Editorial 2010: The Year in Review

[DarkUnderlord]

Tags: The Year in Review

<p><a href="http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=219">Once again we look back at the year that was</a>:</p>
<p> </p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">If 2009 was <a href="../../content.php?id=198">the year stuff didn't happen</a>, then 2010 is perhaps as good as it gets to the year stuff did happen. Sort-of. The year opened with a bang as BioWare released <a href="../../content.php?id=204">Mass Effect 2</a>, the sequel to their previous <a href="../../content.php?id=141">space romance simulator Mass Effect</a>. It was a design goal right from the start for you to be able to continue with your Mass Effect save games into Mass Effect 2. What remained to be seen was how BioWare would overcome the problem of finishing the first game with an awesome character capable of kicking ass and chewing space-gum - and yet still allow you to level-up your stats in the sequel. The answer of course, was an ingenious and revolutionary system that...</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Until next year.</p>

 

[Jaesun]

Awesome!

For those who prefer bullet points, here is The List™ of games we recognise as RPGs that were released in 2010:

•Mass Effect 2 (BioWare) - January 26, 2010

 

[asper]

Cool read.

 

[serch]

Should i be able to see some of the editor's notes, niggas?

In the end, they did - or at least they made the best of Oblivion with Guns that they could. With Chris Avellone working his writing magic [Editor's Note: I think the more important thing is that when writing about New Vegas' writing, you mention the Lead Writer was one John Gonzalez. And he was also the "Creative Design Lead". I think it's this guy who should get more credit.], Mark Morgan on the music [Editor's Note: Mark Morgan didn't actually work on FNV. They just re-used some of his old Fallout songs in parts.] and the project being lead by none other than the Josh Eric Sawyer [Editor's Note: Sawyer never worked on any of the previous Fallouts. Shouldn't we just re-write this part and say FNV was created by an entirely new group of people? It's a bit like Obsidian hiring the janitor who cleaned up after the Fallout gold party and then saying "Look! Original guys from Fallout are on the team!"] - the man who in 2004 predicted:

 

[Jack]

Excellent summarization of the past year, shame that the same couldn't be said about the games.

 

[Cassidy]

Awesome!

For those who prefer bullet points, here is The List™ of games we recognise as RPGs that were released in 2010:

•Mass Effect 2 (BioWare) - January 26, 2010
[...]
•Alpha Protocol (Obsidian Entertainment) - May 28, 2010
•Gothic 4: Arcania (Piranha Bytes) - October 12, 2010
[...]
•Fallout: New Vegas (Obsidian Entertainment) - October 19, 2010

 

[Melcar]

I give it out of 5

 

[racofer]

 

[Lonely Vazdru]

Spiderweb Software (aka the one man show that is Jeff Vogel) did it again with the release of Avernum 6. It's like Avernum's 1 thru 5 only with a 6 on the end.

 

[Forest Dweller]

Needless to say, it was far from perfect. But still, some people like it. If it was an indie game, perhaps it would've been praised highly for daring to aim for something better and still providing something fun? But no, it's a mainstream AAA title. We expect better. Our standards are higher for those.

Am I detecting a hint of bitterness here?

 

[DriacKin]

The article needed more anti-Witcher rants.

 

[AlaCarcuss]

The article needed more anti-Witcher rants.

There was no Witcher last year.

 

[Sceptic]

Fuck yeah! there goes my plan for an early night. Will read now and comment later.

There was no Witcher last year.

Could've had some Bitching about the pre-release hype then

 

[Jason]

Should i be able to see some of the editor's notes, niggas?

Little known Codex Fun Fact # 72:
There's a revolving admin position that jumps to a different user account every hour, giving that user full admin permissions temporarily. Each user will only receive this boon once. You wasted yours to post that.

 

[20 Eyes]

The article really reminds me how tired I am of the whole '1st person/third person over the shoulder' sensation that's been plaguing the genre in recent years. I'm fine knowing that I'm playing a game, the game doesn't have to do everything conceivable thing possible to make me feel like I'm inside it.

Another thing is everyone wants to make games that are 'accessible' to people playing their first game. That's fine, but where are the games for the rest of us? It's like all the book publishers in the world decided to only publish children's books because they're afraid of scaring barely-literate people. It's 2011, you'd have to journey into the heart of darkness to find someone over the age of 10 that has never played a video game before.

Developers are afraid gamers will ever have to figure out 'what's this do?' when playing a game. It's a mainstream industry now and it sucks.

 

[Darth Roxor]

 

[commie]

Shit article, obvious trolling, not funny. Yawn. No mention of Two Worlds 2 anywhere, very well researched. I mean 'Grotesque Tactics' is mentioned but not 2W2???? If you're going to make a hurr, durr article you can't forget Two Turds!

1/10

 

[Hirato]

Gothic 4: Arcania (Piranha Bytes) - October 12, 2010

derp
PB had no part in it; Spellbound Entertainment was responsible for this excrement.

 

[J_C]

While some parts of the article are interesting, the way it was written is shit. It's like it has been written by a 10 year old, who tries to make something funny, but fails. In the end, this is just trolling.

 

[made]

Well-written article, pro editing, thoroughly researched. This is what I like to see on the Codex. Could use some more memes and image macros for even more lulz though. 9/10

 

[DarkUnderlord]

Gothic 4: Arcania (Piranha Bytes) - October 12, 2010

derp
PB had no part in it; Spellbound Entertainment was responsible for this excrement.

Whoops. I linked Spellbound in the body but used Piranha at the end. Is fixed.

No mention of Two Worlds 2 anywhere

"[Two Worlds 2] was released on the 25th January 2011 in North-America for the same platforms, and on the 4th February in the UK." It doesn't get released in Australia until February 10. We generally don't mention games until they've had a North American (or "English lanuage") release.

 

[MicoSelva]

Commie is right about (almost) complete omitting of 2W2, but otherwise it was a good summary of the year. The list at the end made me think (yeah, I know - again) what we now consider and RPG. And it seems that labelling a game as an RPG by the developer/publisher is enough.

That reminds me - will RPGCodex be covering The Sims Medieval release?

EDIT: 2W2 didn't have English language release in 2010? Surprising.

 

[sheek]

Yay!

 

[DarkUnderlord]

The list at the end made me think (yeah, I know - again) what we now consider and RPG. And it seems that labelling a game as an RPG by the developer/publisher is enough.

It's not so much about what "is" and "isn't" an RPG, but more about games that "try to be" RPGs. Thus a game labelled and marketed as "RPG" will get our attention and coverage (even if it is just to bag how much of an RPG it is) while other games not labelled as such won't.

That reminds me - will RPGCodex be covering The Sims Medieval release?

Are Maxis calling it an RPG? Note there's a difference between incorporating mystical "RPG elements" (ala Grand Theft Auto) vs actually having the game stamped "RPG" on the box.

EDIT: 2W2 didn't have English language release in 2010? Surprising.

Pretty sure it did but most of the good stuff won't come out / didn't come out until after it's NA release so decided to hold-off. Especially given it was released close to the end of the year and an NA, UK and AUS release are still scheduled (the NA release was only a day or two ago and even then it was for Xbox / Playstation. The PC release is not until February 28 for NA. By then the game may have changed some-what).

 

[commie]

No mention of Two Worlds 2 anywhere

"[Two Worlds 2] was released on the 25th January 2011 in North-America for the same platforms, and on the 4th February in the UK." It doesn't get released in Australia until February 10. We generally don't mention games until they've had a North American (or "English lanuage") release.

......

Pretty sure it did but most of the good stuff won't come out / didn't come out until after it's NA release so decided to hold-off. Especially given it was released close to the end of the year and an NA, UK and AUS release are still scheduled (the NA release was only a day or two ago and even then it was for Xbox / Playstation. The PC release is not until February 28 for NA. By then the game may have changed some-what)

I have the English language release. Topware already released it. Box and game is all in English. The world doesn't revolve around the KWA. Though I guess I understand you waiting for the NA market as it will be a good filler for 2011 what with the expected obvious from our NA and UK brethren here .


Speaking of good stuff, I'm wondering if there will be a naval component to 2W2 eventually as the sailing bit is really quite well developed. Exploring treacherous seas and boarding ships would be pretty cool, a kind of better realised thing than what Akella tried.