What do you guys think about having the option to kill the star character of a boss fight (Taivra for example; Amara - I'd wish) in a porn game? Should there be more of it or would it be better to not to promulgate the idea? Discuss.
Killing.
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Krynh
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I'm not against it... in moderation, and only when they cannot be reasoned with. For example none of my PC's would have any qualms putting down someone like Mirian Bragga, while on the other hand Taivra and Amara are both individuals possessed of at least some measure of honor and are willing to negotiate.
ESPECIALLY NPCs that didn't actually do anything to them. Like Kelt.
(brace for shitposting)
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Krynh
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Except he tried to use his corrupt power to make player his breeding slave? Yes, nothing.
I'm in favor of the option. Slaying an enemy in or after a fight seems acceptable, in my opinion. You live by the sword, you die by the sword. I'm sure Taivra and the leaders of the Black Void have killed their fair share. I don't think killing should be a main focus of TiTS, but I would like it to be an option where appropriate. Where appropriate.
When space ship combat rolls around, I'm sure not everyone we'll be blasting up is going to be able to escape unscathed so it seems somewhat unavoidable in those cases.
When space ship combat rolls around, I'm sure not everyone we'll be blasting up is going to be able to escape unscathed so it seems somewhat unavoidable in those cases.
I was tempted to build up some contrived shitposting, but I'll serious-time it. Killing people isn't the same in a game where who you're interacting with have "flesh" to them. It's not like murder-hobo'ing in a tabletop RPG. You don't need these fleshed out people to die in order to further your goals. I do think killing people should be an option. Just not prolific, because it's important. If you can solve the world's programs by beating people up and stomping them on the neck until breath stops coming out of them then you aren't really playing the game.
Maybe letting someone live will come back and bite you, but it's not a tabletop where the future is uncertain because you can just go right the fuck off the rails. It's a text-based RPG where you want things to try and get in your way again, or mess up your day, or even just cameo in some fashion. Killing people off starts to take away that option.
That sentence was all the fuck over the place. I need some caffeine in my blood.
Maybe letting someone live will come back and bite you, but it's not a tabletop where the future is uncertain because you can just go right the fuck off the rails. It's a text-based RPG where you want things to try and get in your way again, or mess up your day, or even just cameo in some fashion. Killing people off starts to take away that option.
That sentence was all the fuck over the place. I need some caffeine in my blood.
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Or you want them dead for good. Robbing player of this option is a limitation too. I'll take up Fallout 2 again - you can literally go and kill everyone you see, including key plot characters. Everyone. Literally. No characters with plot armor, no immortal children. And this is an option as well as playthrough without killing anyone, and you still can go through plot that way.
Choice is only valueable when you have an option. You can't be a hero when you have no option to be a villain.
Not without you submitting to him completely of your own volition time and time again. You're practically begging for it by the end there.
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Fallout 2 wasn't an erotic text adventure, though. You're comparing apples to oranges here. I don't know if it's just me, but I've always considered CoC/TiTS to be porn first and a "video game" second. Fallout 2, as good as it was, was entirely about the actions of the PC and their ramifications. That's the whole point of the after-game slideshow where it shows how you dealt with every town/faction's situation.
TiTS, while it does have a coherent narrative (quite the feat for something built out of voluntary writing and beeswax) and a moving plotline, differs in that the whole point of the plot is to move it forward for more porn. I have to admit I'm baffled at why you would even want this kind of player agency in a porn text game. What are you getting out of it?
What's the point? Let's be real, no-one came to play TiTS because Fenoxo promised them thrilling use of game mechanics to convey player agency and their effect on the universe. It's great that they've put together an actual plot to serve as a diving board into a pool of depraved alien sex, but adding the ability to murder an NPC (no matter how much you dislike them) just doesn't add anything to the actual game, which is porn.
You´ve apparently not read the "So what would you do with Jack/Jill in the event you got him/her all to yourself, sexual or otherwise?" thread...
As for my opinion:
I don´t like killing characters (I can´t even kill the cunt snakes).
I believe there can be so many better options to do to characters you dislike. For instance flat out ignore them (Kelt), try to turn them over to a new and better leaf/court them (my vanilla plan for Jill), change them to suit your likes (Kelly), make them your pet (my not so vanilla plan for my more evil Steele)
+ Once they´re dead, they´re dead. No possible fun times to have afterwards. No possible character progression or getting to know them better. And it might lock people out from other things.
But this is my opinion.
Counterpoint: Why does every game have to be Fallout 2?
Different game spaces require and give different decision matrices to further the ultimate goal of the narrative and mechanics. You can't go around in F2 making emotional and sexual relationships with loads of NPCs, because that's not what that game's about. TITS doesn't let you go around murdering everyone, because that's not what that game is about.
It can, and it already is IMO, but priorities still apply. So if a certain option is considered to be a major hindrance to the 'porn' aspect, it probably won't be too common no matter how beneficial it can be to the 'game' or 'role-playing' side of things.
I know one thing for sure though: due to the way TiTS combat works, every kill you make that isn't a result of a fuck-up will be an execution. And even my no-nonsense assholish Steele ain't no executioner.
I think TiTS is meant to be more than just a way to deliver porn. A lot of effort seems to go into the non-porn elements, especially in terms of programming. More than would be worth it if the porn was all that was important.
Not all porn games balance their erotic content and gameplay content the same way. Plenty of these games are indeed just interactive porn, but others split their focus more evenly. Porn is the primary focus of TiTS, I agree, but there's a clear effort to build an actual game along with it. I'm of the opinion that the TiTS team considers non-sex content reasonably important.
I don't think TiTS would benefit much from the player being able to kill everyone, but I think it does benefit from allowing you to kill certain NPCs in circumstances that make sense.
... Kelt is an interesting case, but I get the feeling most people have said their piece on that, so I think I'll just let that one go.
I'm not saying that every game should be F2. I'm saying that plot not has to be set on rails with fake forks which would converge immediately after. And, if player want to break the plot, you can as well allow him. After all, killing someone is quite obviously blocking possible future interactions. BTW, in CoC, even if you can't kill everyonw, you still can make many NPCs leave you for good which is essentionally same thing.
I once clicked through a fight too fast and killed a cunt snake.
I restarted the game.
xD
I do agree with you there. Often when I played CoC I found that mercy was the better option as it never really were any drawbacks to it, as such I was always merciful. But sometimes killing is the only option, and I wouldn´t have anything against once or twice being put in such a difficult situation in this game. I also agree on the quality over quantity part. We shouldn´t be able to create an undertale genocide run...
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