Encounter design is king

[Jaesun]

Are you going to tell us, or just keep quoting ?

Maybe I'm asking the wrong question. Maybe you're just saying that you don't have the definite answer to what an RPG is.

But surely you have an opinion on what an RPG is right? So what is your opinion?

What - in your mind - makes an RPG?

You came here with ALL the answers. What are rpg elements as well as what makes a RPG game, a RPG. We are still waiting.

We are all here seeking the light. Why won't you tell us?

 

[valcik]

YHBT
Stop derailing good thread plox.

 

[Ninjerk]

RPG game

 

[vean]

You came here with ALL the answers. What are rpg elements as well as what makes a RPG game, a RPG. We are still waiting.

We are all here seeking the light. Why won't you tell us?

OK, maybe you have problems with abstraction. Let's try something concrete: is DXHR an RPG? What makes it an RPG?

 

[Jaesun]

You came here with ALL the answers. What are rpg elements as well as what makes a RPG game, a RPG. We are still waiting.

We are all here seeking the light. Why won't you tell us?

OK, maybe you have problems with abstraction. Let's try something concrete: is DXHR an RPG? What makes it an RPG?

Please tell us! WE NEED TO KNOW!

 

[vean]

Please tell us! WE NEED TO KNOW!

Ok, I'll tell you: DXHR is not an RPG.

Now will you answer my question?

 

[Perkel]

Please tell us! WE NEED TO KNOW!

Ok, I'll tell you: DXHR is not an RPG.

Now will you answer my question?

and what it has to have to be a RPG ?

 

[InD_ImaginE]

Ok, I'll tell you: DXHR is not an RPG.

Please explain to me why. I am a 2015 neophyte newfags that know not what an RPG is.

 

[vean]

Please explain to me why. I am a 2015 neophyte newfags that know not what an RPG is.

How can I explain to you why something isn't an RPG?

Games start out by not being RPGs. They become RPGs by the addition of RPG elements.

DXHR is not an RPG for the reason that a potato isn't.

 

[Dead Guy]

The worst encounter type is idiot noobs with no sense of humour or self-awareness, especially when you didn't include a moderator in your party with the ability to split OT posts from an otherwise interesting thread.

 

[Perkel]

Games start out by not being RPGs. They become RPGs by the addition of RPG elements.

what rpg elements ?

 

[vean]

what rpg elements ?

What do you think they are?

 

[Perkel]

what rpg elements ?

What do you think they are?

You are the one that says there are no rpg elements so say what are those elements.

 

[vean]

You are the one that says there are no rpg elements so say what are those elements.

OK, here's the list of RPG elements in DXHR:

Now answer my question.

 

[vivec]

Nice. Derailment of a perfectly good thread.

Back on topic.

Encounter design has something inherently to do with the story. It has to fit in and justify why the current encounter fits into the current progression. However, this is only the peripheral aspect of the encounter. When in sewers you fight the giant rat. But making that giant rat Unique, challenging and giving it a build up still helps. The uniqueness comes from not repeating the monster again and again in it's smaller more menial versions as well (Giant rat, Giant Dire rat, Giant Plague rat etc). Also, it comes from giving it a backstory (how did the rat go giant?). The challenge aspect is obvious. However, it should be built up leading to the final point. The game should give you clues as to what its weakness is and how to approach it. If that build up is tied to a skill ( lore, tracking etc) even the better.

Note to our autist friends : This is not me endorsing giant rat encounters. This is an example to set up encounters.

 

[octavius]

I liked the Fat Rat encounter in Wiz 6, when the Fat Rat and its rat pack would burst out of the wall if smelling Rotten Cheese.

 

[Ninjerk]

You are the one that says there are no rpg elements so say what are those elements.

OK, here's the list of RPG elements in DXHR:

Now answer my question.

You established yourself as the authority; the onus is on you to provide the elements.

 

[vean]

You established yourself as the authority; the onus is on you to provide the elements.

As the authority, I order you to go first.

 

[octavius]

Can't someone give that annoying git a Shitposter tag already?

 

[Mustawd]

what rpg elements ?

What do you think they are?

You are the one that says there are no rpg elements so say what are those elements.

OK, here's the list of RPG elements in DXHR:

Now answer my question.

You established yourself as the authority; the onus is on you to provide the elements.

As the authority, I order you to go first.

Can't someone give this annoying git a Shitposter tag already?

Goddammit Celerity. Stop making alts. I'm fucking serious. We know it's you, you fucking loser.

 

[orcinator]

What - in your mind - makes an RPG?

A game where you play a role

 

[Zanzoken]

But eventually your sole ability to swing a sword or shoot a bow can change the fate of the world.

Also having to relinquish control in a combat scenario is simply a shit idea in video games because watching the AI fight other AI is rarely fun or engaging and if you don't let the player affect the AI (or make it heavily scripted) what you have left is a luck based encounter, and that's bad, especially when your combat system is very slow paced.

Intent is meaningless when their execution fails at not being a boring slog.

Like I said, I don't think it's the encounter that is bad -- you just don't like this type of battle. It's like if I bake a chocolate cake but you don't like chocolate. It could be the best chocolate cake ever but you won't enjoy it. And there's nothing wrong with that.

 

[Zanzoken]

That the game's NPC usually don't treat you as such and ending slides don't reflect it doesn't change that in gameplay terms you very much are the usual chosen one video game protagonist who develops from a rookie to a killing machine in a very short span of time. You're not just some soldier among dozen of others when major events in the game play out very differently without you participating in them, it's C&C course but it also showcases the heavy impact your PC's actions have.

I mean let's examine the combat focused path, you start out as some random semi-competent bouncer and rise up to become an arena champion, activate and wear the magnificent piece of ancient technology that is Power Armor, regularly take on groups of dozen people single-handedly (and many of them compose of trained soldiers), amass a 200+ bodycount and quite possibly end up punching out Cthulhu, all in a span of a few months or so? Regardless of whether the game goes the Bioware route and gives you constant blowjobs for achieving such epic feats or like AoD insists you're still largely insignificant in the larger scheme of things it's still essentially your usual zero-to-hero progress in terms of gameplay typical of CRPGs.

Now don't get me wrong, I love the game and consider it to be the best RPG to come out in the last 10 years but I'd say those specific design goals you mentioned are achieved only in the Teron part of the game where taking on even 3-4 people can be a nail-biting affair (as it should be in such a setting). They start to apply less so as you advance through the game and get to a point where for example one of the Centurions in Caer-Tor casually asks you to prove your worth by taking on 5 raiders on your own (whom you proceed to crush like insects with a combat oriented char).

Fair point -- I guess it's more of a perception than a reality. The game's power curve is still pretty steep, probably more so than it should be.

 

[Infinitron]

Goddammit Celerity. Stop making alts. I'm fucking serious. We know it's you, you fucking loser.

He's actually a potatojohn alt. He didn't like being tagged!

 

[Mustawd]

*sigh* potatojohn da fuck? Stop emulating Celerity's stupid ass.