re: the info via Harpocrates/Vivian/ATL: yeah, I didn't really use any of these very much! I did some thumbing through Vivian's stuff, and found the layout of her map and such visually confusing so gave up; didn't use the others at all. in general i'm the kind of player who's impatient to barrel through the main quest, and treats those sorts of things as "bonus" lore/flavor... maybe the designers did intend for everyone to read all those things! but feels a lil disappointing if the "main" story itself can't keep things grounded/oriented enough on its own.
agreed that the voice acting was really strong and i did love the NPC chatter, come to mention it. i remember finding myself wondering if the designers had ever played with the idea of letting you eavesdrop in on whole *conversations*—like, sometimes you'd here three lines of dialogue between two people, and what they were discussing seemed REALLY interesting, and i wished there was more to it than just those three lines? (that sort of thing's probably not super tractable, given it would blow up the budget to have TONS of fully-voice-acted side conversations that most players may not even stick around to hear... but the towns did feel properly lived in and i really liked that.)
it's not about a given party, but the community of people Clive surrounds himself with
that's a really nice/pithy way of summing it up / looking at it. interesting to think about what i'd tweak in the game to bring that theme more to the fore (since i think you're right, that's definitely what FFXVI is interested in)... makes me wish the alliant reports were more game-y, since that really would be an interesting way of bringing you into proper *connection* & feeling that connection with various agents you've got around the world...
i did NOT know the bit about Clive not technically being a bearer, huh! i assumed that the phoenix's "blessing" made him so? but yeah i guess pursuing the fanwiki article says that's not so lol. i wonder how common those blessings are?
if i do go back and finish this game, dreamwidth + you will be the first to know, don't you worry! (i admit hearing it's divisive has got my interest pique lollollol)
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Date: 2024-05-27 08:23 am (UTC)agreed that the voice acting was really strong and i did love the NPC chatter, come to mention it. i remember finding myself wondering if the designers had ever played with the idea of letting you eavesdrop in on whole *conversations*—like, sometimes you'd here three lines of dialogue between two people, and what they were discussing seemed REALLY interesting, and i wished there was more to it than just those three lines? (that sort of thing's probably not super tractable, given it would blow up the budget to have TONS of fully-voice-acted side conversations that most players may not even stick around to hear... but the towns did feel properly lived in and i really liked that.)
it's not about a given party, but the community of people Clive surrounds himself with
that's a really nice/pithy way of summing it up / looking at it. interesting to think about what i'd tweak in the game to bring that theme more to the fore (since i think you're right, that's definitely what FFXVI is interested in)... makes me wish the alliant reports were more game-y, since that really would be an interesting way of bringing you into proper *connection* & feeling that connection with various agents you've got around the world...
i did NOT know the bit about Clive not technically being a bearer, huh! i assumed that the phoenix's "blessing" made him so? but yeah i guess pursuing the fanwiki article says that's not so lol. i wonder how common those blessings are?
if i do go back and finish this game, dreamwidth + you will be the first to know, don't you worry! (i admit hearing it's divisive has got my interest pique lollollol)
thanks for the lovely comment as always~