In videogames, unlike the gameplay which can be improved and polished further with updates and patches, the story is pretty much something that’s just locked-in and is not expected to get changed, except for this year’s Crimson Desert which is set to receive story improvements via some of it’s planned updates in the coming months.
And in a recent interview with IGN, Will Powers, director of marketing and PR for Pearl Abyss, has discussed how they aim to make the overall narrative experience even better in Crimson Desert, which is extremely rare for any videogame that has already been released.
“I’ll start with what I hope is not a controversial statement: art is subjective, just in general. That’s not to discount anyone’s experience, and people’s different opinions are all valid, whether it’s a review or a consumer’s impressions. But that’s what comes down to the crux of the question: does that mean we’re overhauling this story and throwing away what we built for a different story than the one people originally played? No. Does it mean we are making a better effort to maintain story continuity and improve cutscenes to clarify story elements and provide a better onboarding experience? Yes. That’s the goal we have with the improved storytelling, and that’s ok.”
“Many players didn’t necessarily understand the character’s motivation in the beginning hours, and they felt like characters appeared without them understanding who they were in the story. We can address that, but that won’t change the experience of those who already played the game. But does it make it better for people playing for the first time, or for people who want to play again? Yeah, totally. But at the end of the day, we didn’t want to compromise on fun, and we also don’t want to detract from people who are early adopters for the game as well, so everything that we’re doing is a way of rewarding their experience by making it additive to what they’ve already experienced.”
It seems Crimson Desert will have brand new cutscenes intended to flesh out it’s story elements and character growth further than what’s in the game currently which can indeed make for a better narrative experience for all players.
