I miss the anecdotes :(

erased. over. out · Unread postby **erased. over. out** » 16 Jun 2006, 06:30

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned on this forum before, but since I am relatively new here and am too lazy to perform a search, I shall rant on this thread a little longer. Does anyone else miss the short anecdotes that would pop up whilst picking up a resource/artifact/entering a building, etc? I'm sure the old school players miss it terribly, as do I. I don't know if they were deliberately left out, or if Nival ran out of time, but they really did add to the whole atmosphere of the game. I doubt the expansion(s) will deal with this issue (what a shame!). Any thoughts?

Ethric · Unread postby **Ethric** » 16 Jun 2006, 07:29

Agreed wholeheartedly. It wasn't that I read every one every time, but I did at first, and occasionally later on, when I'd started to forget or just wanted too. They made you feel like you were actually in the gameworld, and not just moving playing pieces around a sterile mechanical playarea. And on the same basis, I miss the spell-descriptions of H4. Not the ones telling what the spells do, but the flavourtext underneath. Those were great, and those little details can often make a game.

As I understand it, these things were removed for the purpose of "speeding up gameplay", a task I feel they failed in anyway by introducing new timeconsuming factors, first and foremost the clumsy interface where showing of graphics takes precedent over showing of actual information. If they had kept the popups, how much more time would you use? You didn't have to read them, clicking OK takes about 0.2 seconds. Of course, if they had kept the descroptive popups, those too would have gotten in the way of the 3d graphics they are so proud of... maybe a bit of a stretch, but perhaps there is a connection there.

erased. over. out · Unread postby **erased. over. out** » 16 Jun 2006, 07:41

Ethric wrote:
As I understand it, these things were removed for the purpose of "speeding up gameplay"

Bah! It'd be sweet if they gave you the option of turning anecdotes "off" and "on". Wishful thinking, but can a man not dream?

Ethric · Unread postby **Ethric** » 16 Jun 2006, 08:09

That would indeed be a nice addition, but it would mean they would actually have to write said anecdotes. Writing, translating and then of course the proofreading *cough*... it's a bit of work, and seeing the rushed release of H5 it does seem like a bit of wishful thinking.

Karja · Unread postby **Karja** » 16 Jun 2006, 09:04

Does anyone know if the dialogs are moddable? It would make for an excellent mod, to add anecdotes to all the artifacts!

And not to be mean, but the language would probably be much more fluid and idiomatic if fans took care of this issue.

Safaex · Unread postby **Safaex** » 16 Jun 2006, 09:05

Even the smallest things can change a whole game. I agree, they could have brought this back.

What else in a small scale I miss is the sound which apears when an enemy icon on the adventure map dissapears, right after you've defeated a stack of monsters or a hero, that lite wind swaying sound. Right now the stack is already gone when you return to the adventure map.

Infiltrator · Unread postby **Infiltrator** » 16 Jun 2006, 10:16

Oh yes, I miss the artifact stories in particular

innokenti · Unread postby **innokenti** » 16 Jun 2006, 10:17

Well, one of the nicest thing about H4 and previous games was the volume of text that came with it to colour the world just a little bit more and let the player use their imagination rather than the developer throwing it in your face with fancy 3D.

So yes, sorely missed.

Cunning Death · Unread postby **Cunning Death** » 16 Jun 2006, 10:32

Safaex wrote:Even the smallest things can change a whole game. I agree, they could have brought this back.

What else in a small scale I miss is the sound which apears when an enemy icon on the adventure map dissapears, right after you've defeated a stack of monsters or a hero, that lite wind swaying sound. Right now the stack is already gone when you return to the adventure map.

I absolutely agree. It gave you kinda feelin' of powa even with the smallest armies.

C.D.

Arzang · Unread postby **Arzang** » 16 Jun 2006, 10:38

Ethric is absolutely right. those little things is what creates the atmosphere. and atmosphere is why I play games.

has anyone played chrono cross? the game has great atmosphere. the atmosphere alone kept me through the game, even though I thought it sucked running around as Lynx the cat.

oh and writing small pieces of interesting text revolving around each spell is impossible for nival considering their not-so-excellent english skills.

cornellian · Unread postby **cornellian** » 16 Jun 2006, 11:18

A band of not so bright orcs ambushed you but you quickly defeated them. Running away, one of them dropped ....
or
You see a knight and a necromancer fight. The necromancer overwhelms the knight with a fireball, when you act and slay him. Grateful, the old knight gives ....

How can this not be missed? These little things are what give a game its character.

Paradox · Unread postby **Paradox** » 16 Jun 2006, 11:27

damn you cornellian! just reading those ;____; great little stories.

At least with a map editor we might be able to add "Events" you remember, those little text popups..or did they remove *all* text popups even Events? anyway...if Events work as they used too, we could just make custom events in front of artifacts with these stories.

Linky · Unread postby **Linky** » 16 Jun 2006, 12:00

I wish you could mod these in the game. After playing Open Transport Tycoon I'm really into customizing games for the better. Odds are, after all, that we're not going to see them from Nival.

DaemianLucifer · Unread postby **DaemianLucifer** » 16 Jun 2006, 12:57

I miss those little texts too.Way better then the current fly by of what you picked.And they did it allegedly to speed up gameplay.More likely they did it becuase of laziness.

Paradox wrote:At least with a map editor we might be able to add "Events" you remember, those little text popups..or did they remove *all* text popups even Events? anyway...if Events work as they used too, we could just make custom events in front of artifacts with these stories.

Well find out soon™,wont we?

Rapier · Unread postby **Rapier** » 16 Jun 2006, 13:33

My guess is they realised they wouldn't be able to do it properly, due to translation and thought that if it was done badly it would make make the atmosphere comical and totally wrong...

Marzhin · Unread postby **Marzhin** » 16 Jun 2006, 13:36

Rapier wrote:My guess is they realised they wouldn't be able to do it properly, due to translation and thought that if it was done badly it would make make the atmosphere comical and totally wrong...

You obviously didn't hear the dialogs of the campaigns

(especially Academy)

DaemianLucifer · Unread postby **DaemianLucifer** » 16 Jun 2006, 13:38

Rapier wrote:My guess is they realised they wouldn't be able to do it properly, due to translation and thought that if it was done badly it would make make the atmosphere comical and totally wrong...

I dont buy this mostly because of the easter eggs,the manual and the campaigns.

urbanmonk · Unread postby **urbanmonk** » 16 Jun 2006, 13:41

Miss those too, even if I didn't always read them. It will make it harder for map makers to tell a story if they can't add that in with the map editor, guess we will find out when one comes out.

5il3nc3r · Unread postby **5il3nc3r** » 16 Jun 2006, 17:48

Agreed wholeheartedly on the spell descriptions.
I don't really understand what you guys mean by anecdotes, but if they served the same purpose as the spell information, I also miss those, whatever they are.

It makes you feel more "in" the game than just the way it is now.

5il

The Heroes Round Table

I miss the anecdotes :(

I miss the anecdotes :(

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