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Author Topic:   Making a Better Storyline

Sector7G posted 08-11-99 04:14 AM ET
Why is it that when you discover a new tech, build a facility for the first time, choose your faction...you get these pritty little voice-overs and lots of detail concerning quotes and scientific basis but, one of the best features of the game (compared with Civ2) is the story line.
I'm sure lots of thought was put into it and yet they portray in in a cheesy pict. with a garble of words on the screen. (at least they could have done voice-overs for these to)
Even better they could have had some animation like you get for completing a mission in C&C
I wonder how much space that would have taken...well all the more reason to get the DVD format up and running...(ya right)
Thoughts?

Kestril posted 08-12-99 11:25 AM ET
Well, theres a 'story' if you look for it, but you can pretty much ignore it. Which is a pity.
What happened to Assassins Redoubt? What happened to the Spartans? I wouldnt mind a game that was more story intensive... ie, scripted events at certain dates. Pure voiceover describing said events would have made me happy.
But well, they better work on the actual game before they start throwing in story.
Zero posted 08-12-99 04:40 PM ET
Um, how are they going to force events like the Gaian conquest of the Spartans if *we're* playing the game? But it would have been nice to see a set of historical scenarios tracking the events mentioned in the datalinks.
I got the impression that there will be some scripted events in the add-on, since the other factions arrive during the course of the game.
Personally, I liked the "interlude" text bits; maybe they could have been rewritten as one of the faction leader's journal entries, and then read by the appropriate voice, but that would have meant recording each one seven times.
Sector7G posted 08-13-99 03:19 AM ET
Kestril,
That's pritty much what I do now is ignore the storyline. I find it hard to follow and I just can't quite pick up on the tone of the interludes...seens like there is this whole different mind set of the aliens I'm not quite picking up on.
Zero,
I didn't mean so much as to have FMV for every specific conquest just for the already laid out storyline. (although what your saying wouldn't be that bad )
such as when the first mind worm attacks your base...wouldn't it be cool to see a nice rendered FMV of it burrowing into some unlucky guard or citizens brain and hear the pop it makes or when you produce your first native life form you see the brood trainers probing and testing its capabilities on capured faction leaders man the imagination is unlimited ain't it
one other thing...when you do produce you first mindworm and it says oh blah my best talent blah take this specimen to blah...are you really spose to do that?...cause when that mind worm gets killed in combat you get a interlude saying your talent died....and then a base gets renamed in her/his honor. Seems there is a storyline here but is there another if you keep it alive?
anyone?
Zoetrope posted 08-13-99 06:06 AM ET
In the alternative universe from which Firaxis's storyline is drawn, we know that the Gaians conquer Sparta Command ("The Fall of Sparta"), and that the University builds Voice of Planet.
If we list the names of the leaders who are quoted, we can set a lower limit on the stage in the game when each last played a part in the reconstructed story.
I always thought it would have been neat to have a novel chronicling the history of humanity on Chiron in that timeline.
But they didn't even give the full background story of the Unity in the manual, so I guess Firaxis just ran out of steam. (Stoke those embers, lads and lasses!)
Sector7G posted 08-14-99 12:14 AM ET
Just goes to show that this game was indeed rushed unlike what Firaxis tried to tell us. The whole storyline seems cheep and rushed. They could have done so much more. So much more (sniff)
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Author	Topic: Making a Better Storyline
Sector7G	posted 08-11-99 04:14 AM ET Why is it that when you discover a new tech, build a facility for the first time, choose your faction...you get these pritty little voice-overs and lots of detail concerning quotes and scientific basis but, one of the best features of the game (compared with Civ2) is the story line. I'm sure lots of thought was put into it and yet they portray in in a cheesy pict. with a garble of words on the screen. (at least they could have done voice-overs for these to) Even better they could have had some animation like you get for completing a mission in C&C I wonder how much space that would have taken...well all the more reason to get the DVD format up and running...(ya right) Thoughts?
Kestril	posted 08-12-99 11:25 AM ET Well, theres a 'story' if you look for it, but you can pretty much ignore it. Which is a pity. What happened to Assassins Redoubt? What happened to the Spartans? I wouldnt mind a game that was more story intensive... ie, scripted events at certain dates. Pure voiceover describing said events would have made me happy. But well, they better work on the actual game before they start throwing in story.
Zero	posted 08-12-99 04:40 PM ET Um, how are they going to force events like the Gaian conquest of the Spartans if we're playing the game? But it would have been nice to see a set of historical scenarios tracking the events mentioned in the datalinks. I got the impression that there will be some scripted events in the add-on, since the other factions arrive during the course of the game. Personally, I liked the "interlude" text bits; maybe they could have been rewritten as one of the faction leader's journal entries, and then read by the appropriate voice, but that would have meant recording each one seven times.
Sector7G	posted 08-13-99 03:19 AM ET Kestril, That's pritty much what I do now is ignore the storyline. I find it hard to follow and I just can't quite pick up on the tone of the interludes...seens like there is this whole different mind set of the aliens I'm not quite picking up on. Zero, I didn't mean so much as to have FMV for every specific conquest just for the already laid out storyline. (although what your saying wouldn't be that bad ) such as when the first mind worm attacks your base...wouldn't it be cool to see a nice rendered FMV of it burrowing into some unlucky guard or citizens brain and hear the pop it makes or when you produce your first native life form you see the brood trainers probing and testing its capabilities on capured faction leaders man the imagination is unlimited ain't it one other thing...when you do produce you first mindworm and it says oh blah my best talent blah take this specimen to blah...are you really spose to do that?...cause when that mind worm gets killed in combat you get a interlude saying your talent died....and then a base gets renamed in her/his honor. Seems there is a storyline here but is there another if you keep it alive? anyone?
Zoetrope	posted 08-13-99 06:06 AM ET In the alternative universe from which Firaxis's storyline is drawn, we know that the Gaians conquer Sparta Command ("The Fall of Sparta"), and that the University builds Voice of Planet. If we list the names of the leaders who are quoted, we can set a lower limit on the stage in the game when each last played a part in the reconstructed story. I always thought it would have been neat to have a novel chronicling the history of humanity on Chiron in that timeline. But they didn't even give the full background story of the Unity in the manual, so I guess Firaxis just ran out of steam. (Stoke those embers, lads and lasses!)
Sector7G	posted 08-14-99 12:14 AM ET Just goes to show that this game was indeed rushed unlike what Firaxis tried to tell us. The whole storyline seems cheep and rushed. They could have done so much more. So much more (sniff)