Divinity: Original Sin - Review Roundup #2

DArtagnan · July 18, 2014

Fluent said:
It has? Hmm. I wouldn't agree there. I'm not saying all old-school games are better than modern games, but the quality of content largely has stayed the same over many years, IMO.

Depends on what you mean by content, I suppose. If you're talking about plot lines - then perhaps you're right, even if the delivery has been improved ten-fold.

If you're talking about presentation, story telling, the sheer amount of stuff to find, the visual variety, the richness of the atmosphere, the sophistication of AI and so on - most modern RPGs are WAY ahead of the old-school games like Wizardry, Might and Magic, Pool of Radiance, Questron, Dungeon Master, and so on.

The things you gave as examples (story delivery, assets, tech sophistication) have changed over the years, but I wouldn't call them superior to the old stuff. I'd call them different.

That's fair enough. I consider them far superior for obvious reasons.

The tech has no doubt gotten better (that much is obvious), but it sounds like you're saying old games are inferior due to less enhanced tech. When those old games first came out, many of them were the highest tech of their respective days.

It's not just about tech, though that's obviously a big factor. It's about the amount of resources dedicated to producing content. As in, we have professionals dedicated to their particular role on the team doing the work - where only a small handful of people used to have to write the story, do the dialogue, write the code and so on.

To me, it's complete denial to state that old content can measure up to a good modern RPG - unless as an exception. Do note that I'm talking about the content - not the gameplay or the games themselves.

To be honest, I find much of the older stuff superior, but I'm that way in a lot of things. Music, for example. I much prefer late 60s early 70s music. It has a quality that I really enjoy and prefer over more modern stuff.

Music is timeless in many ways - and it's usually not about resources at all.

It's not at all what I'm talking about, and I like all kinds of music.

In games, I guess I'm sort of similar. I really dig the old-school approach to RPGs and I feel that approach is lacking in modern games. So in some ways, I would consider some older RPGs superior to newer ones.

I'm talking about content, not the overall quality of the experience. I tend to prefer old-school mechanics and certain aspects of the designs, like no hand-holding and a decent challenge.

But the content? Please keep that old crap away from me. I tend to follow the times when it comes to technology and evolution.

I guess it all comes down to taste. One man's "old and inferior" is another man's "better and superior" .

Obviously so, though it could have something to do with being capable of seeing both good and bad in everything that happens during the evolution of an industry.

My claim is that a lot of old-school fans overlook the good things about what has happened, or they dismiss it as insignificant.

You sound like you could be like that too, though you do seem to appreciate games like Bloodlines - which could never have happened before production values allowed for high-quality voice acting and technology like the Source engine provided realistic facial expressions and so on.

Maybe you think that game would have been just as good using old technology without voice overs? Fair enough. I don't agree at all.

Divinity: Original Sin - Review Roundup #2

DArtagnan

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