Interview Master Creating help to break Action RPG drought!

[Amasius]

BTW: You can have story focus AND good atmosphere. Feel free to play KRONDOR once again.

Well, I replayed BAK last year and it was not nearly as good as I remembered. I really liked Feists storys as a kid, but that has changed, I can't stand them anymore. However Krondor is still a decent game and the relatively nonlinearity in the different chapters is well done.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Feist's stuff is pretty cliché. He's a decent enough writer, but his work doesn't age very well. Using the Humble Beginnings vignette for the start of every trilogy tends to spoil the impression of the rest of the books.

Just like Bioware storylines.

 

[The Rambling Sage]

Why should action RPGs have dialogue choices? The whole point of action RPGs (an offshoot of roguelikes) is to beat things up, not talk your enemies to death. If I wanted to play that, I'd just play Fallout, Baldur's Gate or some other RPG.

Compelled i am to think you are just making a lousy joke, but i fear you were serious about that.

Explain to me how it is that in Baldur's Gate, a game known because of how cosmetic most dialogues were, could you talk your enemies to death. Please.

Mainly that the story usually isn't terribly impressive and that this "philosophy" is usually used to justify limitations of the PC's freedom. It's overused.

I can't remember more than one RPG with an actually good story, but leaving that aside, freedom is usually limited anyways - so better to have it limited with a good excuse than just because it is a game and so you can not ask for a lot of freedom.

Even if i hate using KOTOR as a reference, is easier to rationalize and accept that you character can only go to four planets because those are the only important ones to his quest than to accept or rationalize the post-apoc world is flat and ends some kilometers north of shady sands. Or that Arcanum is a continent where the greatest kingdom/nation has only three cities, or better yet one city and two towns.

If that is freedom, put a good story (or any kind story, at that) and call it Enlightened Despotism.

 

[Gambler]

What is a quest but a shorter, less meaningful and complex storyline?

The Rambling Sage is right, storyline can provide scope and direction to the game without making it completely linear. And context. And many other things. For example, you can't possibly have an interesting character without some situation that will show that he is interesting. And rather than having those situations to happen arbitrarily, I would prefer them to be interrelated, causal, etc.

Besides, I'm a strong believer that games regardless of genre should be meaningful. And so far I know only two ways for them to have meaning.
1) Good storyline that expresses some ideas.
2) Good game system that encourages thinking.

PS: On linearity. Planescape, Blade Runner and Pathologic show that it is perfectly possible to make non-linear story-driven games. Designers just use "story-driven" as a shitty excuse.

 

[Claw]

Ah, I see: You discovered a new function of the forum software... Nice one.

It's not actually a new function, but a trivial combination of the two functions you used. Of course, it's unfair to expect that from someone who can't even use quotes correctly.
Don't be sad though, you caught me making a typo! :D

What interests me here is one question: Did you learn it by mumbling to yourself or by calling your mother names? Both I am "adraid".

I'm a quick learner, so a single post from a guy going by the nick "Sir Brennus" on some German forum was enough to tell me that alot of patience would be required dealing with his babbling. You can keep going if you like, I think I've traded enough "NO U!" for the moment.

PS: On linearity. Planescape, Blade Runner and Pathologic show that it is perfectly possible to make non-linear story-driven games. Designers just use "story-driven" as a shitty excuse.

Sure, that's just the issue. Whenever a developer talks big about their storytelling, I get suspicious. I wouldn't mind being proven wrong, but I don't expect it.

 

[Sir_Brennus]

It's not actually a new function, but a trivial combination of the two functions you used. Of course, it's unfair to expect that from someone who can't even use quotes correctly.

Not in the mood for some irony, are you?

"Sir Brennus" on some German forum was enough to tell me

Enlighten me? Which forum was it? Who goes there by my name?