Editorial 2006: The Year in Review

[Vault Dweller]

Tags: The Year in Review

Another great year is done and gone. Let's take a moment and <a href=http://www.rpgcodex.com/content.php?id=139>bask in the memories</a>:
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<blockquote>Bioware's younger brother kinda saved the year with <a href=http://www.atari.com/nwn2/>Neverwinter Nights 2</a>, which could be described as Baldur's Gate 2 meets Icewind Dale 2, which is great, because these are my favourite games. From Baldur's Gate we’ve got the epic story reflecting the choiceless life of the Chosen One, and from Icewind Dale 2 we’ve got endless waves of enemies and more combat than in Halo, which is another of my favourite games, so I'm pretty sure we are dealing with an instant classic and a game of the year material here. Any game that features a githyanki proctologist

Spoiler

who will remove a two handed sword that got stuck in your ass during a questionable anal game when you were a child

has gotta be good. Don't worry about getting lost in the game though, it's one of the most linear games I've ever seen, and even individual maps feature super linear maze-like designs, firmly leading you in circles to your destinations through waves of unavoidable enemies. Every now and then you are given a dialogue option that can help you avoid 5% of combat in an area, to remind you that it's not a Diablo clone, but a fully blown role-playing game. </blockquote>
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[JarlFrank]

2006... well, quite an average year for RPGs, although rather ranging to the bad side.
We got too many disappointments this year.
There was Oblivion, which I did actually quite like, but it was nowhere where I expected it. Heck it was not even close to what the developers promised!
Then there came Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, an action game with some nice RPG features thrown in, which I did quite enjoy, but well, it was much too short sadly.
Then there was Gothic 3, which was not a disappointment story-wise or gameplay-wise... okay, combat sucks, but at least the story is nice and it is really non-linear. It offers quite a solid game experience, were there not the many bugs and the often encountered lag. Even though I got quite a decent system Gothic 3 gets quite laggy sometimes, but I hope that the patch will fix that [I always have high hopes in patches].
Well, that's about it, I haven't played NWN2 yet but I think I'll try it out, and I can't remember the stuff that happened in early 2006, weak memory here... but well, can't remember any RPGs that were released back then, were there?

 

[Volourn]

Not bad; but often full of the usual bullshit by the Codex marking them as no different than Bethesda fanboys.

Some gems:


"Gothic 3 is far from being a perfect game"

LOL That must be pointedly pointed out for my benefit. Face it, VD, you truly believe that G3 is perfect. L0LLERZ!


"Piranha Bytes' Gothic 3 turned out to be one of those games that you either hate or love"

Bullshit. I simply like it. It's not a great game nor is it a completely horrible game either. Do NOT fuckin' lie. Or, actually, please do. More amusing that way.


“humans=good, orcs=bad”

Are you stupid? Of course, the orcs are 'bad' in the game. Dumbass. How cna you play the game, and try to pretend that by joining the orc faction you are doing a 'good' or even 'neutral' deed. I mean for fuck sakes, they show the worst signs of any Real World dictator. Did you even play he fuckin' game?


"a DnD game (and according to rumors there is another one on the way"

O RLY? Outside of some random NWN2 expansion talk; when/where/how?


"Not much is known about the game"

Bullshit. There's LOTS known about DA. Moron.


Anyways, as usual, an entertaining read!!!! :D

 

[Jason]

It should have been titled "2006: Your Gonna Get Glued".

 

[LCJr.]

Another shitty year for RPG's. yippee

 

[JarlFrank]

Another shitty year for RPG's. yippee

I can quite surly assure you that it's not gonna be the last.

 

[Vault Dweller]

"Gothic 3 is far from being a perfect game"

LOL That must be pointedly pointed out for my benefit.

I've never claimed otherwise, despite what your overly vivid imagination might have told you.

“humans=good, orcs=bad”

Are you stupid? Of course, the orcs are 'bad' in the game. Dumbass. How cna you play the game, and try to pretend that by joining the orc faction you are doing a 'good' or even 'neutral' deed. I mean for fuck sakes, they show the worst signs of any Real World dictator. Did you even play he fuckin' game?

They are no different (or worse) than the rangers who kill innocent farmers accepting the orcs' rule, or the king who kept sending people to the mining colony with or without reasons, or many rebels who don't fight the orcs, but simply rob the caravans like common bandits.

"a DnD game (and according to rumors there is another one on the way"

O RLY? Outside of some random NWN2 expansion talk; when/where/how?

First you bitch when I post rumors, now you are suddenly interested? No, I didn't mean the expansion.

"Not much is known about the game"

Bullshit. There's LOTS known about DA. Moron.

You mean the stuff that our buddy Dave posts every now and then? Don't be silly. At best they are indications of his design ideas that may or may not be in the game.

Anyways, as usual, an entertaining read!!!! :D

My pleasure.

 

[suibhne]

They are no different (or worse) than the rangers who kill innocent farmers accepting the orcs' rule, or the king who kept sending people to the mining colony with or without reasons, or many rebels who don't fight the orcs, but simply rob the caravans like common bandits.

Bingo. The Gothic tradition is that all factions are corrupt and somewhat unpalatable; there's no truly "Good" route, as well as no cliched "Evil" path. The Orcs are brutal, but they're also portrayed like colonizers sadly out of touch with their colonial subjects - and they're quick to give honor once you've earned their respect.

Otoh I haven't gotten into Varant enough to see more of the Hashishin, who might be more stereotypically evil.

 

[crakkie]

Personally, I have a good feeling about Fallout 3. First, replacing aging turn-based combat with an intuitive, modern real-time system will revitalize the series. Second, Emil Pagliarulo is the lead designer. Honestly, I can’t think of a better choice than a guy who strongly believes that "Oblivion is still a joy to play". Anyway, last, but not the least, Fallout dungeons will be designed by Oblivion modders! Surprised? I bet. I bet you didn't even know that Fallout had dungeons, did you? See, I told you it's gonna be a surprise. Let's just hope you will be able to handle all the joy and excitement.

Fallout had dungeons. They were full of rats, geckos, or wimpy deathclaws. They were pointless XP farms, as will they most likely be in F3. Let's not rewrite history.

 

[Vault Dweller]

A cave is not a dungeon. Dungeon is a very specific concept, much like boss is. Sure you can say that any enemy leader is a boss, but it's not what the term refers to. Bosses and dungeons imply a certain design philosophy, and that's what my point was about.

 

[Admiral Rimjob POOBUM]

LOL That must be pointedly pointed out for my benefit. Face it, VD, you truly believe that G3 is perfect. L0LLERZ!

Has someone been feeding you meat again?

 

[crakkie]

How is the choice Interplay made when they put a pointless cave on the side of the mountain encounters that containing nothing but geckos, rats, or deathclaws better than Beth's choice of littering the gameworld with pointless dungeons that contain bandits, cultists, or undead?

The concept isn't much different and certainly no better. I'd like to see it improved in F3, but the original wasn't much of an inspiration.

Otherwise, good commentary.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Thanks.

As for the difference, first, you refer to random encounters, which is nothing more than a little extra on the side, second, you refer to Fallout 2, not the original game that had no geckos and only a handful of deathclaws (4-5?), and third, the difference is that TES games are built around dungeons - that's what you do in these games, you look for dungeons and explore (which means kill and loot) them. In Fallout "dungeons" played a very minor role, and the game certainly wasn't focused on them. In fact, you could easily remove them without taking much from the game. That's the key difference. Remove dungeons from Oblivion and see what's left.

 

[Sisay]

I still find the enslaving nations with necromancy jokes funny. I must be a horrible person. Nice read and as mentioned, yet another crappy year for crpgs. How's Geneforge 4 by the way? Still worth the $25?

 

[Balor]

You forgot to mention Dungeon Cleaners, you fanboi!!!111...
Or wait, can it be possible that you don't know the bestest language in the world - Russian? Truly you are a barbarian, sir.

Anyway, it IS an RPG, and a rather good RPG. Still leaves much to be desired, but I'd put it somewhere between G3 and NWN2 minus bugs and obscene sysreqs (a rather important aspect).

 

[FrancoTAU]

How bittersweet these articles are. I get a good chuckle at first than I have to go cry into a tub of Ben & Jerry's.

I've had no desire to play the 3 Diablo clones or the 3 Buggy & Mainstream RPGs. I did finally start playing Avernum 4 though. I dig it so far, but there is a whole bunch of deja vu playing the same and improved engine as the last 7 Spiderweb games.

 

[Transfiguring Roar]

Nice read, though not quite as funny as previous ones, Vault Dweller.

Aahhh, modern RPG's... Even better than coprophagy!

 

[Country_Gravy]

How come AoD isn't mentioned in the indie section. That and Echelon or whatever it's called are the only 2 games I am looking forward to next year.

You don't have a problem pimping your own product, do you VD?

Did Bethesda not teach you anything....ON WITH THE HYPE!!!1

 

[aweigh]

Ashes

 

[Psilon]

How's Geneforge 4 by the way? Still worth the $25?

Yeah, it's worth it. Can't go into more detail yet until the Windows version hits the release candidate stage, but while GF4 is more of the same, it's at least better more of the same. Much more of an increase over GF3 than GF3 was over GF2.

 

[Bradylama]

2007 better have something good, Goddamnit. AoD better not be some elaborate hoax.

 

[Volourn]

"They are no different (or worse) than the rangers who kill innocent farmers accepting the orcs' rule, or the king who kept sending people to the mining colony with or without reasons, or many rebels who don't fight the orcs, but simply rob the caravans like common bandits."

The rnagers in quetsion ar enot the norm. The normal human in the game doesn't go around randomly murdeirng people. Just like RL, not every human is good. The bottom line is, with some exceptions, all the orcs in the game fit the very description of evil. And, while eveyr human is not good; they are definitely more good on the whole than the way the orcs are displayed. You ahve to be retarded to think otherwise.



"First you bitch when I post rumors, now you are suddenly interested? No, I didn't mean the expansion."

I bitch when you post rumours as NEWS, dumbass. HUGE difference.


"Bingo. The Gothic tradition is that all factions are corrupt and somewhat unpalatable; there's no truly "Good" route, as well as no cliched "Evil" path. The Orcs are brutal, but they're also portrayed like colonizers sadly out of touch with their colonial subjects - and they're quick to give honor once you've earned their respect."

Bullshit. They certainly display good vs. evil. The rebels ar eobviously presented as the 'good guys' and the orcs as the 'evil guys'. You can't get much clearer than that. Are you gusy retaredd or just been brainwashed by Gothic 3's 'perfection' not to see such obvious shit? Gothic 3's world is very black and white.


"A cave is not a dungeon."

A cave is very much a dungeon. Do you even know what you speak of? Don't be a moron.

FO had dungeons. You'd have to be an idiot to think otherwise.

 

[Ladonna]

Why do you lie?

 

[Voss]

I still find the enslaving nations with necromancy jokes funny. I must be a horrible person.

What joke? That was something they advertised for DA early on, then backed out on. It would have been really great to have something like that in a game, especially if the game world reacted to it.

Sadly, its apparently too hard, or takes away from work on teh Graffix, or something.



You are most likely a horrible person, however.

 

[aweigh]

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b9ce7ef0c1