-
Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.
"This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.
Game News Eschalon: Here be monsters
- Thread starter Vault Dweller
- Start date
Jed
Cipher
Browsing the site, and I have to say this game looks quite slick for an indie. Actually reminds me a lot of Arcanum's look.
TB combat, as well, so even if the setting is stale, it still looks like it will be more interesting than most other dreck out there now.
I do wish one of the better indie guys would take the leap into making a fully sci-fi game, though ... c'mon Vogel, you can't make Avernums and Geneforges forever ... can you?
TB combat, as well, so even if the setting is stale, it still looks like it will be more interesting than most other dreck out there now.
I do wish one of the better indie guys would take the leap into making a fully sci-fi game, though ... c'mon Vogel, you can't make Avernums and Geneforges forever ... can you?
Higher Game
Arcane
Jed said:
Like Wizardry and Ultima, I think he's aiming for 8 games each, since that's the historical precedent for a classic RPG series. Don't start making lies about an Ultima 9 existing either, since I won't listen!
cutterjohn
Cipher
I still have hopes for this game and plan to buy it when released. Personally re-hashing of the same monster types and NPCs doesn't bother me in the slightest as long as:
a) the RPG system used is at least decent, but preferably good and varied
b) dialog options actually have some affect on subsequent NPC interaction
c) the backstory is decently written and executed, cliched or not
or IOW this is a high fantasy RPG not TMNT from hell or yet another attempt at something like Wasteland or Fallout, hence mindless originality is neither required nor wanted unless it FITs, and fits well. At this point in the RPG "scene" I'm far more interested in overall execution, originality can come later or never AFAIC at this point. i.e. I'm not a big fan of mindless weird landscapes, architecture, etc. just for the sake of being different from anything else. That usually lands you with a shitacular game in which any tiny pieces of creativity went into creating something different just to be different while the more important portions of the game are ignored leaving a funky looking unplayable mess.
a) the RPG system used is at least decent, but preferably good and varied
b) dialog options actually have some affect on subsequent NPC interaction
c) the backstory is decently written and executed, cliched or not
or IOW this is a high fantasy RPG not TMNT from hell or yet another attempt at something like Wasteland or Fallout, hence mindless originality is neither required nor wanted unless it FITs, and fits well. At this point in the RPG "scene" I'm far more interested in overall execution, originality can come later or never AFAIC at this point. i.e. I'm not a big fan of mindless weird landscapes, architecture, etc. just for the sake of being different from anything else. That usually lands you with a shitacular game in which any tiny pieces of creativity went into creating something different just to be different while the more important portions of the game are ignored leaving a funky looking unplayable mess.
kingcomrade
Kingcomrade
I think they should have been original like Blizzard was with their Warcraft series. Bear people, snake people, spider people, cow people, wolf people, rat people, dog people, hyena people, pig people, etc. Plus a dozen elf subraces.
Jasede you should try WoW. I can imagine that it would be like subscribing to porn, for you.
Jasede you should try WoW. I can imagine that it would be like subscribing to porn, for you.
Jim Kata
Arbiter
The silent hill monsters are all fucking retarded. They sound like an idiotic parody of an rpg.
I don't see what all the complaint here is.
Developing a whole mythology from scratch is hardly going to be easy, and is not likely to turn out well. When I see you dumbfucks trying to come up with 'original' shit, it's all unbearably terrible. Every time!
I don't thinkt he mosters themselves are very important, so much as how they are done, if that makes sense. How they fit in, how you come across them, etc.
I don't expect a fuck ton out of this project, but it does not seem bad based on the monster choices.
It's also stupid to say giant spiders are impossible. That's ridiculous. Giant spiders and insects were common earlier in earth's history...not to mention centipedes the size of buses.
Yes, spiders don't breath, but presumably a giant spider would have some other mechanism for getting enough oxygen
I don't see what all the complaint here is.
Developing a whole mythology from scratch is hardly going to be easy, and is not likely to turn out well. When I see you dumbfucks trying to come up with 'original' shit, it's all unbearably terrible. Every time!
I don't thinkt he mosters themselves are very important, so much as how they are done, if that makes sense. How they fit in, how you come across them, etc.
I don't expect a fuck ton out of this project, but it does not seem bad based on the monster choices.
It's also stupid to say giant spiders are impossible. That's ridiculous. Giant spiders and insects were common earlier in earth's history...not to mention centipedes the size of buses.
Yes, spiders don't breath, but presumably a giant spider would have some other mechanism for getting enough oxygen
Fez
Erudite
- Joined
- May 18, 2004
- Messages
- 7,954
Jim Kata said:It's also stupid to say giant spiders are impossible. That's ridiculous. Giant spiders and insects were common earlier in earth's history...not to mention centipedes the size of buses.
Yes, spiders don't breath, but presumably a giant spider would have some other mechanism for getting enough oxygen
Centipedes the size of buses running about on land? I've never seen that one. Link? The biggest insects I've head a mention of were dragon flies with big wings that spanned two feet. Not quite a bus.
How do you propose this giant spider would work then? You may as well just accept it is absurd fantasy like dragons or giants. As long as the setting is consistent with its fantasy rules and story then it isn't a problem. The last thing you want to do is start mixing incompatible fantasy magic with real world science or laws. It only draws more attention to the charade.
Jim Kata
Arbiter
Fez said:Jim Kata said:It's also stupid to say giant spiders are impossible. That's ridiculous. Giant spiders and insects were common earlier in earth's history...not to mention centipedes the size of buses.
Yes, spiders don't breath, but presumably a giant spider would have some other mechanism for getting enough oxygen
Centipedes the size of buses running about on land? I've never seen that one. Link? The biggest insects I've head a mention of were dragon flies with big wings that spanned two feet. Not quite a bus.
How do you propose this giant spider would work then? You may as well just accept it is absurd fantasy like dragons or giants. As long as the setting is consistent with its fantasy rules and story then it isn't a problem. The last thing you want to do is start mixing incompatible fantasy magic with real world science or laws. It only draws more attention to the charade.
First off, how do you know how tall a man is?
A foot could be an inch in their world, allowing men to jump ten feet high and for giant spiders to roam the earth at will.
A spider could easily have a bellows like system where movement forced air into some kind of lungsacks.
Jim Kata
Arbiter
This is a case where things don't need to be realistic, just coherent.
MountainWest
Scholar
Jim Kata said:
Which RPG? This sentence, like the rest of your post, doesn't make any sense.
Fez said:
Probably. It's a Japanese series after all. EDIT: The Abstract Daddy-monster seems to fit the bill.
Fez said:
You haven't seen the documentary Starship Troopers? Here's an authentic picture:
Fez
Erudite
- Joined
- May 18, 2004
- Messages
- 7,954
Aaaargh no. Don't try to explain it Bryce, that's what I am saying. It only ends up being a waste of time and enevitably it just gets stupid and people pick your idea apart with real science while you spin silly tales without anything to back it up. Instead of spending time making the game you spend it trying to reinvent nature. If you have zombies and giant spiders, then just put them in with magic and leave it at that. Keep it consistent within the confines of that fantasy world and I and most others won't complain.
As a minor example of breaking what I'd consider the game rules was the bandits at the start of Arcanum and the mine full of wolves. Considering that the blacksmith alone could have cleared both it seemed stupid that the place needed my help at all.
@MountainWest
Thanks for that one. Now it's all so clear.
As a minor example of breaking what I'd consider the game rules was the bandits at the start of Arcanum and the mine full of wolves. Considering that the blacksmith alone could have cleared both it seemed stupid that the place needed my help at all.
@MountainWest
Thanks for that one. Now it's all so clear.
kingcomrade
Kingcomrade
Yeah, on the other hand your idea of An Ancient Evil which comes up from a post-apocalyptic municipal dump was truly brilliant.bryce said:
If we killed bryce then the hot air on this forum would be reduced by 95%. We should start on that immediately.
kingcomrade said:
And if we killed you both then the hot air on this forum would be reduced by 99.999999999999999999999%, but at least then we'd find out who the 3 non alts were eh?
(oh, and if someone more versed in biology than me could briefly explain why big spiders wouldn't work that'd be fun)
Jim Kata said:
Yes, they do. They totally do.
They breathe with their ass.
kingcomrade
Kingcomrade
Gosh, someone already made that joke. That was the point you nub.
Jim Kata
Arbiter
kingcomrade said:
Actually, it was brilliant.
Jim Kata
Arbiter
kingcomrade said:
But it's funny because it's true.
I don't know what the 'point' of repeating my joke is, though, especially when it bounces off me and sticks to you.
Come up with your own jibe that's clever, if you can. So far you haven't scored once in all your bloviating ramblings, but that has to change some day. There's always standby of saying "Your old lol"
kingcomrade
Kingcomrade
no u r
Cthulhugoat
Arbiter
kingcomrade said:
almondblight
Arcane
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2004
- Messages
- 2,624
Here's what they say in another thread:
"Personally I'm not a huge fan of radically new creatures or environments that have absolutely no familiarity to me. I'd rather see incremental changes to familiar ideas. I remember playing D&D for the first time and being introduced to the idea of “Wererats†and thinking how cool they were because it took a familiar idea and put a refreshing twist on it. I also thought it was cool when I first heard the idea of a “Daywalker Vampireâ€.
"That doesn't mean we are unwilling to put a completely original idea into our game (we have quite a few in there already, actually), but our goal is to maintain an established level of familiarity with the game world, keeping with the “old-school†play style."
"Personally I'm not a huge fan of radically new creatures or environments that have absolutely no familiarity to me. I'd rather see incremental changes to familiar ideas. I remember playing D&D for the first time and being introduced to the idea of “Wererats†and thinking how cool they were because it took a familiar idea and put a refreshing twist on it. I also thought it was cool when I first heard the idea of a “Daywalker Vampireâ€.
"That doesn't mean we are unwilling to put a completely original idea into our game (we have quite a few in there already, actually), but our goal is to maintain an established level of familiarity with the game world, keeping with the “old-school†play style."
RGE
Liturgist
I could see how the same old familiar fantasy creatures could create a sense of an 'old and true' world, but I prefer more original ideas. (And yes, the guy does webcomics too.)
You should play Burning Crusade, they seem to have borrowed ideas from that guy.
Does any of this boil down to anything less than asthetics? Does it matter if the race is called elves or booby-head nurses aids if they are killed the same way?
If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, and dies like a duck, its a fucking duck, whetehr or not they use a slime animation or a tank animation and call it a dwarve or a nipplebeard or a mountain goat-man. I'd much rather have more options and a challenge killing the thing, then have game makers spend too much time on what the things name is and how different it looks from the thing I killed in the last area, and how different that orc looks from the orcs in other games, even if none of them are called orcs.
If the things require different strategies to kill, have vastly different abilites, etc, I don't care how original their name is. Making a challenging game that doesn't suck is pretty innovative and orginal these last ten years it seems.
But, I like how everyones major gripes now a days is on everything besides gameplay or anything that adds any real value to the game's mechanics.
They should have came out with a feature on a gameplay aspect like combat or character building so everyone would've ignored it and not bitched.
Look at AoD. If they came out with this feature it would be a very original list. His game has only one species to kill. But that is very original for rpgs.
Does any of this boil down to anything less than asthetics? Does it matter if the race is called elves or booby-head nurses aids if they are killed the same way?
If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, and dies like a duck, its a fucking duck, whetehr or not they use a slime animation or a tank animation and call it a dwarve or a nipplebeard or a mountain goat-man. I'd much rather have more options and a challenge killing the thing, then have game makers spend too much time on what the things name is and how different it looks from the thing I killed in the last area, and how different that orc looks from the orcs in other games, even if none of them are called orcs.
If the things require different strategies to kill, have vastly different abilites, etc, I don't care how original their name is. Making a challenging game that doesn't suck is pretty innovative and orginal these last ten years it seems.
But, I like how everyones major gripes now a days is on everything besides gameplay or anything that adds any real value to the game's mechanics.
They should have came out with a feature on a gameplay aspect like combat or character building so everyone would've ignored it and not bitched.
Look at AoD. If they came out with this feature it would be a very original list. His game has only one species to kill. But that is very original for rpgs.
As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.