For a good time, call...

[silverflagon]

Yes very striking

[Quemaqua]

I actually did go and learn the language so that I could read everything in the game.  I love stuff like that.  I did the same thing with Dead Space, and then went around looking for hidden messages like an obsessive weirdo.  It's actually fully possible that I was the first average joe consumer to find the secret messages in that game that eventually led to another secret.  Even though the end result of the secret was already known, I looked all over the internet and couldn't find a single person indicating that they'd found the legitimate (fun) path you're able to take to find it.  I'm probably wrong about being first, but I do love this crap, and it was actually a fair bit of effort in that game due to some lousy textures at times, and some weird ways in which things were written.

[Chibi]

A leetle off topic, but here goes: I did something like that on my first reading of the Artemis Fowl series. I obsessed over the Gnomish characters until I could read it fluently.  Well written books (particularly fiction) arrest me like nothing else, though I have higher standards than the time I thought the Hardy Boys was the pinnacle of literature. 

[Particlese]

Yeah, it is fun to learn the characters as you go through.  It makes it feel like you're uncovering some ancient secret or something.  As I went through the game the first time, I made notes on a piece of paper about the messages and letters, and by the end, I could read most of the messages without referring to it.  There's a lot of backstory in that text!

Morrowind also has its own alternative font, but it still vaguely resembles the Latin alphabet, and it's not used as interestingly in-game.  Still, it's fun to be able to read the names of places on the paper maps.

Anyway, thanks for the tip, Zeke!  It's kinda cool to see those messages more immediately.

[Alphasoldier]

The only unsatisfying thing of the Aquarian text to me is that it's no clue for nothing, only background stuff, no secret passage ways, no... easter eggs. Only actual text that has to do with the story.
Fun to read and a great addition to the story, the 'The End' was nice too, but it's sad that it leads to nowhere.

It's the same with a lot of other games.

[silverflagon]

I supose that would be amonst those Star Trek fans who learnt Klingon and like to speak it then  lol I like Star Trek but I know next to nothing in that make believe language   

[Haephasto]

The only unsatisfying thing of the Aquarian text to me is that it's no clue for nothing, only background stuff, no secret passage ways, no... easter eggs. Only actual text that has to do with the story.
Fun to read and a great addition to the story, the 'The End' was nice too, but it's sad that it leads to nowhere.

It's the same with a lot of other games.

It's a shame on the one hand and a joy on the other. I prefer Easter Eggs not to include paleography. Of course, considering how these things are linked to story events of both past, present and beyond the known storyline, who knows if they lead "nowhere?"

[RobertWalker]

The only unsatisfying thing of the Aquarian text to me is that it's no clue for nothing, only background stuff, no secret passage ways, no... easter eggs. Only actual text that has to do with the story.
Fun to read and a great addition to the story, the 'The End' was nice too, but it's sad that it leads to nowhere.

It's the same with a lot of other games.

Well, that's not totally true. The text in Mithala's chamber does give a hint on how to beat him. But I have a hard time imagining that very many people actually figured it out by reading the text, as opposed to trial-and-error or reading the forums.

[Alphasoldier]

Yeah, Trial and Error for me. Never even knew about the text that was on the wall there, rather funny now that I read it.
The wall writings are with the story, but it's also a good hint now that I read it. Though it would've been an even better hint if it would say poison somewhere. But that would be... AND too easy, and it would take the wall writings out of context. It would be as if someone else tried to defeat Mithalas before and quickly drew that on the wall before dying.
I guess, in the end, it's better to have the wall writings as a normal addition to the story, than to have hints on the walls everywhere, wondering who put them there.

[RobertWalker]

I dunno, Portal did all right with it...

[Alphasoldier]

Yeah, but portal had more predecessor subjects, which in time all died.

Naija had none. I presume at least...









zomg, plot-twist, Naija had a sister. =O *gasp*

[Kailieann]

Oh, sure. Of course I stumble across this topic the day after I finish translating everything.

Then again, by the time I hit Mithalas I was pretty much fluent anyways, so no big deal I guess.

[nooneatall]

well i remember the old pokemon games for the GBA. they had brail dots throughout with instructions for stuff and secrets. i can now read brail fluently, but the problem is that i can only read it by seeing it, so that makes it useless if i ever lost my sight ( any more than i have now. partially detached retina in left eye is more annoying than problematic. only lost the top right of vision, but i do get added swirly colours on bad days!)

anyway, i have no idea how to do this, nor if i am allowed to, but i would like to find a way of making the aquarian characters into a font for things like word and stuff. any ideas people? should i not do this due to copyright or something? i dont know who to ask, nor where to learn how to make fonts in the first place.


the cake is a lie!

[Alphasoldier]

I suppose you could just make a font out of it, but you would probably need to remake the characters one by one in a font designer.
Though this would bring another problem as it only has lower OR higher case letters and a space, no dots no nothing, no numbers, special signs, etc...
In my opinion it WOULD be cool, but seeing it doesn't have everything, it would be a wasted effort.