Path of Courage End Feedback (Spoilers)

I want the story to be awesome, this is all intended as constructive. If something like this is coming in the next release already, then good job.

Spoiler: Demig

5 out of 5 of us thought that Demig was bugged, not sacrificing himself.

As it is it appears Demig just isn't even responding. If they were to stay where they are and it was a 1 hit, it would appear that Demig is getting jumped. Neither of these are the intention of the story, so the delivery is lacking.

It wasn't until dialog in Grannus's throne room that we read in our own Keywords "He sacrificed himself" and we realized it was intentional.

This is really bad, it took me through a series of feelings about the quality of the game ("it's bugged, oh wait no, they just can't get ") rather than the drama of what is going on in the story. By the time we got to the Grannus throne room and it was revealed what had really happened, any hope of me feeling anything connected to Demigs sacrifice was gone.

If I were blocking this out as a scene, rather than have the Kobold just attack Demig right on the steps in a way that appears bugged (non-responding NPC,) I would

• Have them move to the center of the room, facing each other
  • Now we know they are having a dual, not just one guy getting jumped
• Have some buildup dialog / put the buildup dialog that is already in place to activate now AFTER they move
  • There is always dialog before a big fight in a good movie/book/game
• Have Demig kneel
  • Now he's obviously sacrificing himself
• Have the Kobold kill him in one blow
• Have the Kobold king acknowledge it in a more straightforward manner.

If you can't do that (or something similar) with your story system, you should really be reevaluating whether or not to keep that system.

 

Good points - I saw that scene twice: with my account a few releases ago & heavily bugged and in R43 with a friend. He didn't get what was happening either and I only could tell him because I went through all this.

Spoiler

This also would be a good use for the "camera" repositioning into Dialogue mode. Focus on the kobold and demig when they make their speeches. Have them fight a bit more, still showing that Demig is not a real match and grant him a hero's death.

The zoom back to Korabar and the avatar.