Writers' Workshop General Chat Thread

[Beth Pavell]

Oh indeed, it's amazing what will be hailed as great storytelling from a game. Sun and Moon are full of narrative blunders, to take a recent example

 

[Nitro Indigo]

I like how main Pokémon games' stories are getting more developed. For example, in ORAS, they fleshed out the characters, made the pond a motif, and expanded upon the lore with the whole ultimate energy thing. While that last one may be a bit weird, I always felt like the Mega lore made the main games more interesting than they appear at first glance.

Anyway, I brought the silent protagonist thing up because I wanted to see if my point was clear enough.

 

[Beth Pavell]

The problem I have with the story becoming more prominent is that they're being built out of tired clichés with a disregard for plot holes. The Delta Episode is a good example, where you have Zinnia knock the protagonist unconscious because the author wanted to get them out of the way for a soliloquy. Having something happen that makes no sense because you've written yourself into a corner is just plain lazy storytelling

 

[Nitro Indigo]

There comes a point where always having a blank slate protagonist limits what can be done with your franchise, since the protagonist ends up feeling superfluous. Pokémon Mystery Dungeon stories feel limited because the protagonist HAS to come from the human world, HAS to represent the player, and HAS to have a heartbreaking goodbye at the end, but don't worry, the disappearee comes back.

 

[canisaries]

right... i never finished PSMD either... whoops, i guess my friend is dead forever, rip him

blank slates are alright in my book, since they're an important part in twitch plays pokemon. since the game doesn't force anything on you, it allows for all kinds of lore to form freely. not that the canon really stands in the way of the lore anymore. exhibit a: everything tpp i have written

 

[Nitro Indigo]

The problem with Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, then, is that Chunsoft can't decide if the protagonist is a blank slate or not. They have no canon name, gender, or species, but they also internally monologue and some of them have a defined backstory.

Here's something I wrote in the script for my PMD video:

Klonoa games are unusual in that they are story-driven platformers, and these stories are quite similar to those of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games, despite coming first. Klonoa is a good example of a player surrogate. He has a vague backstory, comes from another world, and learns things alongside the player, but he also talks and has his own personality.

My main complaint about the PMD protagonists is that they lack agency; they wait for the plot to come to them.

I gave up on Super around the Expedition Society, but recently I've gotten the urge to play it again, and I've had the Mystery Jungle theme stuck in my head.

 

[Gengarzilla]

I was more in on Super for its gameplay rather than character or plot, so there never really was an instance where a certain scene made me want to give up. I just tuned out any offending cutscenes until I could control my character again.

When I first saw its higher difficulty level for myself from my sister's struggles through numerous saves, I decided that I was going to take that challenge head on and beat this game with my first attempt. This, uh... sorta meant I ended up overleveled because I took it too seriously: I'd reached Level 17 on my Chikorita protag and learned Reflect when that optional Salamence battle became available.

 

[canisaries]

...you know what i miss? being able to evolve your protagonists. i remember how badass it felt in red rescue team to one-shot a monster house with my charizard's heat wave. meanwhile in psmd, it takes damn ages to level up and your moves are shitty. (or maybe it's just fennekin that's shitty. but i refuse to take responsibility for that, who wouldn't pick the cute af fox as their starter)

 

[Beth Pavell]

Lord save me from Youtubers who think they're funny. Lord save me from Youtubers who talk so much they defeat the object of their own video. And especially save me from Youtubers who get to the point of their own video, but in the most garrulous way possible.

This is why I still prefer to read things

 

[Nitro Indigo]

I don't like let's players who yell at everything without showing any passion for the game, I don't like theorists who jump to conclusions too quickly, and I don't like reviewers who repeat the same shallow point over and over because they're reviewing a movie no-one likes, so therefore they can say anything negative about it and the masses will love it.

 

[Misfit Angel]

My (least, I must stress this) favorites are the ones who say stupid stuff like "rape that subscribe and like button!".

Or the ones who put absolutely no effort into editing their videos. I was watching a build tutorial awhile back for something in Minecraft, the guy had the absolute most boring voice imaginable and he'd frequently get his build measurements wrong. "Oops, let me fix that." he says, then proceeds to spend two minutes of dead air or idle beatboxing, tearing down the wall he just built to move it over one block, instead of cutting to a point where it's in the proper location.

 

[Beth Pavell]

Ugh, yes indeed, the tutorial equivalent to "Get to the bloody point!" I don't mind the boring voice per se, mostly because I really loathe the Youtube accent where everybody has to put on a ridiculous and silly voice with much emphasis because heaven forbid that you do your film critic channel without putting on a stupid cartoon persona

 

[Misfit Angel]

Oh no, this guy was the embodiment of boringness. I'm willing to bet that if you took a waveform of his voice, it would be a solid brick all the way through with no variation in it. No emotion just "uhhhhhhh yeah this is how I'm going to do it, uhhhh let's get started shall we uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"

I can't even do it justice.

 

[Beth Pavell]

 

[Nitro Indigo]

I'm not happy with the latest Wind Waker HD episode I recorded because I keep interrupting myself during my ramblings, realised afterwards that I forgot to say things during those ramblings, and I only got one thing done in fifty minutes. I might cancel this let's play.

 

[Beth Pavell]

You know what else comes as a nasty shock? Realising you're old enough to need to trim your nose hair. As my dad gleefully observed "It's all downhill from there"

 

[Gengarzilla]

...and on the other side of things, you have my little brother who really wants his facial hair to grow in soon. I suppose it's because mine came in when I was just about his age.

I love this thread.

 

[AceTrainer14]

Why would any young person want to grow facial hair? Sprouting facial hair for the first time is awkward af. I wish I'd had a smooth face and had then just sprouted a beard one night when I was 20.

 

[Gengarzilla]

It's probably because I do have a pretty good looking 'tashe from what I've been told occasionally, so I'd say admiration has a lot to do with it. I could live without the accompanying beard though.

 

[diamondpearl876]

Uh huh... This conversation makes me glad to be a girl... but I guess it’s not much different from not wanting leg hair and having to deal with that every few days. I can hide my legs easier than a guy can hide his face.

This conversation also strangely reminds me of the time the topic of female leg hair came up with a friend. He was 16 at the time and he said I ruined his life because he didn’t know women grew body hair in different parts of their body, too. Right... I still tease him about that convo to this day. :’)