metadigital

Yep, just have some other, more relevant or urgent problem. Remember, issues are may be categorised along two axes: Urgency and Importance. Issues that are both urgent and important are dealt with first. Then any other urgent issues, regardless of importance. This is where the local plot can take over from the over-arching one; where a non-Jedi-Sith plot can flourish.

Then take the "SW" reference out, and replace it with something else, like, say "a large, multinational planet-eating conglomerate franchise that may or may not have aesthete character classes which embody a quasi-religious doctrine and manifest power through their faith", or something ...

I second that. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> The Ayes have it. Carried by the quorum.

... for a fraction of the duration, and none of the upgrade paths ...

Except that, given adequate hardware, you can run Morrowind on resolutions of 1600x1200.

[1]Exactly.. we have bigger dev studios like Bioware that have enough money to make real western RPGs that are able to keep up with the demand for improved graphics (at the present) but keep in mind that they are also making console RPGs now[2]. Now they have to contend with a new fanbase with an established preference for JRPG-style gaming[3]. If studios like Bioware then feel pressure to gradually conform to the JRPG console standard, that means the end of the console as a viable alternative for western RPG gaming[4]. This possibility worries me. This only leaves the very small dev studios left. And if the small dev studios don't have enough in their pockets to keep up with the rising graphical standards, then the western RPG market could very well hit a dark age[5]. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Here's what's wrong with your deductive reasoning: 1. Exactly? You are drawing a totally different inference! Yst is talking about demanding graphics, and you are talking about JRPG-like constraints on PC games! All pears are green. The fruit in front of me is green; therefore this apple is a pear. 2. This has been your main conclusion throughout the thread: Computer Developers (and Publishers) who diversify into a market that has less technical hurdles and more users will result in the abandonment of the PC market as "too hard". Again, you may draw this conclusion, but I think you are catastrophising. 3. This is where I draw a distinction: why are there "two markets"? Why does one group only like one type of RPG? Why are there not more people like GoA, and most people who have contributed to this and most threads on these fora, or me? 4. Why? Because all the people who like occidental RPGs will suddenly not want to buy them anymore? Today: Morrowind, tomorrow: FFXVI? 5. Why do independent developers have to buy into the $10M minimum investment in a game? There is a thriving indie film scene, there always has been a thriving indie computer development scene. I just bought some games that were published half-a-decade ago, in direct preference to all the other "graphically superior" games that have been published in the meantime. Summary: the sky is not falling.

People need to start reading my entire posts lest they run into making false inferences or mis-interpreting my arguments like metadigital did. I say we can't really tell until we let things run its course. Something very different and unprecedented is happening in the industry and IMHO it is too early to tell what is really happening. It is, although, an exciting time to be in right now. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Maybe you need to stop pretending you said things that you didn't. I very carefully went back and directly quoted your posts. Simply saying that I mis-read you is not sufficient, unless you can display where. This entire discussion started because you commented on Yst's initial post that all of the negative hype was overblown. You may not have directly said that the doom of the computer RPG was at hand, but you have been, and here I quote verbatim et literatim (again): I also answered more than one of the questions you posed. I see you ignored that as well. My, your mother wouldn't be pleased with your manners. "

Resolution must be different. Consoles use television resolution. Any game that supports more than 800x600 is far superior than a console. Morrowind was quite demanding (DirectX 8.1).

Polite suggestion: play Morrowind. It is mentioned frequently for a reason. It is totally open ended gaming: you can do anything at any time with anyone. You can even kill characters that are crucial to the main plot. (The game tells you so afterwards, giving you the option to quit and restart.)

I agree (to some extent) but if this is so "common sense" knowledge why did it take so damned long to be applied to western RPGS? ... If JRPGS hadn't inspired the push for western RPG party interaction at all you would have detailed party interaction,yes, but you would expect it to be without any of the above JRPG elements. It seems too convenient and coincidental for me to believe that you could stumble upon those specific ideas without it being inspired by the eastern world. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> It takes a long time for anything "different" to be utilized in a successful business model (i.e. building a RPG that sells to a market segment giving a set ROI); risk is an extravagence not regularly indulged in any business, much less creative ones like games. In other words, the publishers asked the developers to produce "the same thing that worked last time". Where did you get this inference from? Risk. Poor management. Obviously there are a lot of creative types running development houses: good for creative games, bad for the bottom line. Happens in all markets to all types of businesses, even well established ones. Look at Marconi, founded by the discoverer of radio, in business for a century, then insolvent in a couple of months, due to poor management. Lancer, I would like to introduce EA to you ... EA are nothing if not good managers; their products can be anything from dreadful to exceptional, but they complete projects to their deadlines.

What a surprise. I also disagree with--- wait.. You don't have an analysis and conclusion. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Ah, trolling, I see. My conclusions are quite clear: the game industry is not categorised as you (arbitrarily) indicate; it is a much more homogenous organism; in short: you are jumping to false ones. If that is all you are saying, then I agree it is a good idea. (But I would argue that you are guilty of apopheniac tendencies.) Ok.. I am still waiting for your better one. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> No, you are either purposefully ignoring it, or too dim to see it. If the former, then I have already explained above (vide ut supra), if the latter, then I can't help you. Therefore it will never happen? Is that your conclusion? Well, you may draw that conclusion, but I don't. That sort of logic would have us conclude that there will never be another OS, for the PC, other than Windows ... oh, what's that? Linux! :D And this is evidence for what exactly? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Are you saying that there are no emulators for consoles? Exactly. Even if we accept your intial proposition, Lancer (that occidental cRPGs have been inspired by oriental console JRPGs), why does that foreshadow the doom of the PC platform for RPGs? Translation: the computer RPG is far from a dead genre; not only is it thriving, it is interbreeding with every other genre. You may rest easy, there is no cause for alarm. Rumours of its demise have been greatly exaggerated. (Apologies to the estate of Mark Twain.)

9 August 2005

You are indeed ineluctably trapped in geekdom. Do not fret, though, there are worse fates. Like not being a geek. (Apologies to the estate of G. B. Shaw.)

...

That would certainly give some interesting treaties ... maybe moreso if it were a version of the blind variant, too: where players don't know all the other players' countries, nor all their moves each turn (just the countries adjacent ...)

I'm not so sure you should be thanking him, just yet ... to my mind there were a lot of negative scores there ..!

:'( I don't like you guys anymore ...

I've always called them d

... and the lights on, apparently ...

meta for Teh WIN!

Not getting out of the clink for a few months, then? Might?

Seriously? I was on there and I didn't see it. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> linkie (fourth one down) Ha! Considering the big deal for Doom 3 was its rendering of shadows!

R00fles!

Alan Wake looks pretty interesting (not sure when it hits the streets), FEAR (maybe), Quake IV, Civ IV, Oblivion (maybe, check the reviews before I commit), NwN 2, DragonAge (maybe), any Half-Life 2 modules (like Aftermath).