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After 35 Years, Why Hasn't Any Developer Learned the Secret of RPGS?
- Thread starter Burress
- Start date
Errr… Not modding?
I don't mod to much although I do enjoy some light modding. Same for ENB coding. But without the game it wouldn't mean much
For that matter this is also an example of effort/reward. I get a lot of pleasure knowing I helped make a MOD or designed an ENB. Course I also greatly enjoy using other peoples mods and ENBs. It is never an all or nothing situation.
I think Maylander's point addresses some other points that follow it. I too am a fan of PB, Gothic and Gothic 2 were some of my favorite games.
Now, you really are the chosen one I think in every PB game I played (you are part of a prophecy that Xardas reveals in every Gothic game I believe), but there are other issues going on that work toward ego fulfillment in ways that are counterintuitive to a naive interpretation of my point based on my energetic wording of my initial post.
The difficulty of the game is set, and in fact, the entire world is practically motionless except for the player. You are the only one with drive, the only one who actually tries to solve problems, the one who whips himself in to orc army cleaving shape by accumulating advantages in a static world. You get punched in the face in your rags at the start of Gothic, but the sucker who punched you has a 7 day a week job holding his hands at his sides looking arrogant at a gate, while you get to grab every advantage the world allows.
No one bows down to you in Gothic or Gothic 2, but you get the effect implicitly in actually beating up low-life bullies and solving problems an army of people in heavy armor can't. Some people misinterpreted what ego fulfillment is, it is not one activity, it is a conquering of something relating to your identity the real world inflicts on you with real pain. Some people are always working harder than you in the real world, but here your drive is practically infinite compared to other people. The pleasure is in your knowing you are better than everyone else by your actions.
Not everyone identifies with the same stuff, but some stuff practically everyone can dig.
Take for instance, Skyrim. 17 million copies sold (at least a billion dollars retail with expansions), and it will probably sell at least double that in its lifespan. Some hardcore rpg players hate Skyrim, but the ego fulfillment rings so well with so many that it brings a genre that used to be nerd-only territory in to anyone's life. That game is over the top in ways most people don't even acknowledge. You are the savior of existence whose very essence is above other people, you viscerally kick the ever-loving crap out of anything that moves with "I love your ego" camera effects and head chopping, and you can become the boss of just about every organization in no time.
They waste this because there is no freakin Dragonborn faction, where people don't ignore the fact you killed an entire army or that you will save their eternal souls (yeah Alduin is going to destroy Heaven). People comment on your cool armor, or your skills at mixing potions, but ultimately everyone is indifferent to the fact they need you like friggin Jesus.
My point remains, if you are telling a story for a stories sake in an RPG, you are doing it wrong. You ever play an RPG where people won't shut up about themselves (Kingdom of Amalur anyone)? Their personal story only matters as it rings with the player's real world experience in a way that ultimately ends up gratifying the player, whether by helping someone they can identify with or getting one over on the type of person who is beyond reach in real life. The player is the only person who is real, everyone else is a means to the player's satisfaction. The story (the part that matters anyway) should always ultimately be about them.
Now, you really are the chosen one I think in every PB game I played (you are part of a prophecy that Xardas reveals in every Gothic game I believe), but there are other issues going on that work toward ego fulfillment in ways that are counterintuitive to a naive interpretation of my point based on my energetic wording of my initial post.
The difficulty of the game is set, and in fact, the entire world is practically motionless except for the player. You are the only one with drive, the only one who actually tries to solve problems, the one who whips himself in to orc army cleaving shape by accumulating advantages in a static world. You get punched in the face in your rags at the start of Gothic, but the sucker who punched you has a 7 day a week job holding his hands at his sides looking arrogant at a gate, while you get to grab every advantage the world allows.
No one bows down to you in Gothic or Gothic 2, but you get the effect implicitly in actually beating up low-life bullies and solving problems an army of people in heavy armor can't. Some people misinterpreted what ego fulfillment is, it is not one activity, it is a conquering of something relating to your identity the real world inflicts on you with real pain. Some people are always working harder than you in the real world, but here your drive is practically infinite compared to other people. The pleasure is in your knowing you are better than everyone else by your actions.
Not everyone identifies with the same stuff, but some stuff practically everyone can dig.
Take for instance, Skyrim. 17 million copies sold (at least a billion dollars retail with expansions), and it will probably sell at least double that in its lifespan. Some hardcore rpg players hate Skyrim, but the ego fulfillment rings so well with so many that it brings a genre that used to be nerd-only territory in to anyone's life. That game is over the top in ways most people don't even acknowledge. You are the savior of existence whose very essence is above other people, you viscerally kick the ever-loving crap out of anything that moves with "I love your ego" camera effects and head chopping, and you can become the boss of just about every organization in no time.
They waste this because there is no freakin Dragonborn faction, where people don't ignore the fact you killed an entire army or that you will save their eternal souls (yeah Alduin is going to destroy Heaven). People comment on your cool armor, or your skills at mixing potions, but ultimately everyone is indifferent to the fact they need you like friggin Jesus.
My point remains, if you are telling a story for a stories sake in an RPG, you are doing it wrong. You ever play an RPG where people won't shut up about themselves (Kingdom of Amalur anyone)? Their personal story only matters as it rings with the player's real world experience in a way that ultimately ends up gratifying the player, whether by helping someone they can identify with or getting one over on the type of person who is beyond reach in real life. The player is the only person who is real, everyone else is a means to the player's satisfaction. The story (the part that matters anyway) should always ultimately be about them.
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