Trigger the codex with a statement.

[0sacred]

> muh exploration, look no handholding!
> literally moves on rails

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

free roaming in blobbers is decline

this is true though

 

[Vic]

free roaming in blobbers is decline

this is true though

it was a reply to crymancer, I've edited my post to make it clearer

 

[Butter]

There are two decline aspects of M&M 3-5. One is only being able to fight 3 enemies at a time. The other is being able to avoid the encounters entirely by equipping bows on everyone and mashing S before the enemies can reach you. The second one perhaps ought to stay, just because it's fun, but the first could have been avoided. Just have enemies on the world map represent an encounter, and when you land on the tile it says "Ogre x 50" or whatever, and then combat could proceed much as it did in M&M 2.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Like you can’t autofire bows in 6-9. Nope! Impossible. DOOM! & Magic.

As to the x50 or more… they could have done that I suppose with a number at the top of base near each mob you be fighting. I foresee TPK a lot in some cases but Terra-xeen was piss poor easy anyways.

Ok. SOMEONE MOD IT NOW!!

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

The Babylon Bee does its best to trigger the Codex:

 

[RaggleFraggle]

Gamers and devs obsess over lore to the exclusion of important writing basics like plotting and characterization.

 

[Rincewind]

Gamers and devs obsess over lore to the exclusion of important writing basics like plotting and characterization.

How is that even triggering? Gameplay is king, the rest follows... because, uh, games. Lore is way down the list.

 

[destinae vomitus]

Jagged Alliance 3 was the best RPG of 2023, hence why its dedicated thread is in Tactical Gaming rather than here in General RPG Discussion where we prestigious gamers discuss open world shooters like Starfield and Cyberpunk.

 

[RaggleFraggle]

Gamers and devs obsess over lore to the exclusion of important writing basics like plotting and characterization.

How is that even triggering? Gameplay is king, the rest follows... because, uh, games. Lore is way down the list.

Try telling that to a lorefag

 

[Halfling Rodeo]

If you want something well written try a book. Fallout was never well written and the last few have been walking sims with mild gun play attached.

 

[Vic]

If you want something well written try a book. Fallout was never well written and the last few have been walking sims with mild gun play attached.

story is just extra motivation to play the game. games are not a good medium for story telling, they might very well be the worst

books > visual novels without gameplay > audiobooks > graphic novels > movies > visual novels with gameplay > video games

 

[Halfling Rodeo]

visual novels without gameplay

Please stop. I've seen harry potter fanfiction written better than even the best visual novels.

 

[Vic]

visual novels without gameplay

Please stop. I've seen harry potter fanfiction written better than even the best visual novels.

it's not about the quality of the story but about how well a medium lends itself to story telling. a visual novel without gameplay is still better than an audiobook because you can read it at your own pace and get some visuals too. And it's better than graphic novels/comics because in addition to the visuals and text which both have in common you also get sound.

Nothing trumps pure text tho because imagination is the best story telling factory and the author doesn't have to compromise for art, sound, etc. A lot more is acceptable to say via text than other mediums too.

Games are at the very bottom because you spend a significant amount of time engaged in gameplay which does nothing to progress the story forward. You'll get as much story from a 20 hour RPG as you would from a 90 minute film, probably even less.

 

[Halfling Rodeo]

visual novels without gameplay

Please stop. I've seen harry potter fanfiction written better than even the best visual novels.

it's not about the quality of the story but about how well a medium lends itself to story telling. a visual novel without gameplay is still better than an audiobook because you can read it at your own pace and get some visuals too. And it's better than graphic novels/comics because in addition to the visuals and text which both have in common you also get sound.

Nothing trumps pure text tho because imagination is the best story telling factory.

Games are at the very bottom because you spend a significant amount of time engaged in gameplay which does nothing to progress the story forward. You'll get as much story from a 20 hour RPG as you would in a 90 minute film, probably even less.

You're really doubling down on your crappy tier list where you put static images with text on them over movies? Comics are the worst form of story telling. They're bad for dialog because the art takes so much space and they're bad for action because they're static images. Your idea of story telling seems so arse backwards. There are plenty of movies that tell great stories and plenty of great stories utterly butchered by being 10 hour audio books. While there's also plenty of audio books with amazing readers able to bring life to characters in ways even the best reader would struggle to do.

The best story is the story told in the medium that fits it best. I wouldn't want to read an action comic when I could watch a movie or play a game of it. Comics are a shit medium and you rank them higher than full visual experiences.

But you're still retarded if you think visual novels are anything but glorified fanfics written on toilet paper made for an audience of low IQ pedophiles.

 

[Vic]

visual novels without gameplay

Please stop. I've seen harry potter fanfiction written better than even the best visual novels.

it's not about the quality of the story but about how well a medium lends itself to story telling. a visual novel without gameplay is still better than an audiobook because you can read it at your own pace and get some visuals too. And it's better than graphic novels/comics because in addition to the visuals and text which both have in common you also get sound.

Nothing trumps pure text tho because imagination is the best story telling factory.

Games are at the very bottom because you spend a significant amount of time engaged in gameplay which does nothing to progress the story forward. You'll get as much story from a 20 hour RPG as you would in a 90 minute film, probably even less.

You're really doubling down on your crappy tier list where you put static images with text on them over movies? Comics are the worst form of story telling. They're bad for dialog because the art takes so much space and they're bad for action because they're static images. Your idea of story telling seems so arse backwards. There are plenty of movies that tell great stories and plenty of great stories utterly butchered by being 10 hour audio books. While there's also plenty of audio books with amazing readers able to bring life to characters in ways even the best reader would struggle to do.

The best story is the story told in the medium that fits it best. I wouldn't want to read an action comic when I could watch a movie or play a game of it. Comics are a shit medium and you rank them higher than full visual experiences.

But you're still retarded if you think visual novels are anything but glorified fanfics written on toilet paper made for an audience of low IQ pedophiles.

there are multiple things factually and logically wrong in your post but I see no reason to argue with you on that.

 

[Halfling Rodeo]

visual novels without gameplay

Please stop. I've seen harry potter fanfiction written better than even the best visual novels.

it's not about the quality of the story but about how well a medium lends itself to story telling. a visual novel without gameplay is still better than an audiobook because you can read it at your own pace and get some visuals too. And it's better than graphic novels/comics because in addition to the visuals and text which both have in common you also get sound.

Nothing trumps pure text tho because imagination is the best story telling factory.

Games are at the very bottom because you spend a significant amount of time engaged in gameplay which does nothing to progress the story forward. You'll get as much story from a 20 hour RPG as you would in a 90 minute film, probably even less.

You're really doubling down on your crappy tier list where you put static images with text on them over movies? Comics are the worst form of story telling. They're bad for dialog because the art takes so much space and they're bad for action because they're static images. Your idea of story telling seems so arse backwards. There are plenty of movies that tell great stories and plenty of great stories utterly butchered by being 10 hour audio books. While there's also plenty of audio books with amazing readers able to bring life to characters in ways even the best reader would struggle to do.

The best story is the story told in the medium that fits it best. I wouldn't want to read an action comic when I could watch a movie or play a game of it. Comics are a shit medium and you rank them higher than full visual experiences.

But you're still retarded if you think visual novels are anything but glorified fanfics written on toilet paper made for an audience of low IQ pedophiles.

there are multiple things factually wrong in your post but I see no reason to argue with you on that.

I accept your surrender. Another visual novel nerd's nipple on my victory belt!

 

[Vic]

visual novels without gameplay

Please stop. I've seen harry potter fanfiction written better than even the best visual novels.

it's not about the quality of the story but about how well a medium lends itself to story telling. a visual novel without gameplay is still better than an audiobook because you can read it at your own pace and get some visuals too. And it's better than graphic novels/comics because in addition to the visuals and text which both have in common you also get sound.

Nothing trumps pure text tho because imagination is the best story telling factory.

Games are at the very bottom because you spend a significant amount of time engaged in gameplay which does nothing to progress the story forward. You'll get as much story from a 20 hour RPG as you would in a 90 minute film, probably even less.

You're really doubling down on your crappy tier list where you put static images with text on them over movies? Comics are the worst form of story telling. They're bad for dialog because the art takes so much space and they're bad for action because they're static images. Your idea of story telling seems so arse backwards. There are plenty of movies that tell great stories and plenty of great stories utterly butchered by being 10 hour audio books. While there's also plenty of audio books with amazing readers able to bring life to characters in ways even the best reader would struggle to do.

The best story is the story told in the medium that fits it best. I wouldn't want to read an action comic when I could watch a movie or play a game of it. Comics are a shit medium and you rank them higher than full visual experiences.

But you're still retarded if you think visual novels are anything but glorified fanfics written on toilet paper made for an audience of low IQ pedophiles.

there are multiple things factually wrong in your post but I see no reason to argue with you on that.

I accept your surrender. Another visual novel nerd's nipple on my victory belt!

congrats, now go and play in the corner

 

[Silverfish]

Comics are the worst form of story telling.

When there's a movie as good as Zero Hour: Crisis in Time, let me know.

 

[Average Manatee]

There are two decline aspects of M&M 3-5. One is only being able to fight 3 enemies at a time. The other is being able to avoid the encounters entirely by equipping bows on everyone and mashing S before the enemies can reach you. The second one perhaps ought to stay, just because it's fun, but the first could have been avoided. Just have enemies on the world map represent an encounter, and when you land on the tile it says "Ogre x 50" or whatever, and then combat could proceed much as it did in M&M 2.

I don't recall ranged combat being useful AT ALL in M&M 3-5. I'm not sure on the specifics but I think it has lower hit rate and you only get 1 atk/turn, as opposed to potentially dozens that a fighter in melee could get. Ranged spell combat could be powerful but really most of the time you wanted to be in melee because enemies had ranged attacks/spells and those tended to be worse than yours. e.g. Every time you cast ONE spell ALL enemies got to attack, which with stuff like dragons means every member of your party gets hit by a fire breath attack from every dragon in in line of sight. Which not only could mean like 6 flame breaths per character but also needing to wait a minute or two just for the animations to play out.

 

[Butter]

There are two decline aspects of M&M 3-5. One is only being able to fight 3 enemies at a time. The other is being able to avoid the encounters entirely by equipping bows on everyone and mashing S before the enemies can reach you. The second one perhaps ought to stay, just because it's fun, but the first could have been avoided. Just have enemies on the world map represent an encounter, and when you land on the tile it says "Ogre x 50" or whatever, and then combat could proceed much as it did in M&M 2.

I don't recall ranged combat being useful AT ALL in M&M 3-5. I'm not sure on the specifics but I think it has lower hit rate and you only get 1 atk/turn, as opposed to potentially dozens that a fighter in melee could get. Ranged spell combat could be powerful but really most of the time you wanted to be in melee because enemies had ranged attacks/spells and those tended to be worse than yours. e.g. Every time you cast ONE spell ALL enemies got to attack, which with stuff like dragons means every member of your party gets hit by a fire breath attack from every dragon in in line of sight. Which not only could mean like 6 flame breaths per character but also needing to wait a minute or two just for the animations to play out.

You can spam shots at the enemies when they're approaching you, before the actual encounter begins. I think the intent was that you could only get one shot off for each tile they move forward, but in practice it's more than that, and frequently the enemies die before reaching you. You can equip bows as secondary weapons on most classes, so it's not even a real commitment to the archer lifestyle.

 

[Average Manatee]

You can spam shots at the enemies when they're approaching you, before the actual encounter begins. I think the intent was that you could only get one shot off for each tile they move forward, but in practice it's more than that, and frequently the enemies die before reaching you. You can equip bows as secondary weapons on most classes, so it's not a real commitment to the archer lifestyle.

Unless you've discovered some game bug the enemies always move 1 tile per shot you take, and shots you take have always been weak as hell as I remember it. And enemies don't just walk forward, they attack at the same time.

 

[Halfling Rodeo]

Comics are the worst form of story telling.

When there's a movie as good as Zero Hour: Crisis in Time, let me know.

The trailer does not do it justice.

 

[Silverfish]

I should hope not.

 

[behold_a_man]

Even the most complex games can be learned by doing. All you need is tooltips that tell you what the interface elements do... or just make the interface symbols easy to read.

I managed to learn Master of Orion 2, Civilization 4, Arcanum, Baldur's Gate 2, Gothic 2, Morrowind without having a manual for any of them. I just checked the options menu for controls and learned by doing. I didn't even know how THAC0 worked and that lower AC is better, still managed to figure out how to play BG2.

Later, when I knew how AD&D worked, I played Pool of Radiance... without a manual! Even that old game tells you enough in its interface to use it without one.

Try playing first two Might & Magic titles without a manual. You'll have loads of fun, I assure you.