What's with the "OK's?"

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg (More info?)

Picked up ToEE from EB for 10$. Installed it, hated the 3d/2d engine,
loathed the pathfinding with more than 5 members, was quite sceptical
of the interface, but had some fun with the combat engine which is
fairly addicting, but was shocked that yet again a fantasy RPG has
characters that say "OK." I understand that the characters in these
games must speak english and that it has to be reasonably vernacular to
appeal to everyone the publishers/developers want to buy the game, but
OK is a colloquialism in the Fantasy RPG context I cannot abide. My
frustrating few minutes with Neverwinter Nights was equally cursed with
this totally out of place verbiage. Anyone else have a problem with
this or even notice it? Do only the D&D based games have it?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg (More info?)

> Picked up ToEE from EB for 10$. Installed it, hated the 3d/2d engine,
> loathed the pathfinding with more than 5 members, was quite sceptical
> of the interface, but had some fun with the combat engine which is
> fairly addicting, but was shocked that yet again a fantasy RPG has
> characters that say "OK." I understand that the characters in these
> games must speak english and that it has to be reasonably vernacular to
> appeal to everyone the publishers/developers want to buy the game, but
> OK is a colloquialism in the Fantasy RPG context I cannot abide. My
> frustrating few minutes with Neverwinter Nights was equally cursed with
> this totally out of place verbiage. Anyone else have a problem with
> this or even notice it? Do only the D&D based games have it?

At least it's better than '...', which is pretty much a requirement in all
Japanese RPGs.

But seriously, I'd personally rather have bits of modern dialogue (so long
as it's not street slang) leak into fantasy games than have those people
that try to use Old English and get it horribly wrong. Nothing quite as
jarring as seeing things like "I didst not meaneth to offendeth thou" in a
game, which is not only hard to read for people that don't know Old English,
but for people who do, it's obviously very wrong. The people that think
just putting "eth" at the end of every verb and indiscriminately changing
"you" to "thee" or "thou" (there is a difference, people), it's just really
irritating. Either learn how to write period dialogue properly, or write
modern dialogue. Don't try to fake it, it just makes you look like an
idiot.

 

[Shadows]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg (More info?)

On 2005-02-09, littlemute <littlemute@woodenmen.org> wrote:
>
> Picked up ToEE from EB for 10$. Installed it, hated the 3d/2d engine,
> loathed the pathfinding with more than 5 members, was quite sceptical
> of the interface, but had some fun with the combat engine which is
> fairly addicting, but was shocked that yet again a fantasy RPG has
> characters that say "OK." I understand that the characters in these
> games must speak english and that it has to be reasonably vernacular to
> appeal to everyone the publishers/developers want to buy the game, but
> OK is a colloquialism in the Fantasy RPG context I cannot abide. My
> frustrating few minutes with Neverwinter Nights was equally cursed with
> this totally out of place verbiage. Anyone else have a problem with
> this or even notice it? Do only the D&D based games have it?
>

Most of us were upset ToEE never really worked

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg (More info?)

shadows <shadows@whitefang.com> skrev i meddelelsen
news:slrnd0l18c.tqq.shadows@helena.whitefang.com:

> Most of us were upset ToEE never really worked

You got that right!

--
Arcana Dragon -==(UDIC)==-
d++e++N++T+++Om-KAWML!34567'!S'!8!9!u+uC+uF+++uG-u
LB®----uAnC+nH++nP+nI----nPT-nS+++nT----o---oE---xz
http://www.phyton.dk/games.htm

 

[augustus]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg (More info?)

"littlemute" <littlemute@woodenmen.org> wrote in message
news:1107984702.999451.151980@c13g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> but was shocked that yet again a fantasy RPG has
> characters that say "OK." I understand that the characters in these
> games must speak english and that it has to be reasonably vernacular to
> appeal to everyone the publishers/developers want to buy the game, but
> OK is a colloquialism in the Fantasy RPG context I cannot abide.

Because... if these games were all written using what was the english
language a thousand years ago nobody would understand the dialogue.

Yes, there would be a few words here or there that you might recognize but
with an extra letter or two... or that with abit of thought you can figure
out what they are trying to say... but a game where the dialogue baffles the
players and they have to repeat every conversation 50 to 100 times to try
and decipher what is being said isn't going to sell very well at all.

I think you are thinking that they should be talking like "Forsooth you
foolhardy varlet, what art thou doingst with mine wife?" but that would be
just as out of place as "OK" and it would look really ridiculous after
awhile.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg (More info?)

"Darrel Hoffman" <i.dont@think.so> writes:

> At least it's better than '...', which is pretty much a requirement in all
> Japanese RPGs.

That's one of the hardest sounds to pick up when learning Japanese...

--
Darin Johnson
"Floyd here now!"

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg (More info?)

In article
<1107984702.999451.151980@c13g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>,
littlemute wrote:
>
> Picked up ToEE from EB for 10$. Installed it, hated the 3d/2d engine,
> loathed the pathfinding with more than 5 members, was quite sceptical
> of the interface, but had some fun with the combat engine which is
> fairly addicting, but was shocked that yet again a fantasy RPG has
> characters that say "OK." I understand that the characters in these
> games must speak english and that it has to be reasonably vernacular to
> appeal to everyone the publishers/developers want to buy the game, but
> OK is a colloquialism in the Fantasy RPG context I cannot abide.

"OK" is actually not an English word; it's *also* English and
perhaps *originally* English.

--
Neil Cerutti

 

[Andy]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg (More info?)

"littlemute" <littlemute@woodenmen.org> wrote in message
news:1107984702.999451.151980@c13g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
>
> Picked up ToEE from EB for 10$. Installed it, hated the 3d/2d engine,
> loathed the pathfinding with more than 5 members, was quite sceptical
> of the interface, but had some fun with the combat engine which is
> fairly addicting, but was shocked that yet again a fantasy RPG has
> characters that say "OK." I understand that the characters in these
> games must speak english and that it has to be reasonably vernacular to
> appeal to everyone the publishers/developers want to buy the game, but
> OK is a colloquialism in the Fantasy RPG context I cannot abide. My
> frustrating few minutes with Neverwinter Nights was equally cursed with
> this totally out of place verbiage. Anyone else have a problem with
> this or even notice it? Do only the D&D based games have it?
>
Doesn't bother me at all, it's an innate part of the English language.
After all, it's not like the Blacksmith sees you walk in with your +5 Vorpal
sword and says "L33t"

Andy

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg (More info?)

"littlemute" <littlemute@woodenmen.org> writes:

> There is a set of words and
> phrases within the current vernacular that are generic enough, or
> twinged with old-school meaning that doesn't bust the bubble of
> suspension of disbelief like OK does.

"OK" is 150 years old. There are probably quite a lot of newer words
showing up in games that are just as out of place but that seem
pretty normal. "Phony" for instance.

--
Darin Johnson
"Particle Man, Particle Man, doing the things a particle can"

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg (More info?)

"shadows" <shadows@whitefang.com> wrote in message
news:slrnd0l18c.tqq.shadows@helena.whitefang.com...
> On 2005-02-09, littlemute <littlemute@woodenmen.org> wrote:
>>
>> Picked up ToEE from EB for 10$. Installed it, hated the 3d/2d engine,
>> loathed the pathfinding with more than 5 members, was quite sceptical
>> of the interface, but had some fun with the combat engine which is
>> fairly addicting, but was shocked that yet again a fantasy RPG has
>> characters that say "OK." I understand that the characters in these
>> games must speak english and that it has to be reasonably vernacular to
>> appeal to everyone the publishers/developers want to buy the game, but
>> OK is a colloquialism in the Fantasy RPG context I cannot abide. My
>> frustrating few minutes with Neverwinter Nights was equally cursed with
>> this totally out of place verbiage. Anyone else have a problem with
>> this or even notice it? Do only the D&D based games have it?
>>
>
> Most of us were upset ToEE never really worked

I tried getting my friends into it for multi player RPG'ing... worked for
about an hour when we all realised that level 10 really was the limit and no
you couldnt go beyond that. Bye bye game.

Ceo-

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg (More info?)

> "OK" is actually not an English word; it's *also* English and
> perhaps *originally* English.

The story I heard about the origin of "OK" is that it was an abbreviation
for an intentional misspelling of "All Correct". This article seems to
agree with that theory to an extent, and offers a couple others as well:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ok

It does seem to be an American invention whichever story you believe, and
doesn't seem to exist at any time prior to the 19th century, so fantasy
stories/games which are set in pseudo-medieveal times and are generally
British in tone should certainly not be using it. (Though there are a few
possibly apocryphal stories, also listed on that site, which do date it back
that far, I don't think they are very credible.)

But ultimately, you have to step back and ask yourself how much it really
matters. As I said, I'd rather a few modern terms get slipped in than have
them do a horrible job faking period speech.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg (More info?)

Ceowulf wrote:

> "shadows" <shadows@whitefang.com> wrote in message
> news:slrnd0l18c.tqq.shadows@helena.whitefang.com...
> > On 2005-02-09, littlemute <littlemute@woodenmen.org> wrote:
> > >
> >> Picked up ToEE from EB for 10$. Installed it, hated the 3d/2d engine,
> >> loathed the pathfinding with more than 5 members, was quite sceptical
> >> of the interface, but had some fun with the combat engine which is
> >> fairly addicting, but was shocked that yet again a fantasy RPG has
> >> characters that say "OK." I understand that the characters in these
> >> games must speak english and that it has to be reasonably vernacular to
> >> appeal to everyone the publishers/developers want to buy the game, but
> >> OK is a colloquialism in the Fantasy RPG context I cannot abide. My
> >> frustrating few minutes with Neverwinter Nights was equally cursed with
> >> this totally out of place verbiage. Anyone else have a problem with
> >> this or even notice it? Do only the D&D based games have it?
> > >
> >
> > Most of us were upset ToEE never really worked
>
> I tried getting my friends into it for multi player RPG'ing... worked for
> about an hour when we all realised that level 10 really was the limit and no
> you couldnt go beyond that. Bye bye game.
>
> Ceo-

Yupe I really hate level capped game - it only shows the devs inability to
balance the game properly, instead of balancing the game, they simply take the
short cut, i.e. level cap.

The reason I bought Baldur's Gate but never even installed the game... Let the
6 (or 5?) CD Behemoth rot and died in my closet.

Regards.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg (More info?)

The only people that I've seen pull this type of stuff off is Blizzard
in WC3 (and I assume WoW), it's all tongue in cheek (while being an
awesome serious game at the same time). With Warcraft in mind, I think
it's just not excusable to use OK in games. Why not just "alright" or
"as you command," etc.? There is another annoying character in ToEE
that says "Yes Sir" to everything all the time like some military
cadet. It's not so much that it's said all the time, but the WAY it's
said is so modern it's a bit rediculous.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg (More info?)

In article <1108651498.440436.33730@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>,
littlemute <littlemute@woodenmen.org> wrote:
>
>Why not just "alright" or "as you command," etc.?

"By your command, Imperious Leader."

--
Kyle Haight