Is it bad that about halfway through, all I could think of was: "Yeah, well that badass just gave half his paycheck to orphans. Orphans with diseases."
But I like it. It's mostly a fluff thing, but it would be kinda cool to have a way for the citizens to react to you differently.
Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
"I was just the one with the most unsolicited sombrero." - Traegus
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Badasses can have a soft side if they want. I was thinking that the "Anti-Hero" type would relate more to... Anti Heroes. They fight crime but they aren't "good guys" persay. |
Originally Posted by Aett_Thorn
Is it bad that about halfway through, all I could think of was: "Yeah, well that badass just gave half his paycheck to orphans. Orphans with diseases."
But I like it. It's mostly a fluff thing, but it would be kinda cool to have a way for the citizens to react to you differently. |
Besides, we make all of our transactions through a metaphysical quantification of our ability to get free stuff. Money means nothing in Paragon. XD
Would this be something that you could change after character creation? I'm thinking especially of the Mysterious personae here, since you might decide that you want your character to start out that way, but eventually reveal themselves or something. Also, how would these work with Going Rogue coming? Would you get to change your persona when you switch sides? Would there be new personae such as "former hero" and "former villain" just for those who switched?
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Could probably get contacts in on it, too. I can certainly see a contact wording things differently to Superman than he would to, say, Deadpool. Of course, this would mean one or two dozen new dialogs times the zillion contacts times a hojillion missions per contact, so it would be a monumental undertaking and will never happen, but it'd be neat.
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Originally Posted by Aett_Thorn
But I like it. It's mostly a fluff thing, but it would be kinda cool to have a way for the citizens to react to you differently.
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Having Vengeance and Fallout slotted for recharge means never having to say you're sorry.
Oh! Forgot to mention that in the original post!
Yes, you can change your Persona. You can even associate a Persona with a particular costume if you so desire. Not sure how Trust/Fear would work with that though.
As for Going Rogue, I suppose there could be a Fallen Hero/Reformed Villain general persona. If you desire, you could adopt an appropriate Villainous/Heroic persona in it's stead. But Fallen Hero/Reformed Villain (and perhaps Redeemed Hero and Relapsed Villain) personae are possible.
Though, as I said, I'm not sure how Trust/Fear would work unless it was tied to Combat Level or something.
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The way I was thinking would be (for now anyway) to have it restricted to enemies and NPC chatter.|
Originally Posted by Kelenar
Could probably get contacts in on it, too. I can certainly see a contact wording things differently to Superman than he would to, say, Deadpool. Of course, this would mean one or two dozen new dialogs times the zillion contacts times a hojillion missions per contact, so it would be a monumental undertaking and will never happen, but it'd be neat.
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There could be databases of persona related phrases like $pRescue or $pAggro, $pChatter and $pInsult that could be tied to general NPCs.
So if the devs set a victim to say $pRescue, it would check that toon's Trust/Fear level and current Persona, and pull an appropriate response. So for a Low Trust Monster Hero, the victim might say "Get away from me!" but for a High Trust Famous Hero, they would say "Can I have your Autograph $name?"
An $pInsult is just an appropriate insult to that person's persona. "Freak of Nature", "Boy/Girl Scout", "Pretty Boy/Girl", "Emo Freak", etc etc.
Contacts are required to remain professional, I guess. Unless they mad libbed it somehow.
No, I'm not talking about the monsters that come out of the heads of Japanese Highschool students. (Though that would be a cool, if horrifically impractical powerset).
The term "persona" effectively means "mask". In this case, it's a mask that one presents to the world around oneself. When we create a costume for our toons, we're creating an important facet of our in game persona. Your Hero (or Villain) can literally be whatever you like. I'm sure that even if you don't roleplay, you have a way you'd like your toon to be perceived, and other players may perceive them that way.
The game itself however, will not. Your character is locked into a single persona in the eyes of the NPCs of Paragon and the Rogue Isles. A Skull in Kings Row will call you a Freak of Nature even if you're a Natural Origin with relatively realistic powers.
A citizen will always things like "I hope my kids grow up to be just like you." even if your Hero is a hideous abomination. (Like mine!)
The fact is, there's more than one type of hero, and one type of villain.
There are monster-type heroes like mine, who may be mistrusted by the general public. Mysterious Brooding types who vanish into the night (or day, I guess) just as quickly as they appear. Popular types with their own action figures. Anti-Heroes, Bounty Hunters...
Then on the Villain Side, there are Monsterous Villains, Villains with good publicity, affably evil villains, Crazy Joker Types, Anti-Villains, Bounty... hunters... ._.
What I propose is a sort of sub origin called a "persona". This dictates how your toon is perceived by the world around him/her/itself.
With each origin, you can select a persona that may weave itself into random NPC Responses.
It may also be possible to weave in the factor of "Trust" or "Fear" into these personae. The more trust/fear you have earned, the more likely an NPC will react positively/negatively to you.
Some examples:
-Hero-
Alien: You are a creature from another world. Some more Xenophobic types may be mistrustful of you...
Mysterious: You prefer to keep to the shadows. The Citizens of Paragon whisper speculations about you, sometimes exaggerating your powers.
Monster: You aren't human. You don't even appear human. People may be inclined to run in fear from you if you can't earn their trust.
Sub-> Former Human, Otherworldy, Mechanical.
Boy/Girl Scout: You're the embodiment of Truth, Justice, and... more Truth and Justice. You're a rolemodel to the children of Paragon.
Famous: You're popular with the kids. You even have your own comic book and action figure, and you haven't even done much yet! Maybe if you beat up a few thugs, they'll give you a movie!
Anti-Hero: Your morals are a bit questionable. Even if you do work for the good of Paragon city, you have sent a few too many thugs to the hospital instead of the Zig...
-Villain-
Alien: You're a being from another world. After the Ritki Invasion, even other villains are loathe to work with you.
Mysterious: Your exploits are whispered about throughout the Rogue Isles. You're a boogieman under people's beds. You're practically an urban legend.
Monster: You're not human! Therefore, you aren't restrained by Human feelings. The downside? Not many villains want to deal with a monster... unless you prove your worth.
-> Same Subsets as Hero Version.
Amoral: Your acts are so horrific, even Lord Recluse reviles you.
Infamous: You're wanted in 17 states, the people of Paragon fear you, and you're pretty sure Statesman has your face on his Dartboard. Yet... you inexplicably still have an action figure for some reason.
Anti-Villain: Sure, you're a villain. But doesn't mean you don't have morals. You're actually a pretty nice person, aside from your extensive criminal record...
In practice, when you interact with an NPC in game, your Persona would come into play. A Monsterous Hero with low trust may have the victim run away in fear after you save them. With higher trust, they might still be scared, but they'll be a lot more friendly toward you.
An anti hero might get a comment that he was overly brutal and low trust, and might get called a Badass at higher trust. A Famous Hero gets more recognition at higher trust. Same with a mysterious one, except the urban legends surrounding you get more and more exaggerated. (Like from "Who is that masked man?" to "Is it true you defeated Lord Recluse by yourself once?")
Villains work similarly, though since I have yet to play CoV I don't know what a typical Villainous reaction would be like.
This is really just a silly idea that has little to no impact on gameplay. I just thought it would be fun if it were possible. What do you think?