Good crpg ideas you wish more games used

mprod

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I have recently started a new work which is so far quite boring and allows me far too much time to ponder unrelated things.

So why don´t we compile a list of things that some games have done that we want other games to copy

I´ll start us off with my two of my favorites

1. Gothic: when you fight a human you don´t kill him you just knock him down to actually kill him you have to make an extra effort and if he wins he kicks you in the groin and steals some of your ore(money)
Suddenly taking a human life gains a new dimension as it is always a consious decision

2. Witcher: the night and day cycle some monsters only come out at night and some at day
 
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VtM Bloodlines: effectively using typography (read: font type and color) for certain dialogue options.

Or simply different fonts or text colors for different characters, if applicable. Some classic adventures did that back when complete voice overs weren't the norm.
 
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Factions that matter. I like being able to choose a faction and then work my way to the top of that faction, but it should be more of a permanent choice than in most games, so it gives you a sense of truly belonging. Morrowind, Gothic and Gothic 2 all had good faction choices.
 
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Well, I could write endlessly about this :)

But I'll start light.

I greatly enjoy ways to overcome challenges that are NOT about combat, personally.

As in, intricate NPC investigations, lots of secrets that need careful exploration, interesting and varied puzzles (especially word based riddles and so on) - and I think all these cool avenues of gameplay are woefully underutilized in the vast majority of modern CRPGs.
 
Agree with Maylander on this, Factions that truly vary the gameplay and tweak the storyline based on chosen Faction. Gothic 1 is the best example imo.

Also, shields that actually make an impact on your fighting strategy like in Risen 1. Best implimentation of the shield I've come across. Shame on PB for eliminating it in Risen 2.
 
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As simple as it may sound, lore backstories put into itemization. It's a lost art these days.

Can I pick you answer? :p This adds so much to a game, and it makes loot much more interesting.

I'll aslo add that exploration and the history of the world you are playing in are some of my favorite aspects.
 
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I once tried to start a similar discussion : http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7718

The help system of both TOEE and Drakensang 2 impressed me a lot.

Riddles and traps like pieces of a treasure map you have to collect - and you can *only* find it if you have all pieces -1 at least.

Disarming traps is a long lost thing, too. Most games don't have that anymore, which imho is a shame.
 
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Make the game world seem real. Put some thought into how things work; make sure things do work. Make sure a big city has some farmland around it, make the player feel like just another schmoe making a living when they join a guild/faction, and most importantly, never, ever let on in-game that it is a game. If that means losing, say, some dancing mini-game every time you try to talk to someone or solving some math problem from your first year programming class to get access to something, then drop it.
 
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I feel that perhaps this got a bit off topic the things I called for was the small touches that should be easy to implement if you have the rest

For example imagine Morrowind with the added NPC kill system from Gothic
or… actually any crpg (except hack&slashs and dungeon crawlers) with day/night-cycle sensitive monsters no ghosts or vampires during daytime

Another I love puzzles in my games but quite often at least with older games (before internet and with rather poor reading skills in english) I was unable to solve them JVC did a good thing in M&M 3 Isles of Terra if you couldn´t figure out the answers you could get them from the statues in the pyramid when you where strong enough an ingame walkthrough that were appropriate to the setting
 
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I´m sorry I misread your posts my appologies I´m very far from sober
 
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Art of highlighting past players choices, I'm sure many identified I quote The Witcher 1. I wonder if The Witcher 2 even did it half as well. But it's really an art I'd like see developed. It's a series a tricks that allow such stuff but the approach is the key not the tricks used.

Narrative texts descriptions. I don't want novels but light and small narrative to reinforce a mood, describe an area, pinpoint an attitude, and more. There's multiple CRPG that used it well but I'll highlight RealmZ and its scenario without to pinpoint any.

Independent companions followers that are more part of the story or of some stories more than are part of your team. They aren't glued to you nor are your slaves. Sort of NPC followers that could leave you on their own and not on your decision like to take another follower. They need have some details, some background history, some comments, some influences, some roles in main story or secondary stories, but not heavy stuff with a huge amount of dialogs and so on. It's a bit hard to pinpoint a CRPG to copy, perhaps a bit some of the first Pool of Radiance but with more developments, or a bit Lands of Lore, or BG1 but not centered on player decisions for team building or some other reasons.

I had one more but the time I wrote the first in the list I forgot it, nothing important but... :)
 
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Narrative use to reinforce a mood? - no, it is far better when the mood is sensed without any hand-holding explanatory narrative, pure 'gestalt' in nature.

Lore is the medium traditionally applied for sensed suggestion in CRPG's, it works best because 'Sensed lore' has great unknown (eg: suggestive) atmospherics than direct filler narrative.

Yes, Gothic is a perfect example.
 
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I like Gothic 3's approach to factions.

Doing quests for factions yield in a boost of reputation for that faction.
When the reputation is high enough, something happen.

Unlike other RPG's this means that any quest for a faction yield to progress, making the game more open and non-linear.
 
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I sometimes miss the climbing from daggerfall granted it was far too easy to climb everything in that game it still should be possible to climb obvious easy surfaces at least in open world games especially if your playing a rogue or ranger
 
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class / race based quests. They really encourage me to replay games with different builds, and help with the roleplaying your character also. I tend to get completely engrossed in an rpg if I actually care about my character and their interaction with the world. They seem to happen less and less though. These days you seem to be lucky to get an extra conversation option!
 
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Level-less system, skills using learning by doing, stats rising depending on skills. That let's you play however you want and shapes the character based on how you play. I always hated levels and putting points into skills/stats.
 
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Narrative use to reinforce a mood? - no, it is far better when the mood is sensed without any hand-holding explanatory narrative, pure 'gestalt' in nature…

You should read novels a bit more and watch movies a bit less, you'll discover that the first are much more powerful to setup a mood. :)

EDIT: Shadowrun Return interestingly use narrative quite more than usual in modern games, that's interesting.
 
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Language skills
A thing I´ve always wanted to see is proper use of language skills
Among the games I´ve played Darklands is the only one where it even makes a difference if you have any l-skills and I don´t think they made it well

I hate when you instantly learn a new language by some magic doo-hickey because it´s required by the quest

Actually this a situation where typography could be used to great advantage with the text clearing up more and more the better you get And offcourse it´s perfect for fooling the player to do the quests in all the wrong ways because of misunderstandings
 
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