Shooting for 30 hours?

[Weiser_Cain]

There are demons and huge dragons I'd need 9th level spells for that, that means I'd have to be 17th level at least by the time I faced them in a crpg.

[Magnum Opus]

I'm idly curious how long you've been playing computer games, since I've been feeling much the same way.

 

(snip)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hmmm... I recall my first game being one called "Haunted House" on my dad's old Radio Shack TRS-80... late 70's, I'd guess. It was a text adventure . I've never been what you'd call an avid or prolific gamer, though. I've been around long enough to see the genres develop and more recently, begin to overlap, but I've never made an effort of play as many games as I could. There were a few combat sim games (A-10 tank killer, Falcon), a few FPSs (Wolfenstein, Doom, Hexen), a few adventure games (King's Quest, Quest for Glory, Riven), but mostly I gravitate towards cRPGs.

 

I got over my "fast-paced action and level up" fixation with arcade style games like Round 42 and later Arkanoid (and most recently Diablo), and The Bard's Tale did a similar thing for me regarding cRPGs. Now I value games with a high degree of what I call "innate replayability": not so much the heavily scripted story arcs that you see sometimes, where there's a profound choice to be made at only one or two points in a 40 hours game, but where an effort has been made to provide a complete game world whose laws are consistently applied (to NPCs, monsters, and my own characters) where I can putter around at my leisure, get into and out of trouble all on my own, with a good bit of history, myth, and culture thrown in to flesh the whole thing out and just enough story to give me a bit of direction. Ultima 7 was the one of the best games I've come across for that sort of thing so far, with Baldur's Gate 1 not all that far behind. IWD did it very well, too, although using a more combat-heavy approach. Torment was also good in this department, but in a more cerebral way; instead of collecting loot, stacking crates, and essentially establishing myself as Richest Avatar Alive, I was molding my character according to the rules of the game. All of these games offered the freedom and imaginitive outlet that I play these games for in the first place. Escapism; I read fantasy books for the same resons. A well designed game can just to it better.

 

I think that's what it boils down to for me. I look for things that appeal to my imagination more than test my reflexes or tactical ability. I couldn't care less if I'm not particularly challenged by the combat as long as the monsters are where they are, and why they are, for a reason. Some challenge is necessary, if only for that feeling of satisfaction you get when you're all still standing at the end of the fight, but variety and imagination are what I really look for in a game now; I know there'll be a good bit of challenging combat regardless of what game I get. Maybe it's always been that way, though; way back when your character on the screen was a nine pixel block involving all of three colours, imagination was half of the experience (or, in the case of Rogue, more than half ).

 

These days, just glancing through the various online gaming sites, that sense of "been there, done that" has only grown for me. Action RPGs are everywhere, but they're generally too "actiony" for my tastes these days. Screenshots are of no help whatsoever, since they all look the same to me anyway. All 3D, all with very similar colour palettes, all with similarly blocky characters, 2 dimensional textures for leaves on the similarly blocky trees, all with similarly over-the-top weapon trails and spell effects. Or, all with very similar Next-Gen graphics, depending in the game in question. The hardware became standarized, but at times it almost seems like the graphics and the gameplay did too, with all of them pushing the same envelope at the same time in response to the last blockbuster title.... or it could be that there's just going to be a confluence of graphics at some point, with all of them achieving "life-like" in the end. Whatever the reason, I'm left feeling with a distinct sense of "bleh" about gaming these days, where I'd rather go back and play one of the classics again.

 

If there's one thing that gives me hope for gaming these days, though, it's the genre-crossing that we're starting to see more and more of: FPSs are using more character development and story to direct the action, and games like GTA:SA have more freedom and depth to their game worlds than some cRPGs. They're still limited to how many different things you can blow up, shoot holes in, or drive through, but it's getting there, albeit slowly.

 

On Topic (it's just for show, really): 40 hours could be fine for a game... or not. For me, it depends on how the game plays. The NWN OC, at ~60 hours, I'd guess, seemed painfully long at times (I could go into the reasons why, but I'm blabbering enough as it is), while both BG1 and BG2 managed to achieve a happy medium where I could have kept playing even longer than I did if there'd just been more areas to visit and more dungeons to clear out. Neither of those games seemed too long at all. Diablo, similarly, felt perfect to me given the style of game it was, clocking in at around 6 gameplay hours (the Hellfire expansion included). It just depends on the way the game plays, and I won't know that until I get my grubby little mitts on the thing and try it out.

 

Ideally, I'd like enough content to keep me going for a decade or so while the industry advances far enough to interest me in gaming again, but that might be a little much to hope for.

[Musopticon?]

To Weisery-Piecery:

 

Nope.

 

I could kill Firkraag when my party was level 12 or so in BG2.

Edited January 13, 2006 by Musopticon?

[alanschu]

Hmmm, you know....I think my Dad overclocked a TRS-80 back in the day....I'll ask him and make sure

[alanschu]

To Weisery-Piecery:

 

Nope.

 

I could kill Firkraag when my party was level 12 or so in BG2.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Yeah. Considering I don't think you could legitmately use a memorized level 9 spell (just from scrolls) in BG2 due to level constraints, it's not really an issue.

[Musopticon?]

Not to mention ther might not even be dragon fights, ones you could win at least.

[Weiser_Cain]

Then it's stupid to put them in the game, unwinable fights just suck.

[Llyranor]

Then the dragons shouldn't be fights in the first place. If the player decides to attack, sucks to be him/her.

[Weiser_Cain]

Normally I'd agree as I personally think there is no way anyone not nearing godhood should be able to take on a dragon with its stats properly adjusted. But this is FR.

[~Di]

Y'know, I've scanned this entire thread and I've yet to figure out which game the original post was even referring to.  I suppose the word "Ferret" was supposed to be a clue, but being blonde and all, it was a clue I missed.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

It's NWN 2 if you need to know. -5 points for reading comprehension.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

No, I don't suppose I actually need to know... except it's a public forum and all, and it's nice to be able to figure out what the topic is. I'd thank you for answering my question, but had to take away 5 points for your snide remark, so there weren't enough points left over for gratitude!

 

[Weiser_Cain]

Feret says the games going to be short and we were bitching about it before we got distracted by our mutual hatred of each other.

Edited January 13, 2006 by Weiser_Cain

[Judge Hades]

Like I said, I have no problem with a 30 to 40 hour game. I just have a problem being a god after only 30 to 40 hours of gameplay. I need to have at least 100 to 150 hours of gaming with the same character to justify him having godlike power of a 20th+ level character.

[alanschu]

Like I said, I have no problem with a 30 to 40 hour game.  I just have a problem being a god after only 30 to 40 hours of gameplay.  I need to have at least 100 to 150 hours of gaming with the same character to justify him having godlike power of a 20th+ level character.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Turn off autorun.

[Gabrielle]

Like I said, I have no problem with a 30 to 40 hour game.  I just have a problem being a god after only 30 to 40 hours of gameplay.  I need to have at least 100 to 150 hours of gaming with the same character to justify him having godlike power of a 20th+ level character.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Turn off autorun.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

LOL that would get annoying after a while.

[Darque]

But it would slow down his level advancement speed. "

[Gabrielle]

But it would slow down his level advancement speed.  "

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Getting from point A to point B would be tedius.

[Diamond]

But those who want "correct" level progression speed will certainly love that the party moves at "correct" speed.

[Diamond]

But this is FR.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

How does this enable you to easily slay dragons? Some dragons are too powerful and there must be unwinnable fights (or characters actually) in the game just for player to fear them.

[SteveThaiBinh]

But those who want "correct" level progression speed will certainly love that the party moves at "correct" speed.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It would discourage the designers from having absurdly large, empty rooms in every house and markets where each stall is a full stall's width from the next. Have these people ever seen a real market? Let's have more compact spaces, more clutter, more bustle, and yes, more walking. I want to push my way through a crowd of people in the market.

Edited January 14, 2006 by SteveThaiBinh

[alanschu]

But it would slow down his level advancement speed.  "

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

And wouldn't it be metagaming to run everywhere?

[Lyric Suite]

But this is FR.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

How does this enable you to easily slay dragons? Some dragons are too powerful and there must be unwinnable fights (or characters actually) in the game just for player to fear them.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I though the point was to be the ultimate uber demi-god...

Edited January 14, 2006 by Lyric Suite

[Judge Hades]

When walking is available that is my default speed. I mean, I walked everywhere in Bloodlines, unless I was in a dangerous area. Then I ran. Ran so far away!

[Gabrielle]

When walking is available that is my default speed.  I mean, I walked everywhere in Bloodlines, unless I was in a dangerous area.  Then I ran.  Ran so far away!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Chicken.

[Judge Hades]

Yeah, but an alive (relatively speaking) chicken.

[Lyric Suite]

I'm actually with Hades on this, leveling is far too fast on modern CRPGs.

 

The original Baldur's Gate had it right. Leveling was never intrusive and effectively reflected the development of your character through the adventure, the latter being the point of the game...

Edited January 14, 2006 by Lyric Suite