The PC Western RPG Revival

[aozgolo]

I'm sure I'm not the only one who's noticed this, but there seems to be a big resurgence of interest in Western RPGs by the very creators who made them such a hit. While we still have the likes of Bioware and Bethesda playing around with how far they can push a genre and still call it a RPG, we have seen a really promising amount of kickstarters and smaller startups going back to what made the Western RPGs of the 90s such classic hits. Just to do a bit of name dropping, and I'm sure I've missed something We've already seen the releases of Enhanced versions of Baldur's Gate 1 & 2, and 2014 promises something extra special with games like Project Eternity, Torment: Tides of Numenera, Wasteland 2, and Shroud of the Avatar that boast such an impressive amount of talent behind them.

While it's hard to project the length of this trend of CRPGs being developed, I'm eager to hear what other escapists feel about this renaissance occurring. Do you feel it's doing justice to what classic CRPG gamers want? Will it work out well for these companies? I just want to get an idea of how others feel about this.


Personally I couldn't be more excited, 2014 is probably going to be the most exciting year in gaming I've been anticipating since the PS2 launched. I sincerely hope the trend does continue and gives us more great CRPGs that can proudly be displayed next to the classics of the 90s.

 

[Tragedy's Rebellion]

I'm really excited as well and not only for the RPGs, since Dreamfall 2 and Stronghold Crusader 2 are also in the works and expected to be released next year. I've been following Project Eternity and the new Torment since they announced the kickstarter for them. It has been a while since we had a high quality RPG; Bioware don't count since they haven't released an RPG since Dragon Age: Origins and that title was a bit hit-and-miss (still loved it though). I'm equally excited by the story-telling opportunities, because Chris Avellone is writing for both Torment and PE and he has never disappointed.

 

[Zhukov]

Uhhheeaaghmmmaybe.

If nothing else, after being spoiled by years of pretty graphics and voiced characters it's going to be a struggle for me to enjoy isometric graphics, entirely text-based dialogue and whatnot.

Besides, Shadowrun Returns has kind of put me off this whole thing and I was skeptical to begin with. That was a kickstarted, low-mid budget, isometric, old-school etc etc RPG and it sucked donkeys. Below average at best, bloody tripe at worst. Granted, it's by no means fair to judge a bunch of games by completely different people based on the first one that happens to come out, but it certainly didn't leave me pumped for this whole thing. Mostly it just reminded me of why I never managed to drag myself through replays of Balder's Gate or Planescape Torment anytime after 2004.

Oh, and Obsidian's name is basically a giant 'Do Not Pay More Than $10 For This Game' label in my eyes. Time and time again they've released conceptually interesting games with glimpses of awesome covered by layers of mediocrity, gaping holes and horrible bugs. Their supporters claim they're always being screwed by publishers. However, they've worked with several different publishers, all of whom have put out perfectly acceptable games with other developers. The common element in Obsidian's failures is, well... Obsidian. If they manage to botch this publisher-free project then there'll be no bloody defending them.

 

[BrotherRool]

Kind of off topic, but could I mention since Dreamfall's naming scheme has gone
The Longest Journey
Dreamfall: The Longest Journey
Dreamfall: Chapters

and now Torment's is going
Planescape: Torment
Torment: Tides of Numeria

I really hope the next Dreamfall game is called The Chronicles: Chapters
And the next Torment game should be called Tides of Numeria: Eternity

Oh, and Obsidian's name is basically a giant 'Do Not Pay More Than $10 For This Game' label in my eyes. Time and time again they've released conceptually interesting games with glimpses of awesome covered by layers of mediocrity, gaping holes and horrible bugs. Their supporters claim they're always being screwed by publishers. However, they've worked with several different publishers, all of whom have put out perfectly acceptable games with other developers. The common element in Obsidian's failures is, well... Obsidian. If they manage to botch this publisher-free project then there'll be no bloody defending them.

There are a group of people though who love Obsidian games as better than the rest, even despite their bugs. Lovers of Alpha Protocol don't love Alpha Protocol because they believe it was screwed over by publishers, they love it because Alpha Protocol is an incredible game that does things that you'll never see in another game.


Also the KotoR2 vs KotoR1 and Fallout 3 vs F:NV polls come up like every few months on this site and the Obsidian games always win (roughly 60% to 40%). Those polls aren't about what games 'could' have been the best.


It is the great shame that Obsidian seem to be absolutely crud at the technicals of making a game (and at gameplay). It would be nice if they were genuinely being publisher screwed* and that they could make a game which had both polish and conceptual awesomeness. It would open them up for a wider audience to enjoy them who are more bothered by problems with games. But I've made my peace with only having one and Obsidian games go places others don't.


*I know Obsidian is the common factor and I do agree with you that Eternity is probably going to end up pretty buggy and broken. But it is worth noting that there are two common factors to every Obsidian game being buggy and the second is that they're an independent studio whereas their competition are all published in house. Considering every other independent AAA developer without a second income source has shut down**, it's possible publishers just screw over all independents.

**Except Platinum Games as far as I know. Epic survive off their engine licensing, CD Projket are a publisher and have Gog. Valve are basically a publisher that buys companies before they publish their games and have Steam. I'd be interested to find another one

 

[Auberon]

If Obsidian has no rush and such, it comes down to them being too ambitious. And they are known for shoddy coding. But the studio has the best writers of WRPGS, and that is the reason why people love it.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Besides, Shadowrun Returns has kind of put me off this whole thing and I was skeptical to begin with. That was a kickstarted, low-mid budget, isometric, old-school etc etc RPG and it sucked donkeys. Below average at best, bloody tripe at worst. Granted, it's by no means fair to judge a bunch of games by completely different people based on the first one that happens to come out, but it certainly didn't leave me pumped for this whole thing. Mostly it just reminded me of why I never managed to drag myself through replays of Balder's Gate or Planescape Torment anytime after 2004.

I liked *elements* of Shadowrun Returns. More specifically, I liked the combat element, even though I felt like they could've done a lot more with it. Maybe I'm just a sucker for isometric tactical shooting.

Everything else was pretty balls though. What's disturbing is that this was the product of almost 2 million worth of budget.

 

[FieryTrainwreck]

I'll be buying pretty much all of these games. Even if they're average. That's how much I appreciate a "narrative-first" approach to the RPG genre.

 

[Battenberg]

God damnit, I thought there was going to be a new RPG set in a Western (i.e. cowboys as opposed to the Western word) for the PC. Well I hope someone somewhere is working on a RPG western of some kind (ideally a Firefly themed RPG).

 

[Madman123456]

We germans love our western RPGs because everything is modeled after what we wished our past would've looked like.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

God damnit, I thought there was going to be a new RPG set in a Western (i.e. cowboys as opposed to the Western word) for the PC. Well I hope someone somewhere is working on a RPG western of some kind (ideally a Firefly themed RPG).

Aw, ninja'd. At first glace, I thought the same thing. Then I came in and disappointment reared its ugly head.

Anyway, yeah, I felt rather let down by Shadowrun Returns, so I'm hoping one or more of the other upcoming games are more a return to glory. Recently replayed Planescape Torment, so the bar is set high. But maybe that is kind of unfair.

 

[Zhukov]

We germans love our western RPGs because everything is modeled after what we wished our past would've looked like.

Huh?

Care to elaborate on that?

(Not trying to being challenging here, just curious as to what you mean.)

 

[Megalodon]

If nothing else, after being spoiled by years of pretty graphics and voiced characters it's going to be a struggle for me to enjoy isometric graphics, entirely text-based dialogue and whatnot.

Besides, Shadowrun Returns has kind of put me off this whole thing and I was skeptical to begin with. That was a kickstarted, low-mid budget, isometric, old-school etc etc RPG and it sucked donkeys.

I liked *elements* of Shadowrun Returns. More specifically, I liked the combat element, even though I felt like they could've done a lot more with it. Maybe I'm just a sucker for isometric tactical shooting.

Everything else was pretty balls though. What's disturbing is that this was the product of almost 2 million worth of budget.

Anyway, yeah, I felt rather let down by Shadowrun Returns, so I'm hoping one or more of the other upcoming games are more a return to glory. Recently replayed Planescape Torment, so the bar is set high. But maybe that is kind of unfair.

Got to ask, what was so bad about Shadowrun? Picked it up last week and have really enjoyed it as far as I've got.

 

[Tuxedoman]

We germans love our western RPGs because everything is modeled after what we wished our past would've looked like.

Huh?

Care to elaborate on that?

(Not trying to being challenging here, just curious as to what you mean.)

The typical WRPG setting that you see, that rugged medieval type of thing is basically 14th century Germany/Holy Roman Empire. There are a lot of exceptions, but when you think the stereotypical fantasy setting its pretty much Central Europe with more magic involved.

 

[Zhukov]

[snip]

[snip]

[snip]

Got to ask, what was so bad about Shadowrun?

Umm... everything?

I found every single element of the game to be either bad or average. Combat, story, dialogue, interface, sound, music, visuals... you name it.

You know how even with most crappy games you can say, "Well, at least it looked pretty" or "Well, the soundtrack was nice though" or "But that one plot twist was cool". In the case of Shadowrun Returns I can't I can't think of anything to praise about it.

...

Aaaand now I'm feeling the urge to make my own thread about how awful the game was.

 

[Auberon]

Shadowrun has some of the classic modules like Food Fight available. If it had the open-endedness of 20th anniversary and quicksave (which is coincidentally left for Dragonfall), it would immediately improve. Although I'm only up to Matrix run, I haven't found anything TOO bad yet.

 

[Madman123456]

We germans love our western RPGs because everything is modeled after what we wished our past would've looked like.

Huh?

Care to elaborate on that?

(Not trying to being challenging here, just curious as to what you mean.)

Most western RPGs present a clean, almost shiny world with beautiful people with no diseases; healing magic would make all that go away.
Also, western RPGs have gods that are benevolent beings, not like the real church who would have you fear anything that can't be explained because it's made by the devil or something. Most ingame pantheons have at least one deity who acts benevolent.
If RPGs have a war in them, it's most likely about something more meaningful then whatever burned down the guardpost thingy two towns over about 800 years ago.
Even Skyrims civil war where you could chose between racism and oppression had more sense then most conflicts in medieval germany.

The games present us with an idealized version of the age where we boned close relatives, burned witches, walked around barefooted in our own filth (literally sometimes) and died from the plague at the ripe old age of 30.

 

[Philip Morgan]

God damnit, I thought there was going to be a new RPG set in a Western (i.e. cowboys as opposed to the Western word) for the PC.

I've been hoping for something like this for years. I wish a studio would take up the challenge, but realistically I don't think it would sell very well.

 

[Kanova]

God damnit, I thought there was going to be a new RPG set in a Western (i.e. cowboys as opposed to the Western word) for the PC.

I've been hoping for something like this for years. I wish a studio would take up the challenge, but realistically I don't think it would sell very well.

As far as I remember, Red Dead Redemption sold very well. I figure someone could do it, just need a company really really good to make it.