Adventure 6: How not to create an immersive story

  • I'll get straight to the point, I apologize if what I say is harsh but it's criticism none the less. Criticism that I provide, should be considered as a heartfelt criticism of issues in the game. If I didn't care I wouldn't bother writing anything at all. I understand it's a long read, but please, I request you all take the time to read this

    Like I said before, i'll put it bluntly, if Rare was truly listening then they would have known even before the adventures released that this particular adventure had multiple issues that needed to be polished out before release. The amount of criticism and input from the community throughout the years is one such proof that Rare could have done a better job at listening, the other form of proof is locked behind NDA and insider input.

    Don't get me wrong, by far, this is the best adventure in my opinion, compared to all the others. Let's add a caveat to that: Emphasis on "compared to all the others". What it does right, it does so in platforming, and theme/ atmosphere.

    The truth is that all the adventures before hand, and this may be just my opinion, are purely mediocre. The story telling was abysmal and the locations, boss battles, and events were redundant and had re used too many materials. All those previous adventure felt like taking 2 steps back from the "pirate life" tall tale which I believed to be a step in the right direction of how voyages and quests should be handled in the game. The tales just needed to improved and made into new adventures. A new quest with a little bit more randomness, some more challenge/ difficulty, and maybe some harder puzzles... u know just a whole lot more chaos with a little bit less exposition. Adventures should have taken inspiration and followed the structure of voyages, while being played out a bit more like tall tales with more immersion and epic fights thrown into the mix. I will create a new topic post soon, expressing my own take on how adventures should probably go (For other members to comment or critique on)

    This adventure, finally gets the previous story told, and finally kicks it up and awake... slowly. The issue is the way it was incorporated, which makes it feel like 1 step forward for the story but 2 more steps backwards for the gameplay. This issue, is the main reason why I am writing this, to express issues this adventure had in hopes that it may not be repeated again.

    Let's start with previous issues that have not been resolved and continue to erode the entertainment value of the adventures (and by direct connection, the game)

    • Boring story telling
      Sadly, as a result of such a boring and underwhelming start to the story when adventure 1 first released, all following adventures after the 1st were immediately impacted. it is a known fact that first impressions are the most important in leaving a long lasting impression, and the impression that I got from the first adventure was extremely negative.

    Why was it negative?
    It was sub par, for various of reasons, for starters, the story took too long to unfold and the adventure itself tasked the player to travel too far a distance (From Golden sands, to crescent isle, all the way back out to shipwreck bay on the other side of the map. Sailing is downtime, not much exciting things happen during this time, and the longer the downtime, the more tedious, slow, and boring the overall adventure will seem.

    Here is a suggestion: "Immersion, show less, don't tell". Perhaps this should be a motto that all devs should consider when developing and implementing story content and elements into a game. For those that don't know what I'm talking about, let me be specific, the first adventure threw players in and requested that they travel all the way to golden sands to see what was going on. The problem here is that we were told of this "Great battle" that happened in Golden sands, but we didn't get to experience any of it, not the beginnings of it, not the halfway point, not even the end of it. What did we get to experience? Well we experienced it after it had already ended and the dust had settled. How fun does that sound? Golden Sands as a result, became a hollow and boring location. With no npc and nothing else to do but to collect a compass that pointed you out to a different island, golden sands ended up being a hollow setting to explore.

    Since we didn't get to fight in it, we didn't get to form any negative emotional connections to the enemies and we didn't get to form any positive connections with the people that were taken hostage, and because of that each tale that continued to progress this story kept on and continues to fall flat, even within our current adventure 6. Even recently devs continued to make the same mistake despite previous criticism, madame Olga, the order of souls representative was taken hostage, and we didn't even get to see it happen or actually experience loosing her. The point isn't that we should be present for every time something happens in the game, but when we don't get to experience the story, part of the connection that leads to our interest, is lost because there was never any immersive experience to begin with. Perhaps it might just be better to merge story and lore with actual gameplay. focusing on participation/ exposure , showing some events for some parts, and without telling or narrating/ expositing too much.

    This isn't a book, nor a movie, it's more complicated than that, it's a game. so don't tell the story like a book, don't show too much of it like a movie, we need to get the right balance in of both these things, but mainly, all gamers want to experience it. It's no easy feat to create a game, and especially one as popular and well loved as the one you have all created. We'd rather experience the battle taking place, with cannon fire landing on the sands, would mind less but still appreciate getting shown golden sands being blown to pieces, and we'd rather not just be simply told that it happened.

    Why is this important to the current adventure?
    "But it happened in the 1st adventure why is this relevant now?" It's relevant because it is a flaw that continues to happen, Merrick gets taken hostage, we don't get to experience it nor see it, we fight our way with other crews to the sea dog tavern, and...

    because of the way the adventure is set up, which has every crew creating a path by aiming the lighthouse beacon at different brasiers so that one crew member may advance, chances are that mostly 1 or 2 crew members in all the crews in that particular instance will get to experience the ending of the adventure. Perhaps I wouldn't criticize it so badly if at least all crews received a voice or text pop up from the pirate lord letting them know when they should all go up to the tavern to save merrick. One thing is for certain...

    It could have been done better.

    Going back to my point on immersion:

    It might just be a bit difficult to be immersed in the story, if the previous chapters of a story, can no longer be played through.

    • Limited time adventures is NOT the way to go
      The issue that presents itself with limited adventures is that those that miss out on them won't be as immersed in the story as those who did do it. Remember that previous motto I mentioned? Yeah, it applies for this one too. Limited time things are great for cosmetics or festive events such as Hanuka, Christmas, friends day, day of giving, etc but NOT when introducing one of the game's core stories. I've come across. significant amount of players who are lost in terms of what is going on in the story, and most of them just don't care. How you all decided during the planning stages that one of the game's central stories should be incorporated for a limited time is beyond me. Was this truly given enough thought? because it does not appear so.

    Not Optimized
    Speaking of planning, the way the adventures have been released have felt like they are just being created as you go. What do I mean? Well it means, that adventure 1 released, with the reapers being the main antagonizing force, and then in adventure 4 or so, you decided to allow players to join either 1 or the other faction... Would it not have been better to just start off adventure 1 with all players having the choice to either support reapers or golden sands? That way it would make sense later on when the devs pit players against one another to fight over the outpost in a later adventure. It would have also made sense to incentivize fighting between crews in this adventure, based on the way it unfolded in previous adventures, if adventure 1 allowed the player to pick between reapers or the trading companies. Furthermore, adventure 5 ditched the reapers for the Dark brethren, leaving a couple of plot holes that were not explained, such as why they felt the need to take some individual hostages and the connection between all that and the expansion of the reapers hideout. How does adventure 1-4 connect to progress the overall goal of the reapers? Perhaps it was explained, but obviously not well if I'm this confused.

    (On a side note: Adventure 2 also suffered from planning issues, with disorganization among which cell key did what, and the fact that now we have fortresses with an empty cell... no book or journal, just an empty area with hollow content. Should have just placed all the hostages in adventure 2 in the cell room that had all the treasure, 1 less key to confuse everyone during that adventure)

    In a more focused perspective, planning issues can also be found in adventure 6. The way the adventure unfolds, is that crews have to work together, to conquer a lighthouse that is used to help create a path for at least 1 person to go up the sea dog tavern and save Merrick. The issue is that even though everyone should work together to get this done, on the top of the tavern, in the semi- hidden room, a gold stash lays to be collected by only 1 crew. Not 3, nor 2, but just 1`crew in the whole instance filled with crews. Why make it a race to the top when the way it plays out is that all crews must work together in order to reach the top in the first place... just why?... and to make matters worse, you pit a bunch of players in a small area, where they have the possibility to potentially destroy other crews, stiffling crews from ultimately completing the adventure. What's worse is that there is no incentive for doing so, no reward for attacking other players, no win/ lose scenario unless your ship sinks. There is no reapers sided faction, and as such, no possibility to win/ lose this adventure based on pvp or objective. It's just a caged loop of mindless slaughter, over and over, until either time runs out or some crew's ship sinks.

    It's obvious these adventure needed more time in the oven to bake a little longer. By the end of adventure 6 we watch as the dark brethren (Thank you @thorumsu for pointing out Reapers vs DB) leaves without any rush back whatsoever, they just take their leave without a single physical confrontation from the pirate lord nor us.... story wise, it all just felt rough and unfinished. I'm sure that the community would appreciate it if you all took the time to actually polish the game instead of taking shortcuts, re using islands and set pieces, just to release content per schedule. I understand it's a business, and you all have specific due dates/ deadlines, but if this be the case then more reason to show this to the higher ups, because content that is rushed doesn't help the game nor the economic gains, it hurts it. The community wants unique adventures and content, especially since the game has always lacked things to do. 4 years in now, and when compared to other 4 year games, this game is still found to be lacking in many areas. You name it, enemy types, bosses, areas, ship cosmetics, voyages/ missions, it's all very basic or simple, or just plainly lacking and half baked. It hurst especially when one can feel and see the inspiration and passion that went into this game. It's absolutely overflowing with vision, yet it continues to produce content that suggests otherwise. I only hope that the devs understand the issues at hand, and move forward with new stories, voyages, and adventures that are more complex and more packed or fleshed out with things to do.

    With all that out of the way, what is your opinion on how Adventure 6 was released? Do you agree or disagree?

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  • And the FPS was awful

  • Having gone through them all they remind me of a social media family photo at some event. Everyone might have been arguing 2 seconds before and nobody is paying attention to the experience but hey here are some family photo pics to get likes on.

    An effect of things being so contrived and pushed rather than trying to allow the organic experience to create the memories.

    I appreciate the effort and attempts on adventures but imo as someone that has a lot of organic experience the events that incentivize people to go do some pve of their choice for credits of some form towards cosmetics works quite a bit better for organic and authentic wholesome experiences.

  • @fretfulfiber809 . Agreed

  • im really hoping they stop with this limited time thing
    when i learn these stories are just limited time it doesnt make me feel urged to go and do them at all. it makes me exclude myself, because what if i get busy in life and cant view more of them down the line? and further more, if i didnt even know they were happening until literally 3 days ago, why would i want to START at 6??? so i've just been avoiding it, especially since i learned its all shared crew things.
    i dont think rare should be pushing that kind of mindset with their story.
    there should be a singleplayer only way to experience these after they are done. so you can do them "live" in the moment as a limited time thing, but can go back and "relive" it by yourself or with friends if you want. that way the exposition and story is still always available.
    its like the tall tails. if they had made those temporary i wouldnt have touched them at all. they really need to kick themselves out of that mindset for content and i am afraid it just wont ever happen.

  • I like your statement and I kinda agree but... I AM TRIGGERED.

    The Dark Brethren are NOT the reapers. They are enemies. So at the end, The Dark Brethren leaves, not reapers.

    Sorry about being triggered and trash but so many people make this mistake and I am going insane XD

  • all this adventures are super boring, the only tall tale set i had a blast was the shores of gold we had 9 tales with fresh puzzles and a final on the shores of gold, instead of this i would prefer bilge rat runs for time limited cosmetics where pvp can happen in the open world , instead of bringing small adventures one tall tale a year would be better i guess

  • Rare's workhorse line "emergent stories" doesnt really work in a world where every story is either " I got attacked and spawncamped by jerks" or "I was a spawncamping jerk" That isnt an emerging story, its a binary one.

  • @thorumsu said in Adventure 6: How not to create an immersive story:

    I like your statement and I kinda agree but... I AM TRIGGERED.

    The Dark Brethren are NOT the reapers. They are enemies. So at the end, The Dark Brethren leaves, not reapers.

    Sorry about being triggered and trash but so many people make this mistake and I am going insane XD

    Thank you for clearing that up, the masked stranger used to be 1 of the founders of the reapers so that's where my confusion came from. Aside from that though, the reapers could have had a bigger part to play throughout each adventure, and I think that would have made more sense if the idea the devs wanted to get across was to create adventures where players could collide and either work together or against each other. t's difficult to understand what it is they exactly went on and are still trying to do because the overall message is convoluted. Adventure 4 had the reapers wanting to corrupt the atmosphere of golden sands and set up an outpost, then adventure5 switches to the dark brethren? Where's the connection between adventure 4 and 5?

  • @red0demon0, Adventure 6: How not to create an immersive story içinde yazdı:

    @thorumsu said in Adventure 6: How not to create an immersive story:

    I like your statement and I kinda agree but... I AM TRIGGERED.

    The Dark Brethren are NOT the reapers. They are enemies. So at the end, The Dark Brethren leaves, not reapers.

    Sorry about being triggered and trash but so many people make this mistake and I am going insane XD

    Thank you for clearing that up, the masked stranger used to be 1 of the founders of the reapers so that's where my confusion came from. Aside from that though, the reapers could have had a bigger part to play throughout each adventure, and I think that would have made more sense if the idea the devs wanted to get across was to create adventures where players could collide and either work together or against each other. t's difficult to understand what it is they exactly went on and are still trying to do because the overall message is convoluted. Adventure 4 had the reapers wanting to corrupt the atmosphere of golden sands and set up an outpost, then adventure5 switches to the dark brethren? Where's the connection between adventure 4 and 5?

    Reapers spent nearly all their revenue and manpower at Lost Sands battle so they had to retreat to get revenue from alliance serve- I mean pirates and regroup their army.

    The Dark Brethren took advantage of this and killed merrick to learn all the information he got when he worked with Belle. That's why we switched.

    I think by the time of next adventure, reapers will be ready to strike again.

  • @thorumsu said in Adventure 6: How not to create an immersive story:

    @red0demon0, Adventure 6: How not to create an immersive story içinde yazdı:

    @thorumsu said in Adventure 6: How not to create an immersive story:

    I like your statement and I kinda agree but... I AM TRIGGERED.

    The Dark Brethren are NOT the reapers. They are enemies. So at the end, The Dark Brethren leaves, not reapers.

    Sorry about being triggered and trash but so many people make this mistake and I am going insane XD

    Thank you for clearing that up, the masked stranger used to be 1 of the founders of the reapers so that's where my confusion came from. Aside from that though, the reapers could have had a bigger part to play throughout each adventure, and I think that would have made more sense if the idea the devs wanted to get across was to create adventures where players could collide and either work together or against each other. t's difficult to understand what it is they exactly went on and are still trying to do because the overall message is convoluted. Adventure 4 had the reapers wanting to corrupt the atmosphere of golden sands and set up an outpost, then adventure5 switches to the dark brethren? Where's the connection between adventure 4 and 5?

    Reapers spent nearly all their revenue and manpower at Lost Sands battle so they had to retreat to get revenue from alliance serve- I mean pirates and regroup their army.

    The Dark Brethren took advantage of this and killed merrick to learn all The information he got when he worked with Belle. That's why we switched.

    Ah ok that makes sense... kind of, it seemed like adventure wasn't thought or planned well. Adventures 1-4, theirs a separation between those adventure and all the adventures that follow after. The reapers arc of the story didn't go that far, and the idea that they just wanted to expand for the sake of expanding seems half baked as well when their hideout could still use some improvements, I mean they literally only populated half of the island, the other half is still pretty empty. Perhaps it would have been better to give focus on the reapers vs trading companies, wrap up that story with the dark brethren coming in to destroy both factions while at their weakest, and then create another set of adventures that focused on the fight with the dark brethren as en epic conclusion (Of course none of this would matter since adventure 1 killed off most of the excitement for the story)

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