What do you prefer: Open world or linear story

Dec 7, 2019
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I don't know, I just set the text speed to instant, turn off transitions, and it never bothered me, despite being a pretty fast reader.
Still throttled & far far far too slow
"Hello" *click* "How are you" click*
"I am well" *click*" "Thank you" *click*

Have you ever read a graphic novel?
Yes, and if they were one frame per page (with many frames/pages repeating images) then they would also be frustrating - they are read a page at a time so you can go faster if you want. I can read pretty fast, so if its not dense or interesting enough for me to slow down then it gets very, very frustrating.
 

MissCougar

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Feb 20, 2025
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Keep in mind that some people don't read... like at all...
It always shocks me
I can be one of those people once an author tells me through their storytelling they dont know how to English properly or write a compelling character.

But I usually just stop playing altogether at that point, or move to some other story.
 
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Dec 7, 2019
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Oh damn! I am a sucker for YA romances and corny fantasy books and stories. :geek:

I've also seen some decent alt universe spin offs from like Harry Potter too. So I can handle good-ish!
Riiiiiiight.... harry potter itself is wildly recognized as badly badly written haha, it just captured the 'lion witch and the wardrobe' vibe and imagination took off. I did read a spin off called 'witch trainer' once, that was pretty good though.

Maybe you prefer the overarching narrative compared to individual characters?
 
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prpa

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Nov 29, 2016
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Wait wait wait, this could be a valid point but didn't you say you like TWILIGHT in another thread :oops:
Say what you will about Twilight, at least it's written in proper English. If even 10% of games here were that well-written, I'd be happy.

Even though I'm an ESL and, admittedly, my written English can be rough, I usually can't stand Engrish, it's one of the main reasons I end up dropping games.
 
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prpa

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Nov 29, 2016
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Read it & repeat that statement please :D
I admit I haven't read it, but it can't be that bad. :HideThePain: I was mostly referring to the proper use of English in the second part of my statement, not the overall quality of the book. I should have made that clearer.
 
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tanstaafl

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Oct 29, 2018
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Riiiiiiight.... harry potter itself is wildly recognized as badly badly written haha, it just captured the 'lion witch and the wardrobe' vibe and imagination took off. I did read a spin off called 'witch trainer' once, that was pretty good though.

Maybe you prefer the overarching narrative compared to individual characters?
Harry Potter is fine. It's head and shoulders above most YA stuff and let's not even get started on the writing in most LitRPG stuff. Turning into a lit snob is going to get you no where with me, because as always, a good story earns a lot of forgiveness from me...and I was lit minor for my first degree.
 
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MissCougar

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Riiiiiiight.... harry potter itself is wildly recognized as badly badly written haha, it just captured the 'lion witch and the wardrobe' vibe and imagination took off. I did read a spin off called 'witch trainer' once, that was pretty good though.

Maybe you prefer the overarching narrative compared to individual characters?
So I like a fun story and if it's fun it can work for me. I'm not asking for high prose and I'm ok with some vocab problems here or there.

im really talking about games where they can't make more dialog than basic words and don't know how to capture the fun. If the English is atrocious like it was run through a Google Translate, it's probably too far gone.

Harry Potter is fine. It's head and shoulders above most YA stuff and let's not even get started on the writing in most LitRPG stuff. Turning into a lit snob is going to get you no where with me, because as always, a good story earns a lot of forgiveness from me...and I was lit minor for my first degree.
Thankyou! (y)
 
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Dec 7, 2019
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Harry Potter is fine. It's head and shoulders above most YA stuff and let's not even get started on the writing in most LitRPG stuff. Turning into a lit snob is going to get you no where with me, because as always, a good story earns a lot of forgiveness from me...and I was lit minor for my first degree.
If the story telling carried the writing for you, then fine. But its not being a snob to say that it was painful to read for many, many people. There is a reason it resonated with children and people who don't really read.

And this was in the context of someone stating bad writing specifically. If someone enjoys something that is up to them, entertainment is subjective
I can be one of those people once an author tells me through their storytelling they dont know how to English properly or write a compelling character.

But I usually just stop playing altogether at that point, or move to some other story.
 

tanstaafl

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Oct 29, 2018
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But its not being a snob to say that it was painful to read for many, many people.
Confirmation bias usually. It's literally one of the most read and most popular stories on earth. There is no way to twist it so that you rare few can pull that extra sensitive "we're super special and expect better" and expect it to hold water.
 

Jaike

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Read it & repeat that statement please :D
Compare that to Isis: the Fall, typical Tjord garbage with grammatical and spelling mistakes in most lines, an incoherent loser netori plot that's fucking dragged kicking and screaming to the endings by the dev, shallowest characterisation in the universe with the role of the worst imbecile kept for the MC, dreary, aimless dialogs, and weird cringe like "kukukuku" overload as the topping.

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And if you're going to write "wildly" when you mean "widely", in a discussion about writing quality even, I'm gonna child you.
 

Nadekai

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Compare that to Isis: the Fall, typical Tjord garbage with grammatical and spelling mistakes in most lines, an incoherent loser netori plot that's fucking dragged kicking and screaming to the endings by the dev, shallowest characterisation in the universe with the role of the worst imbecile kept for the MC, dreary, aimless dialogs, and weird cringe like "kukukuku" overload as the topping.

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And if you're going to write "wildly" when you mean "widely", in a discussion about writing quality even, I'm gonna child you.
SAUCE?!
 
Dec 7, 2019
364
339
Compare that to Isis: the Fall, typical Tjord garbage with grammatical and spelling mistakes in most lines, an incoherent loser netori plot that's fucking dragged kicking and screaming to the endings by the dev, shallowest characterisation in the universe with the role of the worst imbecile kept for the MC, dreary, aimless dialogs, and weird cringe like "kukukuku" overload as the topping.
I will still take that over twilight please (I never want to read that thing again). There is not much difference & at least this is funny in a 'the room' kind of way ;)

And if you're going to write "wildly" when you mean "widely", in a discussion about writing quality even, I'm gonna child you.
A spellcheck typo in a thread is one thing, gaping plot holes in published works you are selling is another. If you like harry potter then like a said, power to you, but it does have a truck ton of issues you need to like the books enough to overlook (and if not then they pile up). I like plenty of books others do not, and that's fine (dealers choice so to speak). I mean I like some of the star wars movies and they are hardly hard thinking masterpieces... but light sabres :D
 

tanstaafl

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Oct 29, 2018
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I will still take that over twilight please (I never want to read that thing again). There is not much difference & at least this is funny in a 'the room' kind of way ;)


A spellcheck typo in a thread is one thing, gaping plot holes in published works you are selling is another. If you like harry potter then like a said, power to you, but it does have a truck ton of issues you need to like the books enough to overlook (and if not then they pile up). I like plenty of books others do not, and that's fine (dealers choice so to speak). I mean I like some of the star wars movies and they are hardly hard thinking masterpieces... but light sabres :D
Nobody cares if people like or dislike books. I've read plenty of incredibly popular books that I hated. The difference is I didn't try to say they were poorly written slop to excuse me not liking them. I just said I didn't like them.

Edit: Also, the morality issues within Harry Potter are much more glaring than any sloppy writing. I mean, Dumbledor is a sociopath when taken as a whole, but not a lot of people who bitch about the folksy writing bring that part up.
 
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Jaike

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Aug 24, 2020
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Already gave the title and the dev's name, but here. Don't die.

I will still take that over twilight please (I never want to read that thing again). There is not much difference & at least this is funny in a 'the room' kind of way ;)


A spellcheck typo in a thread is one thing, gaping plot holes in published works you are selling is another. If you like harry potter then like a said, power to you, but it does have a truck ton of issues you need to like the books enough to overlook (and if not then they pile up).
Not really a fan tbh. I agree there were plotholes, but I didn't hate the books, and I think overfocus on plotholes is a flaw in geek reviewing. What's more important is how plotholes or any other flaws undermine the plot, or other aspects of the work. I think other flaws in Rowling's work are more relevant but I don't think that kills the magic.

And a lot of plothole talk is really about geeks suggesting hacky snakeoil solutions that are worse. Think "wHy No EaGlEs" criticism for The Lord of the Rings that tries to frame a moral, political and military problem as a pseudo "technological" one that can be solved with a lifehack.