So, got in yesterday to check out the new update, prepped everything for the new missions, then headed onto KIM before starting to play, to get the chats out of the way.
I’ve been dating Lettie since first possible, kept the relationships through the resets. She had an unread message, opened it, asked me what would take me away from her. I went for the full-on romantic option, she instantly dumps me, and now acts insulted if I ask her to date me again.
Truth is, I can’t complain about this, it’s believable. I’ve been subjected to this kind of vehement and impulsive behaviour many times before, and it doesn’t suck any less this time, so it has to be realistic. But, man, did it put me off playing this game, to be very honest. Just made me want to get away from the mess.
Oh, yeah, it’s a whole thing! The writing’s very good, but the time limits and overall progression dynamics are a bit… frustrating at times. Moreso because the characters are well written!
Like, you get one Chat per day (consisting of anywhere from 2-3 lines, to a hefty, in-depth discussion on a subject) and you can also screw it up pretty badly in some very abstract ways (see my example above and expanded in my other comment). And it being Warframe, the mechanics are blackbox, so you’re stuck wondering if you have to brainwash the characters into resetting your status with them, or hang in there hoping there are some twists and turns in character dynamics which will allow you to progress and develop your interactions with them.
Oh dear…
Yes, it’s a surprisingly deep rabbit hole.
I don’t know about that. I just feel like when it comes to trend-chasing, this was one of those things Warframe could probably do without.
i can understand that, yeah. Honestly, I think it’s a neat addition which serves as something else to do, speaking a someone who has nearly 3k hours in the game. It’s enough on its own for the first 1.5k hours, but then the grind slowly started getting to me, at least. Adding more depth to the character interactions can always only ever be a good thing.
I do agree with you that the trend chasing tendency is pretty dangerous, and I get that distinct feeling they still rushed it a bit [edges sanded off too abruptly, some points in the flow feel jagged, people hate your guts if you tell them you won’t leave them (in a positive way), etc.], and my main fear is it ending up like pretty much every other branch, kinda’ like toys forgotten in the sandbox.
Personally, I would’ve thought of a way to deepen the mechanics, meaning build upon what’s already there instead of further widening the spreadsheet of buffs and unrelated activities. And I will never shut up about how the Railjack is just begging to be used more…
I have about 2500 hours in the game, so I feel you when it comes to “something else to do”.
As you said, the Railjack would probably have been a better place to add more content to. I know a lot of people hate on it, but personally, I grew up on Conflict: Freespace and such, I enjoy the Railjack as a little throwback to those games.
It has such potential! The mechanics they added are already everything one needs to create some awesome operations! Imho, I’d also polish the mechanics up a bit, like remove the rolling rubber bands and add more mass to the Railjack itself (this last one was the first thing a friend remarked when playing at release, and I agree).
Either way, every single thread could do with more fleshing out, it’d make the world feel less like a super-wide puddle and more like a cohesive, evolving thing.
The worst thing GTAO did (other than the griefing and Shark Cards) was not evolving the world with time. Staring at those construction yards which have not changed in over a decade pulls me out of the world entirely.