It's always amusing to install an old 90's RPG on Steam and the full filesize -- story, animations, scripting, graphics, sounds, everything -- is on the order of a single picture from my dad's camera.
The film scanner I got mom for Mother's Day produces images that are over a gigabyte uncompressed. I remember when getting a hard drive that big for a decent price was a big deal.
It's always amusing to install an old 90's RPG on Steam and the full filesize -- story, animations, scripting, graphics, sounds, everything -- is on the order of a single picture from my dad's camera.
Most of my favorite "classic" games are a megabyte or less. Maybe 2-3 megs at the most. Sometimes I find this hard to believe.
Wargames and tabletop RPGs obviously have limited practical ability to represent space and time; at the very least, it takes longer to speak about a quick action than take it. It's 100% a set of concessions, but concessions that were embraced and harnessed to produce interesting systems. All video game RPGs are in some respects descended from tabletop wargames and RPGs, so they all carry elements of those concessions.
Like, critical hits, right? In The Witcher 3, it's a % chance, despite the game being a real time action RPG with enough variation in its combat system to potentially represent critical hits via some kind of less random trigger (like I dunno, a sweet spot on weapons?). The Souls games use various triggers, but critical hits are usually the result of a deliberate setup. Each one is valid and each one can be used as the cornerstone of a combat strategy, but The Witcher 3's execution is definitely derived from sources that were conceding to their limitations.
I mean, I agree with your essential point, but a system can both be a concession and be happily embraced by the developers. The overwhelming majority of RPGs that have you take control of a party still use turn-based or close to turn-based systems for very, very good reasons.
Does there exist some sort of game or other application that allows one to design a landscape/buildings/etc.? Non-voxel, so don't say "Minecraft".
I'd like to be able to build a university campus, and I'd specifically like to be able to do stuff like: * create a giant pit/crater, fenced with a railing around the sides, possibly decorated with smoke generators on Halloween * make these big gnarled trees * design a series of steps, some of which can be filled with water to create pools of water * change lighting between sunlight, cloudy day, and nighttime
Larger pet peeve: For a while the most experience I had with open world games was the Elder Scrolls series, so I figured other open world games were like that
nope, they all took from the GTAIII "go around a space and do chores" model rather than TES's "Gone Home before Gone Home, also swords" model. Damn shame.
Larger pet peeve: For a while the most experience I had with open world games was the Elder Scrolls series, so I figured other open world games were like that
nope, they all took from the GTAIII "go around a space and do chores" model rather than TES's "Gone Home before Gone Home, also swords" model. Damn shame.
You should check out the Gothic games? I've not played them myself, but I've heard they have the same sort of spirit to them.
I remember when my roommate rented Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix several years ago, and we ended up calling it Janitorial Simulator. It was very much how not to do a sandbox.
Larger pet peeve: For a while the most experience I had with open world games was the Elder Scrolls series, so I figured other open world games were like that
nope, they all took from the GTAIII "go around a space and do chores" model rather than TES's "Gone Home before Gone Home, also swords" model. Damn shame.
You should check out the Gothic games? I've not played them myself, but I've heard they have the same sort of spirit to them.
I've heard of Gothic when I was really jonesin' hard for a good RPG, and I can see how it'd be similar to TES in some respects, but idk if it's possible for a third person action RPG from the 2000s to really emulate the walking simulator aspects of TES that were what I reeeeally liked.
Larger pet peeve: For a while the most experience I had with open world games was the Elder Scrolls series, so I figured other open world games were like that
nope, they all took from the GTAIII "go around a space and do chores" model rather than TES's "Gone Home before Gone Home, also swords" model. Damn shame.
You should check out the Gothic games? I've not played them myself, but I've heard they have the same sort of spirit to them.
I've heard of Gothic when I was really jonesin' hard for a good RPG, and I can see how it'd be similar to TES in some respects, but idk if it's possible for a third person action RPG from the 2000s to really emulate the walking simulator aspects of TES that were what I reeeeally liked.
Yeah, I getcha. It's the main reason I never played them too, in all honesty. Figured it was worth mentioning though!
opinions on Fallout installments, spoilered for the benefit of Myr
Spoiler:
tricked you, i haven't played any of these games
but i've been curious about this series recently, and might try to get hold of them once i get a decent computer
going by the criticisms i've seen online, i think the reactions make perfect sense if the first two and NV emphasized story and characterization, while 3 and 4 were big TES-style open world affairs (with NV and 4 also taking on-board and addressing certain criticisms of 3)
but having enjoyed Oblivion and Skyrim, the latter at considerable length, i would probably enjoy Fallout 3, i think
I have seen videos in which grown men throw temper tantrums over the secret society of little kids hiding in a mine in Fallout 3 promoted by goons as "a good take on Fallout 3"
the thing about the writing was just a guess, really. cuz like, i *did* feel that Skyrim, though expansive, sacrificed a certain satisfying something in comparison to other fantasy games i'd played such as Zelda. Like, it put quantity over quality; it was exciting losing myself in the forest, but it didn't do to scrutinize the trees too closely.
i'll obviously have more, stronger opinions on the games when i play them, if i ever play them, but right now i have nothing else to say
I thought the fifteen minutes or so of it I played were alright.
I keep feeling like I should play a fallout game (any of them tbh, but probably new vegas since as I said that's what my friends like) but haven't gotten around to it.
This is a short visual novel by Jason Steele/Filmcow/that guy behind Llamas with Hats and Charlie the Unicorn, though the material is definitely of a different bent. You're a melancholy anthropomorphic raccoon who works as a spirit medium for a strange species of 'Shape People'. Literally just shapes with faces. You basically go through a few short vignettes concerning these Shape People and their dead associates, while slowly giving a look at the raccoon's empty life and his search for his lost shape. It's about 20 minutes and I found it kind of interesting, so I hope you'll take a look at it
Example: In Runescape, it's been a known thing for a long time that Strength (a stat determining maximum damage with melee weapons) is is significantly more useful than Attack (which determines hit chance)
This seems to be the case in many RPGs and I find it unfortunate.
Comments
I'd like to be able to build a university campus, and I'd specifically like to be able to do stuff like:
* create a giant pit/crater, fenced with a railing around the sides, possibly decorated with smoke generators on Halloween
* make these big gnarled trees
* design a series of steps, some of which can be filled with water to create pools of water
* change lighting between sunlight, cloudy day, and nighttime
start playing Hurtworld right away!
Thanks, Crystal, for tipping me off to what could be considered a poster-child for "games I don't like".
but i've been curious about this series recently, and might try to get hold of them once i get a decent computer
going by the criticisms i've seen online, i think the reactions make perfect sense if the first two and NV emphasized story and characterization, while 3 and 4 were big TES-style open world affairs (with NV and 4 also taking on-board and addressing certain criticisms of 3)
but having enjoyed Oblivion and Skyrim, the latter at considerable length, i would probably enjoy Fallout 3, i think
but well, ok, by "the reactions" i meant the more reasoned responses i've seen, coupled with the general consensus of "3 bad NV good"
of course there are gonna be people saying extreme things about video games, it's the internet
the thing about the writing was just a guess, really. cuz like, i *did* feel that Skyrim, though expansive, sacrificed a certain satisfying something in comparison to other fantasy games i'd played such as Zelda. Like, it put quantity over quality; it was exciting losing myself in the forest, but it didn't do to scrutinize the trees too closely.
i'll obviously have more, stronger opinions on the games when i play them, if i ever play them, but right now i have nothing else to say
I keep feeling like I should play a fallout game (any of them tbh, but probably new vegas since as I said that's what my friends like) but haven't gotten around to it.
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
This seems to be the case in many RPGs and I find it unfortunate.