Safe House v Stronghold

[Haljordan]

So obviously there have been alot of games both rpgs (Vampire) and open world (GTA, Saints Row, etc) that have allowed you to have some version of a safe house. In most of these games you have a place to gather your stuff, drop off stuff, and listen to a radio or tv, apparently that seems how the safe houses will act as in this game.

 

Still I wonder about customability? Can I customize my place with a certain look? Can I rig it for a diversion or escape like Agents in movies often do? Basically will it be upgradeable? Or will it simply be a home store with a tv?

 

Maybe I'm the only one that wants customization and side quests relating to my safe house but maybe not.

 

Just some thoughts.

[sharkz]

I seem to remember them saying in interview that each location in the game will have its own safe house so I don't think it will have customization but thats just a guess.

[Pop]

Unless you get your equipment locally, there might be some sort of strategizing re: placement of resources. When you're a rogue spy moving stuff around inconspicuously could get expensive. Sort of like Hitman's pre-mission equipment selection, but more restricted, or something like JA2's internet shipping orders.

[Master Assassin]

So obviously there have been alot of games both rpgs (Vampire) and open world (GTA, Saints Row, etc) that have allowed you to have some version of a safe house. In most of these games you have a place to gather your stuff, drop off stuff, and listen to a radio or tv, apparently that seems how the safe houses will act as in this game.

 

Still I wonder about customability? Can I customize my place with a certain look? Can I rig it for a diversion or escape like Agents in movies often do? Basically will it be upgradeable? Or will it simply be a home store with a tv?

 

Maybe I'm the only one that wants customization and side quests relating to my safe house but maybe not.

 

Just some thoughts.

 

Customization of safe houses; I came across a similar topic in the GTA forums...I wonder here as I did there whether such a thing has a place in a game like this. Customization of housing sort of puts the Sims to mind, or this new PS3 Home I keep hearing about- and that's cool for that genre but I do not think I would like it in an action/rpg. I mean, it MIGHT be cool for some to be able to skip to a stronghold/safehouse and maybe upgrade the curtains or paint scheme, decor- but how would that play alongside the realism they are shooting for? This is an area for which I have no expertise- I am very interested to see how this will pan out.

[Enoch]

If it makes sense in the course of the story and gameworld, I don't have a problem with it.

 

But if we're spending our time urgently trying to exonerate ourselves of the crimes we've been framed for and hunting down and taking out/exposing the real villians, adding options to get new drapes for our safehouse and spinning rims for our car detracts from the game rather than adds to it.

[mkreku]

I liked how they did it in GTA: Vice City. There you got sort of a souvenir for every mission you solved in the main storyline. After a while, your spartan hotel room looked like a real apartment. I could easily imagine something like that.

[Hell Kitty]

Saint's Row 2 apparently lets you choose from a few different styles for your homes, with the more expensive styles adding to your reputation, much like more clothing and bling did for your character in the first game.

 

This level of customization works in a GTA style game where you are working you way up in the ranks of a gang, but I don't think it'd work in a spy game, where a safehouse should be functional.

 

I think mkreku has the right idea. Thief 3 featured something like that.

[Enoch]

Saint's Row 2 apparently lets you choose from a few different styles for your homes, with the more expensive styles adding to your reputation, much like more clothing and bling did for your character in the first game.

 

This level of customization works in a GTA style game where you are working you way up in the ranks of a gang, but I don't think it'd work in a spy game, where a safehouse should be functional.

 

I think mkreku has the right idea. Thief 3 featured something like that.

The difference, of course, is that those games aren't RPGs. I think this kind of reward for progress at in-game missions and goals is less necessary in an RPG, where the real rewards you get are on your character sheet (XP, feats, perks, whatever) and in your inventory (100+!).

 

Sure, it's important that the player gets feedback from the game on what a badass his/her character is becoming. But I think the more RPG-style rewards like feats or perks (like the "Gigolo" perk in Fallout 2 or the "Dragonslayer" feat in NWN 2) or useful unique inventory items (like the special tatoos you could get from Fell in PS:T after completing certain quests) are a more meaningful way to give this feedback than tchotchkes on the mantle in character's apartment.

[mkreku]

The difference, of course, is that those games aren't RPGs. I think this kind of reward for progress at in-game missions and goals is less necessary in an RPG, where the real rewards you get are on your character sheet (XP, feats, perks, whatever) and in your inventory (100+!).

Unnecessary, yes. But still a cool way to personalize your apartment as the souvenirs function in the same way as the useless memorabilia you drag home from every vacation you go to. You see the plastic bobble-head hoola-girl and you remember that sweet vacation you had in Hawaii five years ago. It worked the same way in Vice City; you were reminded of the cool missions you had already completed and forgotten about everytime you entered your apartment.

 

Also, it's a neat way of showing the player how much progress has been made since the start of the game. Even if your own character has grown more powerful, you will have forgotten how meek he was at the beginning.

[fastpunk]

Still I wonder about customability? Can I customize my place with a certain look? Can I rig it for a diversion or escape like Agents in movies often do? Basically will it be upgradeable? Or will it simply be a home store with a tv?

 

I think Michael Thorton will not have time to stick around one place for too long... nor watch TV.

[Pop]

It's already been established that Thorton will be able to keep tabs on world happenings. So expect a Bloodlines-esque newspaper / TV dynamic to make it into the game.

Edited April 16, 2008 by Pop

[Humodour]

It's already been established that Thorton will be able to keep tabs on world happenings. So expect a Bloodlines-esque newspaper / TV dynamic to make it into the game.

 

Yaaaay!

 

I liked the Deus Ex/Bloodlines newspapers and holopad system.

[Alvin Nelson]

Still I wonder about customability? Can I customize my place with a certain look? Can I rig it for a diversion or escape like Agents in movies often do? Basically will it be upgradeable? Or will it simply be a home store with a tv?

 

I think Michael Thorton will not have time to stick around one place for too long... nor watch TV.

 

Or maybe that's all he does?