rikard.me/blog/002.txt                                Sun 02 Oct, 2022


                       A rant on the writing in
                       A Plague Tale: Innocence


A Plague Tale: Innocence suffers from incredibly bad dialogue.

It's clearly written by committee, rather than actual creatives.  It
feels out of place, predictable and all too often annoying.

The dialogue consistently fails to do what it sets out to achieve.
For example, at one point you and another character are working
together on a task.  As you are doing so there is this "banter" going
on between the two of you.  The writers are desperately trying to make
you feel like "oh this is cute", but instead it just feels forced.  It
doesn't feel natural at all.  I have never heard people talk with each
other the way they do in this game.

The main character and the orphans you meet throughout the game, all
speak in this very infantile way.  You would expect this from the
actual child in the game, but there is virtually no difference in the
way he speaks, and the way that the remaining orphans speak.  It is as
though they were babies, formulating sentences to their mother.

Out of all the characters you meet, and out of all the relationships
that you "develop", seldom do they have any bearing on the story or
your character.  You don't develop any emotional bonds with the
ancillary characters, and they struggle to find any meaningful place
in the story.  They feel, for the most part, completely tacked on.
The game would have been great without them, but they are there, for
"reasons".

As far as gameplay goes, it's just too easy.  You will never have
issues with the stealth sections, not even towards the later parts of
the game.

The game loves to hold your hand.  You will never struggle with any of
the puzzles you encounter.  If you take more than a few seconds to
figure out what to do in any given situation, characters will start
telling you what to do.  If the game is telling you to go in a certain
direction, but you'd rather spend some time exploring, expect a
constant barrage of prompts telling you which way they want you to go.

The only thing this game really has going for it is its unique
setting.  It is such a shame that they were not able to make a more
interesting game with it.