Articles tagged with: Game Design

This last years, computer RPGs are becoming more and more "soft", probably because of the mainstreaming of the genre, but probably too because of the desire to sell as much as possible. And as we know, geeks have a market share, but is not as big as normal videogame players one.

Let's analyze some videogames...

Mass Effect was much like Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic: arcade combats, semi-lineal main quest plus secondary optional quests, and dialog choices to affect your alignment.

But the second part has become a Mass-Effect themed Gears of War clone, with conversations between battles. Is not that the story is bad (although it destroys the first part story) but is much much more an action-rpg than a RPG with action.

Or let's take Fable II, a game that promised almost a virtual life, and delivered an action game with a beautiful setting but less roleplaying than the Diablo series. It was also so easy you could finish it without a single death.

Dragon Age Origins too was recent, and is maybe the only case of not so much softening. In some ways it is less RPG than old titles, but in other aspects (multiple starting places, different outcomes based on your choices, alignments, hidden quests and places...) even improves from the past.

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Fallout 3, The Witcher or The Last Remnant are other titles that appeared more or less recently. And that in general, have RPG elements and are considered as such, but none has for example tried to create a multiplayer experience so close to pen&paper games like Vampire: The Masquerade Redemption did, empowering the figure of the dungeon master.

And with MMORPGs the state is similar. Ultima Online had isometric 2D graphics, but allowed to farm food, forge weapons, have your own house and even build it wall by wall. In World of Warcraft you have to pay to change your hairlook and the concept of housing is just a dream. Crafting exists and is much more user-friendly, but even counting thousands of quests most of them are repetitive and so similar that Ultima Online's "pure freedom" mode gave you much more "roleplaying power".

One thing is true: The graphics are improving a lot in general. Fable II has incredible daytime changes, bloom effects and in general playing it is like watching a faery tale. Mass Effect 2 is one of the best looking videogames out right now (in PC at 2560x1600 is gorgeous). Even Dragon Age with it's not so impressive close-up graphics, has improved way far since Neverwinter Nights 2 (specially the faces of the humanoid creatures).

But graphics are not all, at least for me. You can deceive the eye but not the brain. Let's see how the RPG trend progresses this year...

Posted on 2010-02-25

After some weeks of intense work and real life tasks, I've got two weeks ahead of taking things with calm and try to rest (or at least spend my free time doing mostly non-development).

Apart from finally being able to test my painting lamp and actually painting a bit (nothing major, I want first to finish some half-painted miniatures and scenery props), I decided to go and buy both Fable II DLCs to extend the game's lifetime a bit before starting it again creating an evil alignment character.

And while playing yesterday and today for a few hours, I remembered why I enjoy Fable II so much (and other games like The Witcher, Fallout 3 or the Final Fantasy series) and why I haven't finished yet Neverwinter Nights (either part, but I prefer the first one).

The answer is simple: Because they tell you a tale, a story.

The argument of Neverwinter Nights its a bit typical, not engaging enough to make me desire to progress. I usually park the game few days after playing it because all quests are very similar and just feel "plugged in". I don't feel like living as my "drow", I feel playing a computer version of DnD.

When I play Fallout 3, I feel like really living in a post-apocalyptic future. I feel like exploring a huge world, discovering buildings, ruined citys, doing small quests... really inside of the game.

And while Fable II offers no challenge (it is way too easy) and is not so big and open as Fallout 3, whenever I play it I feel inmersed into the fairy tales it transmits. The world is so beautiful, the people react to my actions, the bards sing my adventures...

Many people dislike the Final Fantasy series for having too much combat. But combat in FF, in the end, is just a way to slow the pace, to extend the time you need to reach the end of the game and so finish the story it tells. I don't care having to level characters on purpose (instead of just as I go through the game), because the stories the games tell are engaging.

So, for me, the single most important factor or aspect of a computer RPG is not how well it implements a given set of rules, or how easy or hard are the battles, but the presence of a good story and a good sense of inmersion around it.

Posted on 2009-06-14

The next time you want to extend one game's length, try innovating or creating content. But please, avoid forcing the players to grind levels from the very start of the game }:(

I don't know if it is a big, lengthy game or not, but it is the hardest Final Fantasy I've touched. Apart from the initial cave, I'm having to grind levels to be able to do anything "not from the main quest". And even there it is dangerous; if you have bad luck (a lot of so hated random combats), yo can die.

Usually, level grinding is performed optionally for one of this reasons:

• Lowering the difficulty level: If enemies are level 5 and you level 15, you will have no problem on killing them.
• Balancing speed-runs: If you're going too fast across the main storyline, probably you'll end facing an enemy or boss that you won't be able to kill until you level up.
• Grinding money or items: Along with experience, monsters usually drop money and/or items, so it's like a 2x1, extra levels plus extra gold.
• God feeling: If a level 5 enemy is easy at level 15, imagine being level 50 or 60, it's almost like being a god. *

I at last don't see in that list something like "Make the game last longer", because that's a cheap and dirty trick.

* Beware of games that auto-level enemies acordingly (like Final Fantasy VIII)

Posted on 2009-01-21

After reading this Escapist article about escort missions in videogames, I can't agree more with the author...

Escort missions with computer NPCs is just nonsense... almost every time it becomes a pain. It is not entertaining nor "fun" to become desperate just because the computer is in suicide or stupid mode (the two most common cases).

Recently, in The Witcher game, (playing at normal difficult level) I've had to give up one escort mission just because the stupid lady I was escorting home was aggroing all the monsters towards her, making impossible for me to "protect" her (of course she had quite small life, so few enemy attacks and pum! dead).
After more than 7 attempts (trying different tactics and paths), I had to just leave the girl die and fail that quest :(

Please, until we can get really smart AIs, forget about escorting missions!

Posted on 2007-11-27