PS:N Story/Lore?

[Lonehunter]

Well we know story had a small part in Planetside. Those of us here from the beginning may even remember the origin stories of each empire. From the little events, to the Bending Trailer, story has definitely had a small part in Planetside.

Does it have a place in Planetside: Next?

Personally I think they should scrap it just because it never had a big roll or was even important, unless they went a new direction with it. Make it comical, make a joke out of it. If the game can even make fun of it's own errors, then it takes negative attention away from those errors. SOE's could give the game a new attitude to make it even more unique.

I'm trying to hold back the 100 ideas I've started with this. What do you guys think?

Edit: and I just wanted to say I liked the original Planteside story, it kinda inspired my own sci-fi novel. But from a game design point it was lacking, and uninvolved.

[p0intman]

I personally liked the narritive when it came into play.

[Miir]

I think that having a story maybe helped people choose a side earlier on or helped define the overall feel of the game. But I don't think it had much impact on the game once you started playing.

If they do a big CGI trailer and bring in some of the original story I think that will be enough for me.

The great thing about Planetside was that it gave us the tools to make our own stories. I think that's why we have such a connection to the game.

[Canaris]

I think they should keep the PS story hopefully they take it up from just before the whole CC & bending thing went on.

For us we know alot about PS and Auraxis and rebirthing, the saga of the three factions ect, but try to think of it from a selling point of view and a new potential player.
Without some kind of back story to explain just what's going on I think most people would find how the game plays rather confusing.

The story was never a huge part of the game but it did add great depth.

I've always liked the fact in the original that it gave the idea it was the planet itself that allowed humans to colonise it, then seal them off from the rest of the terran republic like some giant experiment to see what would happen or it was lonely without the original inhabitants.

[wildcat140679]

As far the planetside story element goes, it was really thin. It was (from my point of view) the bare minimum what was needed to give a general idea of each empire, the world and technology in it.
Each empire had its own reason why to be in war with the other two empires. Even without any background story at all, the game would have played the same, but people might have found some difficulty choosing their starting empire. In the end I ended up the empire with the lowest population.

I do however believe that PlanetSide could have been so much more if more story driven events would have taken place more frequently that could have added reason for combat and have added some changes to the daily capture and hold battles that go on.

Just to come up with a quick events on the fly
Technology black out:
For unknown reasons all empire specific technology have disappeared from the data records.
Empires are limited to common pool weapons and have limited access to vehicles.
All over the world high NTU concentrations have been detected that hold bits and pieces of the lost empire specific data. Retrieve this data and bring it to a tech-lab to recover portions of your lost tech.

An event that changes game play, soldiers will have to adapt, open field battles to retrieve these NTU concentrations, fighting to regain hold of some object that might hold and recover bit and pieces of their missing technology.



I really hope PS:N will have more story based events, that will have impact on the regular game play. Even if there are randomly generated on a weekly basis I'm all good with it.

[Sentrosi]

I second this idea Wildcat. I just hope they don't go hog wild with it. At a random point once a month one of 30 things happens to the world. Could be as simple as a realignment of the lattice or as significant as all tech is gone and you're forced to fight from trenches with knives and spears.

[Dorest0rm]

I always loved reading the Monoliths, and planet description.

[Silverfish]

I always loved reading the Monoliths, and planet description.

Me too. I always appreciated that they gave some background story to go along with the action. Like when they added the caves, there was some story to go along with that which was good.
The story made it more fun for me. I don't think they should focus more on story in Next though. Like Miir said, its about the stories we make too that made it so fun. They should leave it at the present level and that would be great!

[LordReaver]

PS's story was really bad when you think about. For example, everybody got to Auraxis through a wormhole, that then closed up. Yet somehow the original empire was still able to send stuff through. Whom by the way share the exact same name as the TR, even though they are different. Then you have the fucking retarded bending...

I say PSN just forgets PS ever happened story wise. The only thing I can say about it that was good, was that each empire seemed like crazy assholes to the other sides. The TR were crazy dictators that wanted everybody to "obey", the NC crazy terrorist that wanted anarchy, the VS were crazy scientist that wanted doomsday technology. Yet each empire thought they were doing the right thing. The TR just wanted to get rid of crime, the NC just wanted a little freedom, the VS just wanted to make stuff to help everyone. It was a giant case of misunderstanding.

So, I would like to see the story revamped, and the extremists stuff delved into.

[Aractain]

I sort of redefined the lore of PS to make more sense.

While the Original Terran Republic is authoitarian they did mange to unite the human race and had a peace lasting for hundreds (original was a thousand) of years. The alternative was endless war claiming millions of lives.

Expeditionary force checks our Auraxis (fidling powers up systems shuts down FTL travel options; thats wormholes or whatever).

Traditionalist TR try to maintain control.
Stuborn NC try to found a 'new order' without the restrictions of the TR.
Vanu are looking at hundreds of years in the future for their ultimate goal of total technological superiority.

Its sort of like TR are companies trying to keep thier profitable businesses afloat. NC are 'pirates' sharing everything over the internet and Vanu are the people that put togther the next big thing (iTunes in this example).

That gives meaningful reasons to play all three empires rather than the classic "Evil, FREEDOM!, Insane" of before.

[Oty]

I would like to see more motivationposters and propaganda in Sanc and/or bases, I'mean if your figthing a war that cannot end, damn you need some motivation to keep going, a bit of black humor in them wouldn't hurt either. :)

[Lonehunter]

*Poster in TR Sanc* (if it exists)
"New Conglomerate: They Beat Old People, Fight for the Republic!"

is the kinda stuff I wanna see

[otomotopia]

NC: Revolution, Revolution, Revolution, reload.

Oh god that would be AWESOME! I am in full favor of using propaganda in game.

We don't need more amounts story, but we don't need less either. An explanation really helped set the foundation for the fight, the ideology did matter slightly, and the back story mattered a bit, but that all made me really feel like my enemy wasn't just my enemy because he wore different colors and had a red tag above his head.

[TRex]

Maybe they could have an actor(s) or something talking on the big screen in sanctuary and occupied bases , one for each empire .
Kinda like Kane from C&C for the TR , and so on. He could be the overlord . NC could have Justin Beiber and VS have some evil bitch from 'V' . Just suggestions.

[Raymac]

You can't have a game like Planetsde without some sort of backstory / lore. While it may not play a big role in the game itself, it certainly is important to establishing who the factions are. There needs to be a context for why we are all killing each other.

I would however like to see an evolution of the story, something along the lines of the difference between the original Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation. Even thought Star Trek: TNG was totally new, it was still instantly recognizable as Star Trek.

[Bruttal]

i think the story/lore should be in game out of game in the box live and breath the lore/story so much so that if the devs ever make any changes to the game the have to go back and see if it still matches the lore.

[Lonehunter]

There needs to be a context for why we are all killing each other.
But why? You know there are plenty of successful multiplayer FPSs that have no story what so ever. I also think most of the people who have got on the PS train lately heard about it because of the battles, the scale, the cooperation, the customization. Why each empire is here has very little to do with it.

[FortunadoAE]

In another thread I suggested that PS:N should take place 2,000 years in the future.

So yeah, there's a story, but they've been fighting so long that it's not really important and most people don't remember anyway. They just keep fighting.

[Oty]

But why? You know there are plenty of successful multiplayer FPSs that have no story what so ever. I also think most of the people who have got on the PS train lately heard about it because of the battles, the scale, the cooperation, the customization. Why each empire is here has very little to do with it.

I can only talk for my self but I grew attached to TR for its traditional values etc. and it somehow gave a bit of extra experience since it accutally felt more that you were there taking part in a real war. just as BF1942 made you feel extra involved in ww2 when one played through the campaign mode with the descriptions of the war progression. and even though I loved and still do love BFV/2/2142, those games lost a tiny part of their soul when that mode was taken away (in my opinion). However it is true what you say that PS wouldn't die without the backstory, but I think, for many, it adds a little bit extra and should defently be expanded. with no backstory one could kindof just strip the empires down to the name of the colors like TF2? (please dont do that).

i say develop the story so that those who are interested can enjoy it but don't make gamplay depend on it... just make it decoration.

[Lonehunter]

Oty I have some similar feelings as you do. I love being the bad guy, the ass hole, the oppressor, the tyrant, the TR was my calling when I started reading what little story they had. But there was never really much else, and that was a let down to me. I would rather they put a lot more effort into it, or none at all.

I just don't want any half assedness

[BlazingSun]

I would have hoped for a rewrite of the story (+urban warfare +different 3rd faction)

In short, something among these lines:

Humanity set out to colonize new planets. The ever growing and wealthy colony on Auraxis (population ~ 100 mil.) is ruled by the NC. There are cities and other 'points of interest' on the planet (powerplants ... atmosphere generator in a huge icecave and so on).

All the colonized planets rule themself. The earth still has the highest population and still has a lot of problems, which enables the Terran Republic to establish a military regime (Humanity will never learn apparently). In order to keep the "support" of the population, the TR sets out to conquer the colonies in need of recources.

The NC on Auraxis can not be defeated that easily though and the war lasts for years. To make things more interesting, an alien race returns to their old homeworld and wants to erase all the humans from the Planet. (3rd faction).


Alright, this would definitely not win a prize for creativity .. we have all seen that before, but it would give the war more meaning. As I said before somewhere the fight over random bases in the middle of nowhere in Planetside was kind of silly. Urban warfare would be great, but that would mean humanity must have colonized the planet quite some time ago. An actual alien race would also have been more interesting than some tech freaks in purple fish suits ...

[Rbstr]

I'm OK with lots of backstory. I don't find the basics of PS's three empires or general setting bad. It's just not detailed. I would like a more fully realized background.
But the point of the game has to be the players are the main drivers of drama within the game mechanics.

As always an EVE comparison is apt. New short stories are coming out all the time to explore the background. NPC groups do things in the game and sometimes have large effects on how it's played but they rarely "take initiative" and do things to players beyond their passive stances...no NPC nonsense is taking your station from you. At the same time...you can't do much to an empire either. Really makes you feel like a small cog in a big galaxy.
The day to day drama nearly all player driven and it really has a history because of the huge amount of persistence.

Can't easily do that in an FPS with no NPCs (oh how that would ruin the whole thing) and fairly weak persistence.

[LordReaver]

I would absolutely love to see PlanetSide's propaganda expanded to be on par with Starship Troopers propaganda. Maybe even go so far as to have them reflect player actions. If say the Conglomerates take back Solsar (Don't bullshit me, that's NC territory!), then you'll see news reels about it on NC claiming victory, but on TR and VS reels, it's about devastation.

Here are some ST videos. They are in link form, because they otherwise take up a ton of space.

youtube.com/watch?v=TiU_NmYUy7U
youtube.com/watch?v=Fp7sN5Njo1o
youtube.com/watch?v=qPSc8jejKcA
youtube.com/watch?v=UQGuGOLSwVw
youtube.com/watch?v=nLEV2cXagNg
youtube.com/watch?v=Vz5iyEcIjbU

I'm also down with the VS being aliens. Would certainly make more sense, and allow for their art styles to be even more visually unique. Instead of a MAX, it could be some big brute like from Halo or something. It's a great concept, but it would only work if the issues of common pool stuff was sorted out.

[Oty]

youtube.com/watch?v=qPSc8jejKcA

now I know what Barney (HIMYM) wokrs with! :)

[Lonehunter]

I would absolutely love to see PlanetSide's propaganda expanded to be on par with Starship Troopers propaganda
That would be epic

[Silverfish]

The story in PS:N should clearly have a love interest this time around.

[Devinator]

personally I would like to see fan-made propaganda posters appear in game... just think of it...

"The future is vanu genblowing!"

[Raymac]

But why? You know there are plenty of successful multiplayer FPSs that have no story what so ever. I also think most of the people who have got on the PS train lately heard about it because of the battles, the scale, the cooperation, the customization. Why each empire is here has very little to do with it.

Well the difference between Planetside and other popular FPS games is that Planetside is a persistant world mmo, and pretty much all persistant world mmos need some story. Granted once the bullets start flying, the story doesn't matter much for some people, but I don't see how you can create a world for Planetside and have it exist in a vaccum.

[Lonehunter]

Well the difference between Planetside and other popular FPS games is that Planetside is a persistant world mmo, and pretty much all persistant world mmos need some story. Granted once the bullets start flying, the story doesn't matter much for some people, but I don't see how you can create a world for Planetside and have it exist in a vaccum.

I understand getting attached to the story and really loving it, but I haven't even thought about any of the Planetside story the past few years I've played, nor have I needed to. I've even got a few friends to start playing without mentioning it at all. It can be a valuable asset if done right, but I still don't think it's necessary.

I think I may be arguing for argument's sake now, I often end up being a devil's advocate, sorry. I just hope they put some heart'n soul into the story, or just leave it alone.