Spazmo said:
Through my five years of RPG gaming, I have noticed one element that seems to constantly return in almost every game I play: the journal. Whenever your character is exploring a dungeon, you always manage to find some guy's journal that explains in depth how to get past the Terrible Trap of Torment, the Perplexing Puzzle of Pandemonium, or the Massive Monster of Mutilation. Every freakin' time. This is most prevalent in BioWare's games where every dungeon comes with a free guide. It's amazing that after all this time, nobody has yet found a better way of giving clues in RPGs.
I agree that journals are largely crap, because if they knew how to solve the puzzle, why are they dead? Why didn't they get the prize? Why did they leave their journal behind?
But that's BioWare for you. It's like all the HeadEx quests in NWN. They come up with some plot device, and then they use it over and over and over again because they have no creativity whatsoever.
Avernum games are filled with puzzles, but they're there for you to figure out on your own. They don't spoil the puzzles with lame and cliche plot devices. That's really the way it should be.
Anonymous said:
PS:T had a great plot device - 'flashbacks'. so, this could solve many cliched 'clue' problems. instead of a journal or a note you'd trigger a 'flashback'. but, then the quality of writing and ideas in Torment was exceptional. magical tatoos were pretty cool for a start.
This is basically a cliche of any lost memory plot. They all have this, in movies, RPGs, TV shows, books, etc. The designers of PS:T just borrowed this device since it fit the game.
Vampire media, Highlander movies/tv, and just about any "elongated life" motiff also uses these frequently, as well.
On the other hand, the most cliched plots are just a variation of typical Hollywood fare -
"An evil something or other has re-awakened ONCE AGAIN, and YOU, yes YOU, are chosen to march across some dozen maps and whoop its ass with the specially forged sword of Righteous buttkicking." The crowd cheers.
The FANTASY setting uses this all the damned time. I've always found it funny that in the fantasy setting, there's never a new threat.. It's always an ANCIENT ENEMY.
ALWAYS. And there's never a present time solution to the ANCIENT ENEMY, you always have to seek out the ANCIENT SOLUTION, be it a weapon, or a scroll, or some other ANCIENT magic item.
Although, I will say Arcanum was interesting in that it was an ANCIENT ENEMY plot, basically.. The ANCIENT ENEMY was using technology to break it's bonds, since technology interfered with magic.
an RPG based on the Blade Runner universe and atmosphere would be refreshing. sort of hopeless, dark, no real heroes or villains, just trying to suvive, etc...
Wasn't that basically Fallout? Hero or villian, whichever one you were, it still boiled down to you having to do what you do to survive. Whether you helped the world along the way, or seriously screwed it up, was up to you.
Deathy said:
The portrayal of the Vault Dweller as an old legend in Fallout 2 is probably the only thing that Fallout 2 did well.
Fallout 2's "designers" also made the assumption that the Vault Dweller did do the
Good Guy thing, rather than leaving it up in the air as to how he did things. After all, Tandi was obviously saved, and if you read the NCR Propeganda, he saved all the locations south of there. Killian survived, after all.
The ancient evil could be a sentient being trapped in an ancient tomb. An ancient technology that would prove to be the end of mankind, an entity trapped in another dimension, however, they always seem to have the same motivation. Destruction of the world, just for the sake of destroying the world.
That's another nice thing about Fallout. The Master thought he was
saving the world by converting humans in to supermutants. This device even allowed you to present the problems with his plan to him, and he's kill himself over it.
Trajkov in Geneforge is another prime example of an "enemy" that believes he's doing the right thing, even though that may not be the case. After all, he allied with the Takers, who are a nasty lot.
Secton8 said:
Magic. Not necessarily just the existence of magic, but the fact that every game seems to have identical spell sets, and magic always seems to be underpowered at the start of a game, and overpowered by the end.
Yup, I totally hate the fact they CRPGs have adopted the D&D idea that mages start off as pissant weaklings and end up being ubermensch.
Goody two shoes. Far too many games force you to be the good guy, or in the case of Biofodder, evil means doing the good guy stuff but getting paid for it.
Black Isle likes to do this as well.
XJEDX said:
Dungeons of any kind, or by any other name, ie Vaults, Caverns, Tombs, etc.
I would like a game where I can stay outside pretty much all of the time, or at least above ground.
"Dungeons" can be above ground, such as Mariposa in Fallout.