Having played both TOR and TSW, i'll happily take TSW's strong, silent type. I do think there is an evolution to be had in voicing your character in MMOs, but i think that evolution is you (the person behidn the keyboard) voice interacting with the NPCs, not a bunch of pre-recorded snippets of dialogue. (For example, TSW's NPC interface says something like "yourself" and you click on that button to ask the person about themselves, it would be very cool if instead i could look at the option of "yourself" and say into my mic "tell me about yourself" and the NPC would answer.)
On the other hand, it'd be kinda surreal if you chose a petite, slim girl as avatar that you suddenly hear asking 'tell me about yourself' in a low and husky male voice.
Yeah, character having a voice sounds like a great idea in theory, until you actually experience it. TOR gave my character voice and every time i spoke my thought was one of the following:
"that doesn't sound like my character"
"that's not what my character would say"
"why does my character sound like a retard?"
"that's not what i meant"
"why do i keep repeating the same things?"
"why does my character sound exactly the same as everyone else?"
Having played both TOR and TSW, i'll happily take TSW's strong, silent type. I do think there is an evolution to be had in voicing your character in MMOs, but i think that evolution is you (the person behidn the keyboard) voice interacting with the NPCs, not a bunch of pre-recorded snippets of dialogue. (For example, TSW's NPC interface says something like "yourself" and you click on that button to ask the person about themselves, it would be very cool if instead i could look at the option of "yourself" and say into my mic "tell me about yourself" and the NPC would answer.)
I had a different reaction. My thought was "Ok, my character is a mute and doesn't even know how to sign." After playing SWTOR I found it jarring and it killed the immersion for me so to each their own I suppose.
nice story but last thing i want is my wife gettin into pc gaming mode and takin over..no ty..she can stick to washing the dishes(joking of course)
Well, look at it this way: all the make-up sex after you two were PvPing each other in game. Whether you leave it to virtual sex or take it over into your RL, that's up to you. ;-)
That is all I can tell ya. Forget about GW2 or Tera or D3. Just think of all the favors and appreciation you are going to get from letting her loot a rare item or finishing up an instance / big boss. While all the rest of us are washing dishes and taking the garbage out for a smile. You lucky lucky bastard.
Ok say you have 4 choices to pick between ad a response do you then need to hear you character speak the Lines. I prefer no own dialogue as i dont need 2 times the length of the cutscenes nor do i need to listen to My character voice what i already have read or know due to the story
You of course meant that your wife picked Templar because that is the only faction available in the open beta. You know, since allowing her to play in the press or closed betas would be violating every single one of those NDAs that you signed.
Originally posted by TheDor You of course meant that your wife picked Templar because that is the only faction available in the open beta. You know, since allowing her to play in the press or closed betas would be violating every single one of those NDAs that you signed.
Absurd .. why would they care on NDA on for a new costumer and free publicity lol..
You're right AryanRo. NDAs only exist to keep people that aren't members of the press from saying bad things about games. That must have been one of those clauses that I didn't read.
The game feels like suspense novel and that if you miss a clue you got find out what you miss and is not hard to figure out lol.. one quest as for a code and I was like where could it be and was plaster all over the church wall's lol but as I look in gen chat no many figure out that one out as they were asking for the code..This game is for people that like detective work this is not your point and click game STWOR started like that but it just became repetive text on the scenarios no matter the class..and is what GW2 is bringing out little by little to immerse the player in the game not just point and click which was in eq1 before journal and books .. you had to read the text to know what to answer or would end up getting nothing or the wrong item..
On the training grounds she did miss the rewards she got knowledge background history of who she was gonna work for... was given a weapon and some starting skills...since the game is not level base no need for xp gain or items since you were wearing already the basic armor from start...I dont think this game is gonna give insta gratification items like other games were just too many is just graphics and software clutter...
I had my reservations on this game but now that I tried the beta I wanna get the lifetime sub lol and debating on the GW2 CE but I want the charr statue which still winning on that debate in my head lol
Look at my review and you will notice my Wife of 21 years, who also never has played an MMO in here life wants to play this game. Like your wife, mine loves crime dramas, horror shows and is a voracious reader (especially Stephen King). Saturday Night my wife spent 4 hours by myside askign questions, watching the game, and enjoying my hobby with me (makes me want to cry with joy as I type this) Because of this TSW has my utmost devotion.
Playing: GW2 Waiting on: TESO Next Flop: Planetside 2 Best MMO of all time: Asheron's Call - The first company to recreate AC will be the next greatest MMO.
Be careful what you wish for, I introduced my non-gamer wife to WOW over 6 years ago and 6 years later she is a hardcore raider while I am still a casual lol
My BF is exactly like this! Never played an MMO before. Intrigued by the game. Loves the Templars. Had about the same critiques. One thing though William, I hope your wife gets a chance to go to the church in Kingsmouth soon. The Illuminati ward mission, though simple, completely sucked my BF in. He loved looking at the symbols and exploring. He then found the Dirty Laundry mission and it was over. He started asking me how to pre-order and is now doing the secret war to get extra stuff. Of course I'm Illuminati and he called me the enemy, but that's another story. LOL
I think that an hour or so into the game without any significant rewards is par for the course for this type of mmo. Your wife is coming from a fruit ninja perspective. So the pace of an mmo, which can run up into the thousands of hours if left unchecked, will be an adjustment. After she's been playing a few months, that opening tutorial will be a distant memory and wont seem like a big deal she wasn't handed new shineys every 5 minutes.
I sit on a man's back, choking him and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that I am very sorry for him and wish to ease his lot by all possible means - except by getting off his back.
Choices definitely but they can shove the dialogue option. Wasn't sure I was ever keen on the concept and SWTOR pretty much showed me it is a fairly awful thing to do.
Anyways, nice article...
I love having a choice and having my character say it... I find it's a great feature in SWTOR... the only thing about it which is where I agree with the other poster... is that in SWTOR what you end up saying is not always intuitive with the text you selected...
The other part about it is that you don't really feel like the choices you make drive the outcome... you're mostly funneled in the same experience (aside from maybe an NPC reaction) except at a few key points.
I'd like to see a game that mixes VO choices like in SWTOR, faction affinity like in EQ and diplomacy like in Vanguard. That'd be insane
A true non-bias opinion. good job in having a non-gamer test it out and report on it. definately helped me get closer to committing to playing the game.
mahavishnu, and there you have shown us that you have absolutly not understood what TSW is about.
Thanks for hyping this mod that everybody is hyping now... *yawn*
To be honest my biggest grief with TSW - aside from the framerate that didn't go over 4 FPS(despite everything turned off or on low) on a system that got both in SWTOR on mostly medium settings with just shadows turned off, and the not GPU optimized BWE of GW2 in the 20+ FPS , and the too narrow line of sight angle: don't tell me he can't see the zombie that stands just an inch off center sort of in front of him! Oh, yeah, maybe they should add an auto turn to target function or at least some controls to adjust the mouse speed, and yes, of course the "you talking to me? Fine, I'll just grin like a dumbass" cutscenes (I think we covered... no, wait, linear, good old linear course thru the missions: Why the fuck did i have to first go back into town after finding that skate dude's PDA just to find out that his shop is closed and he has gone skating if I just picked up a flamethrower from him at the skate course? Or why is shotgun Norma telling me about the raven murders in 2002 and the suggest i should speak to other people, but Ms Law&Boobs doesn't give me even the smallest clue no matter how many times i go thru the dialog options? Argh! - okay, as I was saying: my biggest grief with TSW is the setup of *poof* (okay: *buzz**slurp**cough*) and you are a gifted man or woman and have learned to master that new magic thing in 7 days?
Call me oldfashioned but i think a setup of "you were the wrong guy at the wrong place at the wrong time and now you've looked behind the mirror and there is no little old man with lots of switches but rather really nasty things and don't like you... well maybe like your bone marrow sucked out of your still living body" would have been better.
You could potentially even make this a group "event" (plague onto GW2 for making events a casual thing!) with a random group of people travelling on a bus/train and something happens. If you are doing it alone the system will generate 3 groups of people: clues (people who can provide information/specific actions/help and are therefore hardwired into the story), meat (somebody may have to die...) and auxillary (guys and gals who can kick some arse just like you and are basically there to help you rip some nasty a new one). If this event is started by a group i.e. by either random players gathered or a group teaming on purpose, the number of aux. toons is reduced accordingly.
of course, in the end, people survive, it was all just a loose bear or stray dog or just a bad acid trip... but then things start happening: that one guy who shot off his mouth about him being a bigshot and going to tell everything to the media, well, the newsmedia called it a "terrible accident" that he fell off the roof of his penthouse building down straight 23 floors, but could only squeeze it in on page 6 next to the story about Ronny the Wonderdog who climbs trees to chase cats/
And who the fuck are these shady characters that seem to follow you around town? and why is your boss suddenly suggesting that you take a few weeks off (and maybe start looking for a different job) because, well, you seem a bit "paranoid"...
And now, instead of the pizza guy coming by there is this hot chick and she'd like to make you a powerful offer. Yesterday, when you were expecting your #31 fried rice with squid in sweet & sour sauce to be delivered, yes, it was an asian at the door, but he too said something about making you an offer that you should not refuse. What will it be tomorrow? The Salvation Army?
No, of course it tturned out to be that bloke that offered to buy you a beer and started talking about how certain things are important and how you can be part of something important...
so, here you are now, you have 3 cards in front of you... which will you pick? because somehow you have a feeling that you don't get a second chance choosing... and if you don't pick one, well, that life of yours that is already circling the drain, you are pretty positive that someone will pull the flusher...
And from there your learning the secret arts starts...
I think that would have been better than this weird "Now i'm super, man! - Here is my card because at character creation you picked our faction. - oooh, weird, why am i now a chick called Sarah, and why am I PMSing? Not just because I can see the universe... I hope." tutorial/intro thing...
or maybe that's just me...
Oh, yeah, did I mention that while it is nice that I can do all that killing with "magic" stuff, I still down have a clue if my character ever finished High School? Or what his job is/was? Or if he is broke or owns half of Texas?
yeah, things could have been better in TSW, at least in the beta... let's wait for the release... good thing that I probably first of to buy a new rig to be able to play the game and this will only happen in a few months... *shrug*
(anybody feel like we all should team up and make a "Dark Matter" MMO?)
"I used to think the worst thing in life was to be all alone. It's not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel all alone." Robin Williams
Comments
interesting for mmo newbies? yes
but i doubt its useful for mmo long player nerds like me. the pro points ur wife and u pointed out, wont bring me into.
but its no tsw problem. mmo world is getting old. at least for me. go tsw ull be one of the better games anyways!
On the other hand, it'd be kinda surreal if you chose a petite, slim girl as avatar that you suddenly hear asking 'tell me about yourself' in a low and husky male voice.
I liked this article a lot. People who don't play MMOs every day since 90's should write more reviews.
I had a different reaction. My thought was "Ok, my character is a mute and doesn't even know how to sign." After playing SWTOR I found it jarring and it killed the immersion for me so to each their own I suppose.
Well, look at it this way: all the make-up sex after you two were PvPing each other in game. Whether you leave it to virtual sex or take it over into your RL, that's up to you. ;-)
You lucky bastard!
That is all I can tell ya. Forget about GW2 or Tera or D3. Just think of all the favors and appreciation you are going to get from letting her loot a rare item or finishing up an instance / big boss. While all the rest of us are washing dishes and taking the garbage out for a smile. You lucky lucky bastard.
http://werewood.wordpress.com
Absurd .. why would they care on NDA on for a new costumer and free publicity lol..
The game feels like suspense novel and that if you miss a clue you got find out what you miss and is not hard to figure out lol.. one quest as for a code and I was like where could it be and was plaster all over the church wall's lol but as I look in gen chat no many figure out that one out as they were asking for the code..This game is for people that like detective work this is not your point and click game STWOR started like that but it just became repetive text on the scenarios no matter the class..and is what GW2 is bringing out little by little to immerse the player in the game not just point and click which was in eq1 before journal and books .. you had to read the text to know what to answer or would end up getting nothing or the wrong item..
On the training grounds she did miss the rewards she got knowledge background history of who she was gonna work for... was given a weapon and some starting skills...since the game is not level base no need for xp gain or items since you were wearing already the basic armor from start...I dont think this game is gonna give insta gratification items like other games were just too many is just graphics and software clutter...
I had my reservations on this game but now that I tried the beta I wanna get the lifetime sub lol and debating on the GW2 CE but I want the charr statue which still winning on that debate in my head lol
Look at my review and you will notice my Wife of 21 years, who also never has played an MMO in here life wants to play this game. Like your wife, mine loves crime dramas, horror shows and is a voracious reader (especially Stephen King). Saturday Night my wife spent 4 hours by myside askign questions, watching the game, and enjoying my hobby with me (makes me want to cry with joy as I type this) Because of this TSW has my utmost devotion.
Everything you need to know about Elder Scrolls Online
Playing: GW2
Waiting on: TESO
Next Flop: Planetside 2
Best MMO of all time: Asheron's Call - The first company to recreate AC will be the next greatest MMO.
Good good.
Be careful what you wish for, I introduced my non-gamer wife to WOW over 6 years ago and 6 years later she is a hardcore raider while I am still a casual lol
My BF is exactly like this! Never played an MMO before. Intrigued by the game. Loves the Templars. Had about the same critiques. One thing though William, I hope your wife gets a chance to go to the church in Kingsmouth soon. The Illuminati ward mission, though simple, completely sucked my BF in. He loved looking at the symbols and exploring. He then found the Dirty Laundry mission and it was over. He started asking me how to pre-order and is now doing the secret war to get extra stuff. Of course I'm Illuminati and he called me the enemy, but that's another story. LOL
It really pisses me off that Character Creation sucks in this game.
I think that an hour or so into the game without any significant rewards is par for the course for this type of mmo. Your wife is coming from a fruit ninja perspective. So the pace of an mmo, which can run up into the thousands of hours if left unchecked, will be an adjustment. After she's been playing a few months, that opening tutorial will be a distant memory and wont seem like a big deal she wasn't handed new shineys every 5 minutes.
I sit on a man's back, choking him and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that I am very sorry for him and wish to ease his lot by all possible means - except by getting off his back.
Maybe it is excessively user friendly? Is there an expert mode?
There is an alpha-test of a mod for an ego-shooter called DayZ arma. It is exactly what TSW should have been.
Check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOB7YGgREFg
Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need.
I love having a choice and having my character say it... I find it's a great feature in SWTOR... the only thing about it which is where I agree with the other poster... is that in SWTOR what you end up saying is not always intuitive with the text you selected...
The other part about it is that you don't really feel like the choices you make drive the outcome... you're mostly funneled in the same experience (aside from maybe an NPC reaction) except at a few key points.
I'd like to see a game that mixes VO choices like in SWTOR, faction affinity like in EQ and diplomacy like in Vanguard. That'd be insane
Great Story, it is always cool to see how someone not inundated with the genre feel about an emerging title. Welcome to gaming!
If you want a new idea, go read an old book.
In order to be insulted, I must first value your opinion.
A true non-bias opinion. good job in having a non-gamer test it out and report on it. definately helped me get closer to committing to playing the game.
mahavishnu, and there you have shown us that you have absolutly not understood what TSW is about.
Thanks for hyping this mod that everybody is hyping now... *yawn*
To be honest my biggest grief with TSW - aside from the framerate that didn't go over 4 FPS(despite everything turned off or on low) on a system that got both in SWTOR on mostly medium settings with just shadows turned off, and the not GPU optimized BWE of GW2 in the 20+ FPS , and the too narrow line of sight angle: don't tell me he can't see the zombie that stands just an inch off center sort of in front of him! Oh, yeah, maybe they should add an auto turn to target function or at least some controls to adjust the mouse speed, and yes, of course the "you talking to me? Fine, I'll just grin like a dumbass" cutscenes (I think we covered... no, wait, linear, good old linear course thru the missions: Why the fuck did i have to first go back into town after finding that skate dude's PDA just to find out that his shop is closed and he has gone skating if I just picked up a flamethrower from him at the skate course? Or why is shotgun Norma telling me about the raven murders in 2002 and the suggest i should speak to other people, but Ms Law&Boobs doesn't give me even the smallest clue no matter how many times i go thru the dialog options? Argh! - okay, as I was saying: my biggest grief with TSW is the setup of *poof* (okay: *buzz**slurp**cough*) and you are a gifted man or woman and have learned to master that new magic thing in 7 days?
Call me oldfashioned but i think a setup of "you were the wrong guy at the wrong place at the wrong time and now you've looked behind the mirror and there is no little old man with lots of switches but rather really nasty things and don't like you... well maybe like your bone marrow sucked out of your still living body" would have been better.
You could potentially even make this a group "event" (plague onto GW2 for making events a casual thing!) with a random group of people travelling on a bus/train and something happens. If you are doing it alone the system will generate 3 groups of people: clues (people who can provide information/specific actions/help and are therefore hardwired into the story), meat (somebody may have to die...) and auxillary (guys and gals who can kick some arse just like you and are basically there to help you rip some nasty a new one). If this event is started by a group i.e. by either random players gathered or a group teaming on purpose, the number of aux. toons is reduced accordingly.
of course, in the end, people survive, it was all just a loose bear or stray dog or just a bad acid trip... but then things start happening: that one guy who shot off his mouth about him being a bigshot and going to tell everything to the media, well, the newsmedia called it a "terrible accident" that he fell off the roof of his penthouse building down straight 23 floors, but could only squeeze it in on page 6 next to the story about Ronny the Wonderdog who climbs trees to chase cats/
And who the fuck are these shady characters that seem to follow you around town? and why is your boss suddenly suggesting that you take a few weeks off (and maybe start looking for a different job) because, well, you seem a bit "paranoid"...
And now, instead of the pizza guy coming by there is this hot chick and she'd like to make you a powerful offer. Yesterday, when you were expecting your #31 fried rice with squid in sweet & sour sauce to be delivered, yes, it was an asian at the door, but he too said something about making you an offer that you should not refuse. What will it be tomorrow? The Salvation Army?
No, of course it tturned out to be that bloke that offered to buy you a beer and started talking about how certain things are important and how you can be part of something important...
so, here you are now, you have 3 cards in front of you... which will you pick? because somehow you have a feeling that you don't get a second chance choosing... and if you don't pick one, well, that life of yours that is already circling the drain, you are pretty positive that someone will pull the flusher...
And from there your learning the secret arts starts...
I think that would have been better than this weird "Now i'm super, man! - Here is my card because at character creation you picked our faction. - oooh, weird, why am i now a chick called Sarah, and why am I PMSing? Not just because I can see the universe... I hope." tutorial/intro thing...
or maybe that's just me...
Oh, yeah, did I mention that while it is nice that I can do all that killing with "magic" stuff, I still down have a clue if my character ever finished High School? Or what his job is/was? Or if he is broke or owns half of Texas?
yeah, things could have been better in TSW, at least in the beta... let's wait for the release... good thing that I probably first of to buy a new rig to be able to play the game and this will only happen in a few months... *shrug*
(anybody feel like we all should team up and make a "Dark Matter" MMO?)
This is a great write-up!
I realy hope TSW delivers in the spooky department. 
A writer and gamer from the Philippines. Loves his mom dearly.
Can also be found on http://www.gamesandgeekery.com
Sounds like you should go play with that daisy.