Kate's Reviews (New: Heroes of Myth)

[Nm6k]

I love Stars Arisen a lot and I’m kind of sad that I feel like most don’t

[raywilson]

@Kate27

I’ve encountered this problem in a lot of IF where, to encourage roleplaying, the author either locks choices based on your personality traits or has you fail entirely. I like the idea, but when executed, it just makes me feel frustrated.

this is probably the biggest aspect of the Choice of Games catalog that consistently bothers me. i think it makes sense theoretically, maybe, to have personality/trait stats have some degree of success/failure outcomes, but every time i actually encounter it in any game it drives me up the wall.

i don’t think i would even mind bad relationship outcomes as a consequence of certain PC choices, but something specifically about personality stat failures (especially in dialogue with other characters!) always feels deeply inorganic and can instantly flatten any momentum in a scene. i just always feel like…does this ever happen in real life? where in a conversation with someone, they immediately shut down or become hostile because you’re not saying the exact thing they expect you to, exactly as they expect? it feels just so unrealistic and unsatisfying most of the time for me.

[Kate27]

@Hamartia

I don’t know if underrated is the word as I imagine they’ve all done well, but I’m always surprised that there’s not more discussion of Abigail Trevor’s games here.

I’m also surprised by the silence on Heroes of Myth! I’m repeating myself, but it’s just … like a solid work. That may seem demeaning, but I mean, all my cons were super nitpicky. But I don’t think I’ve read any discussion except for the discussion thread Joel linked.

@Hamartia

I think the fundamental bones of the story and its execution

Like you said, Trevor seems to know exactly what she wants and writes it!

@Hamartia

(whereas I think a lot of other exceptional ChoiceScript and Twine IF seems to lean much harder on having a really great cast), to me at least.

Huh. You know, I think this is it. I gave it a 9/10, but it’s not one of my favorite works. It’s not something I’ll go back and reread. The cast is strong, but it’s not making me go crazy, like Ortega in FH or Alessa in The Golden Rose. This revelation is probably nothing new, but it seems like the most popular works have a popular (or controversial?) romance or a large, attractive cast. What are the most popular COG/HG titles? Wayhaven has strong romance, and I’ve seen lots of comments about A. Harris Powell Smith’s works always have excellent romance and a large cast. Same with The Golden Rose. FH is FH. I wouldn’t call Paul’s Infinity series romance-focussed, but on Reddit at least, most of the comments are about the romance—which, fair! I feel like Kevin Gold’s works aren’t strong on the romance, though his stuff is popular and awesome. Zombie Exodus is light on the romance … I think.

@Nm6k

I love Stars Arisen a lot and I’m kind of sad that I feel like most don’t

I tried the demo, and I think the premise is super cool, but I didn’t vibe with Abigail Trevor’s writing in that one! Don’t know why. Might give it another try later.

@Hamartia

That said, I also think this was one of the games that convinced me that I didn’t love personality stats having significant mechanical impact on the choices available to me!

@raywilson

i don’t think i would even mind bad relationship outcomes as a consequence of certain PC choices, but something specifically about personality stat failures (especially in dialogue with other characters!) always feels deeply inorganic and can instantly flatten any momentum in a scene. i just always feel like…does this ever happen in real life? where in a conversation with someone, they immediately shut down or become hostile because you’re not saying the exact thing they expect you to, exactly as they expect? it feels just so unrealistic and unsatisfying most of the time for me.

I’m glad you guys agree, because this has been a tiny aspect that bugged me for so long. I like personality stats as flavor text, but … gosh, I’m forgetting all the examples I know I’ll remember when I press Reply. I think the worst case is in Samurai of Hyuga. A fellow reader told me Attunement doesn’t really matter, but all I can see when getting “Attunement decreased” is ah, shit, I picked the Wrong Gamer Choice™️ Plus, people read tone differently. What’s sarcastic to the writer can be serious to the player.

In Heroes of Myth, I was annoyed because I picked a choice that was something along the lines of “I tell the truth seriously.” But there’s no serious/playful personality trait. I had high Honesty and Subtly, but I failed the check, which irked me. I get it, though; it’s low-hanging fruit.

[Nm6k]

@Kate27

I’m also surprised by the silence on Heroes of Myth! I’m repeating myself

I seen a lot of talk of it in various choicescript discords when it came out

@Kate27

I tried the demo, and I think the premise is super cool, but I didn’t vibe with Abigail Trevor’s writing in that one! Don’t know why. Might give it another try later.

Funny thing is that was true for me with the Heroes of Myth demo . For Stars Arisen I playtest both the open and closed alpha (though I didn’t really gave much feedback during the open alpha)

I also pick Evander though that was particularly because I was into him

[HarrisPS]

@Kate27

I’m just bummed it seems like the author’s only work!

Late to this but although it’s not a book, you might like A Gentleman’s Murder by Christopher Huang - I’ve not read it myself but had heard good things!

[ZOneAndOnly]

If you haven’t seen it yet, I have a guide to get 60 in all your talents at the start which helps unlock paths. I couldn’t write a full guide because it actually does a really good job of actually branching from major choices. There’s a lot of variables that get tracked which gives your choices more weight. Which is definitely a positive thing.

[DJNIKOLDO]

Heros of Myth is a game I went into with the expectation of just a normal fantasy story and it totally surprised me in the best way possible. I really enjoyed it

[Zaxwlyde]

@Kate27

I’ve encountered this problem in a lot of IF where, to encourage roleplaying, the author either locks choices based on your personality traits or has you fail entirely. I like the idea, but when executed, it just makes me feel frustrated.

@raywilson

this is probably the biggest aspect of the Choice of Games catalog that consistently bothers me. i think it makes sense theoretically, maybe, to have personality/trait stats have some degree of success/failure outcomes, but every time i actually encounter it in any game it drives me up the wall.

@Kate27

I’m glad you guys agree, because this has been a tiny aspect that bugged me for so long. I like personality stats as flavor text, but … gosh, I’m forgetting all the examples I know I’ll remember when I press Reply. I think the worst case is in Samurai of Hyuga. A fellow reader told me Attunement doesn’t really matter, but all I can see when getting “Attunement decreased” is ah, shit, I picked the Wrong Gamer Choice™️ Plus, people read tone differently. What’s sarcastic to the writer can be serious to the player.

Takes notes quietly and double checks that I’m not using personality stats to lock players out of particular notable choices…

[Nm6k]

@Kate27

I’ve encountered this problem in a lot of IF where, to encourage roleplaying, the author either locks choices based on your personality traits or has you fail entirely. I like the idea, but when executed, it just makes me feel frustrated. People react in different ways at different times

Ck3 does something interesting where acting against your personality traits causes stress which can cause a mental break. The Life and Suffering of Prince Jerian an I guess you call it a vn stat manager is planning something similar where you have to spend reason to pick some choices that are against your personality stats. Think both would be better methods in Choicescript games then just fully locking you out of a choice though I do have a liking for sanity mechanics

[dorquemada]

Funny timing, as I am reading Heroes of Myth right now. I dig it just like the other two of Abby Trevor’s, but so far it is the least favourite – what I loved in the other two was political stuff, and as of now Heroes seems to me more standard sword and sorcery fantasy, which I am not a big fan of.

As an aside, political stuff is why my MC ends single in every playthrough of both games. In them, every RO is dealing with some heavy personal and sociopolitical shit, also isn’t showing any personal interest in MC, and MC’s entry into romance goes something like this: “welp, I suddenly think I want to know the RO (who, lemme remind you, never showed a hint of romantic interest in any conversation with MC ever) better, lets do it!” And then I imagine MC rolling up to one of those stressed out ROs with “Yo, wanna fuck?”… and I just cannot click on that option. I mean, the only logical answer from any RO to something like this would be a bewildered “Really? That is your priority right now?” and anything else would kick me straight in my immersion.

Re: personality stats. As someone who – in basically all games – hovers around 50% in everything if not metagaming and therefore fails all checks, I really don’t like if they directly affect where the story goes. Especially when a lot of those are subjective – one man’s rude is another’s honest, not to mention something as varied as humour sense.