Game News Mass Effect 2 is the future of the RPG

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Tags: BioWare; Mass Effect 2

<a href="http://www.gamernode.com/columns/84-matthew-erazo/8769-why-mass-effect-2-is-the-future-of-the-rpg/index.html">Or so says gamernode.</a>
<br>
<br>
<p style="margin-left:50px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;border-top-color:#ffffff;padding:5px;border-right-color:#bbbbbb;border-left-color:#ffffff;border-bottom-color:#bbbbbb;">Western RPGs don't fare any better. While most of them are already rich in character development, they are so weighed down by confusing combat systems and the always-imposing thought that you can break your character at anytime. Trying playing through the original Fallout or Fallout 2 without some sort of character guide so you don't make a useless build. Or take a look at Arcanum's character screen. While the game's story, world, and character progression are excellent, there are about 20+ stats that you can build, all of them vague and confusing. You never know which one to really build or where to invest. It's overwhelming and is just not fun at times.</p>
<br>
<br>
I think they are a bit too premature. We should not forget about Molineux' Fable 3, maybe that's the future of the RPG.
<br>
<br>
Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/96728-why-mass-effect-2-is-the-future-of-the-rpg.html">GB</A>

 

[entertainer]

jesus fucking christ where do these fucks come from with their "too confusing" and "not fun"

 

[relootz]

Western RPGs don't fare any better. While most of them are already rich in character development

 

[entertainer]

and why do we have news about some consoletard opinion nobody gives a fuck about?

 

[racofer]

Behold, our futarh!

 

[Derper]

KILL IT WITH FIRE

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Western RPGs don't fare any better. While most of them are already rich in character development

so silly, everyone knows that's the domain of jrpgs

 

[Brother None]

and why do we have news about some consoletard opinion nobody gives a fuck about?

Because it's fun to vent against.

I actually like GamerNode, they're good people and often have well-thought out opinions. This is garbage, tho'.

Of course, doesn't change that he's more than likely right. ME2 seems to be doing better than DA:O, at least critics-wise (don't know about sales numbers), so which franchise will adapt to which other one?

 

[Lesifoere]

DAO's less dumbed-down combat unfortunately doesn't make it a very good game and can't outweigh the shittastic writing and tedious filler. I don't think it's really a matter of shooter-esque combat vs aping "old-school" combat; it's just that ME2 in most respects is a better, or at least less cringe-inducing, experience.

 

[Begriffenfeldt]

He's probably right. RPGs of the future will cater to peas-for-brains' like him who see dumbing down as evolution. Not unlike most RPGs of the now, really.

 

[Shannow]

1+1= ??

I am confuse
Isn't there some walkthrough/guide on the net to help me?
I'll ask google, I'm not stupid after all.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

1+1= ??

I am confuse
Isn't there some walkthrough/guide on the net to help me?
I'll ask google, I'm not stupid after all.

Now that you mention it, it's amusing that, the more help easily available on the net, the more dumbed down games become

I'm expecting games to include detailed walkthroughs and guides in-game in the future. Not that it matters, because people will still prefer asking on boards intead of pausing and clicking on "how to win" on the menu

 

[Lesifoere]

Batman: AA includes in-game walkthrough.

 

[relootz]

DAO's less dumbed-down combat unfortunately doesn't make it a very good game and can't outweigh the shittastic writing and tedious filler. I don't think it's really a matter of shooter-esque combat vs aping "old-school" combat; it's just that ME2 in most respects is a better, or at least less cringe-inducing, experience.

 

[DraQ]

1+1= ??

I am confuse
Isn't there some walkthrough/guide on the net to help me?
I'll ask google, I'm not stupid after all.

If I had my way I would have all those "too confusing" 'tards shot.

 

[Azrael the cat]

1+1= ??

I am confuse
Isn't there some walkthrough/guide on the net to help me?
I'll ask google, I'm not stupid after all.

If I had my way I would have all those "too confusing" 'tards shot.

That's both harsh and unnecessary. An anaethetised neutering would be far more humane.

 

[Brother None]

Batman: AA includes in-game walkthrough.

So do most adventure games these days, to a greater or lesser extent.

Did Arkham Asylum? I never noticed. I mean if you have OCD and need to find all clues/riddles/question mark thingies it can be a bit frustrating I guess, but who would need any help getting through the main game?

Are you talking about the text that pops in giving you hints after you die?

 

[Overweight Manatee]

Of course, doesn't change that he's more than likely right. ME2 seems to be doing better than DA:O, at least critics-wise (don't know about sales numbers), so which franchise will adapt to which other one?

Shooters will always outsell RPG's in todays market. If DA was the perfect RPG and Bioware simultaneously released Rogue Warrior, they would probably be about equal.

 

[Lesifoere]

Batman: AA includes in-game walkthrough.

So do most adventure games these days, to a greater or lesser extent.

Did Arkham Asylum? I never noticed. I mean if you have OCD and need to find all clues/riddles/question mark thingies it can be a bit frustrating I guess, but who would need any help getting through the main game?

Are you talking about the text that pops in giving you hints after you die?

For every action, there's onscreen text to instruct you, I guess in case you forget the controls. ("Press Space to glide.") Hit the map and you've got the equivalent of quest compass, just missing a join-the-dot path to lead you from your current position to the objective.

Not that it was a bad game, but that's as close to in-game walkthrough as you get. Oh, Bioshock had something like this too, didn't it?

 

[Black]

[Perception][Intelligence][Wisdom] The future looks like shit.

 

[circ]

 

[likaq]

[Perception][Intelligence][Wisdom] The future looks like shit.

Future can be much more worse than shit.
Just think about this kind of news from gamespot:

"Bethesda purchases D&D and Planescape: Torment Licenses.
Gamespot: We ask Todd Howard about this game and he said:
Todd Howard: For us, Planescape is a scarred man with a flying skull walking around and killing things."

 

[JarlFrank]

I used to have tons of fun creating useless characters in Morrowind, like the athletics and acrobatics focused Argonian Pearl-diver.

Trying out different builds can lead to many unique moments in Arcanum, and while some stats are less useful than others, you can't really break your character and be unable to finish the game (except if you make a character who sucks at everything and has all his points in beauty).

Heck, I even managed to beat Diablo 2 with a melee sorceress, a build where you can make lots of things wrong.

And in most dungeon crawlers, lik the Wizardries and the IWDs, creating your party is the most fun part of the whole game.

People should be forced to play certain games before they're even allowed to touch a computer, so they'll learn that fun is something completely different than being led by your hand and getting achievements for watching the intro.

 

[Martin]

These new gen RPG gamers dont need a mental stat upgrade, they just need the rose colored nostalgic view feat.

 

[random_encounter]

Trying out different builds can lead to many unique moments in Arcanum, and while some stats are less useful than others, you can't really break your character and be unable to finish the game (except if you make a character who sucks at everything and has all his points in beauty).

I tried out several false starts in Arcanum before finally settling on a character (a roguish adventurer with a eye for engineering and melee), but that was all a part of enjoying the game. I had fun.

The author thinks this is intimidating and it can be...at first. Like most every game worth a toss, a learning process is required to get in and enjoy what the game has to offer (as long as it isn't complex for complexity's sake). Once I figured out what the stats did and how they affected my character within the game, they mattered more to my perception of their importance than if I had just jumped in pre-rolled.

Trying playing through the original Fallout or Fallout 2 without some sort of character guide so you don't make a useless build.

If this is what passes for journalism nowadays, no wonder the gaming press is treated like an aberration. This is the kind of mentality that Prima Guides and GameFAQs have engendered in today's console space: players that fear experimentation and want the answers as quickly as they can get a Happy Meal.

It's kind of hard to make a garbage build in either game unless you intend to go out and nerf certain stats and focus on somewhat useless perks and skills. There's more than enough information to base sound decisions on either from inside the manual or in testing a build in the first hour or so of play to decide where you might want to focus on. Even so, playing through with a flawed character can often be more fun than with a character that is as smart as Einstein.

So you don't have the skills to fix Skynet. It doesn't break the game...unless you really have a Terminator thing going on.

Or take a look at Arcanum's character screen. While the game's story, world, and character progression are excellent, there are about 20+ stats that you can build, all of them vague and confusing. You never know which one to really build or where to invest. It's overwhelming and is just not fun at times.

It's like saying having too many colors in a Crayola crayon box makes drawing too confusing. If the writer had read the manual instead of skimming it over as a part of research to write this, they would have realized that it does a great job describing what the stats do and even provides a beginning walkthrough on the first few moments of the game. The manual had even tried to make reading such dry information entertaining by staying within Arcanum's character which is far more than can be said for most anything that passes itself off a a manual nowadays.

I've read the rest of his article, and while he does make points on story and character development, he completely misses the other half of the experience with his cynicism. JRPGs (yes, I'm going there) aren't entirely the wasteland that he sees them as with several examples that easily trump his assertions. The Persona series, for one, Eternal Sonata, Tales of Vesperia, roguelike Shiren the Wanderer, Glory of Heracles, Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume...the list goes on. As for the amnesiac hero angle he mentions, I'm surprised that he hasn't come back on Bioware with that count for as many times as they abused it.

But the best was yet to come at the end:

And by making combat a straight shooter, you don't have to worry about pumping stats into helping you aim or worrying about mana/energy to use powers. The combat is endemic to your skill, and powers are governed by a simple cooldown, allowing you to focus on the action. It's fun, a word that most RPGs seem to have forgotten.

That's funny, because I thought most RPGs were fun partly because of the features they allowed players to explore in developing the roles they wanted to play within each one. I might not have the reflexes of a rabbit, but I can create a character that does.

But then again, I don't play my RPGs with a hardon for Rambo. That might be a problem for me...in the future.