What's your preferred flavor of cRPG?

[Kraszu]

I don't like idea of game that give no motivation, and no end, game would be pointless then to me. I want some motivation to take action other then loot and boobs, world should not be set in stone, there should be conflict going on (sr), but you should be able to decide what to do. Who to join, to be mercenary and have influence on world that way, or become king. Who to side whit (it should be also moral choice, not only does blue have more power then red, but if you don't care about morally you obviously could judge like that). Life conflict maybe whit danger that come from different region, and you could try to unite conflicted sides to deal whit coming danger or side whit newcomers and got benefit from that. Or maybe deal whit other sides and gain enough power to deal whit everybody. Danger at start should be far but you should have enough clues about it.

 

[Claw]

who was talking about first person? you assume and you munch on your own ass at the same time, queef.

Yeah, WHO was? I was talking about realtime combat. I could mention games with realtime combat and different perspectives from that time, but that'd probably just lead to more excuses from Mr. Boo-hoo.

the old mr. lamat account has a savant rating.

OMG, I take back everything! Just kidding.

 

[mister lamat]

I don't like idea of game that give no motivation, and no end, game would be pointless then to me. I want some motivation to take action other then loot and boobs, world should not be set in stone, there should be conflict going on (sr), but you should be able to decide what to do. Who to join, to be mercenary and have influence on world that way, or become king. Who to side whit (it should be also moral choice, not only does blue have more power then red, but if you don't care about morally you obviously could judge like that). Life conflict maybe whit danger that come from different region, and you could try to unite conflicted sides to deal whit coming danger or side whit newcomers and got benefit from that. Or maybe deal whit other sides and gain enough power to deal whit everybody. Danger at start should be far but you should have enough clues about it.

motivation is interaction with the sandbox itself and the responses that can be derived from it. you use the example of a conflict, which is a pretty decent one actually that never seems to be taken advantage of. how do you choose to play your role in that? gunman on the border, reconoitering in the borderlands and getting into skirmishes with the enemy? work on the propaganda front and wander from village to village trying to get young men to sign up through diplomacy and coercion? profiteer from it, by ambushing your 'own side' and their shipment then selling them back? all the while a hardcoded clock ticks down in the background as the two nations steadily march off to war... or do you try and stop it entirely? do you even try to find out what the reasons for this war are?

that's the theory that sandbox games should operate with, sadly the tech hasn't caught up with the ideas that can be thrown behind them yet. the farther you push towards being so open ended right now, the more the story suffers... re: gothic3

 

[Ladonna]

Bullshit Lamat....Time is what was missing from Gothic 3. With enough time, they could have made it work quite easily. They should have focused on a shorter and smaller game instead and made it tighter.

Any Glittering Gem of Hatred should know that. Fucking about and trying to do too much will only get you nowhere.

The game was still nice though...

 

[mister lamat]

tech limits how much you can get done in the amount of time you've set aside for development... that being said, they're both part of the answer of what happened with gothic3. it was a really nice 'dip' into the sandbox world, good reactions from the gameworld when your character chose to act.

smaller and tighter would have taken away from what made g3 good though. part of the 'sandbox' idea, at least to me, is making it so large that it's almost scary at the start. putting random shit in every little corner you can find, just for the sake of putting it there and then having those affect the overall status of the area, even if it's in a really small, personal way.

fucking about is the entire reason to build a 'sandbox' gameworld. it's probably the most creative development process going these days... it's just really difficult to rope in all those ideas and make them work within the technology and the business model that devs have to work with.

 

[Ladonna]

No, no. I 'did not' like the sandbox, randomised part of Gothic 3. I would have preferred if every chest had hand placed stuff. I have never been into randomised treasure because unless its a dungeon crawler, it usually sucks.

After opening a chest at the bottom of Dungeon Doom....OMFG! Its an APPLE!!11!!

I get where you are coming from, its just that it was the part of the game I didn't like. And I preferred the old Gothic style of Combat too.

Just me.

 

[Ahzaruuk]

No, no. I 'did not' like the sandbox, randomised part of Gothic 3. I would have preferred if every chest had hand placed stuff. I have never been into randomised treasure because unless its a dungeon crawler, it usually sucks.

After opening a chest at the bottom of Dungeon Doom....OMFG! Its an APPLE!!11!!
Just me.

I persoanly liked how FFXII handeled the treasure coffers and the like. Some chests respawned, and others were one-time use only. The latter usually bearing a greater reward.

 

[mister lamat]

No, no. I 'did not' like the sandbox, randomised part of Gothic 3. I would have preferred if every chest had hand placed stuff. I have never been into randomised treasure because unless its a dungeon crawler, it usually sucks.

After opening a chest at the bottom of Dungeon Doom....OMFG! Its an APPLE!!11!!

I get where you are coming from, its just that it was the part of the game I didn't like. And I preferred the old Gothic style of Combat too.

Just me.

hehe... by 'random shit' i didn't quite mean random loot, just silly little things to do. like, coming across a farmer with a broken leg after his oxen turned over his plow... do you heal him, help him back to his house, rob his house or just off the poor fuck? maybe his kid went off to 'the big city' and became a guard, who'll let you skate when you're caught stealing because you helped his family?

does it really mean anything? no, not really but it adds to the world as a whole. sometimes pointless things are fun to do simply because they're fun to do and add to a sense of immersion when they come back around again.

randomized loot is always a terrible idea... at least when said random loot doesn't reference the creeps in the cave who preceeded it... which is a failure of both time and the tech once again.

 

[Kraszu]

motivation is interaction with the sandbox itself and the responses that can be derived from it. you use the example of a conflict, which is a pretty decent one actually that never seems to be taken advantage of. how do you choose to play your role in that? gunman on the border, reconoitering in the borderlands and getting into skirmishes with the enemy? work on the propaganda front and wander from village to village trying to get young men to sign up through diplomacy and coercion? profiteer from it, by ambushing your 'own side' and their shipment then selling them back? all the while a hardcoded clock ticks down in the background as the two nations steadily march off to war... or do you try and stop it entirely? do you even try to find out what the reasons for this war are?

that's the theory that sandbox games should operate with, sadly the tech hasn't caught up with the ideas that can be thrown behind them yet. the farther you push towards being so open ended right now, the more the story suffers... re: gothic3

What I mean is that I would like a defined end of game, it could end in different ways but it should be there, sim like simulation when your only motivation would be to got princess/loot could be without end. Background could also give you some motivation, let say that your family have depth and will loose his land if not payed that is better motivation then loot itself. When you pay it off you could take over land from your father, let it be big enough to make difference, deal whit problems, pay off debt, solve your family problems and gain by it.