Post by SunScript on 2023-06-28 00:37:55
Intrepid, it upsets me when you ask questions this way, because I have a dayjob and your question would literally take an entire book to properly answer. So the question either comes from a place of not assuming people have very involved and lengthy answers, or not realizing yourself that this is possible and I don't know which I dislike more. I would welcome more targeted questions moving forward. Thanks.
Roleplaying is very strongly tied with immersion, with how one feels the world around them and their place in it. A compelling weather system gives you many avenues for roleplaying as it relates to the environment itself. I've talked about the effects of Weather on immersion multiple times in your own previous Dev Discussions, I'll just link them here:
https://forums.ashesofcreation.com/discussion/comment/300813/#Comment_300813
https://forums.ashesofcreation.com/discussion/comment/381433/#Comment_381433
One other thing I can add is an explanation of my own place in the world of FFXI, which comes from a seamless merging of lore, economics and what you'd call 'RP'.
I like catgirls, you see. Which means that in a world such as FFXI's Vana'diel where immersion is a given, I am likely to think of my place in the world as catgirl adjacent (Mithra adjacent in this case). There is a village of Mithras called Kazham in that game, whose NPCs make sure to establish that the kind of man MANY of them appreciate and look for is one who is a capable hunter of some kind. They also establish themselves as having a good sense of smell.
In addition to that, FFXI as a whole kind of forces you to find the way you specifically make gil and it's not the same one for everyone because not everyone is capable of earning the same amount doing the same thing, due to the nature of their class and their personal skills and interests. I discovered that the best farming method for me specifically to make gil was to hunt Cockatrices in the Labyrinth of Onzozo for their meat (and sell it on the Auction House) and do it very effectively. It required getting good at the game. And I mean actually good. You can beat one Cockatrice, but to make it worth your while, you need to develop methods to efficiently hunt a certain number per hour, without resting to recover HP.
This meant a lot of things for me. It meant I had found my place in the world economically speaking. But it also clicked for me, that tying back to Kazham's lore, I was the kind of accomplished hunter the Mithra would find appealing and that unlike many other games, this wasn't just empty flattery to make me feel good about myself, because it required actually getting good at the game. And given that village has an Auction House, one could literally walk in the village carrying large stacks of Cockatrice Meat to sell them from there.
As a result, the image of me walking into Kazham to impress the Mithras with my hunting skills as I strongly smell of bird meat never left me for the rest of my time playing the game.
Now, what does this mean for you, Intrepid? Recreate that type of experience for me, please. Onzozo (my hunting place) and Kazham (the village) are nowhere near each other, but it still worked for me because I can travel between. It was a combination of compelling, established lore, the "strain" of having to make ends meet in a world where you have to Git Gud, a healthy economy, as well as FFXI's tendency to have a lot of possible things people could be good at. Not everyone can be good at hunting birds. People who roleplay will thank you if you make them think about their place in your world.
Roleplaying is very strongly tied with immersion, with how one feels the world around them and their place in it. A compelling weather system gives you many avenues for roleplaying as it relates to the environment itself. I've talked about the effects of Weather on immersion multiple times in your own previous Dev Discussions, I'll just link them here:
https://forums.ashesofcreation.com/discussion/comment/300813/#Comment_300813
https://forums.ashesofcreation.com/discussion/comment/381433/#Comment_381433
One other thing I can add is an explanation of my own place in the world of FFXI, which comes from a seamless merging of lore, economics and what you'd call 'RP'.
I like catgirls, you see. Which means that in a world such as FFXI's Vana'diel where immersion is a given, I am likely to think of my place in the world as catgirl adjacent (Mithra adjacent in this case). There is a village of Mithras called Kazham in that game, whose NPCs make sure to establish that the kind of man MANY of them appreciate and look for is one who is a capable hunter of some kind. They also establish themselves as having a good sense of smell.
In addition to that, FFXI as a whole kind of forces you to find the way you specifically make gil and it's not the same one for everyone because not everyone is capable of earning the same amount doing the same thing, due to the nature of their class and their personal skills and interests. I discovered that the best farming method for me specifically to make gil was to hunt Cockatrices in the Labyrinth of Onzozo for their meat (and sell it on the Auction House) and do it very effectively. It required getting good at the game. And I mean actually good. You can beat one Cockatrice, but to make it worth your while, you need to develop methods to efficiently hunt a certain number per hour, without resting to recover HP.
This meant a lot of things for me. It meant I had found my place in the world economically speaking. But it also clicked for me, that tying back to Kazham's lore, I was the kind of accomplished hunter the Mithra would find appealing and that unlike many other games, this wasn't just empty flattery to make me feel good about myself, because it required actually getting good at the game. And given that village has an Auction House, one could literally walk in the village carrying large stacks of Cockatrice Meat to sell them from there.
As a result, the image of me walking into Kazham to impress the Mithras with my hunting skills as I strongly smell of bird meat never left me for the rest of my time playing the game.
Now, what does this mean for you, Intrepid? Recreate that type of experience for me, please. Onzozo (my hunting place) and Kazham (the village) are nowhere near each other, but it still worked for me because I can travel between. It was a combination of compelling, established lore, the "strain" of having to make ends meet in a world where you have to Git Gud, a healthy economy, as well as FFXI's tendency to have a lot of possible things people could be good at. Not everyone can be good at hunting birds. People who roleplay will thank you if you make them think about their place in your world.
The Current Quest Box