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Central hero or party (Poll)

Central hero or generated party?

  • Central hero

    Votes: 37 38.5%
  • Generated party

    Votes: 32 33.3%
  • kingcomrade!?

    Votes: 27 28.1%

  • Total voters
    96

ItsChon

Resident Zoomer
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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
It depends on the game as a bunch of people have said, though I'm inclined to lean towards a central hero as I prefer a more narrative driven game than a tactics based combat game.
 

FeelTheRads

Arcane
Joined
Apr 18, 2008
Messages
13,716
Seriously? Why do you even play games then? To play around with some sprites like in a dollhouse?

The whole point is to gain experiences that you cannot gain in RL, e.g. being an adventurer, conqueror, general, explorer, etc.

Yes, video games are an advanced form of playing with a dollhouse. It's escapism.
That doesn't mean I have to pretend to be the guy killing dragons or that multiple characters affect the experience in any way.
In fact, I prefer to roleplay the guy who builds the guy who's killing dragons. And multiple characters means I get to roleplay more.
 
Self-Ejected

IncendiaryDevice

Self-Ejected
Village Idiot
Joined
Nov 3, 2014
Messages
7,407
Also, there's nothing true about that. Comparing your experience with the "experience" of a sprite or 3D model is seriously deranged.

Seriously? Why do you even play games then? To play around with some sprites like in a dollhouse?

The whole point is to gain experiences that you cannot gain in RL, e.g. being an adventurer, conqueror, general, explorer, etc.

So you imagine yourself as a small itailian plumber bouncing over venus fly traps and onto walking mushrooms do you? You think when someone adds stats to Mario then you can imagine yourself as doing those things more can you?
 
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NotAGolfer

Arcane
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Land of Bier and Bratwurst
Divinity: Original Sin 2
Also, there's nothing true about that. Comparing your experience with the "experience" of a sprite or 3D model is seriously deranged.

Seriously? Why do you even play games then? To play around with some sprites like in a dollhouse?
Yes, obviously.
There are exceptions like the original Fallout games, Baldur's Gate 1&2 and PS:T, but in most cases gaming the game's systems is the main appeal CRPGs have. That and that addictive (if well done) level up progression where in the best case the game continues to open up and gives you new and interesting options all the way through.

Most games are just way too shit in the writing department.
And even the most outstanding, most epic journey doesn't get a single bit better if you "roleplay" it like a complete douche. Just remember which of these characters you are supposed to play and try to stay interested in what's happening in the game. Some games like PS:T reward that interest, most just make you want to be able to click the skip option faster.

Which means that all these Sims games are quite well done CRPGs btw, with their complete lack of a grand story and their addictive levelup progression that opens up new shiny things to buy so you can get your next consumerist fix and impress the neighbors (come on, admit it, you only frown upon it irl because you can't afford it!), or new things to do (marry, start a family, throw pool parties, add a dungeon, or even add sex mods so inviting over that black stud next door gets a little more entertaining). So yeah, the virtual doll house is actually a good example. :smug:
 
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Unwanted

Micormic

Unwanted
Joined
Mar 25, 2009
Messages
939
Central hero for story oriented games ie fallout/arcanum/BG/whatever


Other type for might and magic or icewindkillskeletons dale
 
Unwanted

Micormic

Unwanted
Joined
Mar 25, 2009
Messages
939
Also, there's nothing true about that. Comparing your experience with the "experience" of a sprite or 3D model is seriously deranged.

Seriously? Why do you even play games then? To play around with some sprites like in a dollhouse?

The whole point is to gain experiences that you cannot gain in RL, e.g. being an adventurer, conqueror, general, explorer, etc.


There's a line between enjoying doing something you can't do in real life. Examples include killing skeletons, liberating grumm and solving the mysteries of rivet city.


Then there's people who live such dismal lives they carry out conversations with video game characters in their head or have any type of real attachment to virtual characters. Examples include bioware romance fans, people who play world of warcraft and people who cried when that skank died in final fantasy 7(not looking up how to spell her name).
 
Joined
May 31, 2018
Messages
2,509
Location
The Present
Generally, a central hero with party. If exploration or investigation are central aspects of the game, then I prefer solo hero, with maybe a side-kick.
 

fantadomat

Arcane
Edgy Vatnik Wumao
Joined
Jun 2, 2017
Messages
37,087
Location
Bulgaria
I like central hero,even when i play an old rpg i always make the first character to be my avatar. For the rest of the party,well i don't care much as long the game is good. I could do modern soap opera companions and silent killing machines.
 

octavius

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Aug 4, 2007
Messages
19,184
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Bjørgvin
For me party members in games older than Fallout are just stats and number. They don't have any individual personality.
But my party may have some general "alignment". For example if there's a Paladin in the party the party will tend to behave Lawful Good. A "normal" party will draw the line at killing innocents. That's about the extent of role playing I can do in party based games not having a central character.
 

Roqua

Prospernaut
Dumbfuck Repressed Homosexual In My Safe Space
Joined
Apr 28, 2004
Messages
4,130
Location
YES!
My absolute pinnacle of ideal rpg will always and always has included full party generation and hopefully really challenging combat. But, some of my favorite rpgs do not have this - like Fo1/2, Arcanum, AoD, Underrail.

FO 1/2 and Arcanum had party members, but they seemed more like flavor than a real party meant to be useful. And in unmoded FO 1/2 they usually were more of a hindrance in combat than anything close to helpful. The common patches people apply fix this so most people seem to assume they always worked decently is the gist I get. And combat in Arcanum is just bad regardless if it is only you or if you have a big party.

What I hate about the BG take on recruitables that I have seen since then - like in Kotors, Dragon Age, etc, is that the focus is on talking to them and not building or using an efficient team. The game's base line combat then becomes too easy since they want you to pick a party based on personality and flavor. Which means an rpg system based on flavor, where every combination is viable and every chargen choice is flavor. Where young kids can blow through combat without thinking. Where standard/normal difficulty is storymode, and storymode is for people that dislike the game part of games.

It makes no sense to me to undermine all the rpg systems and the core gameplay feature of the games (combat) by building a no-gimp, no-thought, no-challenge system around it. It means the game WILL be a bad game. Probably a bad game with an entertaining story. I can watch shows and read books if I want bad games with interesting stories. Arcanum at least was able to have a lot of great game and gameplay outside of the bad, way too easy combat.
 

Cael

Arcane
Joined
Nov 1, 2017
Messages
20,294
Behead those who worship party-based!
*sigh*

673.gif
 

Ranarama

Learned
Joined
Dec 7, 2016
Messages
604
Once you're controlling multiple people, you no longer really roleplay them.

Unless you've got other people at your computer playing the others I guess.
 

vonAchdorf

Arcane
Joined
Sep 20, 2014
Messages
13,465
A central hero, who's collecting party members ("companions") like in harem games, is generally a stupid concept, which leads to retardations like "romance". I don't mind one or two slots for temporary companions, but they should leave, before they overstay their welcome.
 

Hrymr

Educated
Joined
Jul 7, 2017
Messages
80
Only generated party, but it has to be party of the sufficient size - 6 or more characters.

With party of 4 there is really no choice. You always need one frontliner, one healer, one magician and one lock-opening and trap-disarming bot, so all positions are occupied from the start.
 

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