The Legendary Dragon Alephwyr, named Alephwyr, BA

I have 2 rules of RPG video game writing 1. At the end, the hero should get to look the villain in the eyes and kick them in the dick 2. the player should get to really appreciate how the world has changed after their play I’m surprised how often major releases mess this up

I am *still* upset at how badly Mass Effect: Andromeda messed this one uphttps://twitter.com/visakanv/status/1109399068889890816?s=21 …

Anime understands 1 very well. In fact lots of anime’s draw out final battles tremendously, throwing in things like entire episodes worth of flashbacks mid-battle. And it’s not just about the violence - it’s about the clash of philosophies, worldviewshttps://twitter.com/visakanv/status/1091983703138480131?s=21 …

A video game is a particularly large ask. You’re asking players to invest 50, 60, 70 hours of their time, sometimes doing really tedious and menial tasks, fetch quests and so on. It has to all be for *something*. And you have to know what that something is

For a micro-example of 2 - take a look at strategy games, build-your-base type games. It’s very satisfying to build a base even over 20-30 minutes. You can’t neglect this in a 70-80 hour story. The player should get to feel like her time *mattered*https://twitter.com/visakanv/status/1084472363477946370?s=21 …

In God of War, the heart of the game is about Kratos’s relationship with his son - about what it means to be a father, what it means to be a son. Guys play this game and then want to be better dads, feel closer to their own dads. Storytelling can do thathttps://twitter.com/visakanv/status/1093088898358497280?s=21 …