Poll of the Day > What is the most blatant example of ludonarrative dissonance you can think of?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Shinebolt posted...

To be fair, you're usually carrying around hundreds of thousands of whatever currency the game world uses. Most of which you got from the "dangerous" monsters. I'm sure those infinitely respawning black wolves that give 22k a kill didn't lead to an economic collapse or anything either...

if there were enough adventurers out there killing end game mobs to cause an economic collapse, that would raise even more questions. why were lesser bosses/midbosses along the way so scary and dangerous, when there's so many people out there that can kill them? why aren't *those* people in my party? where were all those people when *my* village was attacked? you get the idea.

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Shinebolt posted...

I'm sure those infinitely respawning black wolves that give 22k a kill didn't lead to an economic collapse or anything either...

my idea for this is that there should be companies or factions that are interested in securing land or reducing threat levels of certain areas. these factions offer the player contracts for killing certain enemies. then when you go out and fight monsters, you get paid based on all of the active contracts you have.

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LuciferSage posted...

if there were enough adventurers out there killing end game mobs to cause an economic collapse, that would raise even more questions. why were lesser bosses/midbosses along the way so scary and dangerous, when there's so many people out there that can kill them? why aren't *those* people in my party? where were all those people when *my* village was attacked? you get the idea.

Who said anything about endgame mobs? I just have all my party members equipped with accessories that increase the amount of money dropped and kill the enmies with a skill that increases it even further.

Sahuagin posted...

my idea for this is that there should be companies or factions that are interested in securing land or reducing threat levels of certain areas. these factions offer the player contracts for killing certain enemies. then when you go out and fight monsters, you get paid based on all of the active contracts you have.

I guess that could work, but there are some games that have an actual contract/bounty system where you collect quests to kill mobs for rewards yet you can still get money off of enemies without any active quests.

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Does it count when you beat the mid game super boss threatening the whole world and then the random town guard you fight a few hours later is like triple the stats of that guy?

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Shinebolt posted...

Who said anything about endgame mobs? I just have all my party members equipped with accessories that increase the amount of money dropped and kill the enmies with a skill that increases it even further.

I mean like if there's a skill like "Throw Gil", or a Yojimbo...this is a perfectly valid strategy to roflstomp ancient horrors that are "sidequest" or "ultimate" side quest bosses. like a shotgun loaded with a stack of dimes.

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I noticed in quite a few monster-raising games, the narrative makes it sound like your player character is special because they're able to form a bond with their monsters that few other humans are apparently capable of...... this being despite the fact that the game's really not stopping you from being a total dick to your critters. Take Pokemon for instance. Dump it in a PC to never see the light of day? Purposefully faint it and give it bitter medicine so that its happiness can go down (granted, it's usually easier to keep happiness up, though Frustration has seen preference over Return as an anti-Ditto measure)? Endlessly breed them and toss out any offspring that don't have ideal IVs? All things you're capable of doing, and the game never calls you out on it.

Though, I've seen even worse implications in Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth. In that game, you don't really "release" your monsters. Rather, you disassemble unwanted Digimon back into data, with an option to load them into other Digimon for cheap EXP (in other words, you can have your monsters cannibalize eachother). There's also the usual RPG staple of being able to beat up on wild monsters for experience, though the jury's out on whether you're killing them or just fainting them (the animations for defeated enemies sure make it look like you're killing them, though some cutscenes suggest that this isn't always the case).

LuciferSage posted...

if there were enough adventurers out there killing end game mobs to cause an economic collapse, that would raise even more questions. why were lesser bosses/midbosses along the way so scary and dangerous, when there's so many people out there that can kill them? why aren't *those* people in my party? where were all those people when *my* village was attacked? you get the idea.

For what it's worth, end-game towns are often in some sealed-away realm or something. Hell, in most Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest games, you get an airship or a flying carpet or something little more than halfway through the game, and you're supposedly able to traverse the entire world map with it....... and yet the final areas of the game somehow still manage to be a ways off. Also, you DO occasionally get a party member joining you towards the final stages of the game (or sometimes post-game).

LuciferSage posted...

How is it that the last merchant before the point of no return when everyone in the world knows who the hero is, and that he's the chosen one still charge ludicrous prices for the items and gear when the obvious thing to do is give him or her what ever they need to beat the big baddie?

This reminds me of something that always bugged me in Super Mario RPG. When you first arrive in Seaside Town which is actually controlled by Yaridovich, the inn is absolutely free. After you help the townspeople, however, the inn starts to charge 15 coins (which is actually somewhat steep for an inn at that point in the game). I guess it doesn't matter too much, because the game does have numerous FREE resting spots (including another one coming up soon after in Monstro Town) combined with one of the more easily-traversible world maps out there. Still, talk about gratitude (in contrast, an earlier innkeeper lets you always stay for free just because you played with her son).