Ultima VII Part I - Retrospective Review @ CRPG Addict

Originally Posted by Gwendo
I was not and I'm not repelled by combat. I was only referring to U7's combat. And I can't remember any other game, in my experience, that I liked in spite of the combat. Lot's of promising RPGs and JRPGs that I've gave up a few hours in because I couldn't enjoy the combat. Combat is so central in most RPGs nowadays, that If you don't like it, you won't enjoy the game at all. Ultima 7 was an anomaly for me. I really enjoyed it and couldn't care less about its subpar combat.

Same. Planescape: Torment falls into that category for me also.

Originally Posted by Gwendo
For me, it's about immersion. It makes the place and the people more believable, relatable, intriguing. It feels less one dimensional and worthier to find out about. Also, it allows emergent gameplay.

The reverse was true in my case. Because there was so much of it, relentlessly so, it came across to me as extremely gamey. That the developer took it to the point of taking the piss. This was reinforced in my estimation by the complete lack of interest in any other form of gameplay. To me it felt like the developer was having an internal crisis and taking it out on the players. Like a child pushing the boundaries for no other reason than to find out at what point people would object. Like he was pulling a The Producers scam but was then left flabberghasted when people actually bought into it.

Originally Posted by Gwendo
I was not and I'm not repelled by combat. I was only referring to U7's combat. And I can't remember any other game, in my experience, that I liked in spite of the combat. Lot's of promising RPGs and JRPGs that I've gave up a few hours in because I couldn't enjoy the combat. Combat is so central in most RPGs nowadays, that If you don't like it, you won't enjoy the game at all. Ultima 7 was an anomaly for me. I really enjoyed it and couldn't care less about its subpar combat.

There you go again with the big ugly word "nowadays" when the whole point of my reply was to remind you that combat always has been important and that there's no "nowadays" about it. You replied to the point that you do in fact like combat in RPGs, but you seem to have completely blanked the point I made about there being no "nowadays" and you've just immediately repeated this opinion as if no check had been made to it. This makes you sound like you have a specific agenda you're pushing rather than a factual point.