Hello again.
In this blog, we'll explore one of Rue Valley’s most important features: The Personality System. It is the driving force behind interactions and dialogues in the game. It is a system that differentiates a role playing game from a visual novel, and more importantly, it makes you consider the personality of the character you're playing, rather than just their abilities and occupation.
Personality Axes and Attributes
Your character’s personality is divided into three axes, Decisional (sometimes referred to as Cognitive), Social and Emotional. And each of those three axes consist of two opposite Personality Attributes.
- Decisional Axis: Impulsive - Calculated
- Social Axis: Introverted - Extraverted
- Emotional Axis: Sensitive - Indifferent
Character Creation Screen.
At the start of the game, you can assign up to nine points across all three axes, with a minimum of one point and a maximum of five per axis. You cannot assign points to both attributes on the same axis.
For example, if you allocate two points in the Calculated attribute, you can’t assign them to Impulsive attribute. Also if you put five points in Impulsive then you only have four more points available for Social and Emotional axis and each of them must have at least one point.
With these rules, you decide which axis of your character's personality is most prominent (if any) and which attribute they take to extremes. Even if you spread points equally across Decisional, Social, and Emotional, you still have to decide which attributes the points go to.
As you can see, the combinations are limitless. Each type of personality will give your character a unique vibe and open up a range of possibilities and outcomes throughout the story.
Personality Checks
Often in dialogues or interactions, you will encounter a Personality Check. This is a special type of dialogue choice that has multiple outcomes based on the current state of your personality axis. These checks can be Decisional (Cognitive), Social, or Emotional. In most cases, a successful outcome of the check would be if your personality attribute for this check leans toward zero. That is, the more balanced person you are, the greater are your chances of a successful outcome.
But since the middle of the axis is a success, there are two different failure outcomes depending on whether the current axis value is closer to "left" or "right".
Emotional Check option during a conversation with psychotherapist.
In this example, If your character has one point or fewer in both Sensitive and Indifferent attributes, the outcome will be successful. However, if they have more than one point in Sensitive, the outcome will be a "Too Sensitive" fail, and the story will continue accordingly. Similarly, if they have more than one point in Indifferent, the outcome will be a "Too Indifferent" fail, and the story will take this into account.
Screenshot of branching dialogue nodes in Articy Draft.
So, as you see, the “difficulty” of these checks depends solely on the range of the personality axis where the success area is. The larger the area the easier the check is. Also, you might notice that I haven’t mentioned any randomness in these checks. That’s because there isn’t any. The trick is that you are never sure what the check’s difficulty is before you try it, so it’s up to you to decide whether to try it or not. This decision also eliminates the need to save scum as the outcome won’t change when you reload the game.
Another interesting fact is that since this is a narrative game, failing a check won't get you stuck or make you lose. It will only shift the story in an unexpected or unintended direction. Sometimes, failing a check can be a more enjoyable experience. So, when you need to decide whether to try a check or not, be more assured to do it, as you never know how the story will unfold.
Traits
On top of personality axes and attributes you character is also defined by Traits. They set a more concrete definition of you character’s personality and they directly impact on what choices you will be presented with and also what choices will be blocked for you.
Use of Traits in dialogue. Character is both UNKIND and SECRETIVE so choice 2 is available and choice 4 is blocked.
When your character has a Trait assigned, special dialogue choices appropriate to that trait will appear during conversations and interactions. These choices will be visible only to players who chose that trait while creating their character. Similarly, certain traits will block certain choices, making it impossible to act “out of character,” making Rue Valley a true role playing experience.
During character creation, for every two points you put in specific Personality Attribute you will be able to assign one Trait that corresponds to that attribute. For example: If you have two or three points in Impulsive attribute you will have either Reckless or Impatient trait. And if you have four or five points in Impulsive, you will have both Reckless and Impatient traits.
But as you see, Traits are directly connected to Attributes, as they are attached to second and fourth points. So if, during the game, you gain or lose points in a specific attribute you will gain or lose a Trait. Therefore the “position" of the trait also has a role in your character’s personality definition. To put it simpler, the trait you put closer to the center of the personality axis is the one that defines you more, since it’s harder to lose it.
In future blogs, we'll discuss about what makes your character's personality evolve during the game, and how your choices can alter their mood or state of mind, temporarily or permanently.
Until next time!
Marko