setsneedtofeed

I figure that the Swiss Army knife my dad got me for Boy Scouts is really up there. Self explanatory why I suppose.

I could have sworn Discovery was connected with Bad Robot, but it looks like I was wrong.

It still has a "JJ Abrams sensibility" - frantic space combat, overly emotional characters, a lot of flashy but meaningless tech (the hologram communicators as an easy example) and visuals (the way the bridge was often shot). It was very much trying to be loud and new, while throwing in a lot of surface level references to try and give it some franchise credibility (this USS Discovery is a rejected Phase 2 concept design).

It all came together in a loud, unlikable soup that felt inauthentic to the franchise. There was some course correction later on, but too little, too late. Strange New Worlds went the right direction, while the Section 31 movie tripled down on all the worst aspects of Discovery.

In any case, I agree - the D&D movie was a lot of fun, and while I wouldn’t want a ST movie to strike that tone, I’m interested to see what they cook up.

I don't want the Trek movie to have the DND movie tone either, but more like when that movie was made they understood the correct tone to match the franchise. It felt authentic to what DND players experience. If the Trek movie has the same care in figuring out what long time fans want, it will be good.

That's good. The repercussions of the Bad Robot era have really derailed Trek in a way it's just started healing from.

While Discovery wasn't in the Kelvinverse, the connection to Bad Robot probably gave it that similar style. The Section 31 movie wasn't connected directly to Bad Robot as company, but it did share a writer.

Strange New Worlds has been a huge step in the right direction, though it came directly out of Discovery, making it kind of a prototype for modern live action Trek trying to both be "gritty" and classic Trek at the same time. I think it has mostly succeeded, but now that it's proven there's an appetite away from Bad Robot era Trek, I hope the new series goes further.

While I hope whatever they make doesn't share a tone with the new DND movie, I appreciate that the DND movie was obviously well versed in the setting and knew what fans were about. Applying that same mindset to Trek would be great.

Wow this is a 2e era mini.

I like the choice of big flat areas of color with chunky highlights. It fits the sculpt.

I'm just saying, that's a lot of work to record and add in every bit of player character dialog (male and female character voices). It still takes development time to go through and make sure the dialog animations don't look (too) messed up and make sure characters aren't talking over eachother and things like that.

There's also the fact that during game development, dialogs can change. Which means if an earlier version of a dialog was recorded, it needs to be re-recorded. It's an extra layer of hassle compared to just changing a text box.

Part of the reason most RPGs don't do voiced player dialog is the amount of extra work it takes. The end result in Fallout 4 was underwhelming because of the writing, but it was still a lot of (potentially misguided) effort to have everything voiced.

It's a shame that Fallout 4 really locked you into a character with a pre-written name, a fairly detailed backstory, and dialog (both the actual words and the voice delivery) that gave a sense of laser focused motivation. I felt absolutely nothing for Shaun, and therefore the entire main quest was a chore.

It would have been so easy to just have some plot other than getting Shaun back. Removing that as motivation and removing some of the player character backstory would open things up for players.

I assume because there was a ton of voice acting and animating for all that dialog. That is a lot of work. Problem is just because it was a lot of work didn't make it automatically good.

The "problem" with those mods is they lay bare how thin the dialog choices really are.

at times the short option summaries felt wildly disconnected from the actual dialogue the MC spoke

The number of [sarcastic] dialog options that were actually just unhinged threats was wild. I'm convinced whoever wrote those doesn't know what sarcasm is.

Also Wasteland isn’t just the inspiration for Fallout. Fargo wanted to make a sequel to Wasteland but no longer owned the rights to it, so they tweaked it into what we know and love.

According to Tim Cain on his YouTube channel, not exactly. Cain was a fan of Wasteland which lead to some elements (mainly he liked the idea of morally ambiguous quests more than anything) being in Fallout, but Fallout wasn't developed as Off-Brand Wasteland. Some time in development, after Fallout had been pretty crystallized there was a discussion by the studio about getting the Wasteland rights and reworking Fallout into Wasteland 2. That ended up falling through. I believe Cain has mentioned being relieved because Fallout had turned into a unique creation, and it was already having to deal with one license for GURPS so having the Wasteland license would have doubled the amount of people looking over his shoulder.

As for the connection to Fallout 3, really it's just because Fallout 3 transported a lot of content from the first two games regardless of how tenuous the connection was.

In New Vegas, the Rangers obviously are a more natural fit to the game and as a continuation from the reference in the original. In FNV the Rangers were an independent group which has been absorbed by the NCR, though they still have a lot of autonomy. That's what that big statue at Interstate 15 is about.

I'm actually a little shocked there aren't (to my knowledge) any Roger's Rangers references in Fallout 4, given that the are Minutemen LARPing around.

If they are going to be inside of a well preserved tomb structure, perhaps no texture. But if they are going to be somewhere more dilapidated or sandy then some sand added with PVA works. Painted and then drybrushed to bring out the texture.

Colors depending on intended environment. I find that painting the sand black and then drybrushing it gently with a sky blue creates a non-distracting non-specific location look.