Now I am a ginormous warframe fan, but I'm also not blind to follies (HEE HEE) within the things I love. Had an excellent yap with @/sovenderegn about it and had some further thoughts.
Yeah, I know triad being w/ drifter was about keeping the operator away from the romance, due to them looking like a child. I have dreams about how it could work (separate chats that would allow exploration of so many more dynamics with our main characters instead of just explorations of the new ones) but I'm here to analyze what is, and this is just a clarifying point.
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I do think the doing the dark refractory to get new bits of Roathe's mind was absolutely brilliant and an excellent small scale version of what I'm talking about, but unfortunately it sort of... ends there, and unlike with the Hex in 1999, dialogue around the cathedral doesn't change with progression, which creates a really subtle but unmistakable disconnect from gameplay and narrative. For something to matter, it needs to FEEL like it matters, no?
Moreover, we had no leadup into knowing that they existed, nor clear background on why they showed up where they did in OUR time. We know Roathe was trying to get to albrecht somehow, but why would the helminth put him there? Albrechts looong gone, boss.
(Further note on that, though. What we are likely seeing is the built up of the new base of tethers, and things feel rough because we dont see all the links yet. I know damn well that the narrative will be fuckin' awesome, the problem is letting the gameplay match and tailoring what little they have time for to let it fit both the narrative we're being told and the character continuity of what we've already got. I say this like it is easy, ITS SOOOO NOT THAT EASY LOL like the shit they get done in the time they give themselves is already absolutely inSANE, especially given the spaghetti code nightmare hellbox they're working with. So, grace is warranted. They are trying to make something that we can all love together.)
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The main problem for jsc that I've seen bouncing around and felt myself is 'why'. Why are we here. How are we here. How did the tenno get dragged in at all, right? Like. What reason do the tenno have to help whatsoever? Why would we even want to? I know the characters are empathetic and all but even with the case of invasions, there's a distinct lore reason that makes sense for the characters to adhere to.
I specifically struggle to conceive of the parties working together in direct light of Sirius and Orion's respective culled timelines. How did we know about them at all enough to have context for Hunhow's letter? Why would they ACCEPT our help? Why would they even let us anywhere near? I know they dont talk to us at all, but I'd honestly be far more ready to believe that with the way they've acted prior and their entire implied lives until now, they'd kos our asses. Or. Try. And get their shit f'in rocked. (If the stalker can beat them both at once, and the average tenno can make the stalker's healthbar drop to 0 in about a single second... I dunno....)
Its not more lore we need in there, its character continuity.
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A similar thing goes for Follie's hunt, but with some caveats. Follie's hunt is an absolutely (in my personal experience) PEAK showcase of weaving narrative into the level, it's full of a godly amount of lore and its so fucking interesting. But... 1, it needs to be grinded to shit, which means it will wear itself out FAST, 2, there's no map variation to it, so it wears itself out even faster, and 3, the only reason we do it is for the lore and for this one kiddo who we don't know and don't have any attachment to.
Had we met this mfer before and had he been our friend, and had Follie's hunt been a culmination of his little side plot of mourning a mentor lost and then trying to grow as a person... I dont think there'd be quite the dissatisfaction.
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This goes back much further, honestly a lot of some more niche content is like this in some way, but the reason I think people said shit stopped being good around the New War era is (discounting misogyny- Reb took over) probably because even the stuff that players dont have the context for anymore, like anomaly stuff, still had a tether to known content VIA the new war. Without that ginormous basis to tie new content to/because we've moved forward and past it, (though damnit im still so curious about so much about that stuff) we're now working with basises that have far less build up in the same consistent, cohesive manner, which can make things feel… Wonky, before it gets all tied together. And even after, sometimes.
This is not to say that New War era and pre was without its faults, either, because like that'd just be silly. I'm just here to focus on what's directly recent because a lot of the notes I've heard felt... incomplete, I guess.
Here's hoping that Tau is gonna be a 1999 style gameplay area and not a Zariman area. Also double hoping its the operator who's going, because oh my GODDD CAN YOU IMAGINEEEE????? The amount of paralells between tau and duviri are already so high. Now we have another case of 'best friend who didn't change' and 'best friend who did' AND ITS SSOOOO JUICYYYYY
Let us care, and feel what is like to be cared about in return. THAT was why 1999 was so damn good. Let Tau be finding humanity within the inhuman, whether it be physical inhumanity or mental estrangement from it. Let it be AWESOME.