joshmlabelle.bsky.social
Writer & Narrative Designer || Creative Director on Disney Dreamlight Valley || "A Crown of Sorcery & Steel" out from Choice of Games || 1st place IFComp 2020🏆|| Opinions my own || www.joshlabelle.com
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6) don't know it and don't need to but don't know that I don't know it
- probably okay but can quickly turn into category 4
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There are a couple more ambiguous categories:
5) I know it but I don't need to
- can be good; enables flexibility and shows people understand the big picture
- could indicate you're including too many irrelevant people in meetings and wasting time
- can increase overall cognitive load on team
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In addressing the fourth category, you can:
- try to create more repositories of up-to-date cross-disciplinary information
- involve more departments in review meetings
- empower leads to connect more directly
But ultimately it's just hard to know what you don't know
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4) team member needs to know something they don't know but doesn't know they need to know it
- quest designer is working on an outdated assumption about a system being completely reworked
- it will bite them in a month
- here there be danger
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3) team member needs to know something they don't know and knows it
- quest designer doesn't know balancing of area but knows they'll need to eventually for their quesy
- becomes problematic if information is not well-managed and dependencies aren't properly scheduled
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2) team member doesn't need to know something and doesn't
- quest designer working on an area doesn't know sandbox balancing of another area
- that's fine
- only more problematic than first example because stuff you don't need to know can quickly become stuff you need to know without you knowing it
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We can then basically rate how problematic the intersections each of that these are from least to most.
1) team member needs to know something and does
- quest designer needs to know how something is balanced to make a quest
- they do
- life is good
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In general, this felt like the kind of game where the sequel is going to be truly great, because it's good already, providing a strong foundation, and the flaws are so clearly driven by production.
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5) invest in the cinematics polish. Again, doesn't need to get to BG3 level, but even the dialogue camera's placement felt a little awkward and unpolished at times. Improving that a little would go a long way for the game's overall prez.
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4) embrace romance. I'm not saying become Baldur's Gate 3, but letting me romance only Kai is a bit weird. Romances on the level of Kai with at least a couple other companions would be great! Giatta even felt like she HAD a romance that got cut.
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3) general pacing. Four large area hubs of roughly the same size was too many, especially with the problem of enemy variety. The Great Circles use of a couple more linear, shorter action levels to separate the big hubs and break up the pace in the middle would have been great for Avowed.
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2) boss fights. Most boss fights just ended up being bullet sponges. Investing in 3-5 really different and more cinematic encounters would have helped the ends of levels land.
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1) enemy encounter variety. This is the biggest killer. By the nine thousand skeleton horde you fight, it's hard to stay enthusiastic about combat. Some late game new enemy types that really change up combat dynamics would have a huge impact.
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That said, if I were directing the sequel, there are a few things I'd focus on in in terms of improvements. The game has such a smart focus and gets so much return on its investments that it's kind of an interesting exercise.
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Oh man, this guy was the GOAT of film historian audio commentaries in the '00s -- both for the passion and information but also because his voice is pretty soothing! I must have listened to his 12 Angry Men and Asphalt Jungle ones a hundred times in film school.
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One of the toughest things I had to learn about workaholism was that it's actually less about how you feel when you're working and more about how you feel when you're NOT working. Glad it sounds like you've struck a better balance.
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After, as V rides a stolen bike towards a bar to get loaded and forget everything he did that day, he can't shake the monk and the little act of generosity.
The daily cycle makes little moments like this stand out. It gives them meaning and context.
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V runs into a monk who asks him to save his brother. The monk asks V not to kill anybody in the process. V doesn't know why he does it. There's no money in it. But he does it. And he does like the monk asked and handles it real sneaky, without shedding any blood.
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Then he flatlines a couple more gonks before he rolls into a bar, pounds a couple bottles of Russian vodka, dances until his feet hurt, his ears are ringing, and his head is pounding. Then he showers off the grime and crashes in bed and sets his alarm to do it all again.
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My V is a burned out corpo who wakes up at 6:30 on the dot and rolls around doing Uber for murder, pausing at noon and six o'clock to slam back some shitty noodles or a burrito and wash it back with a beer.
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Okay, it's happening.
Playing and looking great on Switch 2!
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This was incredible. The music was beautiful throughout, RH Thompson as Zimmerman did a lengthy and leaden Drumpf joke that was exactly as corny as you'd hope it would be, and there was a mildly confusing interpretive dance component accompanying the Chaconne.
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In a pretty long list of contenders, the fact that this is the highlight of my year now might be the nerdiest thing about me. This year they're doing Bach's Chaconne and I'm so stoked to hear that performed in person.
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When the show got cancelled, the message board started writing their own unofficial continuation and I couldn't figure out why all the fan-written episodes ended up with Doctor Richard Kimble shacking up with ladies in farmhouses and that sort of thing. Anyway, genuinely formative experience