The narrative voice and writing style are quite awkward at times.
Also, something that really threw me for a loop was the early ludonarrative dissonance.
You control the Exiles during the tutorial combat and you can easily beat the two Shooters with max health remaining. After this combat, the dialogue states:
"Seeing the two sides fight, it was obvious that the Shooters were superior. Their armor, training, teamwork and experience made warriors that were hard to beat."
If you want to intermingle gameplay and narrative you should have them affirm each other, if you want to be taken seriously. The Shooters are meant to be tough, so maybe have the tutorial reflect that by letting you learn the mechanics but then be handily defeated.
From Software has softened players up to not be upset at losing to the tutorial. If you really don't want to step on toes by making players lose the tutorial, bring Dane's act of heresy into the combat itself rather than just in the post combat text.
I'd compare this to fighting Mysterio in a convenience store in Spider-Man 2 from 2004. He talks big but goes down in one hit. He's pathetic and a joke, which the narrative recognizes.
The Shooters in the tutorial are similar, it's just that the game insists that they're competent fighters clearly winning against these newbies.
Sorry to make this all about ludonarrative dissonance; the gameplay is also boring and trivial, and the storytelling lacks polish. I just had more to say about one issue than the others.
Also, something that really threw me for a loop was the early ludonarrative dissonance.
You control the Exiles during the tutorial combat and you can easily beat the two Shooters with max health remaining. After this combat, the dialogue states:
"Seeing the two sides fight, it was obvious that the Shooters were superior. Their armor, training, teamwork and experience made warriors that were hard to beat."
If you want to intermingle gameplay and narrative you should have them affirm each other, if you want to be taken seriously. The Shooters are meant to be tough, so maybe have the tutorial reflect that by letting you learn the mechanics but then be handily defeated.
From Software has softened players up to not be upset at losing to the tutorial. If you really don't want to step on toes by making players lose the tutorial, bring Dane's act of heresy into the combat itself rather than just in the post combat text.
I'd compare this to fighting Mysterio in a convenience store in Spider-Man 2 from 2004. He talks big but goes down in one hit. He's pathetic and a joke, which the narrative recognizes.
The Shooters in the tutorial are similar, it's just that the game insists that they're competent fighters clearly winning against these newbies.
Sorry to make this all about ludonarrative dissonance; the gameplay is also boring and trivial, and the storytelling lacks polish. I just had more to say about one issue than the others.
