Scorpia and Baldur's Gate, a discussion from 2006

[aweigh]

Grauken

yes, the Wiz-clone game for Nintendo DS called "The Dark Spire" which was made by ex-Wizardry developers (beofre "The Dark Spire" the studio was responsible for making the Playstation 1 and Sega Saturn remakes of Wizardry 4, Wizardry 4 "Remix" and Wizardry 5) features the same swing/bash/etc system of melee attacks from Wizardry 6 except expanded upon by including the ability to make such swing/bashes/etc either "quick" attacks, "slow" attacks or "precise" attacks which shift around the turn-order for the attacks even further.

you can also simply utilize a universal "attack" for when the enemy is not dangerous enough to merit such strategizing.

The Dark Spire is probably one of the best Wiz-clone titles made in the last decade with fantastic dungeon maps that put Wizardry 6-8 to shame.

Unlike Etrian Odyssey and Elminage it is also literally the only japanese-made Wiz-clone that does not utilize anime art and instead utilizes western "grim and gritty" graphic novel art style, reminiscent of your average Dark Horse comic.

It also features the option to play the entire game in Wireframe mode, which is the mode I use because I am that hard-core.

 

[Azrael the cat]

I kind of get where she's coming from with some of her weaker criticisms (the desire to play a 'stronger' hero character, the party alignment dynamics). Her whole review reads like someone who wants Ultima 7, perhaps combined with a little Fallout, and got, well, BG. Her weak and strong criticisms all make sense from that angle.

More the point, regardless of her opinion of the actual game, she seems like someone who understands crpgs and can actually be bothered writing about the nuts and bolts of their mechanics, rather than just the plot and marketing points. Even where I disagree with her, I can still work out what she's getting at, and whether I'm likely to take a different opinion.

It reminds me of the distinction you used to get with music journos - ie between the musician-cum-writers and the 'journalists' back when music magazines mattered. Thing is, because interviewers would have to deal with the band directly, and the band was sort of being forced to do the publicity stuff and weren't inclined to tolerate idiots, they'd openly show their disdain for the latter types, which could be quite amusing in itself. Game marketing always had the sales push front and centre, even in the 'good old days', whatever period you place that in, all the way back to the early 80s - early garriot, greenman, etc were betting their livelihoods and newfound-and-fragile fortune on each new release. Developer push-back against shitty reviewers is probably better now than it was then, just because they know they don't really need the reviewers like they did before.

On the flipside, early garriot and greenman knew that they had maybe one bad game leeway, so they really had no choice but to make sure their product was fucking good. It's no accident that the worst era for gaming was when the need to secure advance funding became more important than actual sales/profits. When a company like Troika folds despite every one of their games making bank, because they can't interest a publisher in their next game, that sends chills through the industry and makes everyone else more publisher-oriented. I'm not convinced that the gaming press, post the blooming of the Internet, ever had the kind of all controlling influence that people (the journalists most of all) assume.

 

[Incantatar]

RTwP
I always think most of the criticisms have to do with the obscurity of the mechanics. The hardcore players can treat and do treat the games like highly tactical games no more less than any turn based game. Turn based combat is much more novice friendly in that you know exactly what you can do per round and what exactly happens and can happen. In RTwP you have to make a learning curve for the same knowledge.
This guy here e.g. is the most insane (and genius) BG-player i know, who plays one of the most difficult fights in the most difficult mod in the most difficult way possible. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRTEtmJw--E Almost no views, which shows how arcane this kind of playing is.
My point: It's very unusual to play the games on an ultra strategic level but it is definately possible for dedicated players.

Scorpia
Stumbled on an 2010 interview with her where the interviewer wanted to have her answer every question with the sentiment how misogynistic male gamers are and Scorpia repeatedly didn't give her the right answer. Comedy gold.
https://archive.is/FFwS6

SEVEN QUESTIONS WITH SCORPIA
1. Anonymity and privacy have been in the gaming news recently, given the failure of Blizzard's "Real ID" concept for Battlenet. There was a whole choir of opposing voices to this idea, but one of the interesting factions from my point of view were the female gamers, who claimed that their privacy and anonymity were important for personal security reasons.

Question: You were protected during your reviewing days with multiple layers of anonymity. You wrote under a pseudonym and no photograph of you was ever published, even when every other contributor to the magazine was compelled to add a picture to his/her by-line. What were your reasons for remaining both invisible and anonymous?


Answer: I've always been a very private individual. I don't even like personalized items. Publicity is not something I ever wanted. Aside from that, I was already Scorpia when Russ asked me to write for the magazine.

It also seemed more fitting for the adventure/RPG genres I wrote about. How prosaic it would have been to write under my "real" name! In addition, it had a touch of the mysterious, and everyone loves a mystery. Finally, it's easy to remember So it worked out nicely all around.

2. You were and are the most famous female game reviewer of all time. You were also extremely popular with readers: many gamers have said over the years that they subscribed to Computer Gaming World mainly for your column.

Question: Do you feel you have experienced significant discrimination as a female professional in the reviewing business?

Answer: None whatsoever. After considerable thought, I can't come up with any incident of discrimination.

3. Clearly you were able to have a positive working relationship with Johnny Wilson, but when Johnny left CGW, you left soon after-you may well have been the last female writer associated with the publication.

Question: I have read in other interviews that CGW "didn't want your stuff anymore"-did they offer any rationale for firing a popular columnist? Did you get the impression that the magazine was increasingly becoming a "Boy's Club"?

Answer: The mag changed a great deal after Russ sold it to Ziff-Davis. A number of people from the "Russ regime" were dropped besides me. CGW was going in a different direction, and I, among others, didn't fit in with it. That wasn't said to me in so many words, but it came through.

Seeing what CGW eventually became, overall, I'm not too sorry that I left it. However, I don't believe that being a woman had anything to do with being dropped. This was something more in the "new broom" mold than anything else.

Question: Have you submitted a resume or clips to any other venue for professional PC game reviews? If not, why? If so, what was the response?

Answer: No, after leaving CGW, I never looked around for a new "home". Didn't get any offers, either. Possibly my reputation for tough reviews had some thing to do with that. Heh. At that time, there weren't many games around in my area (adventure/RPG). Since then, I've been drifting away from the game scene. Most of what's out there now has no appeal for me, and there's an increasing emphasis on multiplayer, in which I have no interest at all.


4. Many female gamers have stated that they resent having to play every game with a default male character.

Question: Do you prefer to play through a game as a female character? If you do, why? If you prefer to play as male, why? If you don't care, why?

Answer: Knowing game designers were usually men, I usually played as male first if there was a choice. That's always the baseline. Then - unless the game was an utter dog - I went through with a female.

Sometimes there were slight differences between the two, but I never noticed any that were significant. Even so, there's no question in my mind that the games were designed primarily for the male player.

In party-based games, of which there are few these days, I went for a male-female balance.

For me, it doesn't matter too much which I play, although it's always nice to have a choice between male and female. Perhaps this goes back to the early days, when most games were party-based, and you created all the characters. As mentioned above, I liked balance. And all the characters were extensions of me, so male or female, didn't make much difference.

See, I've never really thought of myself as a "female gamer", but simply as "A gamer". Gender hasn't been much of an issue for me most of the time.


5. Can you name your favorite game of all time which 1) allowed you to play as male or female, 2) allowed you to play only as a female, featuring a female character in its story-line?

Answer (1): Ha, no contest there: Ultima IV, still my favorite RPG. And the only one (so far as I know) that emphasized other than just gaining combat and related skills. Also the unique ending.


Related question: who was your favorite female character of all time, PC or NPC?

Answer (2): Hmmm. That one is more difficult. I dislike games that make you play a pre-created character, complete with background, etc., whether male or female. Pondered this one a long time, and no PC or NPC comes to mind.


6. Have you noticed any differences between games where women were in the role of lead designer (Roberta Williams, Jane Jensen, etc.)?

Answer: Not especially, although I (mostly) liked Jane's Gabriel Knight series. They were interesting, adult, and Jane always did her homework.


7. Many female gamers have complained about the depiction of women in games, particularly in games for the console. Do you think these complaints have any merit? What sort of female characters do you think would attract a female audience?

Answer: Regarding consoles, I don't have one, never played a console game. So I can't say anything from my own experience.

As to attracting a female audience, I suspect that might be done if the companies paid attention to the complaints and worked to resolve them. Of course, that's IF the companies really want to attract more women gamers. They can say what they like, but actions speak louder than words.

 

[octavius]

"See, I've never really thought of myself as a "female gamer", but simply as "A gamer". "
Maybe the interviewer from Gamacuckra should do the same?