An attempt at a simple, effective, *functional* story system that works within PMU's limits

Suggestions and Contributions
1

We all know new players get overwhelmed and kind of lost.
I recommend adding a very minimal overarching plot goal that works as such:

The Player is sent to PMU as part of an exploration company. They are tasked with exploring most of the dungeons and reporting back. In game, this takes the form of very loose, very simple, fairly open-ended quests. Communication with the company just happens with the pelipper post office. You get read the nature of your mission before you get your quest. For example:

Quest: [Meet with your colleague in the Pelipper House], given during the tutorial.
Player goes to the Pelipper House and talks to the new NPC, the colleague who is also employed by the same company.

Colleague: Welcome to the Exbel region, [player name]! I have your first job. The boss wants you to explore 5 nearby dungeons. Here’s your supply pack! Talk to me if you ever need a reminder of what to do next.

Quest complete: [Meet with your colleague] Reward: Escape Orb, 3 apples, 4 leppa berries, beginner badge.

Quest: [Explore 3 dungeons in exbel]
[Colleague is talked to mid-quest…]

Colleague: You’ve explored 2 dungeons so far!

[If player completes the Exbel’s 3 dungeon quest]

Colleague: I see you have explored 3 Exbel dungeons. Great work! I’ll send the boss your report. Say, have you ever noticed the board next to this Pelipper House? It’s the mission board. The boss wants more details. Please complete 3 missions (or gain a certain amount of total points) and report back.

Quest: [Complete 3 missions]

…etc etc. For the very early game, guide players to the Cut HM (Sour Root) and later on the Rock Smash HM.

(Example for later on)

Colleague: Hm! I think we have a good idea of what lower level dungeons in Exbel look like. We should survey the northern Winden Region! Go straight north through Winden Pass. I’ll meet you in (house) there!
Quest: [Complete Winden Pass]

As time goes on, have the quests become more open-ended and less specific.
As a bonus: Tie this overarching progress with how the mission board distribution is weighted. If the player is still on the “explore 3 exbel dungeons”, it only gives baby missions. If the player is on “Explore Archford” missions, though, it starts giving mostly archford-related missions as well as some but less rank E stuff.

If this has any potential but requires modifications to work, I have no qualms with modifications. Its the intent (and general skeleton of this system) that matters. If that means we can’t tie mission generation with it, or if it means the Colleague has to say “explore pebble cave”, then “explore sour root” instead of “explore any 3 dungeons” then I think it’s still worthwhile. The main benefit that a “hands off” overarching quest offers is player guidance, but the side benefit is that no dungeons need to be remade and the existing dungeon-specific stories fit in with this seamlessly.

Is it going to win an Oscar? No. Will it help with PMU’s awful player retention? Probably. Is it simple and hopefully works within PMU’s extremely limited framework capability? I certainly hope so.

2

Not bad… but aIso not very good.

PMU deserves an oscar-winning story :cold_sweat:

i Iike the mechanicaI aspect that you proposed. so and so dungeon, guaranteed mission for this and this etc

but… who wants to be part of a expIoration company. we aII wanna be the main char of a story. not some penciI pusher right?

3

Personally, I like stories that dont involve the player character as the savior of the world.

I think there is value, especially in an mmo like PMU, for a more grounded story.

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4

From Discord. This also works:

Arcaden — Today at 12:19 PM

Tbh guiding players can be as simple as just adding a new board that list all the dungeons in the region, like the board in tarren will show list of all the dungeons there along with lvls required for them, so as long as players are aware of it and meet the level requirement they can tackle it themselves later on, which keeps the exploration aspect intact as you still gotta look for the dungeons.

2 Likes
5

I do honestly think that PMU is in desperate need of -some- kind of new player guide, story, orientation, ANYTHING after you get dumped out of Exbel Woods. I think your proposition would be a step in the right direction! Yeah, it’s nothing award-winning in terms of story, but PMU is already a disjointed cluster of stories told through the dungeons.

I realized the new player experience is really bad after inviting my own friends to PMU and them being entirely reliant on me for where to go after completing the tutorial. I think something as simple as this could definitely help.

6

i strongIy disIike the idea of “IeveI requirements”

for two reasons reaIIy.
one, it has to be a IeveI range. Iike you can’t say cIiffside is IvI20 requirement, cause more than haIf of the pIayers who attempt at IvI20 are stiII gonna faiI at IvI20.
obv doing it as a water type makes it very doabIe at IvI 20.
whereas doing it as shinx or skitty (without any assistance) means Iike… you’d need to be high 30s or have three bag spaces or just be good at the game. which you can’t expect new pIayers to be.

second, pIayers wiII deveIop a faIse sense of security. it’s kinda how making pIaygrounds safer and safer paradoxicaIIy makes them more dangerous because kids don’t pIay as if they couId be in danger (Are Playgrounds Too Safe? Some Play Specialists Say Yes | Here & Now)

having an aura of mystery is very important in a game. instead of having to resort to Iists (which aIready exist in the wiki, peopIe can Iook it up themseIves)-- much better are softer indicators, visuaI storyteIIing etc.

instead of having a Iist of aII the dungeons, why not have more action in the worId (most of it is dead)
we can have an arbok compIaining that someone stoIe his eggs, and their favorite eggs to eat are bird eggs from skyIift (northwest) of his Iocation.
or a growIithe who says their dad said they couId get a charcoaI in the graveyard to the south but their dad said it’s WAY too dangerous for beginners and they couId get hurt.

stuff that impIies stuff.

or Iike a pikachu that says they wanna Iearn how to surf in the isIand dungeon in the south.

maybe there’s a pokemon grumbIing in the mayor’s office that there’s a mean vaporeon south of exbeI, and they’re offering a reward to teach that vaporeon a Iesson.

Iists are not the best game design, and peopIe are either gonna compIeteIy ignore the Iist, or be compIeteIy reIiant on it. which ruins the adventure aspect of this game which is 10/10 supposed to be an adventure

1 Like
7

Just my two cents
But given the context of the PMD world, this is awful >:(

Everything else sounds great though haha

8

i feel like while not inherently bad, PMU’s free-for-all mentality where you’re just dumped into a world and expected to figure things out is somewhat dated and but mostly just not implemented well. in the past, MMOs were so much more about engaging with the community and figuring things out yourself. this was because guides circulated less and less was known about MMO staples and the genre as a whole, so it was a learning experience for everyone.

i think PMU’s current mentality of making people figure out how the whole world works through gameplay is not supplemented by the gameplay itself. like i think the problem isn’t the lack of story or direction, but rather that there is no incentive for party play unless you are by default a social person looking to do things with others. the problem gets a bandaid in the form of guilds, where people can be picked up by more experienced players and learn that way. but i think for people who aren’t looking to be part of more organised communities, there should be more ways for the average player to have gameplay interactions with others, which provides time to socialise and learn by both seeing and doing, without having to figure out a guild to align themselves to.

of course i think this solution would require a lot more effort and brainstorming to figure out than just simply adding more guide-like things in the game, such as what nett mentioned in the form of more hints from signs, npcs, dialogues, etc. i rambled a bit but i think this would be the most realistic option for pmu and the least time consuming, even if i don’t think it’s the best solution in an ideal way haha

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