Cut scenes for travel to new locations

[Bradik_Losdar]

It stuck me recently that we travel to quite a lot of different places around Xen'drik by various means. Some places we go by boat, some by airship, some by wagon, some by spell, some by foot.

However, we never really 'see' a place until we are actually standing there.

Take for example the Restless Isles; obviously we traveled there by airship. But we don't actually have a feeling for the place other than the static load screen picture and a look-see of the first island from the deck once we arrive.

What I'd like to propose is an arrival movie, ala the intro movie (the one that shows a ship arriving into Stormreach harbor on a stormy night), in place of the static load screen showing us actually moving into the area. That way we would get a feeling of the place ("Look there are mutiple islands. And did I just see a building on one of them?") along with a sense of ending a long voyage as we 'docked' at the primary island.

Many places would benefit from this 'epic travel' intro and could set the mood for the entire place. The ship ride to Sorrowdusk Island could show us entering the cove to that dark and gloomy tropical island - with of course some scary music to enhance the mood. The airship trip to Zawabi Refuge could be a light and airy affair swooping over the Refuge before docking to give us a good look at the place before landing (perhaps glimpsing the vast desert and pyrmids beyond the hills). And the list goes on...

Obviously after a time these arrival movies might get a bit tiresome, so the option to toggle them on or off individually should be included. Many folks may like seeing the pulling into port of Three Barrel Cove everytime they travel there, others may want to turn it off after seeing it only one time. Having the option makes everyone happy.

I really think this would help differentiate the various means of travel we use and add a lot of flavor and excitement to the different places we go.

[Martdon]

That'd be cool, but only with the toggle on/off available.

[Jerevon]

This is a great idea, I like the on/off idea to with it. I'd like to add, if they can pull it off, is have the guild airship flying over a random map instead of just water all of the time. There doesn't have to be activity on the map just something other than water..

[Lorien_the_First_One]

Cut scenes that would be, at most, watched once by any player (many would skip even the first time) and consume vaste resources to make? Not sure its a great idea. DDO doesn't seem to have the dev time to get the basics done. And with the exception of that first pre-launch intro, have you seen the commercials they did to promote the game? User made vids were better.

[Jerevon]

Well changing the scene that the airship flys over is still a good one, the all-water scene is boring.

[arcaniman1993]

True enough. The DDO cutscenes never really grabbed hold, and just sticking with a splash screen isn't really that exciting. But more user made parts of DDO could help improve some aspects. Like, instead of just the one loading screen all the time, have randomly generated ones. Maybe launch a loading screen contest for all the artists out there that play DDO so we can get some user contributions involved.

Cut scenes that would be, at most, watched once by any player (many would skip even the first time) and consume vaste resources to make? Not sure its a great idea. DDO doesn't seem to have the dev time to get the basics done. And with the exception of that first pre-launch intro, have you seen the commercials they did to promote the game? User made vids were better.

[shortdevils]

Cant you edit most of ur own loading screens ? I am currently wearing wearing a cold resistance blanket of superior laziness ( risia is still going on in the real life mmo.) and i dont know the folder by heart but If thats what ya looking for, make ur own , put on forums, others grab ?

I like the idea of airships floating over something other than water. As for cutscenes , if u refering to one like intro movie it prob too much work for all its worth. Although something like the one in TOD would be cool. So for restless isles instead of landing right on the island u are on an airship thats moving towards ur destination and u can get nicer view of everywhere else.

[arcaniman1993]

With the airship moving over water rather then over scenery would hinder people (such as myself) with a low grade computer. If the feature is able to toggle on/off then I'd support that feature.

Cant you edit most of ur own loading screens ? I am currently wearing wearing a cold resistance blanket of superior laziness ( risia is still going on in the real life mmo.) and i dont know the folder by heart but If thats what ya looking for, make ur own , put on forums, others grab ?

I like the idea of airships floating over something other than water. As for cutscenes , if u refering to one like intro movie it prob too much work for all its worth. Although something like the one in TOD would be cool. So for restless isles instead of landing right on the island u are on an airship thats moving towards ur destination and u can get nicer view of everywhere else.

[Lorien_the_First_One]

True enough. The DDO cutscenes never really grabbed hold, and just sticking with a splash screen isn't really that exciting. But more user made parts of DDO could help improve some aspects. Like, instead of just the one loading screen all the time, have randomly generated ones. Maybe launch a loading screen contest for all the artists out there that play DDO so we can get some user contributions involved.

You actually used to get load screens related to the quest you were entering...but they changed that to standardized load screens they could use for advertising.

[SardaofChaos]

You actually used to get load screens related to the quest you were entering...but they changed that to standardized load screens they could use for advertising.

Wait what? Unless that just changed within the past couple of days, I don't know where you're playing. My load screens are most always directly related to the quest, and usually have a little tip or one-liner near the bottom related to the quest as well.

As to being able to edit your own loading screens, yes you can but that's not the point of having a contest. Most people are not artists, and therefore the option of editing their own loading screens is limited to whatever other people post on the forums. If Turbine had a contest, they could code in 1 or two more loading screens per area set to randomly rotate each time you go there and then everyone would have them.

[sephiroth1084]

I'd like maybe a slide-show of the scenery on the way to a destination. If we take a carriage from House P to Tangleroot Gorge, I'd like to see a couple scenes of the road with jungle coming up, maybe villages in between, or something. On the way to Threnal we could see roads with expedition parties also heading out or coming back. The Soaring Otyugh trip out to the Restless Isles could show the island chains we're flying over, and perhaps some of the explorer locations, or an aerial view of Ghola Fan's palace.

These shouldn't really take much longer (if at all) than our current load screens...as the next instance loads, we'd simply getting cycling images instead of the static, often completely unrelated and boring ones we have now.

[shagath]

/ Signed.

I LOVE this idea. This game really needs more atmosphere for travelling and entering. Of course there should be a toggle for this to skip some whine(unless it plays just when you first time enter) but pressing 'esc' should work too.

[sephiroth1084]

/ Signed.

I LOVE this idea. This game really needs more atmosphere for travelling and entering. Of course there should be a toggle for this to skip some whine(unless it plays just when you first time enter) but pressing 'esc' should work too.

I think that's reasonable, but why? We can't skip the tips and static image screen we have now. I don't much care to read about a +5 Shock Crossbow again, or the nebulous, "You can use a gamepad with DDO," with no actual information or direction on how to do so.

Similarly, while I like the image, I'm getting kind of sick of seeing that same picture of the Harbor.

[slimkj]

Good suggestion. One of the problems I think with DDO is the perception of its size - lots of isolated, distinct areas and really only the Market and what connects off that feeling joined up. If they could be skipped, I'd be up for this as I think it'd give new players to the game the same sense of awe you can get in other games at the scale.

[Jerevon]

I'd like maybe a slide-show of the scenery on the way to a destination. If we take a carriage from House P to Tangleroot Gorge, I'd like to see a couple scenes of the road with jungle coming up, maybe villages in between, or something. On the way to Threnal we could see roads with expedition parties also heading out or coming back. The Soaring Otyugh trip out to the Restless Isles could show the island chains we're flying over, and perhaps some of the explorer locations, or an aerial view of Ghola Fan's palace.

These shouldn't really take much longer (if at all) than our current load screens...as the next instance loads, we'd simply getting cycling images instead of the static, often completely unrelated and boring ones we have now.

A slide show would be cool with me, with some pan camera editing. Neverwinter Nights is an all time classic of D&D gaming and in between chapters we had just simple story board slide shows and, hell, if memory serves they didn't even have color. But they did such a great job with moving the story so we, the audience, knew what was up.

Every one of the narrators of DDO has done an excellent job from day 1 to now, so I say utilize that talent and put a lot more narration into these missions at the beginning and end of a quest. This is a great opportunity to expand on the lore of Xendrick and/or Stormreach with expanded narration.

Anyone read the story of the homeless guy who had the 'golden voice'? He'd be a great candidate for a narrator and I'm 100% positive that someone with a talent like that can do something other than an 'anchor man' voice, for sure.

[pjw]

...As for cutscenes , if u refering to one like intro movie it prob too much work for all its worth...

^This^

After the first time, I always disable cut scenes. In DDO they would just delay transitions.

The money for it would be better spent on new high level content, bug fixes etc etc.

[Alabore]

Cut scenes that would be, at most, watched once by any player (many would skip even the first time) and consume vaste resources to make?

^
Sadly, I am afraid they are right.
I am not sure if devs changed that with recent updates, but I confirm you used to get themed loading screens, usually showing an overland map with a route to destination.
Tangleroot and Sorrowdusk come to mind.

Anything else, would be watched once, disabled thereafter and take room on HD forever.

Which is really sad, but I could think of better ways to provide players with the illusion of actual travel.
After trying other MMOs I was rather happy with how DDO dealt with overland travel.
The pnp way: unless it is plot-critical, travel is simply narrated.

Devs could rework some loading screens, and maybe change the "loading" heading itself into "travelling to destination" or some such.
But I thank the Host, the Flame and even the Traveller we are not saddled with traditional MMO style area transitions.
Or NWN2 style area loading times...

Maybe I would rework some areas, change a couple flags and mode a few facilities so Necropolis is not the most rationally built one of the whole game, sans guildships - a bank, an auction, a mail post and a tavern all in the same area, at a short walk distance...

[Otherworld]

I say yes hesitantly (due to several remarks made before me that I agree with).

You guys are all forgetting the most important location you're arriving in: Stormreach!
Make some awesome movie when you first arrive in Stormreach (be it from Korthos or from the vet status airship.)

Another idea is having the movies in the loading screens like lotro has.

[Draccus]

I like the concept of adding a sense of travel to transitions, but I have a less intrusive suggestion.

What I'd like to see is all cutscenes and progress bars replaced by the world map. When you transition from one location to a distant location, you see the world map with a dot where you are, a dot where you're going, and your progress bar is a dotted line that connects the two as you progress.

Transitioning to Irestone Islet is kinda like this. It shows the map and gives you an idea of where you are and whe're you're going. It's the only good transition I can recall.