I miss the old RPG style.

[sunsetspawn]

Mass Effect may have an engaging storyline (gather a ragtag bunch of antiheroes to save the world from overmind aliens *hurr hurr*) and memorable-ish characters, but the gameplay is Gears of War.

Clearly you didn't play the first one as it plays nothing like Gears of War, and the story is one of the best I've ever encountered in a game. That's assuming it's played from start to finish with no spoilers, though with this current generation of google-tards there really is no reason to make a genuinely good story with an intriguing mystery anymore. Simply put, Mass Effect is one of the greatest, yet flawed, games of this generation.

And as for 2 and 3 being like GoW, well, play them on insanity and try GoW tactics with gunplay and no powers. You will be curb-stomped. But that's neither here nor there because all three Mass Effect games are really interactive movies with emphasis on the "interactive."

Oh, and anyone that throws the word "elitism" around simply cannot see. Modern RPGs are in a state of decline for a variety of reasons, but there are good ones if you look. I'd say the biggest CURRENT problem is that the professional reviewer's livelihood actually depends on advertising dollars, so the publishers that spend the most money on advertising always get glowing reviews for their games, which, in turn, causes those games to sell very well. Always be skeptical of the reviews for games published by a 400lb gorilla.

And consequently, many titles with less-known publishers are often excellent but may only get 7s. Of course, if you really WANT a game with more depth you won't have too much of a problem reading between the lines and knowing to look out for user reviews, preferably where they are modded to screen for trolls as opposed to just language violations.


Anyway, this topic is far too broad, so let me see if I can conjure a few talking points...


Deus Ex: Human Revolution was NOT great; it was solid, but nothing more, and in my opinion it gets all of its cool points from the atmosphere. There was more customization and specialization in Invisible War (that's right).


Dragon Age: Origins is the tightest current-gen fantasy RPG I've played.


Risen is one of those great, current-gen, underrated gems I was referencing before. Seriously, I paid like 15 bucks for this game last year and I was blown away by the old-school goodness AND flashy-bling graphics (well, compared to the old-school games it's emulating), and on a console no less. I can only imagine that the PC version was more smooth, BUT, due to its action-oriented combat the XBOX 360 controller was PERFECT. Seriously, if you were as disappointed in Oblivion as I was (haven't touched Skyrim due to it), then this may be just what you need. There are some minor flaws, but nothing along the lines of the game-breaking, herpity derp level scaling that crippled Oblivion (actually, Oblivion had a lot of flaws, but it was the level scaling that ruined it).

And nostalgia has nothing to do with it. I played Gothic 2 for the first time last year and it's everything everyone says it is and more. One of the best RPGs I've ever played. Coincidentally made by the same people that made Risen, go figure, though it is better than Risen.

 

[Weaver]

I guess, for some of us, the definition of an RPG used to mean "here, memorize these 3 rulebooks totalling 900 pages; then we'll play the game".

Hmm, over exaggerating a little much there ?

Yes, I am.
But really, I mean how big is shadowrun 20th? 300ish pages?
You don't need to, say, memorize every possible thing your character can buy and such but there is still a large set of core rules (combat, the matrix, magic, basic role-playing) that pretty much all players should know. It's a sizeable set of rules.

This is compounded if you're a GM as there's more on top of that to know and deal with.

So do you need to memorize all the Shadowrun p&p rules to play the Shadowrun video game on Sega, for instance ?

That's what we are talking about here, the video game versions of these tabletop games, correct ? Not the p&p games themselves.

I was referring to the original p&p games. I think we're both a bit confused

 

[Verzin]

Dear god. This thread exploded over the long weekend when I wasn't checking. I should have checked more often.

 

[Verzin]

snip

(I usually respond to quotes immediately, but I've been away from the escapist for a little while.)
Depressing and true. So much money to be made catering to the 'very' casual gamers. I have high hopes for BH enhanced and a couple kickstarter projects though. Wasteland 2, at the very least, aught to have massive potential.

 

[Verzin]

Dear god. This thread exploded over the long weekend when I wasn't checking. I should have checked more often.

Avernum Escape From the Pit


'Need to Play this Game', cannot be expressed enough.

Thank you sir. I always need more games to play. This one looks rather fantastic.

(Or at least the 12 seconds of it I was able to watch before this hotel's internet caved under the load....Travel sucks. I miss the hotel I was in yesterday)