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Community Codex GOTY 2015 - Results

GrainWetski

Arcane
Joined
Oct 17, 2012
Messages
5,344
TW3 is a real blight on the list.
 
Self-Ejected

Lurker King

Self-Ejected
The Real Fanboy
Joined
Jan 21, 2015
Messages
1,865,419
Reactivity is good. But in AoD it is basically railroading, in the sense that, "Oh playing a talky talky lore knowing guy aren't we?" "Oh, you don't make your character a handsome cripple in char creation or think that you already have enough point in that skill? Insta death for you!" There really is not much alternate solution at that point on. You either save-scum or re-roll.

I disagree. You have many situations with failure-and-go-ahead outcomes, especially at the beginning of the game. Right off the top of my head at Teron:

  • If you decide do get rid of Cassius for Feng, you can kill him or intimidate him to leave. If you intimidate him and he will leave, but later on you will have to face the consequences when you visit the palace. Antidas will be furious. So you fail to get rid of Cassius, earn some SPs, but got another chance.
  • At the bandit camp, if you fail in your attempt to kill the leader with a dagger, the raiders will knock you down and kick you. By avoiding the blows your dodge will increase by 5 points, but your Max HP is lowered by 2 points. You can come back to kill him later. Some players even choose to fail in this case just to increase the dodge.
  • Antidas’ palace. If you get caught sneaking, you receive some penalties, but also earn some XPs.
You will find many other scenarios like that, read some here. In fact I don’t even remember what other cRPG used failures as a role-playing tool so well.

I think what is really happening is this: even some veteran cRPG players are not used to fail in their choices because most games are designed around combat. This means that they all treat skills and stats as fluffy, secondary stuff outside combat. The assumption is that if you are tired of killing things you can also do some secondary shit that sounds like role-playing, especially because you never die doing secondary shit. In AoD, the secondary shit is as important as the primary shit, which results in failure, tears and gnashing of teeth.
 
Self-Ejected

Lurker King

Self-Ejected
The Real Fanboy
Joined
Jan 21, 2015
Messages
1,865,419
Well, it certainly tells something about cRPG players, who think that getting teleported around as part of quest progression is "serious consequences".

Imagine that situation. You are working for Dellar. He ask you to get rid of the Aurelian troops in the mine. Instead, you start working for them and fix their machine. The logical consequence is to leave Teron, which is Antida’s (Dellar’s boss) domain, to save your skin, and work for Gaelius. Now, some players don’t like this “abrupt” consequence because they have a gamey view of things. In their minds, they wanted to fix that thing just to see the effect and earn some SPs, but they also want to go back to Teron, to do more quests to earn more shit. So, the logical consequence of an important decision shouldn’t matter, because the player should be able to complete the other shit. The verdict: teleports are lame and VD doesn’t get it, his game suck.
 
Self-Ejected

Lurker King

Self-Ejected
The Real Fanboy
Joined
Jan 21, 2015
Messages
1,865,419
Because certainly everything is binnary. Either you get a railroading in guise of c&c and reactivity or you get Bethesda open world game.

The principle behind your criticism is the same one that motivate popamole games. You all think that cRPGs should be about running around and killing things. The only difference is that some of you want more details, things such as stats and different skill combos, but that is just a matter of degree. If the stats and skills start getting in the way of your AWESUME exploration, the game is deemed a failure. Sometimes I think that most cRPG players just watch action movies and read comics, I swear to god.
 

jagged-jimmy

Prophet
Joined
Jan 25, 2008
Messages
1,562
Location
Freeside
Codex 2012
AoD and Underrail are both great games, but without any butthurt i see Underrail a bit ahead. Just check out the amount of work on systems, different playstyles and all the environmental design in UR.

Underrail combat has more options than AoDs, but is also less challenging. The AI is worse, in fact you can even kite in every fight. The game also have too much backtracking, trahsmobs, poor writing and lack of reactivity. Underrail is worse, there is no comparison. I think that what is happening is crystal clear. Underrail is based on the run of the mill pseudo-cRPG design. The entire game resolves around exploring and killing stuff, like a lot. That is more accessible for most players because you don’t have to deal with a lot of writing, skill checks, choices, etc. You know, that type of stuff that most cRPGs should be doing. I’m not butthurt because even with all the noise, cheating, dishonest previews, AoD still had the most votes.
I did not say UR was perfect, but neither is AoD. Only because you can name a bunch of flaws, does not prove anything.
I could do the same, like:
- AoD just has functional maps leading you to points of interest. Otherwise everything is shitty/empty.
- Combat is a push over mid-late game. There is no challenge.
- Gameplay is basically CYOA by numbers. You can/must metagame the shit out of it.
- End game is non-existent. Click, click, click to come back to main menu.

See what i did there? There are probably tons more from true anti-fanboys.

Also we are talking apples and oranges here, IMHO, as both games offer very different experiences. I loved AoD for character development, quests/story/C&C and combat. While i loved UR for character development, atmosphere, exploration and combat (and graphics :shittydog:). But i do admit, that UR loses the pace when you reach Upper Underrail. AoD drops the ball mid-end a bit. Still two great games.
 

Doctor Sbaitso

SO, TELL ME ABOUT YOUR PROBLEMS.
Patron
Joined
Oct 22, 2013
Messages
3,351
Codex 2013 Codex 2014 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Grab the Codex by the pussy Serpent in the Staglands
I missed this being posted. AoD and Underrail both deserve top honours. I gave a slight nod to Underrail for the gadgetry angle (love gadgets) but Enjoyed them both thoroughly. Congrats gents. I am very excited to see what comes next. The thought of either of these combat engines with parties gives me wood.
 

Fairfax

Arcane
Joined
Jun 17, 2015
Messages
3,518
International call for me, too expensive. I support the idea, though.
 

sstacks

Arcane
Joined
Jan 30, 2014
Messages
1,151
Thanks, this is much better. :M

Has this been posted yet?

Users who gave Fallout 4 a 4/5:

  • Dangersaurus
  • matt
  • Mortmal
  • MZeta
  • Nekot-The-Brave
  • Pigiron
  • Seerix
  • Sky
  • sstacks
  • Themadcow
  • ZodoZ
:deathclaw:

And just when he was starting to get Codex cool points with his whalenought interview..

sstacks what do you have to say in your defense?

Still no response from sstacks. :M

Hah, just saw this. I knew those votes would be public and there would be fallout from my ratings :P Surprised it took this long.

I am guilty. GUILTY. I have enjoyed playing it and running around listening to the radio and blowing crap away.
 

toro

Arcane
Vatnik
Joined
Apr 14, 2009
Messages
14,760
So, how many people do realize that there is no AoD or UR equivalent in 2016?
 
Weasel
Joined
Dec 14, 2012
Messages
1,865,686
Perhaps this year the flamewars will be between "Kingcomrade: Deliverance", and "Tranny", leaving 2017 open for Black Geyser.
 

sstacks

Arcane
Joined
Jan 30, 2014
Messages
1,151
Tranny and the Black Geyser has a certain... ring to it.
 

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