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On November 20 2012 10:54 radscorpion9 wrote:
Well I guess the definition of RPG has morphed beyond just having a character that can level up and use chosen abilities at certain times, now people want to have a greater impact on the world around them and so naturally the story is going to be integrated into how the character talks to certain people (or reacts to certain events). I think its a good thing, but it depends how you go about it.
My problem with companies like Bethesda is that they produce quantity over quality games...their games usually have such a big environment that most of it is really poor quality. Case in point would be Skyrim or Oblivion, most of the quests were drab and meaningless, and so there wasn't much in terms of quality storytelling or meaningful plot development, because its simply too big of a task to undertake when you have that much in the game. Morrowind did a much better job, but it still suffered a lot.
It leads me to believe that the people who enjoy those games derive the most amusement from their imagination rather than the game; they pretend that a character is more realistic than it is, so when it does something silly or gets killed they react to it more seriously than they should. This is the only explanation I can imagine as to why people enjoy these games...either that or they are really, really amused with hacking something to death or shooting fireballs at it hundreds of times; or that they never get tired of traversing the virtually identical dungeons dozens of times, with only slightly varying themes of why you're in those dungeons (i.e. kill the bandits, vampires, beasts, or necromancers over and over again).
Or in skyrim's case kill the nordic undead 1000x times for every dungeon you enter, to collect some special trinket that can be generically replaced with anything else, while occasionally completing a puzzle for 8 year olds. The story is always a total joke...Fallout 3 had the most ridiculous ending I've ever seen (in many ways), Oblivion had *one* cool twist, but everything else was stereotypical hollywood writing, Skyrim of course had a generic epic hero boss fight against a dragon which was easy and lame. I'm forced to play games for children, because that's the only thing left. There's no challenge (doesn't fit with the console game market), very little in terms of thought provoking story let alone conversation, and very little in terms of quality quests.
Its just so...simple, and mundane. I don't understand what the world is coming to when these are hailed as the best RPGs. Have we really descended so far that people no longer remember what quality RPGs were like? I loved Fallout 1 and 2. Now I have to search through independent game makers to see if anyone is doing something similar. Thankfully I have found at least one game that looks really promising, namely Underrail. The first Dragon Age was also an example of a company going in the right direction, not vapid free form exploration in a world devoid of meaningful content.
I'm getting so bitter
Well I guess the definition of RPG has morphed beyond just having a character that can level up and use chosen abilities at certain times, now people want to have a greater impact on the world around them and so naturally the story is going to be integrated into how the character talks to certain people (or reacts to certain events). I think its a good thing, but it depends how you go about it.
My problem with companies like Bethesda is that they produce quantity over quality games...their games usually have such a big environment that most of it is really poor quality. Case in point would be Skyrim or Oblivion, most of the quests were drab and meaningless, and so there wasn't much in terms of quality storytelling or meaningful plot development, because its simply too big of a task to undertake when you have that much in the game. Morrowind did a much better job, but it still suffered a lot.
It leads me to believe that the people who enjoy those games derive the most amusement from their imagination rather than the game; they pretend that a character is more realistic than it is, so when it does something silly or gets killed they react to it more seriously than they should. This is the only explanation I can imagine as to why people enjoy these games...either that or they are really, really amused with hacking something to death or shooting fireballs at it hundreds of times; or that they never get tired of traversing the virtually identical dungeons dozens of times, with only slightly varying themes of why you're in those dungeons (i.e. kill the bandits, vampires, beasts, or necromancers over and over again).
Or in skyrim's case kill the nordic undead 1000x times for every dungeon you enter, to collect some special trinket that can be generically replaced with anything else, while occasionally completing a puzzle for 8 year olds. The story is always a total joke...Fallout 3 had the most ridiculous ending I've ever seen (in many ways), Oblivion had *one* cool twist, but everything else was stereotypical hollywood writing, Skyrim of course had a generic epic hero boss fight against a dragon which was easy and lame. I'm forced to play games for children, because that's the only thing left. There's no challenge (doesn't fit with the console game market), very little in terms of thought provoking story let alone conversation, and very little in terms of quality quests.
Its just so...simple, and mundane. I don't understand what the world is coming to when these are hailed as the best RPGs. Have we really descended so far that people no longer remember what quality RPGs were like? I loved Fallout 1 and 2. Now I have to search through independent game makers to see if anyone is doing something similar. Thankfully I have found at least one game that looks really promising, namely Underrail. The first Dragon Age was also an example of a company going in the right direction, not vapid free form exploration in a world devoid of meaningful content.
I'm getting so bitter
I find myself relating to this post quite a lot. I tend to play most single player games these days (and probably did as a younger person also) in the hopes of being presented with an engaging storyline, whether it is a fantasy or space opera setting. Unfortunately for me, RPGs these days seem to be focusing more and more on 'how big can I make my world' and 'how much stuff (quests, dialogue, items) can I toss in' that they seem to forget that unless there is a lot work put into these additions, they end up being incredibly superficial and, ultimately, shallow.
I struggle to understand how anyone really gives a fuck that game X provides you with Y hours of gameplay when that gameplay is made up of the same repeated fetch/kill quests (handed out by characters who are completely irrelevant to the overall storyline) that take place in the same rehashed dungeons populated by the same bloody enemies that perhaps change skins every now and again. I was sucked in by the reviews, the amount of things to do and the claims of choice/freedom made in relation to games like Oblivion and Skyrim and regrettably bought the damn games. But I have to wonder what the point of this freedom is when it is all meaningless illusion, and insignificant to the actual storyline. It certainly doesn't help when the gameplay for these types of games is often slow, clunky and repetitive either.
I don't hate all games that are open world, sandbox affairs. But the moment they sacrifice a compelling, driving storyline and/or fun, varied gameplay, for the sake of more things to waste time on, is the moment I lose all interest.
