29th November 2004, 10:40 PM
Honestly a system where individual players DO have an impact on world development WOULD be cool, but it's just not possible right now. The closest thing to that would be a system wherein a massive number of servers, like 100, are all in different stages of development, so the new players can always find a "fresh" world to develop on their own.
But in general, you pretty much pointed out exactly the main issue. It's an MMORPG, but rather than feel like you play a part in the development of "the world", the main goal is very self centered, that is, the development of your character and your character alone. Allying is fun and all, but the very design of these games forces that sort of mindset of how this will affect your character, since it certainly won't affect the world. With the bandit example, they explain it in the sense of "you have certainly helped in the constant struggle against their encroachment, now we can hold them off", to sorta explain that. Sure, there is a story that advances, but only you the player is aware of it, and it's the same thing for everyone, in secret. It HAS to be that way until technology can allow for a fully dynamic world, but it still sorta blows...
Still, it was a fun game and of all these sorts of games, it's certainly the best I've played. You make a note about the tedium, but let me say that, and maybe this is just because of the ones I've played before, I didn't feel the tedium. It really felt like it was flowing naturally. I sorta learned in the past to not really take quests one at a time, but all at once as they are thrown at me. In that way, I sorta march along and will complete quests based soley on what objective is closest to me :D. Travelling, I have found, is still a lot quicker than in other games. Speeding it up would be appreciated. For example, getting horses should be much quicker. Airships are totally free and available to everyone though, unlike any other game I've played, so that's a great start.
I will say the nature of these quests is rather... redundant... While you do move from quest to quest VERY quickly, as in, you don't have to spend literally DAYS levelling up just to be able to go on another quest (instead you get the levels needed to go on a large number of new quests while completing quests you are already on), they are all the same. Yes, kill this, collect a certain number of these, take them back to that.
Now, really I would like to see quests as varied as in normal RPGs. I think that IS doable with current technology. I'd like to see, using the familiar (to everyone here) KOTOR as an example, quests involging negotiating with people, rescuing people from dungeons and escorting them out (actually I believe there are "escort missions", but from that termanology I suspect those will get redundant too), and puzzle solving. I'd like to have to wander into a cave and walk up to a mural with some cryptic comment, examine various strange artifacts through the dungeon, find weird items, and suddenly find out the two relate, but it's something like the colors of the items need to be matched with the mechanism using that cryptic clue as the terms of the match, like which ones are opposites on the "color wheel", or like each color and each device (which suddenly have symbols on them why not) match up with some legendary hero's color and symbol and you need to remember some old diary you read to figure out the matches.
THAT is the kind of stuff I want, not the endless barage of "do this". I will say this though, while the storyline is good, a large number of these quests, as they are now, reduce your LEGENDARY HERO to the role of... delivery peon...
My cool character: "I am the legendary undead warlock Genjos, servent of the Dark Lady, summoner of the fires of HECK themselves. What would you have me do to further the cause of the Forsaken?"
Some Alchemist or whatever: I'm trying to make a legendary elixer that will free the minds of the other undead from Arthas' mental rule. As such, could you fetch me some forest mushrooms?
Me: Indeed that would... wait excuse me what? I'm a frickin' WARRIOR here, and you want some mushrooms?
Guy: Well they ARE guarded by wolves. You would have to fight.
Me: Yeah... but still, shouldn't I be like, on the front lines, or capturing someone, or exploring mysterious catacombs? You know, SOMETHING besides GATHERING FRICKIN' FOREST MUSHROOMS?
Now actually I know many games have these quests, from Zelda to Planescape, but that's not ALL the quests. Zelda puts you in dungeons cooperating with a strange bird girl to unlock various rooms so you can unlock the power of the Master Sword. Planescape sets you out looking for a hard to find man who wrote a frickin' novel on your back, with a knife. MMORPGs LITERALLY send you out into a city to pass out flyers for a store that just opened.
But in general, you pretty much pointed out exactly the main issue. It's an MMORPG, but rather than feel like you play a part in the development of "the world", the main goal is very self centered, that is, the development of your character and your character alone. Allying is fun and all, but the very design of these games forces that sort of mindset of how this will affect your character, since it certainly won't affect the world. With the bandit example, they explain it in the sense of "you have certainly helped in the constant struggle against their encroachment, now we can hold them off", to sorta explain that. Sure, there is a story that advances, but only you the player is aware of it, and it's the same thing for everyone, in secret. It HAS to be that way until technology can allow for a fully dynamic world, but it still sorta blows...
Still, it was a fun game and of all these sorts of games, it's certainly the best I've played. You make a note about the tedium, but let me say that, and maybe this is just because of the ones I've played before, I didn't feel the tedium. It really felt like it was flowing naturally. I sorta learned in the past to not really take quests one at a time, but all at once as they are thrown at me. In that way, I sorta march along and will complete quests based soley on what objective is closest to me :D. Travelling, I have found, is still a lot quicker than in other games. Speeding it up would be appreciated. For example, getting horses should be much quicker. Airships are totally free and available to everyone though, unlike any other game I've played, so that's a great start.
I will say the nature of these quests is rather... redundant... While you do move from quest to quest VERY quickly, as in, you don't have to spend literally DAYS levelling up just to be able to go on another quest (instead you get the levels needed to go on a large number of new quests while completing quests you are already on), they are all the same. Yes, kill this, collect a certain number of these, take them back to that.
Now, really I would like to see quests as varied as in normal RPGs. I think that IS doable with current technology. I'd like to see, using the familiar (to everyone here) KOTOR as an example, quests involging negotiating with people, rescuing people from dungeons and escorting them out (actually I believe there are "escort missions", but from that termanology I suspect those will get redundant too), and puzzle solving. I'd like to have to wander into a cave and walk up to a mural with some cryptic comment, examine various strange artifacts through the dungeon, find weird items, and suddenly find out the two relate, but it's something like the colors of the items need to be matched with the mechanism using that cryptic clue as the terms of the match, like which ones are opposites on the "color wheel", or like each color and each device (which suddenly have symbols on them why not) match up with some legendary hero's color and symbol and you need to remember some old diary you read to figure out the matches.
THAT is the kind of stuff I want, not the endless barage of "do this". I will say this though, while the storyline is good, a large number of these quests, as they are now, reduce your LEGENDARY HERO to the role of... delivery peon...
My cool character: "I am the legendary undead warlock Genjos, servent of the Dark Lady, summoner of the fires of HECK themselves. What would you have me do to further the cause of the Forsaken?"
Some Alchemist or whatever: I'm trying to make a legendary elixer that will free the minds of the other undead from Arthas' mental rule. As such, could you fetch me some forest mushrooms?
Me: Indeed that would... wait excuse me what? I'm a frickin' WARRIOR here, and you want some mushrooms?
Guy: Well they ARE guarded by wolves. You would have to fight.
Me: Yeah... but still, shouldn't I be like, on the front lines, or capturing someone, or exploring mysterious catacombs? You know, SOMETHING besides GATHERING FRICKIN' FOREST MUSHROOMS?
Now actually I know many games have these quests, from Zelda to Planescape, but that's not ALL the quests. Zelda puts you in dungeons cooperating with a strange bird girl to unlock various rooms so you can unlock the power of the Master Sword. Planescape sets you out looking for a hard to find man who wrote a frickin' novel on your back, with a knife. MMORPGs LITERALLY send you out into a city to pass out flyers for a store that just opened.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)