Arcane Oddysey's story is kinda

[Vetex]

@ArvydasUriel

We are given no time to learn more about him, our own past, and adjust to the situation we are in

uh i dont think opening the game up with a whole rant about mordens backstory or the player’s past (which morden doesnt even know) is a good idea

@ArvydasUriel

I assume the amnesia thing is supposed to serve as a way for the player to self insert their own person, but it kind of curses your own protagonist don’t you think?

no it doesn’t, you will learn more about the player’s backstory as the story goes on, obviously it shouldnt be thrown all onto the player in the very first sea.

@ArvydasUriel

a journey to just go and fix peoples problems. Why? we are not given a reason at all. NOTHING HAPPENS to push the protagonist into even wanting to do this. We are pushed into all this conflict because we were asked to go somewhere

What even is this statement? Do you want there to be 5 different thousand hour long stories for every different type of player? obviously the main character will have their lore based reasons for doing things since you are playing a character in the story, not your own self insert

@ArvydasUriel

If you were trying to make the beginning feel like AA, you tried too hard and it just does not work

that wasn’t the purpose of it at all and the beginning actually fits very well if you knew the full story

@ArvydasUriel

Onto Iris, def a step up. We spend a lot more time with her and I like the dynamic between her and Morden. However, the motive problem comes up here again. She is basically an environmental terrorist with an incredibly stupid idea. I think the whole thing about her melting Frostmill because they just happened to belong to Ravenna should’ve been done away with. I know the player is “supposed” to be pretty neutral but I just think this completely criminalizes her when she genuinely has been wronged by Ravenna. I feel it would make more sense if she attacked an island that had more apparent Ravenna presence. Frostmill doesn’t feel like its that important to Ravenna compared to an island like Shell. To be fair though I guess Shell Island is pretty far down south, but it just would’ve felt better than her melting Frostmill. Circling back to the motive thing I think we could all be much more sympathetic with the issues she’s been dealing with had she attacked something like the Ravenna camp on Shell Island. Melting an island full of innocents feels like too much.

this is very in character for iris if you pay attention to her dialog, she is hot headed and obviously wasn’t thinking clearly when she decided to go to frostmill and start melting the island

@ArvydasUriel

There is just no reason to care about him until the super out of the blue lore drop out his identity. I REALLY think people would appreciate it if he was more present and had some evidence that he was The Prince of Winterveil leading up to the reveal

you aren’t really meant to care for him at this point? i dont understand the critique here, obviously you aren’t supposed to care for neviro deeply as soon as he appears at ravenna, the player’s relationship with him is still growing even at windrow

@ArvydasUriel

(those diaries really should be more obvious though, I doubt you actually want players to miss them)

they exist to tell stories that aren’t integral to the overall plot but exist for players that want them

@ArvydasUriel

Introducing the “main” villain in the last section of your story is terrible

bro did you even play the story? Calvus is the king of Ravenna and no one except the player learned they were even associated with the order until pretty much right before you fight him because its a secretive organization, if there were constant dialog lines randomly thrown in about calvus it would make it too obvious that he was a villain

@ArvydasUriel

The world is not presented well enough in the story and the game in general. It feels like its made to make lore enthusiasts squeal in delight, but I feel as if for new fans it’s just kinda meh. When you know the lore and characters behind many things you pick up on these details way more.

i dont even get what you mean here, the world - especially for a roblox game - is incredible

@ArvydasUriel

Like think about Redwake for a moment. The introduction section of the game. You could’ve introduced some little bits about Sameria and what its like. More about Redwake’s culture and whatnot could’ve been introduced, even outside of story. It wouldn’t matter it should just be there! Also think it would’ve been quite cool if you added a bit more to Chapter 1 and had us go to Shura with the Redwake Warriors, fight Shura when negotiations with him failed, and then get Sailboat and Redwake Warriors crew as a rewards. This would also be a more friendly approach to introducing new players to crews and other ships

redwake already has LOTS of dialog about their culture and stories and such so this is probably the worst example you could’ve chose for this point. As for the redwake warriors part I feel that would be pretty unnecessary, plus the chief says that the warriors should stay back in case of another attack (or something like that)

@ArvydasUriel

One big nitpick I have for this section is Elius telling us about Sea Curses. The way its brough up feels just awful and unnatural. We just beat this guy up and he strangely decides to lore dump sea curses on us. Wouldn’t it have made more sense for Elius’s mention of Sea Curses to spark interest in us and end up asking Warren about it? I think Warren explaining sea curses would’ve been a better approach. Nitpick tho I know.

warren is gone after you defeat elius and the player has to learn about them before the following islands

@ArvydasUriel

The pacing is absolutely awful, again we are given nearly no time to spend with the main cast and things just happen way too quickly

because its the beginning of the story dude… you arent MEANT to be super attached to any characters yet really and you are just adventuring together with them because you have a common goal, obviously in the future you will become more attached

@ArvydasUriel

Truth Serum bullshit. Please…why did this have to introduced…why couldn’t Beringer just have folded under the pressure and torture. You have set up the worst plot convenience ever because if you don’t ever use it again it was just a stupid pointless cheat card that will make everyone mad

because he wouldn’t have folded under pressure and it makes sense for there to be a potion of that type in a magic-based world?

@ArvydasUriel

Like why not use it in Ravenna? We were arrested for KILLING ARGOS. I feel like Ravenna would 100% have interrogated us, and they could’ve used Truth Serum on us for that. That would’ve been interesting cause maybe we could have heard some stuff about the past

You broke into a fortress and the bronze legion thinks you killed the general and hundreds of others… I don’t think they would bother interrogate you after that. Thats like if someone commits terrorism irl and then they get put on a lie detector test to see why they did it, like what?

@ArvydasUriel

And Revon honestly just feels like a joke, I audibly laughed when he was spewing out his death threats. Us “betraying” him could’ve been very impactful if we had way way more than 1 interaction with him.

again, its early in the story

@ArvydasUriel

The rest of the story from here was okay, boring but okay. The setup for Nimbus sea is really good and interesting and im excited to see it. I REALLY wanna be hopeful for it because the war thing is incredibly intriguing. I think it would really benefit the game and the players if you went back through Bronze sea story and polished it a lot more. Moving to better parts of the story might feel like the obvious thing to do, but the beginning of the story is arguably the most important. If you don’t have people hooked (which majority are very much not interested with the story) by the beginning then people just aren’t gonna care much for the genuinely good parts. If the beginning is good then you have people more eager to keep playing through it and less people who complain about the story sucking.

For me being a solo dev and this game having the most intricate story for a MMORPG on roblox ever, I think the beginning story is EXTREMELY good for what it was meant to be and this entire post is just nitpicky bs because it doesn’t play or read like a AAA game or a story book.

As for most people not caring for the story, adding more dialog to the story wouldn’t change that lol, majority of roblox players are kids and are playing for the pvp, they would just skip through the additional dialog and scenes regardless.

I’ll flesh out the story a lot more when it is made into actual books, but for what it is in the game, its already pretty much perfect for a prologue to the overall war sea’s plot

[Voyager]

@Vetex

I’ll flesh out the story a lot more when it is made into actual books

Are you going to release the arcane odyssey story as a series of books? Will they be digital only, or is it too early to tell, Id like to hear more info on these books.

[Crusade]

This response changed my way of thinking from “this person might have some decent points” to “this person has a doctorate in yappology”

Anyways, I’ll just stay and watch while I hope for an island to appear in the story (or not like Shell Island) with a bunch of oil hungry gunslingers.

[LightingmAIn]

neviro explaining how he’s this fodder now:

[PinkButterflyGaming]

@Vetex

uh i dont think opening the game up with a whole rant about mordens backstory or the player’s past (which morden doesnt even know)

@Vetex

no it doesn’t, you will learn more about the player’s backstory as the story goes on

I KNEW IT! MC has a backstory, and even Morden doesnt know, CONFIRMED. Sorry, it was just a big theory I have, though the game and one of your plot summaries implied it, its nice to see it being directly confirmed. Im def pumped up now for the rest of the story
Will be taking down notes~

(Maybe I should make that post soon then…)

[PinkButterflyGaming]

I just pray that Roblox doesnt come after him if he does release them… god please

[thewhitejawa]

his story, his property

i think

[LightingmAIn]

Preston sells Nfts and a bunch of other shit vetex publishing a book shouldn’t be a worry

[ImaLettuce]

@Vetex

I’ll flesh out the story a lot more when it is made into actual books, but for what it is in the game, its already pretty much perfect for a prologue to the overall war sea’s plot

Stop making me excited for the nimbus and the future seas ahh

[iforgotmeword]

for me it seems like what vetex is saying
“trust me it gets better”
so while i have my doubts i just hope vetex took a writing class
but yea you can tell me “I TOLD YOU SO” if my doubts were unfounded
but you BETTER BET that I’m going to say “I TOLD YOU SO” if the story really does suck

[ArvydasUriel]

@Vetex

uh i dont think opening the game up with a whole rant about mordens backstory or the player’s past (which morden doesnt even know) is a good idea

There doesn’t need to be a rant. Mainly I think we should just be able to spend more time with Morden at the beginning of the game. I assumed that Morden knew about our past at least but my bad for that

@Vetex

no it doesn’t

Thank goodness

@Vetex

Do you want there to be 5 different thousand hour long stories for every different type of player?

Hell no

@Vetex

obviously the main character will have their lore based reasons for doing things since you are playing a character in the story

Yes, but what is their motive now? Considering the MC has amnesia you would think that their motive for doing anything would be established. Instead we get asked to go places and shit just happens that we get roped into. So what is it? plain Curiosity? helping people? please do tell if it ain’t a spoiler

@Vetex

that wasn’t the purpose of it at all and the beginning actually fits very well if you knew the full story

fair enough

@Vetex

Calvus is the king of Ravenna and no one except the player learned they were even associated with the order until pretty much right before you fight him because its a secretive organization, if there were constant dialog lines randomly thrown in about calvus it would make it too obvious that he was a villain

I agree, but I wish there was at least something about him and other important Ravenna characters sprinkled around the world so that their presence is at least there. And yes of course I know no one except the player learned they were associated with the order, im not saying anyone else needs to know. It’s just a bit strange and unrealistic to think that there wouldn’t be single mention of THE KING of Ravenna outside of the actual kingdom. Said kingdom being a major power in the Bronze Sea

@Vetex

i dont even get what you mean here, the world - especially for a roblox game - is incredible

It 100% is, im not saying otherwise. I thought it over a little and I do take back what I said. I think its mostly okay, and there is plenty of big stuff in the story mentioned like curses, winterveil, and the upcoming war and whatnot.

Basically I just wished for more lore to be integrated into the story (which I guess enough already is and theres way more to come anyways)

@Vetex

redwake already has LOTS of dialog about their culture and stories and such so this is probably the worst example you could’ve chose for this point. As for the redwake warriors part I feel that would be pretty unnecessary, plus the chief says that the warriors should stay back in case of another attack (or something like that)

That’s fair

@Vetex

warren is gone after you defeat elius and the player has to learn about them before the following islands

That sucks, Warren genuinely would’ve been a way better person to hear it from

@Vetex

because he wouldn’t have folded under pressure and it makes sense for there to be a potion of that type in a magic-based world?

It does make sense for a potion like that to exist in a magic world, I just don’t enjoy cheaty conveniences like that

@Vetex

You broke into a fortress and the bronze legion thinks you killed the general and hundreds of others… I don’t think they would bother interrogate you after that. Thats like if someone commits terrorism irl and then they get put on a lie detector test to see why they did it, like what?

Fair I have nothing to say to this

@Vetex

this entire post is just nitpicky bs because it doesn’t play or read like a AAA game or a story book.

I don’t care whether or not it plays like a AAA game or a story book. I was just telling you my own thoughts on it. Agree or disagree with what I said, but don’t disrespectfully sum up anyone’s genuine criticism as “nitpicky bs”.

@Vetex

As for most people not caring for the story, adding more dialog to the story wouldn’t change that lol, majority of roblox players are kids and are playing for the pvp, they would just skip through the additional dialog and scenes regardless.

Yes, little kids who have no attention span will obviously continue skipping it, but for the people that do genuinely try to get into it stop caring for it because it simply isn’t interesting enough. The story genuinely does have a lot of potential to be pretty good, and there are many ways you could add to the Bronze Sea to actually make it truly enjoyable.

@Vetex

I’ll flesh out the story a lot more when it is made into actual books, but for what it is in the game, its already pretty much perfect for a prologue to the overall war sea’s plot

I look forward to the future

[ArvydasUriel]

Same for me as well

[iforgotmeword]

@Vetex

You broke into a fortress and the bronze legion thinks you killed the general and hundreds of others… I don’t think they would bother interrogate you after that. Thats like if someone commits terrorism irl and then they get put on a lie detector test to see why they did it, like what?

they “THINK” you broke in and killed the general and hundreds of others
do they not care why?
like if someone commits terrorism and gets captured would you not want to know WHY? or if they are part of a bigger cell?

yea I’m not going to lie i really don’t get this but whatever it’s your game

[43zz]

Ok no need to be rude

[Crimsonpants]

@Vetex

@ArvydasUriel

The world is not presented well enough in the story and the game in general. It feels like its made to make lore enthusiasts squeal in delight, but I feel as if for new fans it’s just kinda meh. When you know the lore and characters behind many things you pick up on these details way more.

i dont even get what you mean here, the world - especially for a roblox game - is incredible

This right here I won’t stand for. People can go ahead and critique the story all they want, but the world is OOZING with character. People have EXPLORED, right? Every island tells a story. From the houses carved into spires and old bones that make up the Redwake culture, to the freezers that they use to store their meats, with ice obtained from frostmill. Frostmill, which has a winding series of mines you delve into, with ruins of old settlements buried in the snow above.

From Arkurius keep, haunted and full of damned souls, a bleak darkness enshrouding the entire island, to Shell Islands peaceful cliffs and huts that seem just a bit behind the rest of the seas architecture. If you want story from the world purely- I mean, has anyone visited Blasted Rock? A scattered battlefield, great ruins, and for the curious a book containing a cryptic hint as to what befell this place and caused the everpresent tornado.

The world design in AO is fantastic.

This isn’t even a thing about simply good storytelling or good game design, this is excellent worldbuilding. Like yeah, its a Roblox game, but it blends the story and world together masterfully.

I’ve said my critiques on the story before, primarily just some minor nitpicky gripes that don’t matter all too much, but there’s a balance that must be achieved. Writing a game story isn’t the same as writing a book, there’s a lot more that goes into it, and a consideration of time and engagement with the players.

[ArvydasUriel]

No yeah I think I had something else In my head when I was saying that. I agree with you.

[fartman1314]

theres so much interactivity, i especially like how terrain destruction is used for some secrets. also its nice how different things are different colors in npc dialogue (eg. curses being dark blue, locations being light blue, people being red, order being dark purple, etc etc)

[Vetex]

considering we are like 1/6th into the story i would sure hope it ramps up more thought it was obvious it would

[UZAU]

@ArvydasUriel

Yes, but what is their motive now?

from the dialogue between the MC and iris at windrow – its actually implied that MC is just kind of drifting around and doing what they feel is “right” to do – which in the sense of stopping an organisation that tortured them, morden, kidnapped a whole man, and is stealing extremely powerful curses… It sort of lines up

tiny edit: also probably implied heavily in the cirrus island dialogues? Like there are mutliple times where the main character justifies their want to follow Iris and fight the hooded figures because they think its the “right thing to do” and in tandem, helping warren

[PS, how did this dude know to go to fort talos? Did he just watch us? That’d be funny]

[Vetex]

they dont “think” you did, if you read the dialog in tiberia they literally know your name and its confirmed you were the one to do it