"Down time" in RPG's

[King Crispy]

Anyone who likes homlette are idiotic morons.

What if it's a Denver homlette? They're good!

 

[TalesfromtheCrypt]

Replenishing ammo stock in Kuldahar, identifying new items while you hear that music, strange birds and that bigass oak narling/moving. Awesome.

Oh yeah. Kuldahar was perfect. What added to it was the impression that it's a warm, safe haven in a sea of ice, snow and darkness. And that music...



I also liked to hang out in Lonelywood in Heart of Winter, which also had an amazing theme



For completeness sake, let's not forget about the Easthaven theme. I loved exploring that town, the sound of crunching snow on a sunny day under the boots of my party, speaking with Hrothgar, buying my first gear, making preparations.
Fuck, Icewind Dale was atmospheric as hell...

 

[hiver]

I think ive spent more time jump-climbing every single mountain peak and then standing there, letting the camera pull back and start spinning, watching the lands of Skyrim wreathed in snow or under curtains of aurora borealis while dragons drifted through the air in the distance, calling, announcing to the world they are back, then playing those stupid quests.

probably not - actually, but it sure feels that way.

Such a shame the game is such a stupid, shallow, hollow crap otherwise, precisely because of this.

 

[Azrael the cat]

I LOVED the tv and radio implementation in Bloodlines. Great merging of casual ambience with narrative function. That game had a lot of 'stop and pause' bits in it, largely due to the way it divided up the mini-hubs (Anarchists' bar, LaCroix's office, Tourrette's club, Hollywood baron etc) while giving those hubs great atmosphere. It also hit a good balance between having reason to return to places (including, but certainly not limited to, your apartment) without making it feel like a chore.

The one additional thing I would have liked would have been an activity in the various bars you tend to find in those mini-hubs. Originally Troika were hoping to have emulated arcade classics playable in the arcade parlour at the pier. A better idea would have been to spread those arcade games out over the various bars and clubs in the gameworld.

 

[Raghar]

Kinda wonder how many people here have imagination and creativity.


Anyway Private Actions were fun in Star Ocean http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fm_J0jjNibM
Thought I played only 1 and 2.

 

[subotaiy]

Please don't taint this thread with anime crap.

 

[Lonely Vazdru]

even if that borders on LARPing

Dude, that's pure LARP. The game in which I did it the most was probably Daggerfall. Visiting towns, entering random houses, talking to sexy chicks in taverns, practicing magic, arranging unique items in my house...

 

[Scruffy]

Ahh yes. Khorinis, Beregost, Easthaven, Vivec or anywhere in Morrowind really. New Vegas too. But Khorinis just had “something”, even with the poor Ai paths and schedules…

And Tarant. And anywhere in Torment.

 

[sea]

The Elder Scrolls series are games based almost entirely around downtime.

 

[Nutmeg]

I get very frustrated when there is downtime "by design" especially when there's no trade-offs involved.

One thing I liked about Fire Emblem 7 (or was it 6?) was that they had a shopping map, but it had a turn limit after which your score would start falling. I think this was good design.

This doesn't mean I don't like a pause feature in real time games. I like pause features.

 

[Excidium]

I like games with good pacing.

The Village of Hommlet was by far one of my favorite AD&D modules. That has a lot to do with my willingness not to just skip over all the boring FedEx quests in the town while playing ToEE.

That makes sense then, I can see how somebody who played the module might enjoy to see the Hommlet map and npcs implemented almost 1:1, even if for just a few minutes before the nostalgia wears off and they realize that actually needing to navigating around it is a pain in the ass, specially with ToEE's pathfinding.

 

[DraQ]

I consider downtime an important part of nearly any genre, not just RPG.

Details regarding what downtime and how much of it depend on individual cases.

 

[Excidium]

To me down time is for between adventures. Wasting time while being on an urgent quest should be punished.

 

[Monkeyfinger]

I love management downtime. Give me characters to plan and customize, bases to manage, resources to spend, and I'm perfectly content. If there's good music and a pretty backdrop or UI dressing to go along with it, then it's even better.

I've never been able to sit in environments and soak them up while doing nothing, though, no matter how well made they are.

 

[Saduj]

Someone will probably come up with contrary examples but I generally associate minimal down time with linearity.

 

[Dorateen]

Acromage!

 

[Lilura]

The Elder Scrolls series are games based almost entirely around down syndrome.

Fixed.

 

[Gregz]

I think the issue we find hard to accept is that a cRPG is masturbatory LARPing.

 

[Kitako]

The widespread mentality of "GOGOGOGO" and stats like "xp per hour" is what killed WOW for me.
Now I just stick to single player games, where I can LARP play at my own pace with my own downtimes.

 

[Hobo Elf]

I like downtime, but not when it's non-interactive. Hanging around in a lifeless town where you can just look at the scenery is kinda spooky and lonely. But in games like Gothic and TES where you can interact with all the NPCs and even the environment it's nice. I may not LARP I'm some villager and do menial shit like sit down for morning breakfast, but the ability to do so is nice anyway and gives the game world more feeling. And it's nice to just chill and enjoy sometimes especially when it's a difficult game.

Fake edit: Back in the day when I played EQ with my buddy we'd spend days upon days just exploring the vast towns, hanging out and talking with random people and guildies without even thinking about leveling up or getting new loot. When WoW came about and I went over to play that game with a bunch of different friends and they'd just rush through all the content. Didn't even give me time to read the quest descriptions or enjoy some of the nice scenery Blizz had put together. It was just a hamster race to the top.

 

[J1M]

ITT we learn that we all used to have more free time.

 

[Daemongar]

In retrospect, maybe 80% of Ultima VII was "downtime". Lots of cities with people to talk to, stuff to do that didn't get you xps or advance the story (Petersons mistress) but just provided entertainment. That little fair with the strength test, and all kinds of stuff. That was one of the reasons why I wasn't as fond of U7:SI. Once the banes are released, all the magic is kind of gone from the cities, even if everyone was kind of an asshole.

 

[Micmu]

I smoked reefers together with my character in Gothic games.
True live action role playing.

 

[Nutmeg]

In retrospect, maybe 80% of Ultima VII was "downtime". Lots of cities with people to talk to, stuff to do that didn't get you xps or advance the story (Petersons mistress) but just provided entertainment. That little fair with the strength test, and all kinds of stuff. That was one of the reasons why I wasn't as fond of U7:SI. Once the banes are released, all the magic is kind of gone from the cities, even if everyone was kind of an asshole.

In the case of Ultima VII I dont' think you can call it "downtime".

It's too active. Too amusing. It appeals to curiosity and creativity. This is in stark opposition to some weird need for escapism.

It's not passive like "enjoying the atmosphere" or whatever was talked about in 99% of the other cases.

 

[Daemongar]

What the hell are you talking about?