🚀 go-pugleaf

sickmachine@hotmail.com (Indigo) writes:

>Regardless of party/combat options, there are a few things that make a
>great RPG (IMO of course)

>1) Rich, engrossing game world. You're playing a role in the game. You
>take on the persona of your character and vice versa. The gaming world
>should reflect this and create an atmosphere where you feel a part of
>the game world.

More than this, the world has to make sense in that your characters' lives
and all the other townsfolk and the environment have to be accounted for
from birth to death.  What's the setting like?  Small towns?  Walled cities?
Outdoorsy wilderness or monster-infested wasteland?  And, more importantly,
what do people do when they're not out adventuring to save the world, and why
would these guys you selected even bother?
Eg. one of Daggerfall's weirdnesses: monsters should not appear in walled
cities - did the bear in the tavern fly over the walls or did one of the gate
guards simply mistake it for a drunk noble and let it in by mistake?.
Similarly in Might and Magic, frequently towns are monster-infested.  Great.
Wouldn't any low-level fighter of any note just have cleared out all these
annoying pests before they wandered into the city?  For that matter, how can
a city still exist since trade and travel would be really curtailed by
wandering monsters?
Wiz 6: an entire colony of human thieves in the castle at the start, and an
entire city of Dwarves in mines.  Great.  What do they all eat?  Rocks?

>2) A rich, intruiging story. The story should have lots of mystery and
>a few plot twists to keep it interesting. The game draws you in, but
>the story is what makes you care. The story should have a history
>(something had to lead up to all this right?) which is presented to
>the player both before the "game" and during the course of the "game".
>This way, the character is drawn further into the story, and makes you
>want to explore more and more to solve the mystery of what is the truth.

In other words, keep as much of the plotline secret as possible.  Most
characters don't know their ultimate quest when they start out.

>3) Non-linear game play. I want to be able to go anywhere at anytime
>in the game world. Obviously this isn't entirely possible, seeing as
>how a story has to begin and end somewhere. But the closer a game can
>come to this, the better. Dungeon crawls bore me to tears. Been there,
>slain that.

On this I feel it is perfectly permissible to just say "no".  You can go
to the Wizard's Tower but unless you have a reason to be there, they may
simply not let you in.

>4) Multiple ways to solve a quest or finish the game. I want the
>challenge of finishing the game without the need to fire a single
>shot, or the option to hack and slash my way into immortality.
>Obviously, I want the type of character I choose to play affecting the
>way the game world reacts to me, as well as kinowing what the ultimate
>consequences of my action within the game world are. Simple
>mage/warrior/thief classifications are a little old. I want complete
>control over the devellopment of my character.

Also, make it feel like a world where objects have an effect on each other.
Consider Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz - sometimes you end up winning entirely
by accidentally stumbling onto a victory scenario, which is a very amusing
possibility (ie. you didn't consider that the arch-demon would be neutralized
by giving it lots of gold to play with, so when you turned and ran, and dropped
your cash, you accidentally won the game).

I once had an AD&D Paladin who reminded me of an Abbott and Costello comedy:
he never could do anything right but always seemed to win in the end.

>The only game I have seen so far which plays like this is Fallout. If
>anyone can recommend other games that fit this mold, please let me
>hear your suggestions.

					Michael Lewchuk
					lewchuk@cs.UAlberta.CA