Stahl33
Watchdog
What Makes a Good RPG:
A Number of things including:
Character Development: The character needs to be able to go from a "nobody" to a "somebody".
Limiting class development: Limitations are not a bad thing, as long as there are PLENTY of options even with the limitations. The Limitations define a character as much as their Strengths! So no! A mage cannot use a 2 handed sword… They have never been trained properly how! A base "Class" assumes background training. Without that, you are a normal person. People spend years developing their skills in medicine and infantry skills, or tactics and strategy, or salesmenship. Don't degrade these efforts by making it so easy to get skills. Give them a background class. A place that they can specialised and grow within certain limitations that are what makes us human (Time)!
Voices and Personality: Wizardry 8 did this very well!! Offered a number of different personalities that were tied to voices. With full voice over games, they limit the number of voice options (I assume due to hardware). This means you are left with a kinda neutral boring non-personality voice! I would recommend saying less, but with more dialogue options and more personality expressive options. Again see wizardry 8 - Their idea here was AWesome!!
Internal Consistency: The mechanics, story, and background all need to make sense within the background "Laws" of the game. Internal consistency encourages full immersion into the game!
Options! This is what makes a good RPG: Having lots of options to choose from, so that you can develop and "grow" your character as YOU want it. This was an issue I had with Witcher. I liked Geralt, but he wasn't MY character.
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This is another way to look at RPG (something I wrote on a Fallout 4 forum):
How to enrich a RPG - Character Growth Potential
It is interesting about computer games:
I love growth and progression and potential! Once I hit level 80 or so, I loose a little interest, because I have developed the character as far as I can. He is powerful!!
How do you grow?
- Physically and in skills - typical character development
- In understanding: So as the plot develops in different games, your understanding grows, and we all like to know more!
- In social political structures (Politics basically): - This is where the faction system development comes into play! Gaining Ranks and privileges is so important! you can even start from a place of negative privileges. And having interesting power play and character interactions politically is kinda fun!
- Morally: Perhaps hard to do in a computer game. But potentially you could see your character move from lethal attacks to non-lethal means of getting things done. Perhaps open options in character development or plot development as your moral compass changes.
- Emotionally: This is another interesting area. Games like darkest dungeon play on this a little. Having certain emotional characteristics, that can develop one way or another. I would suggest choices may impact upon this form of growth (or non-growth).
I can't think of any more off the top of my head. But these growth areas are areas that RPGs can use to develop and enrich the RPG experience! And we are all looking for more interesting and enriching games!
***************************************
This is another forum I posted in Skyrim forum:
I Would love to see:
1) More in depth faction development with factions within factions, and significant consequences of which factions within factions you choose. Such as the 5 different magic schools, with rivalry between conjuration and restoration. With ranks and in-house titles (such as Master of the order of Restoration or Master of the order of Destruction; or give them colours, so Master of the Red, or Master of the Blue etc…. There might be 5 councillors of the blue, which ,make up the Illusion council, with the Master of the Blue being the head of the council. There may or may not be an opening to take out the master and become him yourself. If you want to be archmage, the current archmage needs to go, and you need to be elected ….. …. etc
2) Consider non-Massive Multiplayer online games: Where there might be say 10 characters per instance of the game. When not online, the characters are given attitudes to pick towards the other characters, and things to do (such as owning a blacksmithing shop once purchased or developed, or working in the stables mucking out the pens etc….). They are then given an AI whenever the person is not actually online!!!
When you log in, it gives you an overview of what has happened.
It would also notify you who is currently online.
You could possibly stipulate the main times you might be online to get people who are online at similar times to be online at the same time.
3) More ways to do things: Illusion was good - gave you a way to do things other than kill things! But hack and slash - weapons - 2h, 1h and shield, Archery, and 2x1h, and then destruction magic are the main ways to kill things. Would be good to see other things like psionics perhaps, or more life drain with restoration schools. Or
4) More ways to interact with NPCs.
5) Have your physical stats affect your physical attributes, such as run speed, jump height, Your actual physical size.
6) Be able to use your non-physical attributes / skills for more interactions with NPCs
(perhaps you could look at a more intuitive way of managing NPC interactions instead of a scripted interaction…..????
7) There would be lots more, but can't think of any more at the moment!!
I am back playing skyrim again lol!
A Number of things including:
Character Development: The character needs to be able to go from a "nobody" to a "somebody".
Limiting class development: Limitations are not a bad thing, as long as there are PLENTY of options even with the limitations. The Limitations define a character as much as their Strengths! So no! A mage cannot use a 2 handed sword… They have never been trained properly how! A base "Class" assumes background training. Without that, you are a normal person. People spend years developing their skills in medicine and infantry skills, or tactics and strategy, or salesmenship. Don't degrade these efforts by making it so easy to get skills. Give them a background class. A place that they can specialised and grow within certain limitations that are what makes us human (Time)!
Voices and Personality: Wizardry 8 did this very well!! Offered a number of different personalities that were tied to voices. With full voice over games, they limit the number of voice options (I assume due to hardware). This means you are left with a kinda neutral boring non-personality voice! I would recommend saying less, but with more dialogue options and more personality expressive options. Again see wizardry 8 - Their idea here was AWesome!!
Internal Consistency: The mechanics, story, and background all need to make sense within the background "Laws" of the game. Internal consistency encourages full immersion into the game!
Options! This is what makes a good RPG: Having lots of options to choose from, so that you can develop and "grow" your character as YOU want it. This was an issue I had with Witcher. I liked Geralt, but he wasn't MY character.
***********************************
This is another way to look at RPG (something I wrote on a Fallout 4 forum):
How to enrich a RPG - Character Growth Potential
It is interesting about computer games:
I love growth and progression and potential! Once I hit level 80 or so, I loose a little interest, because I have developed the character as far as I can. He is powerful!!
How do you grow?
- Physically and in skills - typical character development
- In understanding: So as the plot develops in different games, your understanding grows, and we all like to know more!
- In social political structures (Politics basically): - This is where the faction system development comes into play! Gaining Ranks and privileges is so important! you can even start from a place of negative privileges. And having interesting power play and character interactions politically is kinda fun!
- Morally: Perhaps hard to do in a computer game. But potentially you could see your character move from lethal attacks to non-lethal means of getting things done. Perhaps open options in character development or plot development as your moral compass changes.
- Emotionally: This is another interesting area. Games like darkest dungeon play on this a little. Having certain emotional characteristics, that can develop one way or another. I would suggest choices may impact upon this form of growth (or non-growth).
I can't think of any more off the top of my head. But these growth areas are areas that RPGs can use to develop and enrich the RPG experience! And we are all looking for more interesting and enriching games!
***************************************
This is another forum I posted in Skyrim forum:
I Would love to see:
1) More in depth faction development with factions within factions, and significant consequences of which factions within factions you choose. Such as the 5 different magic schools, with rivalry between conjuration and restoration. With ranks and in-house titles (such as Master of the order of Restoration or Master of the order of Destruction; or give them colours, so Master of the Red, or Master of the Blue etc…. There might be 5 councillors of the blue, which ,make up the Illusion council, with the Master of the Blue being the head of the council. There may or may not be an opening to take out the master and become him yourself. If you want to be archmage, the current archmage needs to go, and you need to be elected ….. …. etc
2) Consider non-Massive Multiplayer online games: Where there might be say 10 characters per instance of the game. When not online, the characters are given attitudes to pick towards the other characters, and things to do (such as owning a blacksmithing shop once purchased or developed, or working in the stables mucking out the pens etc….). They are then given an AI whenever the person is not actually online!!!
When you log in, it gives you an overview of what has happened.
It would also notify you who is currently online.
You could possibly stipulate the main times you might be online to get people who are online at similar times to be online at the same time.
3) More ways to do things: Illusion was good - gave you a way to do things other than kill things! But hack and slash - weapons - 2h, 1h and shield, Archery, and 2x1h, and then destruction magic are the main ways to kill things. Would be good to see other things like psionics perhaps, or more life drain with restoration schools. Or
4) More ways to interact with NPCs.
5) Have your physical stats affect your physical attributes, such as run speed, jump height, Your actual physical size.
6) Be able to use your non-physical attributes / skills for more interactions with NPCs
(perhaps you could look at a more intuitive way of managing NPC interactions instead of a scripted interaction…..????
7) There would be lots more, but can't think of any more at the moment!!
I am back playing skyrim again lol!
