BioWare producer on shooters being the future of RPGs

[Azrael the cat]

Meh, I actually prefer this new marketing hype - it's the closest they've come yet to acknowledging that they aren't making rpgs. It's also the logical conlcusion once we've started on the track of removing stats and tactical stat-based combat. From there you may as well ungimp the shooting part, and just make it into a non-linear FPS with a few non-combat skills. I always thought that Deus Ex should have been the path that dumbed-down mass appeal developers should have been churning out clones of, rather than the KoTOR and Oblivion models, which fall into the no-mans'-land of crap rpg features and crap action.

I'm hoping that this trend might finally allow stat-based tactical combat, whether following the Wizardry/M&M/Bard's Tale style, or the FO/JA style, to make a comeback under a different name, maybe 'tactical squad games' or something. And for games like PS:T to come back as 'stat-driven adventure games'. Basically, I'm hoping that Bioware et al shift so far towards being shooters that they are no longer occupying the rpg market. That way, stat-driven games won't be seen as 'last-gen' or 'outdated' versions of Bioware rpgs, but rather a different category of games altogether. That's a much easier line to argue when Bioware is spouting stuff like above.

 

[Rhalle]

The ugly coinage I came up with last November was ShooteRPG.

So if that catches on, yeah, it's mine. I expect royalties.

Anyway: essentially, all these games are trying to give Gordon Freeman a voice.

But since Gordon's emptiness and silence is not a blank tape on which you can improve by recording one's own shit, but is really a nexus of all internal monologues of all players everywhere, the vicarious-first-person-movie-storyteller-shooter-makers are ultimately doomed to failure.

 

[Mogar]

While I think some RPG elements could greatly improve FPSs (such as nonlinearity, and having subquests and the like), the future of RPGs should not be as FPSs. RPGs rely on stats, and when you try implementing stats in an FPS, you actually degrade gameplay. You see, when a game relies primarily on reflexes and skill, stats tend to restraine you. Additionally, in an RPG, the progression of stats represents a steady development in your character to a higher level. An FPS does not need stats because the progression should be apparent in the player's skill as he learns to manipulate the game world and A.I., accrues increasingly more devastating weaponry, and reacts to increasingly tougher situations.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

The ugly coinage I came up with last November was ShooteRPG.

So if that catches on, yeah, it's mine. I expect royalties.

Nah, too awkward. How about RPShootan?

 

[Wulfstand]

While I think some RPG elements could greatly improve FPSs (such as nonlinearity, and having subquests and the like).

Yea, see, Wolfenstein had that (except the nonlinearity to a large degree). How many appreciated/enjoyed that aspect of the game?

 

[TNO]

There's nothing wrong with action RPGs per se. DX and (especially) SS2 I think are good enough to be considered in the same sort of league as all the older 2d Isometric RPGS we all know and love (PS:T, FO, etc.) Even more recent attempts like VtM:B, although flawed, showed that action/first person RPGS needn't necessarily suck.

There isn't much wrong with paring stats away from your fpsrpg either. Maybe you miss out on a few things, but I think what makes of breaks an RPG is its story and C+C, not the stats running under the hood (although I appreciate character building decisions can be part of C+C.) People bitched about DX2 dropping the inventory tetris, for having unified ammo, for removing skills - none of these were that bad. The real issue is that it was an exceptionally poorly written monstrosity. In some respects, I'd say Theif games and HL2 were better rpgs than it, because of (especially for Theif) how well they built the world.

So, kiddies, the real problem isn't bioware making rpgs which look increasingly like fpses. The problem is that bioware are making rpgs, and they can't seem to write. Take kotor and ME: both the plots are riddled with holes (Malak: fuck using overwhelming force to destroy the only hope for the galaxy, lets use carefully titrated enemies to ensure you level up...), all of the charicatures are boring, and your designated love interests are evident from a) they inexorably start coming on to you (or, a la Bastila, _hilariously_ try and cover up their feelings, to no avail.) and b) are cookie-cut from a suitable sterotype to arouse the under-sexed nerd demographic. You, the player, are always some Mary sue with a history and loads of untapped power.... etc. etc. etc.

In fact, these concerns (especially the need for a b movie romance option) over-ride the rest of the setting and spoil immersion. When did Jedi become the flirting types? How in fucks name do you become a senior military officer when you're happy to entertain relationships on duty whilst on an incredibly important mission. It's wack, man.


P.S. Didn't see the Bastila/Liara parallel before, nice one. I wonder, could it be that all characters in everey Bioware RPG can be a permutation of approximately seven stereotypes?

 

[Mogar]

While I think some RPG elements could greatly improve FPSs (such as nonlinearity, and having subquests and the like).

Yea, see, Wolfenstein had that (except the nonlinearity to a large degree). How many appreciated/enjoyed that aspect of the game?

Don't really know too much about the new Wolfenstein, but I do know that even something good can be implemented badly. I'd say that it was more the quest being generally bad then a large, inherent incompatibility between the genre and the said gameplay element.

 

[Luzur]

 

[Pablosdog]

Terrible, just fucking Terrible

 

[Murk]

Terrible, just fucking Terrible

Wow, really? A whole year before your first post?

 

[Hoaxmetal]

Terrible, just fucking Terrible

Wow, really? A whole year before your first post?

But it's so meaningful and words are so strategically placed for maximum impact, quality post.

 

[JarlFrank]

While I think some RPG elements could greatly improve FPSs (such as nonlinearity, and having subquests and the like).

Yea, see, Wolfenstein had that (except the nonlinearity to a large degree). How many appreciated/enjoyed that aspect of the game?

You mean the new one? I did. Pure shooter with weapon upgrades, sidequests and a degree of nonlinearity is vastly superior to dumbed down mishmash of weak shooting mechanics and meaningless stats.

Which is the gravest problem of the modern "RPGs": They try to be shooter and RPG at once but don't do any of it good. They're mediocre shooters at best, and the stats don't mean anything, which is why the game sucks.