Diogo Ribeiro

The thing that gets me the most mixed reactions in the dialogue is that it seems Bioware believes the system to be more flexibe and intuitive, but I don't think it's entirely accurate to assume that. I think it's less intuitive by virtue of imposing another layer of abstraction on the player. Whereas more traditional approaches to dialogue convey what a character is going to say from the start, Mass Effect's approach seems to be that of presenting a short option (an attitude of sorts) that leads into a more elaborate response - but the short one may not necessarily reflect the longer one. I've seen that picture where JACK BAUER IN SPACE is addressing Garrus: in one screen, among the three short options there is one that reads "I gave you an order". But the outcome of selecting that carries a more abrasive and confrontational attitude not suggested in the short one. That kind of presents a schism in role-playing since the game may lead you into thinking you're going to act in a certain way - such as enforcing authority - but then act in the standard Bioware model. Which, if it turns out to be true, sucks.

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That sounds nice. I think I'll be able to try something like that later this year. Supposedly, I'll be moving out of my apartment between September and November, and go all countryside. Maybe get a porch or something, with a rocking chair. Sounds nice. Almost too nice.

makes worse, not better. is the kinda crap you sees all the time in comic books... is a running joke that only robin has ever managed to stay dead (though a bit of an overstatement, if only barely.) the fact that bsg writers not get that they was part of a bad joke makes worse, not better. HA! Good Fun! The second Robin? Didn't he eventually come back as some criminal mastermind, or am I thinking Elseworlds here? I dropped out of buying comics regularly and have lost track of Batman continuity - only going by with rumors and heresay... Death and sacrifice in comics seem to last as long as XBox exclusives.

That happened to me when I was younger and carried around a GameBoy. Nowadays, I'm not really into taking expensive portable consoles "outside" so I don't constantly look down and get neck pains. At home, I kind of lay down with my head in a comfortable position when playing the DS so it never bothers me.

Yes. And if you'll note, that's why I slapped Volourn: I didn't spoke wonders of "old skool". In any case I'm not in favor of removing player control in CRPGs when it involves having my character do something against my will. Things like cutscenes are a pretty porwerful tool - just not adequate for every situation. "Cinematic fashion" is fine when it's not about the developers' idea of "cinematic coolness" messing around with my character.

Yeah, the game is supposed to be a blast. And puzzles games for the DS feel right at home.

What's up with the numeric data - enemy distance? I'm going to pick up my new PC tomorrow morning... But unfortunately, STALKER will still have to wait some time. And it will have to compete with ArmA for my wallet's contents.

:'( Oh yeah. Uh... Playing TSL.

Even if it wasn't a CRPG - and contrary to your peculiar perspective, it was marketed as such - it would still be irrelevant since the argument was about the viability of the design regardless of genre.

Then why not directly ask me to expand on what I had written instead of asking me to do something as if I had not done so in the first place? So your criticism should have been

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Irrelevant. Design is timeless. If it worked then, it can work now. There's no reason not to. Also, your point that certain games are not RPGs is moot since the article deliberately presented solutions for what I perceived to be problems in the genre that existed in the medium itself. "Today's market" is whatever developers make of it. You want to talk about market realities? Some commercial success, maybe? Oblivion. Same design you claim old or dead. Same kind of design I brought up in the article as an example of player input as a more viable method of narrative in CRPGs. Millions sold. In the words of Volourn when he's isn't half drunk: Game over.

Ah ha, good thread. Great times :D The problem, it seems, is that people mistook criticism against agency removing segments as jabs at storytelling. Putting it bluntly, that's a stupid thing to do because it not only misses the entire point of the article, it also leads me to believe people think story=cutscenes. One of the criticisms I make is that I don't enjoy how storytelling is often portrayed by the whims of the designer instead of exclusively by the player's actions. This doesn't mean I'm against story, it means I'm against at how it's handled nowadays. This also doesn't mean I only want a kind of sandbox design (although I can say it would be my favorite method) and don't enjoy more focused storytelling - it means I want to be in control of my character and not to have control removed. The designer is great in placing a story and a gameworld for me to interact with. That's fine, but I'd prefer it was kept at that.

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But being positive about the article, even if slightly, can only spell doom for you! I'm not sure my vocabulary is something worthy of showcasing, honestly. I think it's pretty limited and prone to many problems that non English-speaking people have to face, such as expression problems. I try to be as clear as possible which may often seem like I'm "strutting my stuff" but it's far from my intention. Eloquent... Far more worse at that The piece's length and repetitive nature, and a lack of a revision - totally my fault though. I wasn't trying to aim at any specific audience. Sure, there are Codex regulars I'd have to think about but nothing in the article was written to please them. If anything, I wanted to share it with as many people as possible since the intention behind the article was to bring up discussion on the subject matter everywhere I could.

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Limits to role-playing are not the same as an absence of it. Conceptually, Pen and Paper has no limits to role-playing but not all role-playing is possible depending on a number of factors, including the type of Game Master running the session. Likewise, role-playing in computer role-playing games is possible but on a much lesser degree to what PnP would allow for. This doesn't mean there's none to be had - simply, that there are several things that attempt to give the role a tighter focus - one of them the attempt to tell a story. Then again, this is a non-issue in the article. I never criticized computer role-playing games telling stories, only telling stories as if videogames were movies.

I didn't assume it was easy... Nor entirely correct. In fact, I believe I established during the article what I perceived to be narrative though offhand, can't recall if I gave any insight into what I believed to be 'story' but at no time was I expecting it to be beyond reproach. But do you disagree with how I categorized narrative?

Wouldn't common sense dictate that, if you didn't read it all then you probably should before making any comment? Appearances can be deceiving, specially when I actually gave some suggestions that in my opinion would improve storytelling. I also took no issue against storytelling itself, but how it can under certain circumstances take role-playing away. And this is relevant how? I pointed this out myself several times in the article and besides, I took no specific or important issues with this.