Preview Using deeds instead of skills in Rise of the Argonauts

[DarkUnderlord]

Tags: Rise of the Argonauts

<a href="http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10978&Itemid=2">Next-Gen have a preview up of Rise of the Argonauts</a>. They talk about some of the more unique aspects of the game's skill system. Mainly that there is none:
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<blockquote>More than six months on, a new ‘production cut’ – a 45-minute edit of a two-hour level assembled from elements at varying stages of readiness for the game’s autumn release on PS3, 360 and PC – has some answers. Argonauts’ action RPG credentials are lent by the fact that the plot and player attributes are advanced by victory in battle; it’s a genre-bender because there are still no stats. No trading of numbers. No default onscreen furniture – HUD, life bar, lock-on circles.
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No experience points, even. In their place, Jason completes ‘deeds’, which he can then redeem with his chosen deity for new attributes. Arguing that the BioWare/Fable model of selecting a good or evil path penalizes the less partisan adventurer with lesser rewards, and that such dualistic extremes don’t fit the nuanced, humanistic morality of ancient Greece, Liquid is instead offering a choice of four gods. Allegiance to each develops a particular fighting style and weapon specialism, and the developer claims its weapon-balancing and fair distribution of spoils means players can roleplay without having to remove themselves from the story to manage the math. The game’s rethinking of action-RPG convention is loving but also blasphemous, and may be its defining feature. It seeks to both honor and improve upon the core components of the genre.</blockquote>
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Blasphemous?
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Spotted @ <a href="http://www.rpgwatch.com">RPGWatch</a>

 

[User was nabbed fit]

They talk about some of the more unique aspects of the game's skill system. Mainly that there is none

MMLOL.

 

[ghostdog]

So it's basically God Of war.

 

[JarlFrank]

So there's basically no experience points, but you get certain abilities when you do certain quests for certain gods? Sounds good if I understood that right, better than XP-grinding for sure.

 

[Shannow]

So there's basically no experience points, but you get certain abilities when you do certain quests for certain gods? Sounds good if I understood that right, better than XP-grinding for sure.

+1

Bloodlines?

 

[Hümmelgümpf]

What's even better is that this game has C&C. One of the previews described a nice situation: at one point you can save the life of a merchant. Later on, you travel to his homeland, and if he has survived you meet him there and get a side quest from him. If he dies, you'll find the widow at his home, and she'll offer you a different quest. Looks like The Witcher with more action-y combat thus far.

 

[JarlFrank]

Also, being granted powers by the gods is way more "realistic" [in fantasy/mythology at least] than becoming more powerful than the strongest NPC in the gameworld after killing a few hordes of goblins, while all professional soldiers in the gameworld are weaker than you even though they probably killed more creatures than you ever did. Wut?

 

[Unradscorpion]

Was there an RPG with less RPG elements than this one...
Sounds pretty good so far, we'll see how it turns out.

 

[stony3k]

Sounds nice. At least they're trying something new instead of the same old D&D type stuff

 

[Herbert West]

Interesting, I should pay more attention to this game. I've nothing against altering the sanctified experience point system. Not that it's inherently bad, but I could use another angle here.

 

[AzraelCC]

I think that it takes balls to distill the action rpg genre by replacing stats with something more intuitive. However, it could have the problems similar to that of Battle Realms. The game was innovative in that it manages to create party based combat in an RTS, without becoming too stat based like Warcraft 3. Like in real combat, you don't know the stats, you go with what you know about your units then implement them as the situation arises. However, the problem with that game was that the mechanics behind the combat wasn't very transparent. You had to either experiment with what units counter other units, or refer to a strategy guide to see the counters. Both of these nullify the intuitive factor they were shooting for. This is primarily a consequence of units being too weird to come up with an intuitive feel for what they do. Lotus infested ones, for example, attack using worms in their exposed intestines, but how do you know they would be effective against large units, or that arrows would easily kill them.

They're shooting for the same philosophy here, but with the mythology of Greece, roles would perhaps make one easily discernible. It's a challenge for them to make the gods' rewards clear in their effects. The mechanics have to be as transparent as possible so that it still succeeds in making the player feel that he's not playing by trial and error--this is something as bad as grinding, if executed poorly. Then there's the console dumbing down syndrome present with a multi-platform release.

 

[Kraszu]

Putting good against big enemies, or weak against arrows in description?

 

[elander_]

What's even better is that this game has C&C. One of the previews described a nice situation: at one point you can save the life of a merchant. Later on, you travel to his homeland, and if he has survived you meet him there and get a side quest from him. If he dies, you'll find the widow at his home, and she'll offer you a different quest. Looks like The Witcher with more action-y combat thus far.

What's funny is that DeusEx also has something like this, when you return to the hotel after saving the owners daughter and depending on how you deal with it you may find her again later and get a valuable clue to do that hub.

 

[ushdugery]

rpg's need more spreadsheet screans not less everyone knows they're about min maxing and calculating percentages of phat loot crit differentials this is a terrible turn for the worse

 

[sportforredneck]

I thought it sounds somewhat interesting, though it is published by Codemasters and the only good game I remember out of them was the first Operation Flashpoint.

 

[Hamster]

I watched some trailers on IGN and it looks like a cool action game, something like Blade of Darkness.

 

[Unradscorpion]

Awesome, blade of darkness was good... but mostly because of the DFlike ability to clober people to death with their own legs.