Episode 2 objective review (MAJOR SPOILERS)

[snabbott]

If it was a narration, then yes, probably something either slipped from us or we had to patch it to fix something else, but in the spoken dialog, I'm sure there are many "grammatical mistakes", and those are there "on purpose". They add realism to the dialog.

Yep. We beta testers got that answer a lot.

[Blackthorne]

People who use the excuse "I'm not an English teacher" should be beaten with a pillow-case full of soap bars.  There's no excuse for poor grammar.   Sure, at times, in dialog, you can have vernacular speak - but spelling errors, errors in tense and punctuation errors should be corrected in your final product.  Have some pride in language.


Bt

[KQ5Fan]

....I didn't notice any of that stuff in TSL ^

I noticed some slack in the dialogue, but that's expected with dialogue. The narrator's words, while annoying, were grammatically correct.

[Lambonius]

Yeah, I don't buy that excuse at all.  Bad grammar doesn't add "realism" to dialogue, unless you're intending to make your characters sound realistically stupid/ignorant.  I'm not talking about the subtle differences between spoken vernacular and written prose, or characters using slang or anything, I'm talking about obvious errors in sentence structure that you almost never hear in spoken conversation.  If we must get into it, I'll go through and find the specific spots that stood out to me.    

And honestly, even if you do accept the excuse that people don't always use perfect grammar in spoken conversation (which is true, but a lame excuse for errors in a written script), the kind of "loose grammar" that you're referring to doesn't fit at all here, because almost all of the characters speak in a rigidly formal manner befitting the fantasy setting.  They definitely aren't just throwing around slang willy nilly, so the grammatical mistakes stand out quite a bit more.

The narrator is guilty of a couple of grammatical gaffs, actually.  One that sticks out in my memory is from episode 1--when looking inside the chest in Graham's room, if you click on the objects (not the coin bag), she says something to the effect of "Graham has always found those objects a useful place for storing his things in" or something like that, ending the sentence with "in" incorrectly, which makes the whole thing sound awkward, and swapping modifiers from singular to plural mid-sentence (though, admittedly, I may be misquoting it a bit--I just remember raising an eyebrow to it during my playthrough.)

[snabbott]

On the topic of ending sentences with prepositions - there is actually no rule against it in English.

[waltzdancing]

I just learned this in class today about writing novels and other books. The grammar part is okay, as long as if it is the way the community in the book speaks. If I was writing a book about technical programming, then the language needs to be correct because it is not tied to the plot. I'll need to find the hand out so I can explain it better.

[Fierce Deity]

The narrator is guilty of a couple of grammatical gaffs, actually.  One that sticks out in my memory is from episode 1--when looking inside the chest in Graham's room, if you click on the objects (not the coin bag), she says something to the effect of "Graham has always found those objects a useful place for storing his things in" or something like that, ending the sentence with "in" incorrectly, which makes the whole thing sound awkward, and swapping modifiers from singular to plural mid-sentence (though, admittedly, I may be misquoting it a bit--I just remember raising an eyebrow to it during my playthrough.)

Not that it makes a difference to the grammar, but I think the narrator is actually referring to the chest itself, and not the extra bags inside the chest. After picking up the bag of gold coins, I tried to pick up the other bags. Then I used the eye icon on the chest itself, and the narrator said the exact same thing. The sentence does sound awkward, but like snabbot said, there's really no rule against.

[Cez]

People who use the excuse "I'm not an English teacher" should be beaten with a pillow-case full of soap bars.  There's no excuse for poor grammar.   Sure, at times, in dialog, you can have vernacular speak - but spelling errors, errors in tense and punctuation errors should be corrected in your final product.  Have some pride in language.


Bt

I fully agree. Written dialog, even if not grammatically correct should be presented in a grammatically correct way, if that makes any sense.

Lamb, the fact that they lived in an era of rigidly formal speaking doesn't make them less humans --and humans for example tend to end phrases with prepositions all the time, just to say one thing. I am indeed curious of exactly what you are referring to before I go deeper into the subject.

[Lambonius]

I am indeed curious of exactly what you are referring to before I go deeper into the subject.

Hehe...okay, I'll get out my fine-toothed comb and my Grammar Police uniform.

[KatieHal]

 

Can we pretend Cesar never asked that?

[snabbott]

Actualy, I'm kind of curious to see what he comes up with.

[Ronca]

About the suicidal Valanice... she obviously knows something and feels kinda guilty for something.
Why, after seeing Alexander pass away, did she know something was going to happen to Rosella as well?
I hope to see more in the next episode.

About the game: I think the puzzles are WAY too easy until now... please dont insult us KQ players, we have gone through the hardest riddles! Give us something to get really stuck for a while, or in a KQ6 Style, make us go through the wrong way until we realize its too late to go back... like not collecting water from the styx in the land of the dead

[Fierce Deity]

Why, after seeing Alexander pass away, did she know something was going to happen to Rosella as well?

Alexander didn't pass away. He just became comatose. Also, Valanice hurried back to Graham after seeing Alexander, and then noticed a shadow making it's way over to Rosella. She probably figured that the shadow was going to harm Rosella. She didn't know Rosella was going to get hurt before making her way back to the courtyard.

[Blackthorne]

People who use the excuse "I'm not an English teacher" should be beaten with a pillow-case full of soap bars.  There's no excuse for poor grammar.   Sure, at times, in dialog, you can have vernacular speak - but spelling errors, errors in tense and punctuation errors should be corrected in your final product.  Have some pride in language.


Bt

I fully agree. Written dialog, even if not grammatically correct should be presented in a grammatically correct way, if that makes any sense.

Lamb, the fact that they lived in an era of rigidly formal speaking doesn't make them less humans --and humans for example tend to end phrases with prepositions all the time, just to say one thing. I am indeed curious of exactly what you are referring to before I go deeper into the subject.

Yeah - you know, I guess that's just one of my pet peeves.  I often hear the excuse "This isn't English class!"  when people are confronted with bad grammar.  I'm not asking for perfect, flowery prose - but in professional atmospheres, I think using proper spelling, grammar and punctuation is imperative to convey the intended message.  Hell, in non-professional atmospheres, you look like less of a twit if your writing is good.  I get a lot of emails and I honestly don't pay much attention to badly written ones tossed my way.  When we asked for beta testers, I got a lot of "i will test ur game because it r0x5ors!   i am ggood at fidning speeling errors and i also played wario world once for 17 strait hours."  (<---- actual email).

Seriously?  You SERIOUSLY applied to a position with that?  Oof.

Just take a little time and pride into what you type, and you'll come off much better.   

(This has little to do with TSL, the game.  I really didn't notice many errors.  A few will always slip through.  Lamb has a really sensitive ear for that.  He's combed our games thoroughly too.)

Bt

[Lambonius]

Lol...yep, I know I'm anal about that stuff--I can't help it.  I'm only slightly less anal about grammar and writing than I am about art and design.  And FYI, I'm VERY anal about art and design.    Which should make you guys feel pretty good, since you passed muster with me in that respect with pretty much flying colors.  

[KatieHal]

Haha, I try to be as anal as I can about grammar, though I do allow for 'this is someone talking' vs. 'this needs to be very formal'. I am an editor in my day job, after all; but yeah, a few are always going to slip by, no matter how many times you think it looks fine this time!

[Fierce Deity]

When we asked for beta testers, I got a lot of "i will test ur game because it r0x5ors!   i am ggood at fidning speeling errors and i also played wario world once for 17 strait hours."  (<---- actual email).

That is an utter disgrace. 

[KatieHal]

LOL, oh yeah, we've seen some of those as well!

[Blackthorne]

LOL, oh yeah, we've seen some of those as well!

Good lord, I can only imagine.  Yeah, I get a lot of offers of help from people who can't write, and often say "well, I can't paint, draw, or program....  I can't make music, but I've got some great story ideas!" and they can't even write properly in an email.  Yeah.  We're going to go with YOU, master literati!


Bt

[KatieHal]

Oh indeed.

In other news, I've added a new review link, this one from The Hock Show. The review was so-so about Episode 1, but enjoyed the improvements brought with Episode 2.