For the purposes of this discussion, I’m drawing a distinction between “assuming” a role, and “playing” a role. In your average Final Fantasy game, you assume the role of the main character, but you don’t “play” it, in the sense that who the character is, what motivates him, what he does, and how he does it is part of the gameplay. All of that stuff is predetermined and, for the most part, unalterable. The game isn’t about creating and inhabiting a role, the game is about fighting monsters, getting treasure and experience, and passively watching the character you play develop as a reward for killing some particularly nasty boss, or finding an especially valuable gewgaw. In a true RPG, the heart of the game is choosing what sort of person your main character is. The trappings usually associated with an RPG (character leveling, stat building, item acquisition) are, in fact, wholly secondary to this definition. A game could conceivably be an RPG while having no inventory, no experience points, even no combat, so long as the central emphasis of the gameplay is on building an artificial personality and using it to interact with a virtual enviroment.
I agree that, with the proper group of players, an MMORPG is probably the closest you can come to a “pure” RPG in a video game. Gauntlet, however, is nothing at all like an RPG in any incarnation I have ever played.
phais, I changed your thread title after several reports that people had to read the thread to figure out what it was about.
You’re a guest so probably not too familiar with our ways. Not trying to bust your chops, but we try to keep thread titles clear enough that people get a good idea of the topic. It helps them decide whether or not to spend the time reading them.
And now back to your regularly scheduled rant…
While I would agree that KotoR was not as good as PS:T or Fallout, its not like we’ve had any other really great contenders in the last few years. KotoR is the best since Morrowind, and that one had equally large problems…
Thanks for clearing the earlier title up, Veb, although I thought the new one was referring to Rocket-Propelled Grenades, and expected a rant about Iraq.
As was the game “Alter Ego”, if anyone remembers that. You take control of a person from infancy to old age, and, in a series of vignettes where you’re faced with choices, live out his or her life.
Some years back I spent money on Black+White. I read all sorts of reviews saying how great it was. You know, more revolutionary then pac-man, street-fighter2, and deus-Ex combined, shit like that. So I bought it and Whoo-Whee did that game suck. The little gorilla guy wouldn’t feed my people right, so I tried getting a few villagers working on food. But I moved the mouse too fast and instead lobbed the poor guy into the ocean. Gorilla guy suddenly shits all over the place, and a bunch of loggers stopped work to gawk at the dung everywhere. After an hour of play, I just NEEDED a rocket launcher. The indirectness and lack of control in the game was killing me.
I’m not normally ne to hold grudges, though I cant deny that seeing mr peters games do poorly gives me a feeling of good and well-being.
Gotta say I had never heard of this game, didnt even know it was coming out. Anyone care to elaborate what makes it so crappy? Im certainly not going to buy it so spoilers are ok, though it may be safer to put them in a black box anyway. Is it really as bad as you folks say?
I’ll always remember Pete as the mind behind the Dungeon Keeper pair of games. DKII still occupies room on my hard disk. Really, what’s there not to like about a coven of pain-loving Dominatrix in leather leading Angels into a battle charge?
Back in Cafe Soceity, there’s a thread about Japanese RPGs. I used to love them; now I can’t really get into them. Too much watching, not enough doing for a game. In my opinion, computer games along the same lines (Wizardry, Might & Magic) do it better because you play more and watch less. I’ve plenty of anime DVDs to watch when I want to see edgy anime-style characters.
Black Isle Studio made the best computer RPGs, bar none. Some were more open-ended, some were more linear; all were good. Bethesda comes in second. Overall, I liked Daggerfall better than Morrowind, but both had places where they shined and both were top notch.
None of these replace the PnP RPG experiences of my youth, but I can no longer commit to (and really don’t know where to look for) a regular group of my peers. “If you can’t be with the one you love, love the one your with”
