SCO said:
Horror is like the complete opposite of rpg gameplay though. In rpgs you get more competent with time. In horror, you should get less competent.
(...)
In rpgs you shouldn't run away, since you'll never get that xp. In horror, you need to run way, else death is certain.
That's why XP based systems are lousy. Good framework should be flexible and adopt easily to various subgenres, themes and atmospheres.
In rpgs paying attention should save you. In horror paying attention should make you more terrified.
But if you don't pay attention, you're dead. Or worse. Or just dead - worse comes if you pay attention and survive. In any case, paying attention is what protagonist (and, by extension, player) usually has to do, regardless of genre.
In rpgs player morality is explored (either way, agency). In horror player morality is perverted (and often without agency).
That's why and how morality in most RPGs is lousy. Good RPG shouldn't allow easy choices, but should do its best to bend or break characters' morality.
Else the morality is pointless and boils down to trite biowarity.
In rpgs (ahem) doing different things should have different results. In horror doing different things doesn't stop the inexorable.
It may fail to stop the ineorable in different ways. In most RPGs dpoing stuff differently doesn't stop the PC from progressing towards the ending, even if there are many endings, they are usually outnumbered by decisions.
Azrael's Tear would make a good example of C&C horror if only it explored and expanded its themes more thoroughly rather than going randroid in the end.
torpid said:
Admiral jimbob said:
Oblivion takes place in a nightmarish, alternate-Earth realm where humans and elves possess a basic sentience, but can only obey the will of some maddened tyrant slave-lord. Day by day, they will stumble from their beds only to spend five hours staring at a wall, while guards ineffectually mumble at them about joining the fighters' guild. Despite all the player's actions as a great force for change in the world, our doomed, tragic drones can only drag themselves from their bed helplessly, morning after morning, to stand by a fountain for the rest of the day and bleakly speculate about mudcrabs. After a few days, the horrifying parody of the crushing mediocrity of everyday life will strike home, and the player will beg for release.
I was thinking about saying Oblivion when I saw this thread.
And then it sinks in - if nothing changes about the direction of the industry, the oblivion is a glimpse into the future.
More so, eventually it will become the least declined game some people will remember and gems such as
Random NPC with bonus chromosome said:
If everyone knew how, we wouldn't have to carry around so many keys.
will be held in high regard as an example of well written random gossip between NPCs.
Itz like this thing Munch
was talking about painted.