I don't think Star Wars has a natural third faction though, even considering the Hutts, it just doesn't work. So whilst three factions is better, it isn't suitable for every IP.
/thread
The entire Star Wars IP is built around two factions fighting each other, not three.
Really? What faction is Han Solo at the beginning of the films? Jabba? Lando Carlisian?
2 factions is just a dramatic oversimplification for the kiddies. Nothing more. Kids need to believe in the "good guys" and the "bad guys." It's just infantilism (which actually leads to totalitarianism and war, as the history has amply demonstrated, but I digress.)
I loved the original Star Wars exactly because it contained not only "shades of grey" but a few extra colors as well. The core reason prequel movies are so bland is because Lucas sold his soul to the devil and went for the good guys vs bad guys thing without anything else. The originals were movies for adolescents that adults could enjoy as well. Today's SW is crud for slow pre-teens. My 8-year old daughter said they were crap, while really enjoying the original trilogy.
Seems fairly simple to me. You can have two factions with a neutral faction willing to aid the highest bidder. Then just use in game mechanics to make helping the losing faction more rewarding. Yes, the larger side would logically have more resources, but jobs offered by the underdog would be tougher which would call for a higher reward, after all, a smuggler would demand more money for a riskier job.
Just a thought on how a two faction game with a neutral faction could work. Of course you would also need some measure of what it means to be losing, and it would need to be dynamic enough to adjust the rewards in real time. And balance isn't so hard since the neutral faction doesn't really need to be balanced as they would bounce from one side to the other. So there are still only two sides to balance.
Willing to aid the highest bidder? Lol.. Not only would the stronger faction be able to outbid the weaker faction, the neutral faction would always help the stronger faction because it would be a lot easier to do so. Now the weaker faction is fighting not only the stronger faction, but also a neutral one. Fail.
Not really. The man clearly stated that the game mechanics would provide better rewards for helping the weaker faction.
Actually this is quite a good idea for a 2+1 faction game. I believe Aion attempted something like that with their NPC faction but it didn't work out very well...
However, imagine: You have 5 open PvP planets and only 2 "main" factions can actually capture and hold territory. If one faction holds say, 4 out of those planets than XP and drop rewards for killing that faction are 3 or 4 times bigger than for killing the weaker faction. The "neutral" faction players still have a choice of which faction to help out, but the majority will side with the underdog out of pure greed (which is actually good for RP).
As a matter of fact, after killing all of the stronger faction members, the dastardly mercenaries may turn on their erstwhile allies at the last moment just to scoop some extra loot! Or the weaker faction might decide to wipe out mercs at that point, just to be sure. Great RP all the way!
In fact, if you don't have faction-specific classes you could even have elegant and gradual faction switching in game, using this system... Which would be very Star Warsy indeed.
I like it a lot. Might use the idea in a bg of mine... Thnx mate!
I don't think Star Wars has a natural third faction though, even considering the Hutts, it just doesn't work. So whilst three factions is better, it isn't suitable for every IP.
/thread
The entire Star Wars IP is built around two factions fighting each other, not three.
Really? What faction is Han Solo at the beginning of the films? Jabba? Lando Carlisian?
2 factions is just a dramatic oversimplification for the kiddies. Nothing more. Kids need to believe in the "good guys" and the "bad guys." It's just infantilism (which actually leads to totalitarianism and war, as the history has amply demonstrated, but I digress.)
I loved the original Star Wars exactly because it contained not only "shades of grey" but a few extra colors as well. The core reason prequel movies are so bland is because Lucas sold his soul to the devil and went for the good guys vs bad guys thing without anything else. The originals were movies for adolescents that adults could enjoy as well. Today's SW is crud for slow pre-teens. My 8-year old daughter said they were crap, while really enjoying the original trilogy.
star wars has ALWAYS been 2 faction based, good vs evil, you can live in denial all you want and pretend that somehow it was different before, but it was ALWAYS set up that the empire was evil and rebels were good, there were no shades of grey.
Hell, until the prequal ere stuff, there wasnt even a neutral faction, as far as anyone knew jabba controlled a few things on tattoine, and didnt control a whole faction of guys, having some guys that arnt in either major side doesnt magically lump them all together in a third faction, solo was nothing more than a delivery boy for jabba, plain and simple.
Apparently stating the truth in my sig is "trolling" Sig typo fixed thanks to an observant stragen001.
I don't think Star Wars has a natural third faction though, even considering the Hutts, it just doesn't work. So whilst three factions is better, it isn't suitable for every IP.
/thread
The entire Star Wars IP is built around two factions fighting each other, not three.
Really? What faction is Han Solo at the beginning of the films? Jabba? Lando Carlisian?
2 factions is just a dramatic oversimplification for the kiddies. Nothing more. Kids need to believe in the "good guys" and the "bad guys." It's just infantilism (which actually leads to totalitarianism and war, as the history has amply demonstrated, but I digress.)
I loved the original Star Wars exactly because it contained not only "shades of grey" but a few extra colors as well. The core reason prequel movies are so bland is because Lucas sold his soul to the devil and went for the good guys vs bad guys thing without anything else. The originals were movies for adolescents that adults could enjoy as well. Today's SW is crud for slow pre-teens. My 8-year old daughter said they were crap, while really enjoying the original trilogy.
star wars has ALWAYS been 2 faction based, good vs evil, you can live in denial all you want and pretend that somehow it was different before, but it was ALWAYS set up that the empire was evil and rebels were good, there were no shades of grey.
Hell, until the prequal ere stuff, there wasnt even a neutral faction, as far as anyone knew jabba controlled a few things on tattoine, and didnt control a whole faction of guys, having some guys that arnt in either major side doesnt magically lump them all together in a third faction, solo was nothing more than a delivery boy for jabba, plain and simple.
Oh really?
Newsflash, role-playing is all about characters. As are literature and films btw. Meditate on that and understand.
While a story may revolve around good and evil, it is exactly the neutrals, the guys inbetween and to the side and their choices that emphasize the epic struggle. What would Frodo be without Gollum? Aragorn without Boromir? What would Luke be without Han? What would Han be without Lando and his dancing on the thin edge?
A neutral, mercenary faction would be just the ticket in Star Wars because it's always been there in films and books. It's not a black-and-white chess game, you know. If it were it would be totally dull. Actually as dull as the prequels and SW:TOR are. Real life and good stories simply do not work that way.
Comments
Really? What faction is Han Solo at the beginning of the films? Jabba? Lando Carlisian?
2 factions is just a dramatic oversimplification for the kiddies. Nothing more. Kids need to believe in the "good guys" and the "bad guys." It's just infantilism (which actually leads to totalitarianism and war, as the history has amply demonstrated, but I digress.)
I loved the original Star Wars exactly because it contained not only "shades of grey" but a few extra colors as well. The core reason prequel movies are so bland is because Lucas sold his soul to the devil and went for the good guys vs bad guys thing without anything else. The originals were movies for adolescents that adults could enjoy as well. Today's SW is crud for slow pre-teens. My 8-year old daughter said they were crap, while really enjoying the original trilogy.
Not really. The man clearly stated that the game mechanics would provide better rewards for helping the weaker faction.
Actually this is quite a good idea for a 2+1 faction game. I believe Aion attempted something like that with their NPC faction but it didn't work out very well...
However, imagine: You have 5 open PvP planets and only 2 "main" factions can actually capture and hold territory. If one faction holds say, 4 out of those planets than XP and drop rewards for killing that faction are 3 or 4 times bigger than for killing the weaker faction. The "neutral" faction players still have a choice of which faction to help out, but the majority will side with the underdog out of pure greed (which is actually good for RP).
As a matter of fact, after killing all of the stronger faction members, the dastardly mercenaries may turn on their erstwhile allies at the last moment just to scoop some extra loot! Or the weaker faction might decide to wipe out mercs at that point, just to be sure. Great RP all the way!
It's a cool idea, imo.
In fact, if you don't have faction-specific classes you could even have elegant and gradual faction switching in game, using this system... Which would be very Star Warsy indeed.
I like it a lot. Might use the idea in a bg of mine... Thnx mate!
star wars has ALWAYS been 2 faction based, good vs evil, you can live in denial all you want and pretend that somehow it was different before, but it was ALWAYS set up that the empire was evil and rebels were good, there were no shades of grey.
Hell, until the prequal ere stuff, there wasnt even a neutral faction, as far as anyone knew jabba controlled a few things on tattoine, and didnt control a whole faction of guys, having some guys that arnt in either major side doesnt magically lump them all together in a third faction, solo was nothing more than a delivery boy for jabba, plain and simple.
Apparently stating the truth in my sig is "trolling"
Sig typo fixed thanks to an observant stragen001.
Oh really?
Newsflash, role-playing is all about characters. As are literature and films btw. Meditate on that and understand.
While a story may revolve around good and evil, it is exactly the neutrals, the guys inbetween and to the side and their choices that emphasize the epic struggle. What would Frodo be without Gollum? Aragorn without Boromir? What would Luke be without Han? What would Han be without Lando and his dancing on the thin edge?
A neutral, mercenary faction would be just the ticket in Star Wars because it's always been there in films and books. It's not a black-and-white chess game, you know. If it were it would be totally dull. Actually as dull as the prequels and SW:TOR are. Real life and good stories simply do not work that way.