Curse

Gaile Gray · Jun 12, 2006, 09:22 PM // 21:22

Hi, there,

I'd like to start another feedback thread, this one on possible improvements in English-language text. You can use this thread to post your thoughts on what you may have spotted in the way of inconsistent skill descriptions or other wording concerns. We have another thread on localization, and anyone with input on non-English text is encouraged to share his/her thoughts there.

Thanks for your help!

Lasher Dragon · Jun 12, 2006, 09:46 PM // 21:46

In moving posts it got a bit confusing with the chronological order, so I will be quoting posts and deleting the originals.

Quote:

Originally Posted by twicky_kid

Localization of skill discriptions needs to a high priority.

Many times I look at skill discriptions and know another way of phrasing that would take up less space and be less confusing.

I've been playing MTG for over 10 years. Many of the wordings on cards will remain a constant. For instance the new hex skills like Icey viens. It deals dmg then applies a hex. These type of skills are never worded the same.

Dark Fury has to be the biggest pet pev of mine. This skill works in no way works like the discription. I can easily make the wording much shorter and more clear. The discription doesn't include the failure chance. The range is incorrect. Says the NEXT hit which should mean 1 time affect.

Sac 17% of your life. For 5 seconds Allies within compass range gain 1 adrenaline per attack. 50% chance to fail below 5 blood.

As general I see skill discriptions that are too long and leave room for confusion.

Lasher Dragon · Jun 12, 2006, 09:50 PM // 21:50

Another...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gorla

Some skill description are wrong, still from the betas.
For example: Lava Font missing the end "each second."; only one Preparation is allowed for a long time now -> Barrage: "All your "Preparations" are removed. "
I asked two of my friends, who are alfa testers, to tell ANet to read through the skill descriptions becuase of these faults.
I know these, because I translate it for the hungarian fansite (so much work to do), so i pay attention for these little things

Lasher Dragon · Jun 12, 2006, 09:54 PM // 21:54

This would be a lot easier if "Post Quick Reply" didn't take 5 minutes... grrr...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Killmur

Yea I am starting to notice the slightly bad wording on most skills myself. It is getting to me a bit. Problem is it would take A-Net a monumental effort to reword every skill in Chapters 1 and 2 just so they read much better and clearer. Also I think shorter skill descriptions once cleaned up will translate better in other languages. Most languages actually translate English into longer phrases.

Lasher Dragon · Jun 12, 2006, 09:55 PM // 21:55

Last one... whew:

Quote:

Originally Posted by FalconDance

I would agree with skill descriptions needing a little clarification.

Example:
Soul Barbs: :For 30 seconds, target foe takes 15...27 damage when an "Enchantment" or "Hex" is cast on that target.: Does this mean that for 30 seconds, every time a hex or enchantment are cast, the target takes damage? Or is the hex simply 30 sec in duration and the damage is only inflicted once?

There are several skills that have a similar type of description. And while it should be common sense, sometimes it is difficult to determine exactly which is meant (duration vs actual damage/protection)

Otherwise, I find the Factions quest text to be quite nice, even slyly quirky and fun in places.

JoeKnowMo · Jun 12, 2006, 10:42 PM // 22:42

Shadowsong: Binding Ritual. Create a level 1...5 Spirit. The Spirit's attacks cause Blindness for 1...5 seconds. This Spirit dies after 30 seconds.

Should also say "This Spirit's attacks deal 5...17 damage and cause Blindness for 1...5 seconds."

Weapon of Quickening: Elite Weapon Spell. For 5...13 seconds, target ally has a Weapon of Quickening, and Spells and Binding Rituals recharge 25% faster.

Should say, "... and Spells and Binding Rituals used by that ally while under this spellrecharge 25% faster."

This spell only affects other spells you use while it is active. It will not lower the recharge time on spells or binding rituals that were used prior to Weapon of Quickening.

Desecrate Enchantments/Defile Enchantments: Target foe and all nearby foes take 6...49 shadow damage and 4...17 shadow damage for each Enchantment on them.

Should say, "Target foe and all nearby foes take 6...49 shadow damage. They also take an additional 4...17 shadow damage for each Enchantment on them."

Splinter Weapon: Weapon Spell. For 15...51 seconds, target ally has a Splinter Weapon. Target ally's next successful attack deals 5...41 damage to all adjacent foes.

Should say, "Target ally's next successful attack deals 5...41 damage to foes adjacent to targeted foe." Splinter weapon does not affect the targeted foe.

Malice Black · Jun 13, 2006, 12:32 AM // 00:32

the whole shadestone thing..

you are wielding "a the shadestone" <<something like that

Fungus Amongus · Jun 13, 2006, 12:40 AM // 00:40

My only finding so far (which I sent in a screenshot to support) is in the description for Shelter.

"more then 10%" should read, "more than 10%.

twicky_kid · Jun 13, 2006, 03:18 AM // 03:18

Compare Axe Twist to Axe Rake. They work exactly the same way but worded different. I would get rid of the more dmg wording and go with +XX dmg or additional dmg. +XX dmg adds to the blow delt. Additional dmg should show up seperate like kindle arrow. I would use the +XX dmg on physical attack types. Additional dmg for spells (desecrate enchantments).

Armor penetration should state if it stacks with other penetrating skills and strenth. Strength is also unclear about when it triggers.

Pet attack skills should read "Your pet's next attack......" Animal companion attempts a "skll name."

burai · Jun 13, 2006, 07:53 AM // 07:53

Gaile, I don't know if this fits within the remit of your request. I don't have a problem with the American-English generally (working in IT you get used to it), but the profanity filter could use a little tweaking for some British colloquial swear words.

For obvious reasons I won't give examples here, but Alex could provide you a list I'm sure

Xyngynkynyn · Jun 13, 2006, 10:43 AM // 10:43

Quote:

Judge's Insight
For 8...18 seconds, target ally's attacks deal holy damage and have +20% armor penetration.

The above description implies that the attacks will be converted to holy damage. Holy damage ignores armor which isn't the case here. Reword it to the effect of:

For 8...18 seconds, target ally's attacks have +20% armor penetration and deal twice the damage on the undead.

zakaria · Jun 13, 2006, 11:01 AM // 11:01

Wild Strike:Off-Hand Attack. Must follow a lead attack. If it hits, this attack strikes for +5...18 damage and target foe loses 1 Stance.

stance doesn't stack also any skill remove stance from foe should be cannot be evaded or blocked like wild blow.

Cymmina · Jun 13, 2006, 12:32 PM // 12:32

There's lots of skill descriptions where you have to wonder if anyone actually bothered to read them. The biggest culprit? Improper placement of commas. There are so many descriptions that could be improved with a simple comma, while others have poorly placed commas that actually make it awkward to read.

CoRrRan · Jun 13, 2006, 12:43 PM // 12:43

Grammatical: a lot of skilldescriptions have the following use of periods, commas and quotation marks:

... "evaded."
... "blocked,"

Ashley Twig · Jun 13, 2006, 12:46 PM // 12:46

When coming over from Tyria with all 6 core professions, the first thing I did, was to check for new spells
I was surprised to find, that some spells are simply identical to the ones from Tyria, and have just a new name and a new icon.

Is that some trickery designed to lure people into buying factions, believing there'd be several new spells when a lot of them are just made over?

Retribution X · Jun 13, 2006, 12:54 PM // 12:54

Your animal companion attampts a Bestial Mauling that deals an additional 5...17 damage. If the attack strikes a knocked-down foe, that foe is interrupted and dazed for 5-17 seconds.

yeah. sure. I'd like it if it were possible, but that's been irking me since factions release.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ashley Twig

Is that some trickery designed to lure people into buying factions, believing there'd be several new spells when a lot of them are just made over?

Actually, No. They stated that there would be duplicates, for those who purchased factions.

They were usually popular skills in prophecies, so they gave them as a duplicate to factions. (As so those with both factions and prophecies could use the origonal and the duplicate.)

Also, WHo came up with Su's name? Su the Vile Henchmen? THat's an awfully funny name, but it's not really an "Awsome OMG L33tz0r" name.

Also, Good to see you around Gaile! I've missed seeing you!(Rhetoricaly speaking that is.)

Viriato · Jun 13, 2006, 01:04 PM // 13:04

I don't know if this is what miss Gray intended, but there's a blatant stab at the English language in Su, the vile henchman's dialogue when you double click her:
"Many in this city should welcome it with open arms the way they are forced to live there lives."
There's a comma missing after "arms" as well.

NotJeff · Jun 13, 2006, 01:13 PM // 13:13

One of my biggest peeves, which seems to nearly fit this category, is that there's a lot of game elements that are not defined, textually, anywhere in the game.

The big one that comes to mind after Factions is "Critical Hit". To learn that a critical hit has a base chance to happen based on weapon skill, and does max damage plus a percentage, one has to go to a fansite. And there's a Primary Attribute built around it!

Likewise, the actual in-game-effects of all of the conditions must either be looked up elsewhere, or intuited through usage. It might be that they're listed on one of the tablets in the Shing Jea Monastary, though, I'm not positive.

I think an in-game compendium of some of this stuff would be useful.

-NotJeff

beleg curudin · Jun 13, 2006, 01:17 PM // 13:17

The ritualist stone in tahnakai temple, it says Mao in it, but a spirit of Kaolai is there, as well as you fight a bound Kaolai.

CyberNigma · Jun 13, 2006, 01:22 PM // 13:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ashley Twig

When coming over from Tyria with all 6 core professions, the first thing I did, was to check for new spells I was surprised to find, that some spells are simply identical to the ones from Tyria, and have just a new name and a new icon. Is that some trickery designed to lure people into buying factions, believing there'd be several new spells when a lot of them are just made over?

A good example is penetrating chop/penetrating blow. Several people I run with (including myself when axe-equipped) use both of these together. Since they are adrenaline-based you would normally have to wait for the skill to recharge before using it again. Since they are dupes, we are able to effectively use it twice in a row.

INCONSISTENCY
Also, to Gaile, is there a reason for the differences in the wording of Knight's Armor components? Various languages (unless it was recently corrected) mention that it reduces damage TO THIS SPOT, whereas in the English version it does not say that. According to tests conducted by other people on the forums the English one seems to be correct, unless the armor was bugged itself. If this is correct in English, then maybe this will help fix the wording on the other languages that are incorrect. I believe Spanish was the same, but some of the other European languages had 'on this spot' as translated.