[quote]SirOccam wrote...
In my view, there is a truth. The line was delivered a certain way, and it was received a certain way.[/quote]
And you're free to believe that all you want, but by choosing that explanation you're limiting your creative freedom.
[quote]If we use the Alistair example again, if you say something you think is a joke and he gets offended, we don't know whether it's because it was simply misunderstood by Alistair or it's because it wasn't a joke in the first place.[/quote]
We can know it was intended as a joke by the speaker because you, for all intents and purposes, are the speaker, You know what you meant.
[quote]Something was intended by the writers; we just don't know what it was. It's funny you should mention "player agency," because "roleplaying" in these instances (meaning choosing an explanation) has exactly 0 effect on the story.[/quote]
It has zero effect on the events in-game, but it might colour the protagonist's opinion of an NOC quite a bit, and that's quite important to the story. If, based on this misunderstanding, the PC no longer trusts Alistair, that will have a large effect on future decisions the protagonist makes.
And those decisions are part of the story.
[quote]You see filling in these gaps as a feature; I see it as a chore. To me, roleplaying is choosing what to say, making actual choices that have an actual effect. Deciding what to say is roleplaying, pretending that something was meant one way or the other is not, because it makes no difference.[/quote]
Roleplaying is deciding what to say (and why), yes, but you're choosing to be limited to those lines and deliveries chosen by the writers, and there's no need for that. You're choosing to have a lesser experience.
[quote]If that same example happens in DA2, you can at least know that the joke was intended as a joke, and then you'll know that it was maybe a sensitive issue with the other person. That leads to greater insight into that character.[/quote]
That would be illusory. You can't ever really know other people. You're not in their minds. You don't know what they think. All you know is how they behave.
[quote]In DAO, you could pretend, but as it has no effect on the story, then what's the point?[/quote]
The point is the PC gets to be the person you want him to be.
[quote]If you choose to believe that Alistair is particularly offended by the subject matter of your joke, then great, but if the writers didn't design him that way, then it will signify nothing. And that just feels so...empty.[/quote]
I don't think Alistair's reaction matters at all. What matters is what my character said, how he said it, and what he was trying to accomplish by doing so. That's all that matters.
[quote][quote]Both true. Neither is relevant to how the line was actually expressed by the PC.[/quote]
I don't see how you can arrive at this conclusion.[/quote]
By using logic.
[quote]If the writers intended a line to be expressed a certain way, then it was expressed that way.[/quote]
This is where we disagree. The writers may well have intended a line to be delivered a certain way (they even claim they do). Why that means the line is then actually delovered in that way I don't understand. Wy are you drawing that conclusion?
I'm not drawing the conclusion, and in doing so leaving myself a lot more roleplaying flexibility.
[quote]Not being able to determine the intent does not mean there was no intent.[/quote]
Of course not. But it does mean the intent makes no material difference. This is true of all implicit content within games. Presumably the character all go off-screen and sleep at some point. That we don't know where they do that does not mean they don't do it.
[quote]And again, pretending it was expressed a different way leads to nothing, and you can still do this in DA2 anyway, if you really want to.[/quote]
Except that the delivery is now explicit content. If I can ignore the things the game explicitly tells me are true, why am I playing a game at all? What part of the game still matters?
[quote]Yes, but the same gripe you have about paraphrases and ambiguity applies here. You might be thinking he's saying one thing, but he's actually saying something else. I would think that would bother you.[/quote]
Why would you think he's actually sasying something different?
[quote]But you're not really "deciding" anything, are you? One or the other explanation is the truth.[/quote]
Some of the content is available for you to decide. Does your PC like potatoes? The game never tells you. But presumably it is either true or it is not that the Warden enjoys eating potatoes. Do you get to decide that?
This is true of all of the implicit content within the game. Everytghing game doesn't make explicit you can fiddle with to improve your gaming experience. That you choose not to do so is not evidence that it isn't possible.
[quote]But it doesn't matter if it never affects anything in the game. I could pretend my character has a lisp, but if no one ever reacts to it, then what value does it have?[/quote]
And this is where I conclude that you're not even trying to roleplay your character. If it's important to you that your character have a lisp, then give him a lisp. Then he'll have a lisp, and he'll be a more fully realised representation of your character concept.
That's the whole point of a roleplaying game. To create and play a role.
If you don't understand why the lisp is important then we have no common ground.
[quote]Don't get me wrong, I'm not someone who's against roleplaying or doesn't enjoy roleplaying. I can definitely see the value of these things if, say, I were playing a PnP RPG. Then I'd have a DM who would react to these things. They would carry some weight, however minor, in the story.[/quote]
There's sufficient off-screen action in a CRPG for you to fill in those minor details yourself.
How they ultimately affect the on-screen action will be limited to how those off-screen events impact your character's decisions. He might choose to save Redcliffe, or not, based on something that took place off-screen. That's a pretty big impact.
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(what if i don't want eat the rabbit but i want only to catch him only because i hate pink?))
didn't really convey what was going to be said. I understand why she's not completely happy with a paraphrase, but I say have some faith in the writers...
