the history in the first place ? I assume that that were some guys in the settind/background department, or some other department i don\'t know.

Maybe, if they found the time for that, they could refine the history, add more storylines, make the tale better and better every month or so.

Or maybe there are some volunteers, like methallie, you appear to know what you\'re talking about very well. You appear to have a very good knowledge of the history already. Maybe you could come with some text, answering some of the questions you yourself posed. This would make it a lot easier on the devs, because there is a tendency i have seen more on boards like these. A lot of wishes, a lot of good ideas, but sometimes just no-one does anything with it. In some cases, that is because the ones proposing don\'t have the abilities or knowledge to help (like i don\'t now anything about programming or 3d designing or anything like that). But that\'s not the case here: the people on this subject have the imagination to do something with the ideas. I like the idea of more history. So maybe, Methalie, if you found the time, you could post some answers to your questions here ?
« Last Edit: May 15, 2003, 08:27:43 pm by Axioma »

Mehallie

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« Reply #5 on: May 15, 2003, 09:40:35 pm »
Heh...the only reason I know the history so well is because I offered to edit it (those edits still aren\'t in place yet...busy folks and all).

I have offered to do some assistance in writing in whatnot, but I\'m aware the devs are busy and I haven\'t wanted to pry.  Maybe I\'ll hear something soon - I\'m certainly being loud enough on the forums.  Perhaps too  loud, but there you are  :P

Also, I have personal issues about ghost-writing someone else\'s material without permission.  I know it would totally fry me personally, hence I haven\'t really said much on the history front and hoped that the original writer would take the few suggestions I\'ve given.  (Honestly, if I were to take a crack at the history, I\'d rewrite it from top to bottom, and I don\'t feel that\'s really my place to do without having the devs ask me directly.)

I am hoping that things are brewing in the background on the quest and history front; coding is all very well, but as you said, Axioma, without a really strong history and story line, it doesn\'t make for good rp.

explorer

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« Reply #6 on: May 15, 2003, 10:09:08 pm »
I like the idea of background history, but also the players making their own history, so what we do in the game, reflects like on a PS history page.
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Mehallie

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« Reply #7 on: May 16, 2003, 11:56:59 am »
This has been proposed in other games so that the world is more interactive.  However, this also means having very active GM\'s that can keep an eye on things ingame and the like.  How interactive the world will be could probably be discussed in another thread, as I\'d like to know how the dev\'s are going to handle that one.

Back to the cultures thing:  I\'m hoping for some more background as what I have read is rather intriguing but a bit vague, however as early as this project is, it\'s understandable.  I would indeed volunteer for this, but I don\'t know how many folks are on the team or what they\'re doing, hence trodding on toes is something I\'ll keep away from for the time being.

So, I\'ll keep the hope that we\'ll hear something on cultures soon.

Axioma

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« Reply #8 on: May 17, 2003, 09:04:05 am »
I think I\'ll also volunteer to help write this history, if any help is needed that is. If one of the devs has read this topic, could they just drop a note, so that we know if we can help, and how we can help ? That would make it a lot easier for the both of us...

beza1e1

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« Reply #9 on: May 17, 2003, 05:47:03 pm »
Perhaps a interactive library should be created in each city. The mayor (a player) is responsible for it (prizes from the admins for best mayor), but many people could write their stories and deposit it in the local library. Everything in-game!
The story perhaps about a great player fighter can be written into books by a bard or wizard. Then the book can be given from hand to hand or placed in the library.
thanks for reading
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Wormtail_

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« Reply #10 on: May 17, 2003, 11:16:20 pm »
Quote
Perhaps a interactive library should be created in each city. The mayor (a player) is responsible for it (prizes from the admins for best mayor), but many people could write their stories and deposit it in the local library. Everything in-game!


Well, it would be interesting to have player mayors in-game, but there are some problems. For one, if the game has this idea implemented into it, then when it starts, who will serve as the mayor? I would say NPC mayors would run for a time until a player wants to take over, but there are some problems with that. Namely, abuse of power and unworthiness. Also, I don\'t think that administrators should reward mayors. I think that the better mayors can have more abilities than \'bad\' ones as the people of the place like the mayor. As for really bad mayors, we can overthrow them. Rebellion! Oh yeah, and another problem would be how long a mayor is a mayor.

As for people writing their own stories and putting them in the library, there is a problem. I do not think that stories like the following one should count. \"One day, uber boy saved the world from Superman. The end.\" No, I do not want to see those kinds of stories in-game. Perhaps there can be \'publisher-type people\' who can control that. If there is anyone willing to.

Quote
The story perhaps about a great player fighter can be written into books by a bard or wizard. Then the book can be given from hand to hand or placed in the library.


This idea is a good one, but once again, to prevent people from fawning upon a newbie who is really annoying (just an example), or themselves, then once again publishers and editors come into play. Then again, jobs for them didn\'t really exist around the Medieval Ages, did they? I\'m using the Medieval Ages as this game is closest to that era, but not exactly. So, what can we do about the bad stories? One more thing: Wizards write about fighters?
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Axioma

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« Reply #11 on: May 18, 2003, 10:06:13 am »
Wormtail_, beza1e1 i took your ideas and made a different topic about them. I loooooove your ideas about the mayors, so I posted it in a topic where we can concentrate on the politics side of things, whereas this topic was meant for the cultural side.

The ingame library could have some real advantages though, but as wormtail said, there would have to be a system to check all new stories, because there wouyld be far too many abuses otherwise.

Axioma

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« Reply #12 on: May 19, 2003, 06:01:25 pm »
This culture thing is bleeidng dry !!! :\'( Isn\'t there anyone who reads these forums ? we offer to help to write, and nobody wants our help. Yooohooo ! We still offer to help.

Hehe, no seriously, if any help is ever needed writing some history pieces for PS, devs, this is where you gotta be...

beza1e1

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« Reply #13 on: May 19, 2003, 11:06:43 pm »
Right! Perhaps they should just ask for a story ;)
thanks for reading
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