"Down time" in RPG's

[StaticSpine]

I think that downtime is really necessary for RPG games. Getting rest after long dungeon crawl, restocking, managing your stuff, selling stuff, if the game mechanics has an ability to own a house, than stock something in different closets etc. All of that just calms you down, you get a safe feeling before future adventures.

Skyrim IMO makes this part of gameplay well, you can even have a wife to look after the house.

Or the games of Persona series, heavily based on dungeon crawling, but with an equal social part, exploring the location, hanging out with friends, growing social links. The downtime here is a good half of gameplay.

 

[Lancehead]

Reading books in Morrowind.

 

[Ninjerk]

I think that downtime is really necessary for RPG games. Getting rest after long dungeon crawl, restocking, managing your stuff, selling stuff, if the game mechanics has an ability to own a house, than stock something in different closets etc. All of that just calms you down, you get a safe feeling before future adventures.

Skyrim IMO makes this part of gameplay well, you can even have a wife to look after the house.

Or the games of Persona series, heavily based on dungeon crawling, but with an equal social part, exploring the location, hanging out with friends, growing social links. The downtime here is a good half of gameplay.

NuBro, if you continue to use that avatar you're going to have a bad time.

 

[DraQ]

Reading books in Morrowind.

Also making spells in Morrowind.

 

[Akratus]

If you're makings pells/crafting armor or weapons etc. Is it really downtime? I see that as more getting ready for combat again. For me real downtime is dialogue, and reading books of course.

 

[eremita]

There's a funny thing I find myself doing in my latest ToEE run: I actually enjoy just hanging out in Hommlet. Now before too many monocles get dropped, allow me to explain.

There is an appeal to having "down time" in RPG's. We've all done it: spending time just admiring your characters, making sure you've talked to all NPC's even if they're not giving any extra quests, etc. I don't mean 'sperging out about finding every little nook and cranny in the game, I mean just slowing down and contemplating how much you enjoy the game or just "getting into the moment".

The Village of Hommlet was by far one of my favorite AD&D modules. That has a lot to do with my willingness not to just skip over all the boring FedEx quests in the town while playing ToEE. But it's more than that. There's a thing called "bench racing" when you're talking to car nuts -- guys who are into building up and tuning muscle cars or are into some other kind of backyard racing often enjoy the act of bragging to one another or just comparing notes, etc., sometimes even moreso than the actual activity itself. A lot of their time is taken up simply talking about their craft and hobby. I think that applies to playing CRPG's, sometimes, too. If there's enough atmosphere in the game to sit and enjoy, or enough depth to the characters, or, in my case, an appreciation of the source material beyond that which the computer adaptation provides, it can be fascinating just taking a few extra minutes to let things sink in, for lack of a better term. Kind of like bench racing.

This is also often true of certain MMO's, as well, but we won't get too far into that discussion.

Suffice it to say that for me, sometimes half the fun of playing a decent- to good RPG is that down time, the calm between encounters, the planning, even if that borders on LARPing, and the anticipation of what's up next. Bad- to horrible CRPG's, like Dragon Age 2, are simply not capable of inciting these kinds of feelings, because they're far too shallow and insipid of games to give a damn about.

I'm certain I'm not alone in this.

Hommlet sucks balls! I get what you're saying I just disagree that this applies to ToEE. Imho Hommlet was never meant to be just a place for rest, lay off, admiring you characters or whatever... There are quests, there are people, something is going on (there are few more serious quest, not just stuff about redneck who wants his daughter to get married...), but every single aspect is fucking joke. I'm glad that you had a nice time but I was bored as fuck. It always striked me as some poor fan-mode. Someone was trying shit in toolset - that's Hommlet.

 

[DefJam101]

hommlet sucks and OP is a faggot

 

[Abelian]

I think that down-time is important in all games, not just RPG's, since it provides a chance to the player to release his tension and relax after the action. It's a chance to "stop and smell the roses" so to speak, and pay closer attention to the details that the devs put in the game which player might not notice while they're struggling to stay alive.

For example, my favorite shooter game, Raptor, had an hangar in between levels with atmospheric music compared to the high-energy music of the levels. The game's developer (it was programmed by one guy, Scott Host, with help for music, graphics, level design) could have decided to have a simple menu for save, load, exit, continue and buy/sell weapons. It's a small detail, but I consider it very nicely implemented.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

If you're makings pells/crafting armor or weapons etc. Is it really downtime? I see that as more getting ready for combat again. For me real downtime is dialogue, and reading books of course.

It's not combat proper, like browsing the town shop district for equipment that you will eventually use in battle. Dialogue can also lead directly to combat, for that matter.

 

[StaticSpine]

NuBro, if you continue to use that avatar you're going to have a bad time.

Why is that, man?

Sorry for Offtop (can't find how to PM anyone).

 

[DraQ]

If you're makings pells/crafting armor or weapons etc. Is it really downtime? I see that as more getting ready for combat again. For me real downtime is dialogue, and reading books of course.

Not all spells are for combat use and not all are of some immediate utility.
I can't really call making spells for fun, experimentation assisting travel and exploration as well as prospect of fighting some nebulous threats in the future anything but downtime.

 

[Ninjerk]

NuBro, if you continue to use that avatar you're going to have a bad time.

Why is that, man?
Sorry for Offtop (can't find how to PM anyone).

One of the more colorful dexers has that avatar, and you probably don't want to be mistaken for him.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

I don't like the connotations of the word 'downtime' because, as others have mentioned, it suggests the idea of LARPing. Let's leave that to the Bethesda forums.

There's plenty of RPGs where I've just enjoyed exploring and taking in the atmosphere, though. Morrowind, Skyrim and The Witcher games all spring to mind. They were lacking in some important RPG elements but they had excellent world design and atmosphere.

 

[bertram_tung]

Walking the streets of hollywood in bloodlines, with that depressing music playing. Just hanging out at the gas station talking to the stoner. Good stuff.

 

[DraQ]

I don't like the connotations of the word 'downtime' because, as others have mentioned, it suggests the idea of LARPing.

Pretty much everything suggests the idea of LARPing to someone here.

I'd gladly leave that aspect of forum activity to Bethesda forums, but unfortunately Codex isn't free of s either.