Something that frustrates me about most historical fiction is that the hero is almost always out of place and time. The hero and his companions act and hold beliefs like a modern westerner, even when everyone around them doesn't. Even when the belief was so ubiquitous that it was held by 99% of the population. Somehow, your hero is always in that 1%.
This is even worse in RPGs because they offer you a choice, but that choice is usually limited to "be nice like a westerner" or "ignore it."
@newt As far as I tried in KCD you can kill everyone except story characters.
If I want a medium without meaningful interactions possible, I'd just watch a movie.
@newt True. You should be able to just lock yourself out of the story by killing a story character
@newt An alternative path is the better option, but simply ending the game is the cheapest way to enable the killing without having to spend time on making an alternative path.
ひげ
@newt @matrix in something like D&D where there is ultimate player choice, and unlimited ways for DMs to drum up consequences and story leads on the spot, this can work. For a video game, it's much harder. Maybe it'll be more feasible once there is better AI. You just can't hard code all these different paths a player can take in such a massive environment and still have a story that seems the least bit cohesive. I don't know if there is a single game out there with such freedom. I think the closest thing is potentially Morrowind, where you can kill important characters and it just tells you that you fucked up and should re-load a save. Maybe there is a text-based RPG that lets you do that too, I can see it being much easier to implement in something like that.
@newt @matrix I'll also add that this is really only a consideration in a western rpg, where you're playing the role of "yourself" more than an established character. JRPGs are a lot more focused on the narrative and getting into the shoes of a specific character archetype. That is to say, there are varying degrees on how far any given RPG can go with its freedom depending on the experience it wants to offer.
I'd say that this changed around the time Mass Effect came out, with the games starting to force certain choices on the player.
Or you can murder literally anything that moves. In Fallout 2, the game even punishes (or rewards, depending on how you look at it) you for this by sending bounty hunters after you and quite hefty gear.
@matrix
EXACTLY:
I think you posted this already, but I just wanted to point out the significance of this change.
They changed the model of Henry from KCD 1 to 2 to make him chadified... But: He's not supposed to look like that. If you're playing a witcher, obviously your body will be a mountain of muscules. But you will NOT look like that on a medieval diet. It's just not happening.
@LukeAlmighty I dunno. Here it could simply be a difference in camera angle and ingame vs prerendered. I barely looked at his face in game though since it's covered by a helmet.
He also was acknowledged as a son of a noble so he did probably get access to more meat.
You are correct though that on a medieval peasant's diet you would not be able to build muscle.
@LukeAlmighty also Gerald isn't the best example, because they made him more attractive and human in the games.
@matrix @LukeAlmighty Geralt is one of the worst examples, he's supposed to be lithe and generally off-putting
@LukeAlmighty @matrix yeah, I am also talking about this, and this is, like, very Not Canon, they chadified him before selling to the western audiences, too
dunno if there are mods to make him more lithe and less of a chad (there's a dad bod mod, but that's also ain't it)
@tomie @matrix
Ok... Not what I wanted to talk about, but suuure.
Is this much closer to canon, or do you see the same issue?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2F_Ti_6E_k
@LukeAlmighty @matrix yeah, Witcher 1 is much closer
@tomie @LukeAlmighty @matrix back when I played in like 2017 there were mods to give him book-accurate skin, hair, and eyes. Not a total body mod though.
@matrix @LukeAlmighty these mods are nice, but don't really fix the body problem
@tomie @LukeAlmighty
This one makes some body changes but I dunno if that's enough
https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/2283
@tomie @LukeAlmighty he is in the books
@matrix @LukeAlmighty that's the point
@matrix you cannot treat musa like a human because he isn't
Just slap on some fan service, like a big burly bear guy, a sparkly gay vampire, an evil dommy mommy, a happy-go-lucky child-bearing-hips mommy, and a fake-evil "dark past uwu" traumatized maiden, and you'll get Game of the Year award in no time. :blobcat-smug:
(If you know, you know. No I'm not seriously mocking it, it's great.)
