Jack's/Jill's future henchmen

[Ormael]

Not exactly. I don't understand the reason behind, but JJ seems to prefer not to leave MC behind for good.

I would quess it's plot. Without JJ waiting nice and patiently for PC next to each probe to try act like all mighty villain and then go first toward next probe it could end up with PC been 1-2 plot planets behind too fast. Especialy with all this "distractions" that seems to affect PC all the time while JJ seems to outright ignore them instead going straight away for each probe.

Solution would be making JJ finding each next probe in certain timeframe but...that will mean PC isn't as it was pointed "a rich kid in sandbox" but must actualy pay attention to passing by time ingame to not miss time when JJ would reach next probe or we can forever been stuck at this particular plot planet. And putting any sort of time limitations on PC is something we would never see. But without them JJ would have hard time to looks like true villain.

@IVIysterious Person Isn't it a fragment from your fanfic about Jill?

 

[Ormael]

Well... it's not that on-the-nose, but my fake and unofficial Jill is tsun as shit, yes.

Best Jill is tsun Jill

And now derpy idea for thread main subject. Maybe JJ next henchman will be the one JJ version we not picked. SO in case we got Jill magicaly i will turn out to her borther Jack as next Dragon or vice versa

 

[Nonesuch]

That being said, why then go for adding set pieces that only hinder porn while strengthening the drama? Not just individual author's projects like your own Fasian quest, or stuff that have potential unfortunate implications like NT, but big and prominent chunks of visible setting. Like Tarkus being an absolute hellhole for two out of its three native sapient races races, or Ant People going through the checklist of war crimes and atrocities? Everything that is fun and sexy about each of those planets doesn't rely on or even interact with those things.

That's a honest question btw.

Because each planet is constructed from a basic theme, and not much thought is put into that theme beyond "what would inspire plenty of porn?"

>The pub vote is in favour of a hive planet
>We've never done honeypot ant girls
>Hey don't ants fight each other all the time let's have the honey ants be fighting fire ants that'll be funny and cool
>Oh no I've accidentally created a war of annihilation and all my writers are doing grim shit I never anticipated how did this happen

Phaedra III is happening basically because Fen watched Fury Road. I personally can't wait to see what our brains trust comes up with for a post-apocalyptic desert hellscape. Particularly Couch!

 

[Klaptrap]

Yeap, I blame the open-beta-everybody-can-submit-no-masterplan system you guys got set up. Kludges build on kludges man.

 

[Nik_van_Rijn]

"I-It's not like I like you or anything! B-baka!" -- Jill Steele, when asked why she didn't stop her cousin on Mhen'ga.

"What are you mumbling about, foolish girl" - Maximilian Steele, while contemplating what has he done to deserve such parental disappointment.

Well... it's not that on-the-nose, but my awesome fanon Jill is tsun as shit, yes.

Also worth mentioning that, IIRC, she will be a Type 1 'gradual' tsundere, and not the accursed Type 2.

Best Jill is tsun Jill

And now derpy idea for thread main subject. Maybe JJ next henchman will be the one JJ version we not picked. SO in case we got Jill magicaly i will turn out to her borther Jack as next Dragon or vice versa

1. Yes, she is

2. With what their childhood might have been, they will Starscream the 'main' twin faster than you will say 'sibling rivalry'.

Because each planet is constructed from a basic theme, and not much thought is put into that theme beyond "what would inspire plenty of porn?"

Way to crush my tentative hopes that deep down FenCo secretly cares about creating plot, mang.

 

[Fenoxo]

We like drama too. Even in the early stages of planning it, we always kind of knew Myrellion would have a darker tone than many previous planets, and that's fine. We also had a much more ambitious plan. We knew it'd be bigger than Tarkus, though not quite how big. When all is said and done, I think both Savin and I are going to be quite proud of the planet.

Regardless of that, you guys are veering the thread off target.

 

[Couch]

The major thing that keeps the main quest from having a sense of urgency is that a sense of urgency isn't actually a terribly desirable thing here. Players are supposed to want to go around to various planets and bang sexy aliens. That's the point of the game. The probe quest is there to facilitate Captain Steele going to That means for all the alleged pressure to go hunt the probes, it can't actually be looming over the heads of players all that much, because that would distract from everything else they're supposed to be doing.

I personally can't wait to see what our brains trust comes up with for a post-apocalyptic desert hellscape. Particularly Couch!

I'm probably just going to write Mr. Torgue, to be honest.

 

[Xeivous]

Because each planet is constructed from a basic theme, and not much thought is put into that theme beyond "what would inspire plenty of porn?"

>The pub vote is in favour of a hive planet
>We've never done honeypot ant girls
>Hey don't ants fight each other all the time let's have the honey ants be fighting fire ants that'll be funny and cool
>Oh no I've accidentally created a war of annihilation and all my writers are doing grim shit I never anticipated how did this happen

Phaedra III is happening basically because Fen watched Fury Road. I personally can't wait to see what our brains trust comes up with for a post-apocalyptic desert hellscape. Particularly Couch!

Isn't Pahedra 3 supposed to be an alt starting planet?

 

[Klaptrap]

I'm probably just going to write Mr. Torgue, to be honest.

DID YOU KNOW THAT NINETY-SEVEN PERCENT OF ALL LIVING THINGS ON TARKUS AREN'T ORGASMING RIGHT NOW? THAT'S BULLSH*T, BUY TORGUE!

 

[Galgano]

Also worth mentioning that, IIRC, she will be a Type 1 'gradual' tsundere, and not the accursed Type 2.

Oh I get it. She's diabetes because oh how sweet she is.

But on a totally unrelated note, would this be a better thread for the idea forum? Well, I guess not. It's more of a daydream/come-up-with-your-dreamboat-henchman type of thread.

 

[Nik_van_Rijn]

The major thing that keeps the main quest from having a sense of urgency is that a sense of urgency isn't actually a terribly desirable thing here. Players are supposed to want to go around to various planets and bang sexy aliens. That's the point of the game. The probe quest is there to facilitate Captain Steele going to That means for all the alleged pressure to go hunt the probes, it can't actually be looming over the heads of players all that much, because that would distract from everything else they're supposed to be doing.

So what is your opinion on the role and focus that an over-arching Antagonist (and their henchmen) should have in light of that?

Oh I get it. She's diabetes because oh how sweet she is.

Type 1(or A) Tsundere - the one whose tsun gradually goes away or gets toned down as they get to know their target better. So they don't flip flop between being loving and hateful at random.

 

[Galgano]

Well with how little JJ interacts with us in game, so far, her tsun is likely not going to go away until maybe the 10th main planet and you marry her as your Eternal Waifu Supreme.

 

[coldmonkey]

Come to think of it, does JJ really need just one or two henchmen? They could have a group of less notable minions, maybe even temporary ones, like they promise the natives of a planet certain things in exchange for fighting again the PC. Or just a bunch of mercenaries, perhaps nameless, or something more like the Beagle Boys.

 

[balitz Method]

The major thing that keeps the main quest from having a sense of urgency is that a sense of urgency isn't actually a terribly desirable thing here. Players are supposed to want to go around to various planets and bang sexy aliens. That's the point of the game. The probe quest is there to facilitate Captain Steele going to That means for all the alleged pressure to go hunt the probes, it can't actually be looming over the heads of players all that much, because that would distract from everything else they're supposed to be doing.

It doesn't need an overbearing sense of urgency, necessarily, but it could use a good complication. To be quite frank it's not an interesting quest line in and of itself and has more or less already played itself out; the feel was always either a bizarre one (that Steele Jr.'s dad is trying to literally mold his offspring into a memetic clone of himself through this crazy setup designed to mirror his own adventures) or a laid back one ("go see some sights, fuck some aliens, and have some fun before you have to do any real work!") that gets real when your cousin finds out about it depending on how you view it. To make the main quest more compelling it should evolve beyond this initial premise in some way that allows for it to go in different directions. Even plots with massive stakes and urgency don't ever get in the way of messing around with side content; everyone's used to doing all the little mundane tasks before they go stop the evil god looming on the horizon.

Mysty had the right of it: this comes off entirely as an excuse. If the main writers aren't interested in doing much with the main plot that's one thing. The game doesn't even need it, really; it could literally be reframed as an extended vacation for Steele Jr. after getting a strange message from their deceased father about a scavenger hunt with a mysterious prize and relatively little would have to change. If the desire truly is to make it a playground game the setup should reflect that by keeping the stakes low and personal. The cousin as a goofy rival fits perfectly if it's just a big wacky misunderstanding over what sort of "treasure" Victor Steele would leave and with that sort of tone it never needs to change but right now it does suggest that it's trying to tell more of a story than that and that requires a certain level of commitment to it.

 

[Couch]

I'm not really sure where you get the idea that it's trying to tell more of a story than that. The idea since the beginning draft docs has been that Vic's last message at the end declares that the only point of the journey was for Captain Steele to gain experiences and make friends that they would keep going forward. Any higher stakes will come from other things that Captain Steele happens to stumble into along the way, such as the titular Tainted Space if/when something comes of that.

 

[Nik_van_Rijn]

I'm not really sure where you get the idea that it's trying to tell more of a story than that. The idea since the beginning draft docs has been that Vic's last message at the end declares that the only point of the journey was for Captain Steele to gain experiences and make friends that they would keep going forward. Any higher stakes will come from other things that Captain Steele happens to stumble into along the way, such as the titular Tainted Space if/when something comes of that.

Well, there is "Vic the (Magnificent) Bastard" camp that gets those 'weird' vibes and read a lot more into the set-up of the probe hunt than Steele Sr. simply leaving the junior their banged up space car and setting them on the journey to go and see the universe. E.g. it's unclear how much interference had Victor expected from his family ans so how much of a rat race the main quest were supposed to be.

 

[balitz Method]

From the setup itself. Either it's an important quest with high stakes or it isn't. Ostensibly it is - a huge inheritance is on the line and someone's plotting to usurp the company and there's this history of bad blood in the family to inform it. Those are the makings of a Big Boy Story. Putting in the makings of a plot without following through on writing one just comes off as sloppy and ambivalent. If the official attitude is that the main story of the game isn't supposed to be this big involved adventure of its own then the scavenger hunt should probs. be presented as far more low key; as something that doesn't really -need- an arc of its own complete with villains and complications and conflict and character arcs - those can be supplied entirely by the incidentals.

Or, in other words, if the story is One Piece then one piece itself needs to be presented as a goal that doesn't really need a whole lot of addressing and is really only of symbolic importance: Victor's ultraporn stash, illegal on all core worlds, and not this hugely important key to the entire company since getting that is of crucial importance. If achieving a goal is presented as the prime focus then it needs a real plot surrounding it; if an initial goal never changes or evolves or hits any complications it's not even a story.

 

[Fenoxo]

Thread derailed, warning ignored, and I couldn't find the button to rename it. Therefore closed. Feel free to make a new thread to discuss the plot structure.