Interview RPG Codex Interview: Dan Vávra (Warhorse Studios)

[Mrowak]

So Diablo is not an RPG?

According to "Official Codexian Definition (TM)" RPG is a game of rolling dice in order to beat abstract stat scores in spastic-autistic fashion which somehow fulfills the player's illusory power-fantasy. If a game doesn't have that as its main gameplay mode it's not an RPG.

So no, Diablo is not enough.

 

[felipepepe]

Bros, Diablo II was considered the #5 best RPG of the last decade by the Codex....

 

[hiver]

What the f are you talking about Mrowak?

Is this fucking necessary? Diablo is an action hack and slash RPG.
There is nothing to discuss.

 

[Jaesun]

No it's entirely an action game.

 

[Corporate_Jew_Master]

Wait, aren't RPGs centered around your character being limited by his stats/skills?

What the hell are you trying to say Dan? That you are making a fencing FPS with cosmetic xp bars?

 

[Snikt]

Pure historical settings are boring as mud, games like Darklands were interesting because of the devils, saints, alchemy, and so on.

 

[Grunker]

Bros, Diablo II was considered the #5 best RPG of the last decade by the Codex' retarded staff at that time

 

[Irenaeus]

Pure historical settings are boring as mud, games like Darklands were interesting because of the devils, saints, alchemy, and so on.

History is many times more interesting than generic fantasy.

 

[hiver]

No it's entirely an action game.

No. What you could do in the game was limited through classes and skills. Content was linear and combat centric.

ergo.

- barely inside the genre at large, though firmly in its actiounz! epic! visceral! crap sub genre.

 

[Metro]

Dan I will buy your game... for 75% off.

 

[Marquess Cornwallis]

Yes, make the voice acting in medieval Czech, medieval Latin and/or High Middle German instead. That would be awesome and enhance the atmosphere tremendously.

Markéta Lazarová the Game.


...


TAKE ALL OF MY FUCKING MONEY.

That would be brilliant, but, strictly speaking, the book is closer to fantasy (or, if you will, poetry) than history and the language used is (a heavily stylized) Vančura's invention rather than actual medieval Czech.

 

[Snikt]

That Dan guy sure is interesting, I always thought of modern game developers as ignorant of the awesomeness of old-school RPG's, or they were just making console games to pay the bills, but this guy literally seems to believe that RPG's have progressed instead of going backwards. Fascinating.

I'll conclude that he must either be a liar and he never played older RPG's, or at least he's very shallow and only sees the graphics of a game and not the systems beneath it.

 

[JarlFrank]

Or maybe he just has different taste in games.
Cause nothing about this looks like it's deliberately dumbed down to please the masses, it's just a different kind of game. More based on player-skill than character skill. And that's fine, I like games like this too.

 

[Snikt]

Or maybe he just has different taste in games.
Cause nothing about this looks like it's deliberately dumbed down to please the masses, it's just a different kind of game. More based on player-skill than character skill. And that's fine, I like games like this too.

It looks to me to a gigantic waste of money. Those gazillions of polygons, photo-realism, motion capture animations, real-time advanced AI, all the rest, just for a game when you tap a button to block or attack. Imagine what kind of RPG could be made with that money that didn't channel most of it's money into the latest Cry Engine graphics and technologies and instead into gameplay.

 

[Grunker]

Or maybe he just has different taste in games.

No one said he wasn't allowed to have his own tastes in games. People commented that this:

So the RPG is no more about the dices and stats—it could be completely skill-based and it will finally resemble the real world as we all desired back in the days of pen and paper

is solid retardation. There's no one here telling Dan what he can or can't like, he's the one telling us what we like. Not only is he making the same unfounded bullshit remark about the "evolution" of RPGs as idiot TES fans made back when Oblivion first came out, he's simultaneously talking about the action RPG as the final form of RPGs that we all wanted it to turn into.

This is genre-hegemonic on a level I haven't seen since some goth fucker was arguing the merits of VtM over D&D back in the 90's where everyone in RPG-land thought everyone else was doing it wrong.

 

[JarlFrank]

just for a game when you tap a button to block or attack.

Right, so action combat is apparently not your thing. But I, for one, enjoy it, and I wouldn't want every single RPG out there to be the same, either. It's great that there are many TB and some RtwP RPGs in production now, but it's also great that we have a rather promising first person action RPG in production here.

If combat is similar to Dark Messiah of M&M, I'll be happy.

 

[Metro]

I think the question is how close is this to a Gothic or Dark Messiah versus Oblivion where you can be a jack-of-all trades. The key to a good ARPG is limiting factors in your abilities/skills. If you are able to be as powerful a mage as you are a frontline fighter, have super stealth, and be a deadly marksman all at the same time then... yeah.

 

[mondblut]

The key to a good ARPG is limiting factors in your abilities/skills. If you are able to be as powerful a mage as you are a frontline fighter, have super stealth, and be a deadly marksman all at the same time then... yeah.

Being "as powerful a mage as you are a frontline fighter, have super stealth, and be a deadly marksman all at the same" is about the only thing that makes the action crap somewhat tolerable. Somebody really expects me to "block" and "roll" and "jump" and shit in an RPG? Jesus. I'd take godmode any day over this crap if I ever play one.

 

[hiver]

hey... weve gone through "righteous RPG" arguments before. No need to do it again.
He isnt claiming its a true RPG anymore.

He is making an action RPG. Thats fine.
The game may well be better in that class of next gen type of games then most weve seen (depending on the end product and execution of all of it ofc) - and by all looks much closer to Witcher games, generally speaking. Maybe less fantastical and more first person but, so what?

He can call his game an action RPG because thats what it is.

And as Jarl Frank says we can and do enjoy such games too.

 

[Multidirectional]

Hey guys, I'm new here, what's RPG?

 

[Jaesun]

Hey guys, I'm new here, what's RPG?

A game that uses a Pen and Paper Rule system. For example Dungeons and Dragons or Shadowrun.

 

[Multidirectional]

Cool, I'll check it out. Thanks!

 

[JarlFrank]

Hey guys, I'm new here, what's RPG?

A weapon used to smash the decline.

 

[Daniel.Vavra]

That Dan guy sure is interesting, I always thought of modern game developers as ignorant of the awesomeness of old-school RPG's, or they were just making console games to pay the bills, but this guy literally seems to believe that RPG's have progressed instead of going backwards. Fascinating.

I'll conclude that he must either be a liar and he never played older RPG's, or at least he's very shallow and only sees the graphics of a game and not the systems beneath it.

You are right. I am totally retarded.

 

[JarlFrank]

You should post more on the Codex, Dan.