1eyedking Interesting ideas in bad RPGs

[Matalarata]

engrish.

Hirohiko Araki's take on italian is wonderful too. I ask myself how many fans worldwide understand the meaning of the words he uses as names...

LINGUSTICU SUPRHORITY

 

[pippin]

The opening vignettes in ToEE were pretty terrible. DA:O's origins introduced you to the world and gave some room for roleplaying.

Yeah, but the origins feel largely disassociated from the rest of the game -DAO-; it was nice that, at least in dialogue form, many npcs noted my race and/or class.

Konung - interesing setting (Scandinavian) and nations to play (Slavic, Byzantine and Viking).
Other than that it was quite enjoyable but I have no idea if it's still good because game (or should I say his DRM, some StarForce wannabe) doesn't work with modern systems so devs send some "cure" for it but they don't anymore.

I have Konung 2 on Steam and it doesn't seem to have any malicious DRM. In fact I think it was removed from both 2 and 3, if I remember correctly. They still have to release the first game there, though.

 

[Baron Dupek]

I have Konung 2 on Steam and it doesn't seem to have any malicious DRM. In fact I think it was removed from both 2 and 3, if I remember correctly. They still have to release the first game there, though.

I was talking about first one. Still not released on 1C shops in Ru/Czech/Potato not to mention Steam.

 

[Stainless Veteran]

I have Konung 2 on Steam and it doesn't seem to have any malicious DRM. In fact I think it was removed from both 2 and 3, if I remember correctly. They still have to release the first game there, though.

I was talking about first one. Still not released on 1C shops in Ru/Czech/Potato not to mention Steam.

Your post reminded me about Всеслав Чародей aka Fatherdale. The project probably would have turned out to be shit, but the whole idea of Infinity Engine-like game with slavic mythology had some merit.

 

[I_am_Ian]

Why the 1eyedking tag?

 

[felipepepe]

Why the 1eyedking tag?

I thought it was appropriate for something that sucks but has a few good moments. :3

 

[Grauken]

So? My words are true. I haven't seen it used since, because I haven't played those games you mentioned. Besides, Bloodwych did it first by 3-4 years.

If you're going to be an condescending ass who nitpicks over every little thing others say, you might as well just stop posting.

Nope, The Magic Candle also hat extensive party split up, also published 1989

 

[sser]

I remember Revenant having a really interesting fight-system, but I lost the game before getting far into it. I keep hoping to see it on GoG.

 

[flabbyjack]

Inquisitor is a game of dualities. On the one hand it is an artistic masterpiece, on the other an aggravating pile of shit. Inquisitor built a sanctuary around the concept of dark text-based investigations and intrigue, but unfortunately it used tedious RPG filler combat as construction material. The game has an obscene amount of text dialogue to sink your teeth into, but it interrupts up those dialogue sequences with painfully large dungeons and wilderness maps filled with repetitive enemies and dark corners to play pixel-hunt in. It depicted stunningly beautiful user-interface, detailed Gothic architecture, and while it has an extensive soundtrack and presented a visual feast for the late-game dungeons it managed to still be one of the worst action-RPGs I have ever played due to potion-chugging mechanics and aggravating features such as frequent stunlock and slowing your character for several minutes.

Spoiler

 

[Higher Animal]

Those screens look horrendous.

 

[PhantasmaNL]

Two games which had excellent original settings and atmosphere but unfortunatly less than stellar execution.

The Legacy from Microprose. Superb atmosphere, in a Lovecraftian setting (including fish people...). I really liked this and thought it was pretty unique in avoiding standard fantasy stuff. What i didnt like were some of the dead ends and extremely fragile nature of your character, in combination with poor resolution of combat situations. Iirc i did finish it after a very long time. Also this DOS game had windows which you could resize and move about. A Big Thing back then. I believe Microprose used it for one of their (equally unique) real time tank wargame Accross the Rhine. Drawback of all this technical wizardry was that it performed very poorly on my 386sx..

Then there is Bloodnet, also unique in setting: gothic-vampire-cyberpunk. Again, very atmospheric but this game tried to do too much. Cyberspace was a joke, maybe added at the last moment. You basically wander around in a featureless blob. Also a *little* more direction would have been good. Most of the time it was totally unclear what to do. This isnt bad perse but in a situation were you have limited time it kind of is.

 

[V_K]

extremely fragile nature of your character, in combination with poor resolution of combat situations

IIRC, it said right in the manual, that you should avoid direct combat whenever possible. It's a survival horror game after all, not your usual power fantasy.

 

[Black_Willow]

Guild Wars 2, which used a stat system where every stat can be usefull for every class, ie. power increased damage done both for fireball-tossing elementalist and axe-wielding warrior. Well, the system got quite underwhelming pretty fast because all the classes weren't varied unough, but maybe some dev could make use of a simillar system in a single-player RPG.
Or better not.

 

[Gozma]

The origin stuff in Dragon Age and the reactivity to it.

I loved doing the ship boarding/hijacking stuff in Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday. Piracy is always a fun RPG crime often undersupplied in the normal course of RPG sociopathy

Liberal Crime Squad is a great for getting the sense of building an organization that has an existence and purpose in gameplay, compares very favorably with the standard "build up your stronghold!" cliche where you do quests for some shit that never actually matters in the end besides giving your soldiers a different armor graphic and making some fight in the endgame 5% easier.

 

[octavius]

I loved doing the ship boarding/hijacking stuff in Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday. Piracy is always a fun RPG crime often undersupplied in the normal course of RPG sociopathy

You're saying it was a bad game?

 

[Gozma]

Nah, and Liberal Crime Squad is pretty good also. I was just thinking of standout good elements of games you could theoretically transfer to other designs.

 

[Fowyr]

Yendorian Tales 2 and 3 with their language skills. Without them you see a bunch of gibberish that gradually becomes more and more clear as your skill rises.
Also I can't call Magic Candle a bad game, but it had many unique features - for example, you could send you party member to some location (and expect him to make his way after some time or be caught and placed in jail) or get him a job and leave for month or two.

 

[PhantasmaNL]

extremely fragile nature of your character, in combination with poor resolution of combat situations

IIRC, it said right in the manual, that you should avoid direct combat whenever possible. It's a survival horror game after all, not your usual power fantasy.

You're probably right..Iirc i did try that but sometimes it just wasnt avoidable and i got killed numerous times. Still the atmosphere was superb. Only recent(-ish) game that did something similar for me was Bloodlines (Ocean Hotel mission, wow cheesy, but excellent). We need more RPGs like that, avoiding the usual fantasy shit and trying something else.

 

[baturinsky]

Sims 3, Sims 3:World Adventures and Sims Medieval have lot of stuff that could make it a good RPG, if they were better balanced and structured.

 

[abnaxus]

I have Konung 2 on Steam and it doesn't seem to have any malicious DRM. In fact I think it was removed from both 2 and 3, if I remember correctly. They still have to release the first game there, though.

I was talking about first one. Still not released on 1C shops in Ru/Czech/Potato not to mention Steam.

Funny Konung 2 + 3 are on Steam but Farewell to Dragons was removed for unknown reasons.

 

[Onholyservicebound]

I always thought the weapon proficiencies and badass ranks in Borderlands and Borderlands 2 were cool ideas, especially for a sandbox type RPG. Just a little bit of proficiency by use without going Elder Scrolls and making that the core way of levelling.

Fable, and it's sequels also had some cool ideas despite their shit game status, most related to character appearance or non-combat activities. the way your character changed visually with certain power gains for instance, was cool. A feature later taken out, because their weaboo fans complained that they couldn't play as final fantasy characters and the womyn didn't like getting too many muscles.

Origins from Dragon Age, as someone already said, definitely +1 that.

 

[Baron Dupek]

Funny Konung 2 + 3 are on Steam but Farewell to Dragons was removed for unknown reasons.

There must be something with easterneuropean publishers/rightholders. They made big suprise by releasing Man of Prey... only to remove it later and change the title to alternative (Marauder), not original.
It's not about different titles on the west, game wasn't released in in boxes, only some mysterious publishing in potato gaming magazine...

 

[Lilura]

Then there is Bloodnet, also unique in setting: gothic-vampire-cyberpunk.

I was gonna name Lionheart: LotC as a bad RPG with a good idea (Renaissance setting!), but then I realized that not slavishly following over-used fantasy settings isn't having a "good idea", it's just not slavishly following over-used fantasy settings, which is really a pretty normal and common idea anyone can think of that publishers just stubbornly refuse to rubber-stamp.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Force mage in Dragon Age 2, it was nice to see use of telekinesis in battle instead of puzzle solving.

Planet exploration in Mass Effect 1 was an interesting idea which carried out as boring and shallow empty planet scavenging and monkey killing.

VtM Redemptions age jump. Such wasted C&C potantial there...

Lionheart! I had high hopes for such a setting and thought it was delivering, till I left the city... I'd kill for a decent RPG featuring a crusade against dragons/goblins in that setting.

Age of Conan's combo based combat.

 

[Stainless Veteran]

[snip]Age of Conan's combo based combat.

I still fail to see how that was a good idea.