I Can't Play An RPG Ever Again

[NovaXpress]

Now I realize all the little things that have been annoying me. I can't bear to spend any more of my gaming life pointlessly building stats. The game that finally killed it for me was Divine Divinity, once again I'm the chosen one to rid the land of terrible evil, yet the evil is on the other side of the planet and I have 3 hit points and a BROKEN LETTER OPENER (SOCKETED). Fortunately there's nothing but crudely drawn slime attacking me right now.

It wasn't just the mediocrity of this game, but that all my Diablo and Ultima time as well began to look the same to me. I realized that I've been doing nothing but playing prettied-up versions of Rogue for 20 years and it's no longer fun in any way. I've killed the demon and grabbed the treasure and killed the diseased gnome a thousand times.

I read a hilarious article on RPGs that really hammered all this home, called "How to Survive Any RPG." Check it out.

http://www.somethingawful.com/articles.php?a=1255

 

Does any one else feel that another crash could be coming. More of my friedns are cutting back on games or just buying used/marked down titles. There is a lot of disappointment in the games out there, right now only Def Jam Vendetta and Zelda seem to be exciting people. I expect to see less than a dozen game companies in existance after this Christmas.

[shep]

I can relate with what your going through...Im sure we've all had our moments when were sick of saving princesses, stealing vehicles, or saving a troubled land from evil. I go through times where I get sick of playing videogames, its been happening more and more latley, but typically just with my Playstation. I think that if there is another videogame "drought", the same company that saved the industry last time, will indefinetly save it again....no matter what the critics say...

[bradjewell]

thats a hilarious article. I personally like the cliff yablonski hates on that site as well.

I fear that youre right about a crash though. Games have been going downhill in quality for a while. All glitz, no game. One I am looking foward to is the new tenchu game. I hope in comes out on xbox. Im also looking foward to ninja gaiden. Im tired.

 

Brad

[Atariboy]

Buy NASCAR Racing 2003 Season for the PC. Been playing Papyrus's NASCAR simulators several hours a night since, and I'm not bored yet.

 

Its not a cheap hobby though. Right now I'm looking at spending 600 dollars on a new wheel for my PC after spending 150$ on one just last fall, lol.

[PuddWakkr]

I think that if there is another videogame "drought", the same company that saved the industry last time, will indefinetly save it again....no matter what the critics say...  

 

_________________

-Shep  

 

What their making Dreamcast 2?

[NovaXpress]

We all have a few games that are still fun, like a racing favorite or sports title. But how many do we have to own? I also grew tired of upgrading Madden every year for little improvement. Maybe gamers are becoming less willing to upgrade their games. I keep moving backwards, the most played app on my PC has been MESS for some time.

 

A company to save the industry? Atari is dead and buried and meaningless today, despite what many around here want to believe. Atari was a great company because of the people involved and the time frame they worked in. Today Atari is just good memories and a logo.

 

The only companies with real power now are the console manufacturers plus EA and to a lesser extent Activision. Infogrames and Universal are soon to be sold off, the development houses are closing at an alarming rate. We are about to see the kind of consolidation in the video game industry that we've seen diminish the music industry.

[ubersaurus]

The company that saved the industry last time was Nintendo...and if another crash occured chances are their gba and 1st party franchises would see them through it.

[Starscream]

The company that saved the industry last time was Nintendo...and if another crash occured chances are their gba and 1st party franchises would see them through it.

 

Very doubtful. Nintendo never "saved" the industry. They and all of the other software companies were still releasing games all thru the 80's. Nintendo simply came in on the back side of the crash with their first console. It just so happened that when people were looking for something new, they turned to Nintendo. Nintendo ultimately dominated the US market even though the Atari 7800, Intellivision, SMS were also available. Basically, Nintendo was around at the right place and right time. While I don't see an end to their dominance in the hand held market, I wouldn't look to them to save the console market. If that was the case, they'd be outselling the PS2 no matter what - no excuses. And their first party software would be the best selling 1st party software out of all 3, and it isn't. The only way for them to achieve either of those accomplishments, is to be the only game in town.

 

While the over abundance of software on the market is quite similar to the 80's, another crash is unlikely. Things are way different now, and everything is expendable. Finally, video games are an important staple to the entertainment industry, not just a fad as they were thought to be in the 80's. They are here to stay.

 

Back on topic - yea RPG's just don't do it for me much anymore either.

[shep]

The company that saved the industry last time was Nintendo...and if another crash occured chances are their gba and 1st party franchises would see them through it.

 

That is what I meat, the Atari consoles began to somewhat help the drought....partly...and no people didnt just happen to look to Nintendo, nintendo was creating new types of games...while the 7800 had a lot of the old arcade translations of Ms Pacman and such...

[ubersaurus]

The company that saved the industry last time was Nintendo...and if another crash occured chances are their gba and 1st party franchises would see them through it.

 

Very doubtful. Nintendo never "saved" the industry. They and all of the other software companies were still releasing games all thru the 80's. Nintendo simply came in on the back side of the crash with their first console. It just so happened that when people were looking for something new, they turned to Nintendo. Nintendo ultimately dominated the US market even though the Atari 7800, Intellivision, SMS were also available. Basically, Nintendo was around at the right place and right time. While I don't see an end to their dominance in the hand held market, I wouldn't look to them to save the console market. If that was the case, they'd be outselling the PS2 no matter what - no excuses. And their first party software would be the best selling 1st party software out of all 3, and it isn't. The only way for them to achieve either of those accomplishments, is to be the only game in town.

 

While the over abundance of software on the market is quite similar to the 80's, another crash is unlikely. Things are way different now, and everything is expendable. Finally, video games are an important staple to the entertainment industry, not just a fad as they were thought to be in the 80's. They are here to stay.

 

Back on topic - yea RPG's just don't do it for me much anymore either.

 

I didn't realize Microsoft or SOny had first party software. Therefore, Nintendo's first party software is selling the best of all first party software.

[Ze_ro]

Now I realize all the little things that have been annoying me. I can't bear to spend any more of my gaming life pointlessly building stats. The game that finally killed it for me was Divine Divinity

 

I could have used your help back when I was ranting about how Japanese RPG's suck ass.

 

Anyways, I highly recommend you try some of the old-school RPG's from before the Japanese ruined everything. Play some Dungeon Master, Wasteland, or Nethack (Yeah, it's a blatant Rogue descendant... but it's really damn good). Hell, even some good old Ultima, SSI AD&D, or Bard's Tale games could give you some hope... most of them were done before everything was so damn cliche. I especially love games like Wasteland and Nethack where you aren't forced to do things in a set way. Door in your way? You can pick the lock if you have time, or if you have some explosives, you can blow it off it's hinges! Charmaine wants the Bloodstaff before she'll open a door? You can either get it for her, or you can kill her and open the door yourself! Enemy approaching and you're low on health? Perhaps you might want to quaff one of those mystery potions you have, hoping that it's a potion of health... or perhaps you should throw it at the enemy, hoping that it's a potion of blindness... Sure beats crap like finding a sleeping walrus blocking your way, who can ONLY be moved by a specific woman singing.

 

I also highly recommend this oddly named, and highly overlooked game called Dark Heart of Uukrul. Never mind that you've never heard of it, just download it and try it out. It's one of the most innovative RPG's I've ever played, despite the fact that I hadn't played it until it was already 13 years old. For example, I picked up a scrap of cloth, and I had the options of waving it into the air, casting it on the ground, rubbing it, and even swallowing it (which caused damage)! The game gives you options unique to the situation at almost every turn. You can do things like look down holes before you jump into them, and listen at doors before opening them. The character creation is also somewhat like Ultima 4/5 where you answer questions based on what your character would do in a situation, although it's less obvious what the outcome is (Unlike Ultima 4, where you could specifically choose Honor every time to get a Paladin). This, combined with your individual characters mentioning things during the game ("Ahead you see a machine fixed to the wall. Merlin comments that is it a teleporter, used by the Ancients to move over great distances") really makes your characters show some personality without having to use screenfulls of "...." My only real complaint about this game is that the inventory system is a little cumbersome.

 

By the way, how can anyone take a game seriously when it has a name like "Divine Divinity" anyways?? I'm glad they at least translated the title (As opposed to games like Tenchu, Onimusha, Pokemon, and all the other games where they didn't even bother to give me a title that I understand), but they could have at least talked to someone who speaks English natively. Damn, this has to be the worst game title since "Corpse Killer"...

 

--Zero

[Antalos]

Buy NASCAR Racing 2003 Season for the PC. Been playing Papyrus's NASCAR simulators several hours a night since, and I'm not bored yet.

Oh come on, you got to be kidding, least with RPGs you're not turning left forever.

I suppose at least playing a video game of it, is not as bad as watching it.

Does anybody who's not an American like NASCAR?

 

Infogrames and Universal are soon to be sold off, the development houses are closing at an alarming rate.

I haven't heard anything about Infogrames are going to be sold off.

[PuddWakkr]

I didn't realize Microsoft or SOny had first party software. Therefore, Nintendo's first party software is selling the best of all first party software.  

 

 

I could be wrong but I believe Bungie, and Microsoft Studios make MS first party games since MS owns the companies making them. And aren't 989, SCEA (sony computer entertainment america),and sony online entertainment making first party games for PS2.

[liquid_sky]

Planescape is a good sci-fi American RPG.

[cyro]

I used to love RPGs back in the days of Ultima (and to some extend Bard's Tale) and Ambermoon and Amberstar on the Amiga. Then came along a wave of Japanese-style Zelda-type games and that ruined the whole RPG genre IMHO.

 

Fast forward many years and Morrowind appeared first on the PC and then on the Xbox and this game brought me back into playing RPGs. Finally an RPG with a virtually *real* world, endless numbers of intelligent characters, quests, subquests and complete freedom to do anything I wanted. Yes, being from Bethesda it had its fair share of bugs but for me Morrowind-type games are the way to go.

 

Another trend that I think is a hot ticket for RPGs are MMORPGs. No NPC is as helpful as another human player and no Ork is as devious as another human player

Granted there are always some assholes, bugs and exploits but what I've seen in AC and UO so far looks good. In fact it looked so good that I made the concious decision to stay away from these games so I could spend my time on other things

 

Cheers,

-CyRo

 

---

http://www.cyberroach.com (Atari videos, Xbox stuff etc.)

[PuddWakkr]

I also loved Morrowind on the xbox. I played thru the first elder scrolls games on the PC and loved them as well. Such a huge world to explore and you don't have to fight blobs. I have never played such a deep RPG. There would be times days would go by and I would do nothing to further my quest and I didn't care. Exploring the world was just so much fun. A lot of RPG's now lack that fun element. I don't know if it was replaced with fancy cutscenes or if it was lost completely. Also I just read they are re-releasing Morrowind ( not the platnium hits version ), and it will contain the expansion packs available on the PC. And perhaps an editor to take advantage of the HD.

[NovaXpress]

The last RPG I was fully satisfied with was Arcanum, beautiful depth and imagination. The instruction book was incomprehensible however, and you're still the CHOSEN ONE who must kill the EVIL POWER which happens to be ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD. I wouldn't enjoy it as much today.

 

The most brutal part of RPGs is all the wasted time. I refuse to spend one more minute killing Phantom Squirrels over and over so I can go up another level. How many hours have I spent in life tring to raise some numbers? I could have had as much fun with a good calculator!

 

Maybe part of it is age, at 33 I might just be burned out on the whole damn genre for good. I resent games that demand hours of play in order to be rewarding. I'd rather play an old game of Tempest or mindlessly slaughter the innocent citizens of Vice City for a half hour than devote myself to a bad interactive movie.

[PuddWakkr]

All roleplaying game are based on leveling up and raising your stats. That's pretty much what defines a roleplaying experience. There are different ways to do this in the gameplay, and I agree killing "Phantom Squirrels" over and over is not it. There has got to be a better way to do this. Any Ideas? Everyone knocks the way this is done but what's the alternative?

[Ze_ro]

Not all role playing games do it the same way though... look at the Zelda games for example. Although you DO gain stats, you don't do it by mindlessly wandering around for random encounters. You instead get your powerups from achieving objectives like beating a dungeon. Much better way of doing it in my opinion.

 

I think the REAL problem isn't with having to level your character though... it's that the difficulty curve is often too high, to the point where you have to sit for HOURS levelling your characters. A while back I played almost the whole way through Grandia II for the Dreamcast without having to sit and level for any amount of time at all... I just made sure to kill all the enemies in each area (Only once if possible), and it gave me more than enough experience/levels/items/etc to compete with the bosses by the time I got to them.

 

Does anybody who's not an American like NASCAR?

 

Nope. At least, it's not very popular at all in Canada. There was quite a few upset people in Winnipeg when a big Nascar show was aired instead of a CFL football game. I figure racing is a redneck thing (So maybe it's more popular in Alberta )

 

--Zero

[Markimus of K.]

Does anybody who's not an American like NASCAR?

Nope. At least, it's not very popular at all in Canada. There was quite a few upset people in Winnipeg when a big Nascar show was aired instead of a CFL football game. I figure racing is a redneck thing (So maybe it's more popular in Alberta )

 

--Zero

 

I love F1 & CART, but Nascar? Well I do know I'd like it better if the commentary didn't sound like:

 

"Hey Y'all! look at them there ve-hicles going around a circle 500 times!"

 

Yeah Ze_ro, definetly for Albertans...

 

But not to get too far off-topic, as far as modern RPGs go, they seem to take way too much time and patience, without a "strategy guide" there's no way to know that to get the "Golden Chalice" you have to first seduce the Innkeepers daughter so she'll tell you you have to go to the "Forbidden Forest" where you'll find the "Magic Unicorn" that tells you the Innkeepers daughter is really your sister and doesn't know what the hell she's talking about. So you've wasted 3 hours on a dead end.

 

But I really do like RPGs, I just need to retire so I can play them full-time! I've got the (or at least my) holy grail of RPG goodness called Panzer Dragoon Saga coming in the mail to me now. A co-worker of mine swears by it and wouldn't sell me his (after 6 months of trying) so I had to get it on ebay. I hear it only takes about 20 hours to beat so I should actually be able to finish it. I hope. Of course knowing my luck, my Saturn will die at 19:55!

 

As Always,

Markimus of K.

[itatton]

There is a lot of disappointment in the games out there, right now only Def Jam Vendetta and Zelda seem to be exciting people.  

 

That's a good point, but both of those games promise excellent gameplay. For anyone here that is fan of wrestling games, the Def Jam Vendetta is the Aki engine with a gimmick worse then 3-Count in WCW. The Aki engine in my opinion, is still the best wrestling engine ever. The reason it got stuck with stupid rappers is because THQ owns all the wrestling rights and they are too proud of their own engines to use it.

 

Not that I've defended Def Jam Vendetta and brought up 3-count I'm going to go and vomit uncontrollably.

 

-Tatton

[Ze_ro]

For anyone here that is fan of wrestling games, the Def Jam Vendetta is the Aki engine with a gimmick worse then 3-Count in WCW.

 

Well, it was a nice topic while it lasted... I think there should be some sort of unwritten rule that once a game like Def Jam Vendetta is mentioned, the thread is officially dead. Other games that should be considered "topic killers" include Kriss Kross "Make My Video" for the SegaCD, any of the Shaq Fu games, and basically any other game that is an embarrasment to the human race.

 

--Zero

[Atariboy]

I like F1, CART, and the IRL.

 

As for non Americans, I can name quite a few that play NASCAR Racing 2003. Also there are tons of road courses that have been created for it, so I get to turn right pretty often.

[MegaManFan]

For anyone here that is fan of wrestling games, the Def Jam Vendetta is the Aki engine with a gimmick worse then 3-Count in WCW.

 

Well, it was a nice topic while it lasted... I think there should be some sort of unwritten rule that once a game like Def Jam Vendetta is mentioned, the thread is officially dead.

 

Why? I think DJW is super sweet.

[Paralistalon]

I have been a big RPG fan for years so I see where you're comming from. IMO the best RPGs are the ones that have fun battle engines. If I actually look forward to battling, that's good. Usually this is accomplished by making the characters more developful than just gaining EXP. and leveling up.

 

I have found many awesome RPGs over the course of my gaming career. If you can't find what you're looking for in today's market, you can always look into games from the past. Crono Trigger, Super Mario RPG, and EarthBound are incredible RPGs for the SNES. (btw, EarthBound is scheduled for re-release on the GBA...) Persona and Persona 2: Eternal Punishment rocked my RPG world for the Playstation. Also for the Playstation, SaGa Frontier was one of the more innovative and fun RPGs out there.

 

As a result of all the craptastic RPGs that come out, I have become kind of picky in the ones that I do want to play. My current RPG is Pokemon Ruby. Believe it or not, Pokemon is far more strategic and complex than many other big name RPGs. Lufia: Ruins of Lore is another RPG I'm planning on getting.

 

If you're talking about a general decline of video games across all genres, I'll have to disagree with you on that. Atleast, if it does happen, it won't be for a few years. Even then, there are so many games that have already been released that I could spend the rest of my life just playing old games.