I can't get excited about PoE, regardless of patches. This was the biggest disappointment for me of any modern game. Possibly because I was looking forward to it for so many years. Possibly because it couldn't handle the mantle of spiritual successor to the beloved classics of my youth. Maybe bad luck given other great RPGs were released that year. I have no desire to revisit, whereas I've replayed DoS and did another partial re-run of Wasteland 2. I've always thought this was mainly due to lackluster combat and lack of meaningful leveling choices as the game progressed (combat got so easy save for a few battles it didn't matter). But now I have a new theory to test out with you...
I think maybe there's a subconscious linkage between the mood/atmosphere direction and the game platform being used. And I think that darker/moodier/serious themed games don't work anymore with old-school isometric style interface (which is what PoE was). If you want to be serious - basically more realistic - I think you have a higher chance of pulling that off in a more modern 3D environment.
My evidence:
* The original BG games were not very dark/brooding. They were more light hearted.
* Notable old school games there were more dark/serious (Planescape) worked at that time because they were using the most modern engines back then.
* DoS released same time as PoE and I believe it was better received...the style direction matched well with the old school (but modernized) isometric engine. Same with Wasteland...it was more satire type writing, although dark. It wasn't ultra serious.
It will be interesting to see how this new Tides game does. My theory would predict lackluster reception. We'll see.
I think maybe there's a subconscious linkage between the mood/atmosphere direction and the game platform being used. And I think that darker/moodier/serious themed games don't work anymore with old-school isometric style interface (which is what PoE was). If you want to be serious - basically more realistic - I think you have a higher chance of pulling that off in a more modern 3D environment.
My evidence:
* The original BG games were not very dark/brooding. They were more light hearted.
* Notable old school games there were more dark/serious (Planescape) worked at that time because they were using the most modern engines back then.
* DoS released same time as PoE and I believe it was better received...the style direction matched well with the old school (but modernized) isometric engine. Same with Wasteland...it was more satire type writing, although dark. It wasn't ultra serious.
It will be interesting to see how this new Tides game does. My theory would predict lackluster reception. We'll see.
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- Nov 22, 2014
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