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Thanks Goth.

Was a fabulous trip. Posted some dets and pics in my "Oddities" thread.
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Your new diverging paths GPM does raise the gamplay ante over the original in a very powerful way and, as you express, should be matched by a powerful, meaningful, interactive story that also excells beyond the achievments of the original canon.
Ok. We should talk shop. Let's go with your new proposition, which I believe promising. It raises some questions from the get go that are fundamental.
Goth Zagog-Thou wrote:Okay folks. Moving right along.
I think I have an idea that will solve the whole "Cam 4's storyline has no meaning" problem.
What if the player starts out as "one with the system" -- a slave of NEXUS -- and discovers a way to free themselves and others, and in so doing starts a rebellion against NEXUS, culminating in a deciding battle to see whether NEXUS (as a Faction) can become either a savior or a tyrant of the human race? It all depends on who is floating in the immersion tank connected to all of the gear, right? Dr.Reed or the Player ... and in the process of the Rebellion, the Player calls up The Project for assistance (and that's how we get The Project involved).
Opinions?
You wanna create a great epic story and one of the key ingredients is a great villian or nemesis. Tried and true for thousands of years. And with many variants and room for new, fresh, twists. (I define "epic" as a long story recounting a series of heroic, escalating, life and death struggles.)
Nexus / Dr. Reed have served this role in the canon well and the core trope they represent is also over 2 millenia old and still powerful - man vs. machine (or humanity's creations coming to haunt their existence).
If you morph Nexus into something other than a clear cut nemesis you will have to create another to still have the makings of a great epic.
Nexus is an extension of Dr. Reed's will and the arm of his power to shape the world in his vision of machine / artificial intelligence dominance.
By creating a schism in Nexus, a rebellion from within, Dr. Reed will be forced to create a new arm to excercise his will, aka, a new faction, a new nemesis.
All fresh, compelling and doable.
Now we come to the great conflicting goals that are also key to a great epic.
We have Dr. Reed's goal with some specificity. It can always be expanded upon in the details (& we'll get to a new twist on that score in due course).
But what of The Project goals ? Restore civilization to its pre-collapse glory ?
What does that mean ? And does it have in it's vagueness the makings of a great epic ?
In the original campaign story, defeating Nexus was the goal. Did it succeed in creating an epic story and finale ? My answer would be up to a point yes but, ultimately no in the final act. In both epic story terms and gameplay experience the conclusion of the original campaign was not entirely succesful as an epic.
So where does that leave us ?
Defeating the villian is not enough to take the story beyond the original. There has to be a parallel goal of epic scope. A goal for The Project that has specificity beyond the vague "restoring civilization to it's pre-collapse glory" - which in itself is rife with ambivalence (not necessarily a bad thing if conveyed with artistry). A goal that Dr. Reed has a stake in either thwarting or assimilating to his own ends as articulated above. What could that be ?
Well, to begin with, there is a glaring omission in WZ's back story extrapolation of the next hundred years that could be the basis for a fresh opening up, and specific goal, of epic scope. I'll leave it there for the moment to ventilate the conversation to PoVs other than mine.
Once that goal is identified, it will also need to be formulated within your GPM construct of divergent, interactive story, paths.
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