felipepepe
Codex's Heretic
So, I've been thinking about writing another clickbait article about RPGs, this time on ideas & concepts that were common, but now vanished. I mean, beyond good combat, fun dungeons, actual good writing, etc...
For example:
Item-based UI: Think Stonekeep, Lands of Lore, Ambermoon/star or Albion - you only had a on-screen compass if you bought/ found a in-game compass. I always thougt this was a cool concept.
Deadly Architeture: Dark areas, teleporters, pits, spinners, traps, no-magic areas, etc... dungeons of the past were often as threatening, if not more, than the actual monsters than inhabited them. Just ask any Wizardry player.
Problem is, while that all works well in first-person view, the omnipresent 3rd-person "behind the back" camera makes most of those tricks impossible - you can't seamlessly teleport a player in a game like The Witcher or Dark Souls without him noticing.
Riddles: Who can forget Betrayal at Krondor's chests, or that riddle the Baldur's Gate Genie made:
I remember reading a idiot game designer talking about how he doesn't do riddles anymore because people just Google then answer. That's bullshit, might as well not make a game at all since people will watch it being streamed.
Secret Characters: Another downside of the BioWarization of RPG companions is that they become a huge selling point and marketing focus. People knew the entire life of Dragon Age: Inquisition's companions even before the game was released.
This had a nasty side-effect - it kills any surprise. Imagine if Chrono Trigger came out today - you would know Magus can be recruited 6 months before release. It kills all the surprise of suddenly meeting a talking deathclaw in Fallout 2 (WUT?) and being able to recruit him (OH YEAH!!).
Any suggestions? It's a fun discussion, and I'll credit any idea I end up using.
For example:
Item-based UI: Think Stonekeep, Lands of Lore, Ambermoon/star or Albion - you only had a on-screen compass if you bought/ found a in-game compass. I always thougt this was a cool concept.
Deadly Architeture: Dark areas, teleporters, pits, spinners, traps, no-magic areas, etc... dungeons of the past were often as threatening, if not more, than the actual monsters than inhabited them. Just ask any Wizardry player.
Problem is, while that all works well in first-person view, the omnipresent 3rd-person "behind the back" camera makes most of those tricks impossible - you can't seamlessly teleport a player in a game like The Witcher or Dark Souls without him noticing.
Riddles: Who can forget Betrayal at Krondor's chests, or that riddle the Baldur's Gate Genie made:
A princess is as old as the prince will be when the princess is twice as old as the prince was when the princess' age was half the sum of their current ages.
I remember reading a idiot game designer talking about how he doesn't do riddles anymore because people just Google then answer. That's bullshit, might as well not make a game at all since people will watch it being streamed.
Secret Characters: Another downside of the BioWarization of RPG companions is that they become a huge selling point and marketing focus. People knew the entire life of Dragon Age: Inquisition's companions even before the game was released.
This had a nasty side-effect - it kills any surprise. Imagine if Chrono Trigger came out today - you would know Magus can be recruited 6 months before release. It kills all the surprise of suddenly meeting a talking deathclaw in Fallout 2 (WUT?) and being able to recruit him (OH YEAH!!).
Any suggestions? It's a fun discussion, and I'll credit any idea I end up using.