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Not coherent timing in the plot

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roberto
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Not coherent timing in the plot

Post by roberto »

At the beginning of the game, In Crossglen, the Father of Hero says "As I said, Andor went out yesterday and hasn't been back since. I'm starting to worry about him. Please go look for your brother, he said he would only be out a short while.".
In the tavern, Gruil refers to the Hero that he spoked to Andor "yesterday".

In general, all people with you ask about Andor in Crossglen give impression that Andor was there the day before.

But along the story, we discover that Andor spent days and days in different places (i.e. in the underground of the church, in the green maze, etc).
So, how it is possible if he left Crossglen just the day before?

Maybe he went around doing whatever he did, then came back for a short time in Crossglen and then left again?
Or maybe is better to add more dialogues to clarify some parts of the situation?
Or say at the beginning he not left the day before but some weeks/months before?

Anyway, at the moment the timing does not sound correct.
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Re: Not coherent timing in the plot

Post by CUCHULAINN3 »

I was thinking it would take days to reach each village. Especially on foot. So I took it as at least a week to go from Bwm to crossglen. At least that's how I take it
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Re: Not coherent timing in the plot

Post by rijackson741 »

Well, the whole thing has problems of you want to look for them. "he said he would only be out a short while." and "Andor went out yesterday and hasn't been back since". So he said he would only be gone for a short time, but his father does not even start to worry until the next day? Maybe he's used to Andor going out drinking and ending up in some bed other than his own, then coming home in the morning?

Anyway, Andor could certainly have been in all those places, since it would take our hero just as long to get to them.
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Re: Not coherent timing in the plot

Post by sdevaney »

Right now we don't have a way to express the passage of time outside of dialogue so it is something that is hard to gauge and keep straight.

I see it as the player starts out just a day or two behind Andor. In my opinion the way the story unfolds so far is not necessarily linear so it is hard to say in an A, then B, then C sort of way exactly when Andor went where, and for how long. It all depends on when the player gets to that point in the story, it is their choice.
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Re: Not coherent timing in the plot

Post by Antison »

the better question is: when Andor was living at home, how did three boys/men fit in one bed?

But seriously, if this world had day and night (like I suggested years ago), then it would be easier for you to notice that in the beginning you are a day behind Andor, but as you proceed with your many quests you fall further and further behind his trail.
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Re: Not coherent timing in the plot

Post by rijackson741 »

I don't necessarily disagree with having day and night, but I think it would be a lot of work to implement. I'm also not sure it would really solve the problem. In fact, it would really complicate things, because you can't have a dialogue that says, for example, "Andor was here a few weeks ago" if you only went through 12 day/night cycles. The only way I see to ensure the dialogues always meshed with the day night cycles would be to remove all sense of time from the dialogues. So out of the frying pan and into the fire.
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Re: Not coherent timing in the plot

Post by norrgrd »

Or you could rewrite some of those quests and while reaching certain points gradually making the outdoor light darker while for sidequests just leave time as is.
roberto
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Re: Not coherent timing in the plot

Post by roberto »

I think this situation cam be solved with little effort as follow without the need to introduce count of days that goes and night/day cycle.
Write a little intro shown at the start of game say something like this

"Andor left weeks ago his fatherhome and still not back. He was used to be away in past for his activities, but never he was away so many days. With blessing of his father, now his younger brother decided to go for searching him: he will leave the next morning afther a good night of rest".

And then you start with the normal game.
Of course this need that initial dialogues with father and other Crossglen's people will modified a bit to eliminate the "sense of yesterday" and introduce the "sense of weeks ago".
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rijackson741
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Re: Not coherent timing in the plot

Post by rijackson741 »

I honestly don't see the problem. I agree with Antison. When you start out you are a day behind Andor. As you get further from home, you get more behind. Since Andor apparently has specific goals, but you are getting distracted by side quests, that it logical, and there is nothing in the game that contradicts it.
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roberto
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Re: Not coherent timing in the plot

Post by roberto »

When you came back to Father and ask update, the father still say "yesterday". At least this *is* wrong. That sentence should not point to a "precise past" but a "generic past".

To be more specific, the sentence "As I said, Andor went out yesterday and hasn't been back since. I'm starting to worry about him. Please go look for your brother, he said he would only be out a short while." should be more 'indefinite time in past', something like this: "As I said, Andor went out and hasn't been back till now. I'm worry about him. Please go look for your brother.".
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