Abduction driven story in rpgs?

[lukaszek]

Im currently playing Far Cry 5 and realized that whole plot is progressed by abducting you a number of times and breaking free.
I found whole concept intriguing and now I wonder how it would play out if it was done properly. Not like in Far Cry with lots of filler content.
Im aware ive seen it in at least one movie. I dont recall title but its not relevant.

Im curious if there is any rpg with plot like this?

Or maybe it will be next bethesda game to replace current mechanic of only starting in prison/vault.

 

[Infinitron]

This can really only be done in a more cinematic or story-driven RPG. In a True RPG(tm), players will rightly demand the ability to be able to anticipate and prevent their own abduction.

But as for mid-game "abductions", the first thing that comes to mind is getting imprisoned in Dragon Age: Origins, a fun little sequence where you get to choose which party members will break you out and each has different options.

 

[Dorateen]

In Realms of Arkania: Star Trail, the party gets captured by orcs and imprisoned. This also happens in Tunnels & Trolls: Crusaders of Khazan

More recently, the Might & Magic X dlc. The first half of The Falcon and the Unicorn is all about getting arrested and breaking out of a fort.

These type of sequences usually involve a party equipment/gear strip. And can be very rewarding when you finally get your stuff back.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[kamen22]

bg2?

 

[V_K]

The beginning of BG2 qualifies.
Also, another BG - Blackguards that is - has you abducted by slavers and sold to fight in the arena in one of the chapters. Although that seems to be a rather frequent trope in RPGs, just can't remember other examples off the top of my head.

 

[Teut Busnet]

In DX you're getting captured after about 30% (?) of the game and have to break out.

Also in DX: Human Revolution - about halfway through - if you play the 'Directors Cut'.

 

[vonAchdorf]

The beginning of BG2 qualifies.
Also, another BG - Blackguards that is - has you abducted by slavers and sold to fight in the arena in one of the chapters. Although that seems to be a rather frequent trope in RPGs, just can't remember other examples off the top of my head.

Everyone considers taking away the players' stuff to be bad game mastering / game design, but it's done time and again.

 

[frajaq]

That happened at the start of Dead Money DLC for New Vegas, forcing you to scrap by with whatever you find for the duration of the DLC. At the end you escape the content and all your initial equipment is safely stored in a bunker for you to get.

Same for The Pitt experience in Fallout 3.

I fucking loved that shit and really want more games do that.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Teut Busnet]

guys let me clarify again. Its not about starting a story in abducted state - bg2, bethesda games and so on.
Its also not about getting abducted once, nor side quests counts like in skyrim breaking out of prison or assassins guild. Reason being: together they dont from a consistent story.

Im talking about PC being abducted few times as part of main story line and it being crucial to narrative.

Wouldn't such a story be completely retarded? Why would you want that?

Infinitron got it right, it would be just extremely annoying - unless the player wanted to be captured, again and again, wich would just be silly. Imagine a PC whose plan A it is to get captured multiple times.

 

[eric__s]

In Realms of Arkania: Star Trail, the party gets captured by orcs and imprisoned.

Yeah, I was going to post this too. The Blood Peaks dungeon in Star Trail is one of my favorite dungeons of all time. There are two ways to do it - you can walk in through the front door, or you can get abducted by walking down the wrong path. Getting abducted, having your items confiscated and having to break your way out using only the things you find is just so much fun. I guess part of it is that it's zero sum - you can't just leave - you either escape or die. I also like the tension of being afraid of getting caught and being unprepared for serious encounters. I also like that you can meet and recruit a couple other prisoners as well.

Man, what a great dungeon.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Comte]

In Ultima VII Serpent Isle the Avatar gets locked up in the Dungeon under the mountains of Freedom after trial in a kangaroo court by the Magelords of Moonshade.

You have to forage for gear and supplies and escape the dungeon.

 

[Teut Busnet]

Wouldn't such a story be completely retarded?

no

Why would you want that?

to play it

Infinitron got it right, it would be just extremely annoying

yeah abductions in general are of some annoyance

What infi got right is that it works best in linear, cinematic driven game. Might be kind of hard to pull it out with c&c involved.

Imagine a PC whose plan A it is to get captured multiple times.

It doesnt need to be planned. Its not something you might be able to avoid.

Recent movie example is Red Sparrow, such theme works well in espionage. Its hard to justify regular joe entering a town and suddenly tipping a balance of whole game.

Got it.

You're looking for 'The Adventures of Princess Peach'.

 

[JarlFrank]

You gotta be real bad at this whole adventuring thing if you manage to let your opponent abduct you not once, but several times during the course of the story.

Once? Sure, you didn't anticipate it. Twice? Okay, maybe your opponent is really clever. Several times? Wtf, haven't you learned anything from the first two times it happened to you? Haven't you learned not to take random drinks strangers offer you, to put up guards when you camp in the wild, to lock your door when you sleep in a tavern, to expect an ambush in alleys and forests? Are you really that incompetent that your opponent manages to capture you several times in a row?

Better switch jobs and become a baker or something. Adventuring clearly isn't for you.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[buffalo bill]

Several times in Torment: Morte by Lothar and if you piss of the Lady of Pain you get sent to the pocket dimension. Maybe getting stuck in the Modron maze also counts.

 

[Daemongar]

Does OP have some kind of repressed memory they are trying to talk through? Who the hell would want this? This is already done in almost every game, and everyone hates it.

On your point of folks showing up and making you do things/abduct you/take you away: This is linearity. Don't argue for linearity. If 10 hitmen appeared in my game and said "You are coming with us" there had BETTER be a way to kill them all, no matter how cheap. If you are arguing that NOPE, you just have to go with them, I'm saying you are nuts. That's a cut scene and the abduction thing is irrelevant. Just say " I wish there were more games that moved the player from point a to b with the player having no say in the matter."

Fallout New Vegas could have had Caesar's Legion take the player away in Nipton. It would have been a good point to introduce the player to Caesar. The player is low level, it would have been very difficult to do him in. Instead they had some slob with a dog on his head talk to the player, then walk off. This scene is memorable because the player can do whatever they want including killing the Legionnaires. There is freedom and the game trusts the player to decide what to do.

The reason they don't make a game out of an abduction mechanic is because its the thing they do in games when the developers run out of ideas. It isn't the main idea itself. "I know, we take away all the players gear!" I would only consider a game with abduction if the player was allowed to abduct others, and the programmers kept it classy. Like in a Rance game or something.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Delterius]

Better switch jobs and become a baker

Delterius i think Jarl is talking about path of illusionist.

You must be extremely adept at adventuring if you wish to pursue the Path of Yeast and Salt. Imagine, civilians facing off against the Fire of St. Anthony. It would be a massacre.

 

[MRY]

KOTOR has it. As others say, I've never once in a game come away from a forced-surrender / abduction without being annoyed. Generally games do a very bad job of making surrender a plausible option, and thus they inevitably take control from you to make it happen. Morte's abduction is peak silliness among Western RPGs I can think of, but I recall it happening lots in jRPGs.

 

[vazha]

In NWN HOU, you dont get abducted, but your stuff is, which is nevertheless very annoying.

 

[Viata]

Better switch jobs and become a baker

Delterius i think Jarl is talking about path of illusionist.

You must be extremely adept at adventuring if you wish to pursue the Path of Yeast and Salt. Imagine, civilians facing off against the Fire of St. Anthony. It would be a massacre.

Worst job ever. I'll never work in a bakery again. Almost 15 years working on that hell.

 

[Cael]

In NWN HOU, you dont get abducted, but your stuff is, which is nevertheless very annoying.

Not really. Your gold isn't taken, so you can buy +3 stuff fairly quickly from the smithy next door.