5 réponses à ce sujet

[Linkenski]

The 3-act structure is mostly used in literature, plays and hollywood movies. It's a very common structure to have in writing for just about anything... except, when you have a game that stretches on with lengthy gameplay segments, countless subplots and characters for 100 hours maybe, the 3-act structure spreads itself thin, as seen with Dragon Age Inquisition for instance. It feels like the flow of the story isn't quite there and story-progression can end up seeming really odd at times if you haven't balanced your doing side-content and main-plot in the intended way.

 

With these long games that might even be better suited for a more open-ended story-structure like those of TV Series, do you think ME4 should use the 3-act structure? I'm guessing since it uses the same engine and all that we're basically getting Mass Effect Inquisition, and while the 3-act structure worked for the trilogy within every game, those were approx. 30 hours each compared to 60-100 hours for one game.

 

Whaddaya think?

[Vazgen]

I'm a bit on odds with this. On one hand, I don't want to have squadmates only available for 1-2 missions before the ending (Legion in ME2). 3-act structure introduces characters in the first act. On the other hand, it doesn't draw you in unless the writing is exceptional - introductory acts rarely glue the player to the screen. 

I don't think the issue is with length here. The issue is how to get players involved right from the start and keep that interest to the end while still leaving room for exploration and side content. I don't think that'll be possible with 3-act structure. 

I'd rather have Bioware to surprise me with a non-cliché writing structure. Obviously, not weird combinations like plot reveals in the start etc. I think it will be interesting to have the plot to involve our squadmates. Have a traitor in their ranks, for example, make them reveal important information through the course of the main plot. ME3 had mandatory squadmates at certain missions but their usefulness was not really apparent. For example, EDI on Cronos. Why couldn't we open a link to the Normandy like on a Collector Ship in ME2? Or Liara on Thessia. Surely, decrypting the protection on the temple of Athame could've been done without her. One place where a mandatory squadmate proves quite useful is Liara on Eden Prime, where she figures out that opening the pod will kill Javik. 

That said, it'll also be interesting to have an option not to take a mandatory squadmate with you. So, say, you have a quarian squadmate and you don't take him on a geth-related mission, preferring a batarian instead. At some point the batarian will not be able to hack a certain terminal and the mission gets more difficult, ranging from more enemies to being forced to choose between two squadmates. 

[themikefest]

I wasn't aware that DAI has 3 acts

 

Dragon Age 2 had 3 Acts. It was ok. I just didn't like that it had 3 years pass in between each act.

[ImaginaryMatter]

I always thought the typical, older BioWare division of their games was pretty good for writing something the length of one of their stories. An overall story that has an introduction and an end but leaves the middle divided into, usually, four separate stories that are each introduced and resolved within their own arcs, while upon conclusion ultimately advance the overall story.

[Linkenski]

I wasn't aware that DAI has 3 acts

 

Dragon Age 2 had 3 Acts. It was ok. I just didn't like that it had 3 years pass in between each act.

Yeah, DA:I does kinda seem to fit into 2 acts but I think if the main quest order wasn't so non-linear it could technically be a 3-act structure plot too, where act 2 was about The Game and Orlais.

 

Mass Effect 3 actually had an excellent plot-structure. The plot itself wasn't too well sewn together - with Cerberus being as over-the-top and omnipresent as the Reapers, the non-explained high-status and importance of Earth and the ending - but the structure was 3-act and the dramatic curve was excellent too.

 

If there's anything the other writers at Bioware can learn from Mac Walters it's getting that plot-structure right. Mac Walters is bad at making up the "why" and "how" of the plot (plot is techincally the "why" of a story, but you get my meaning hopefully) but he has a great understanding of the importance of dramaturgy. That's something David Gaider never really mastered in DA2 or DA:I.

 

I think ideally the 3-act structure is most effective especially at the standard 30 hour length of Mass Effect games, but if they are indeed going for sort of a Mass Effect Inquisition, I hope the main plot feels much more present and large than in Inquisition.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

But I like sand boxes.