Dont Starve (Togethers) big gaping tonal issue

[Raspberry Shake]

Things weren't always like this. A long, long time ago, before the ancients, before them, before the gateway, when times where simpler. Once upon a time evil looking guy in a suit sucked a mad scientist through a portal and tricked him into imprisoning himself. Ah, the good old days.

OHMYGOD THE MOONS AN ALIEN OR SOMETHING AND THERES A MULTIVERSE AND A ANCIENT RACE OF BUG PEOPLE AND SOME OTHER ANCIENT RACE PULLING THE STRINGS BUT THERE ARE ALSO ROBOTS AND NOW SHIPWRECKEDS CANON SO DOES THAT MEAN THERES SOME OVERLAP BETWEEN WORLDS AND CHARLIES ALSO DOING SOMETHING WITH THE BLACK GOOP FROM ALIEN.

How things have escalated. Now, as you may have noticed things have also gotten more complex. A lot more complex. We can't just have a stylish game with a creepy vibe anymore, we have a detailed mythos.

If someone asked me when DS lore reached its peak, I would say around when Maxwells backstory was revealed. The world was still mysterious, but we knew everything to just get a glimpse of a bigger story. And that was all we needed.

[user1464576869]

I actually agree, but at the same time, beauty is in the eye of the beholder? Where to could the story have gone if not in this direction? If the story stayed stagnant would anyone still be here? (Though to be fair story moves so slowly it might as well be considered stagnant at this point too)

Something so dreamlike about when maxwell was the biggest threat and mystery to this game. The environment design at that point was like a random amalgamation of whatever was going on inside his mad mind. You were wandering an abstract plane of ideas. You couldn't be more trapped in a forever shifting, repeating purgatory than that.

Now it feels more physical? Like, nah, this is just a place, it's like an alternate dimension where time moves differently but it's all real place. People lived here, they were real.

Edited June 20, 2019 by Cosheeta

[ResettePlayer]

I agree pretty much entirely with Cosheeta, they put it very well.

I have to continually remind myself that all the moon stuff didn't come from nowhere. What with Werepigs/werebeaver/glommer and stuff, moon magic has pretty much always been there. But it was almost a tiny bit jarring when YO THE MOON IS IMPORTANT NOW.

Yes, the game must continue. Adding a sense of meaning to the updates is a good call! We may miss the days when we could form our own ridiculous theories and interpretations of what's actually going on bruh without ever being "wrong", but people have always been screaming for MOAR LOAR anyway.

The surreal, kinda cartoonish days were nice and all, but maybe we're just being resistant to change, and for what reason? The game had to continue growing, and perpetuating "wow, so mysterious" would have gotten stale without the introduction of new elements. The evolution of identity was inevitable.

Interested to see if anyone has any ideas of a growing story that a) doesn't suck, b) would be satisfying to watch unfold over the course of several years, c) complements gameplay and new mechanics and stuff, d) leaves a lot of room and possibility to go in unanticipated directions, and e) maintains a 100% consistent tone and atmosphere. Tough, innit?

Forgive me if I am mistaken, but the developers and writers who are working on DST now are not the same people who were working on it 6+ years ago. They have different lenses, interpretations, and above all, different problems to solve.

I'm saying this as someone biased in favour of ancient precursor civilisations who dug too deep and destroyed themselves by fooling around with obviously evil power, and even fond of cosmological godlike entities with unknowable motivations. However, I will agree that these things seem a bit strange coming from Don't Starve. The most Don't Starvian things are what set it apart from a more traditional fantasy world, I guess. I've also mentioned before that I was glad DST is getting a bit more Lovecraftian, and that still stands.

Random Point: Gorge was probably more in line with Ye Olde DS than most recent developments. It was comical in addition to being really dark, with the player facing large stakes. Cartoonish ridiculousness slapped onto something frankly terrible.

This post wasn't supposed to be this long. but whatever. Sorry.

 

EDIT: another random thought
there could be some video-gamey-meta-stuff going on here. The longer Wilson and Co. live in this crazy world, the more they understand it and the less crazy it seems. They are beginning to pick up recurring clues and whatnot that they piece together to discover that there are Greater Things going on. From their perspective, it has become less of a surreal environment and more of a place with actual history.

Edited June 20, 2019 by ResettePlayer

[minespatch]

Quote

• 1873 - The Old Mill crossing is constructed.^[2]
• 1890s - 1906: Time period of William Carter's origin story.^[1]
  • July 26, 1901: William Carter, a stage performer, departs from Liverpool, England aboard a ship named Quest to move to the United States.^[3]
    • In America, William Carter tries to make a living as a stage performer.^[4] However, he finds himself in debt. He receives a postcard from a relative named Jack, who lives on the West Coast.^[5]
  • August 15, 1904: Someone, presumably William, buys a ticket for a train going from New York City, New York to San Fransisco, California.^[2]
  • August 23, 1904: The Daily Speaker newspaper has a story about a passenger train striking an Abernethy & Parker Circus wagon at the Old Mill crossing. Dozens are injured and one man is missing and presumed dead. Based on his description, the man is most likely William Carter. This is the third incident at this crossing since its construction in 1873.^[2]
    • After the train accident, William writes a postcard to Jack from North Fork, Nevada, in which he reveals he is alive and that he has found a book containing "terrifying new possibilities." ^[2]
  • June 6, 1905: William Carter requisitions advertisements in The San Fransisco Call for a lady assistant. He appears to be working under a new name: "Maxwell The Great." He no longer wears glasses, and appears very confident. He is now living in San Francisco, California.^[6]
    • Maxwell appears to be holding rituals and summoning strange beings. He is writing notes about what he's seen.^[6]
    • Maxwell has acquired an assistant, Charlie, and has become a very popular act. He is using the Shadow Creatures from his book as part of his performance. In a letter to Maxwell, Charlie talks about working on a new finale when she comes back from her sister's place.^[7]
  • April 17, 1906: The night before Maxwell and Charlie's last show, Charlie visits Maxwell's apartment. She finds his hidden room behind the fireplace. As she takes a look at his book, shadowy hands appear in the other room. They are vanquished by Maxwell who magically manifests from a photograph on the wall. Charlie uses his lantern to look at the walls of his secret room, where Maxwell has scribbled troubling words and strange symbols. Distressed by what she sees, she runs out of the apartment with his outfit. She leaves a letter revealing that he had been out of contact with her for days.^[8]
    • That night, Maxwell and Charlie perform their final act. Maxwell attempts to pull shadows from the book, but they try to pull him in. Multiple shadow hands emerge from the book, grabbing Maxwell and Charlie.^[9]
    • A Shadow Watcher stands in the ruined remains of Maxwell's apartment.^[8]
    • Maxwell takes the Nightmare Throne becoming the "king" of The Constant, bending it to his will and creating many creatures to inhabit it. Charlie becomes the Night Monster.

• 1906 - 1910ish: Unknown "crazy stuff" happens.^[1]

• 1910ish - 1921: Over this time period, Maxwell starts taking people from the real world into The Constant. They are forced to survive the nightmare world he created.^[1]
  • 1910: The Exposition Universelle et Internationale is held.^[10]
  • March 29, 1911: A library in New York City burns down.^[10][11]
  • 1919: The Voxola PR-76 radio is manufactured in Sidney, Ohio. The factory is destroyed in a fire days after production. Only a few radios remain, one being in the possession of Wilson. The founder of Voxola, Robert Wagstaff, went missing the same night as the fire.^[12] Someone presumed to be Wagstaff is sucked into a strange portal in an office. Factory worker Winona runs to investigate while the other workers escape. She is unable to save Wagstaff and the portal breaks down. Winona repairs and reactivates the portal, and sees her missing sister Charlie. She tries to pull Charlie through, but Charlie's Night Monster side takes over and pulls Winona into the portal as well.^[10]
  • 1921: Wilson, depressed after failing a scientific experiment, receives a message from his Voxola that he may be able to succeed with "secret knowledge", if he thinks he's ready for it. Wilson accepts the offer, and is given the knowledge to build a strange contraption. He is ordered to pull the device's lever by the Voxola. Upon doing so, shadowy hands appear from below Wilson, pulling him into The Constant.^[1] The Voxola was Maxwell all along.^[13]

 

[reverentsatyr]

But I like the crazy lore. It's a big reason I still play this game.

[Raspberry Shake]

On 21/06/2019 at 1:44 AM, ResettePlayer said:

the moon stuff didn't come from nowhere

This is something I've been thinking of since the announcement of return of them.

Are Klei just the videogame dev versions of DM me?