The best options you've never had, but wanted.

[Adam Meyers]

I'm a big fan of RPGs, especially tabletop ones, due to their extreme player freedom. If someone came up to me and said they wanted to run a game where we owned a blacksmith's shop I'd probably say no, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to try and open one whilst simultaneously questing to save the world. In an average campaign I'll hire brigands I was supposed to fight, run animals through a dungeon to trigger traps, build my own town, or spec a character out as an expert distiller just so I can start an organization of rum-runners, all while questing through dungeons and battling monsters.

 

On a spectrum ranging from strict RPG dungeon crawls on one end and 'The Sims' on the other, a lot of modern games keep pushing toward the middle. However, there's only so far an AAA mega-hit can push things- Skyrim has lots of options, but still it's what I CAN'T do that sticks out to me the most, and while Fable always marketed their games on your player freedom, their "Run a Kingdom," "Own a shop," and "Have kids" were almost in name only, as they always came with very few options and very little interaction.

 

Project Eternity will and should focus on glorious old-school RPG-hood, but since the lack of cutting-edge graphics and engine frees it up from the budgetary limiters of games like Skyrim and Fable, I can't help but wonder what extra options could they make available beyond the usual stab-and-grab? We already know there will be a customizable house, companion romances, and the ability to bypass combats with diplomacy, but how much of that uninhibited table-top feel will they try to capture? What sorts of things have you always wanted to see in a computer RPG, but until now never have?

 

My wishlist for Project Eternity goes something like this:

• Be a pirate.
  
• Own and run a store, or otherwise make 'merchant' something you can actively be.
  
• Own and run a fortress.
  
• Join and rise to the top of an organization, then still have an active use for it in the game (as opposed to Elder Scrolls, where once you run an organization it might as well not exist anymore.)
  
• Court, get married, and customize a house. Maybe even kids who get older with in-game time.
  
• Have unorthodox character build options, like one focused on crafting, that's also a viable character choice.
  
• Make diplomacy, intelligence, crafting, etc., open up now game options rather than just be an alternative to punching people in the face.
  
• Interact with animals, followers, or hirelings.
  

So what's your wishlist for in-game options?

Edited October 2, 2012 by Adam Meyers

[imatechguy]

1. I want to see the world truly change according to my choices. I should see a completely different world and experience when playing the LG Paladin type trying to save the world than the NE Rogue trying to run it. I also want the characters in-game to recognize the difference.
    
   
2. For once I'd like the opportunity to join the "big bad" or better yet become it. Maybe find out over the course of the game that everything I thought I was fighting for was exactly the opposite of what I was doing and I have the choice to continue, change my path or take some middle ground. Perhaps become the real power behind a puppet sovereign I set up.
    
   
3. I want the opportunity to take over an organization, like a thieves guild or a town council and really run it more than a token way. I want to decide who/what intelligence is collected on or how much taxes merchants pay, who to blackmail and who to assassinate.
    
   
4. A viable trade or organizational opportunity. A system where Arcane caster types could have a store that they have to keep stocked with scrolls, potions, jewelry etc; or perhaps a weapons and armor crafter could run a smithy. Quests could spawn from custom/special orders from nobility and a simple ingredient search becomes a major quest requiring you to save or subjugate a small town/city.
   

 

I'm sure I could come up with more but those are my big wish list items, in order of importance to me.

[septembervirgin]

Side with the bad guys, kill everyone who's trying to find a solution to the nasty stuff that the bad guys are doing, kill the bad guys, make the nasty stuff even worse, grab the money from the walking dead (who no longer need money), move to Vegas.

[TrashMan]

I'm very much agaisnt running a shop.

 

If you're such a great enchanter/smith, why is the PC even in the adventuring buisness?

I detest any crafting system where the PC can not only be a masterfuull warrior but also a amster crafter. Where the hell does he get time to master all of that?

[Methuseleh]

I'd like to see situations where the main party must split to achieve different objectives. Let's face it: when there are a bunch of npcs that can join, many are under-used or almost totally ignored. Players miss out on a lot, but not everyone has time to replay with different companions. This would keep companions active and expand the game experience.

 

I would also like to see the "menace meter" I mentioned in another post. Otherwise, how does the player really sense what the pcs are sensing?

 

Finally, for something completely different, I'd like to have low level characters that aren't complete pushovers with tissue-paper armor and sharpened twigs for weapons. That artifice is one of the main reasons why I tend to min/max: it is a question of survival at low levels.

 

Ps: it doesn't need to be a cosmic save the world mcguffin either.

[Blackstream]

Own and run a store, or otherwise make 'merchant' something you can actively be.

Own and run a fortress.

 

Just in general I'm a huge fan of minigame type elements. If they introduce systems like you mention, I will totally spend hours mastering the store game and the such.

[Jasede]

I can't tell if the topic creator is serious.

[WayneWetski]

This sounds like something for the Bethesda LARP forums, not some actual RPG game discussion.

[Infinitron]

We already know there will be ... companion romances

 

I don't think romances have actually been confirmed for Project Eternity.

Edited October 3, 2012 by Infinitron

[NOK222]

Gambling dens, brothels, opium dens and such.

[AzureWatcher]

I want to be able to kill children and own slaves, something that hasn't come native in any other RPG I have seen without the aid of mods.

[Jasede]

I'd prefer to kill slaves and own children.

[Blackstream]

We already know there will be ... companion romances

 

I don't think romances have actually been confirmed for Project Eternity.

 

They have been very much so not confirmed. They done their best to skirt around the subject everytime it's brought up. They've stated they don't want to make it a stretch goal though which tells me that it's more than just a subject of money and time for them. I think they want to add it into the base game, but not just slapping it on like they could totally do if they really wanted. I suspect, especially for companion romances (if in), it's gonna be built into the character as completely as possible, influencing them as well as the people and world around them, and it probably won't resemble a baldur's gate or mass effect style romance much.

 

I just hope it's in in some fashion, and I know they do at this point, they just can't really comment right now what they actually plan to do with it.

 

Btw, because they've stated they plan on having a part 2 if this does well enough with the same companions, I'm actually hoping for a much slower romance. Maybe game 1, most of the characters (unless there's one that just moves especially fast) actually just build up their relationship with you and you can tell things are moving in a romantic direction (or not if you push it away from that), and it's not until game 2 that things really fire up. Maybe some characters get to a dating stage, some move really slow and you don't see the 'fruits' of that until game 2 or even 3, maybe one you end up getting married to halfway through the game and then break up when you realize things moved too fast. Who knows. I'd like to see a more organic way of approaching the subject either way.

Edited October 3, 2012 by Blackstream

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Lets see...

1. Serial Killer
   
2. Kingpin
   
3. Bigot
   
4. Pirate
   
5. Kill family members
   
6. Hermit
   
7. Vigilante
   
8. Slaver
   
9. Commoner
   
10. Pretty much any other "unpleasant" thing that other RPGs restrict so they don't offend anyone.
    

[NOK222]

A dark elf pimp

[Shades]

I think these are more things I'd like to see in games but don't expect to happen than things I would want in Project Eternity.

 

Most of all I'd like to have the opportunity to fail, and then have to deal with the consequences (bad rep, which would be different from the sort of fear you'd get from deliberately trying to be menacing. Villagers might get to the point where they try to run you out of town because they know you failed at doing something).

 

For example if an NPC won't romance my character for whatever reason (race restrictions, stats, who knows), I want my character to still be able to try to start something with them, and to be turned down. If my character gets ditched halfway through a relationship, I want to be able to be nasty about it if I choose to (or sad or completely understanding or whatever). And if my character ditches the NPC partway through the relationship, I want to see some of them get nasty and bitter about it too (if it suits their character). Maybe such a thing could even ruin any friendship with the NPC and make things awkward afterwards, they might resent you to the point that they leave, betray or just don't fight when you get to a critical point in the story. You know, consequences for your actions.

 

Rather than just 'you failed, you die game over' I want to see more. A town or city burnt/destroyed because of my poor choices. Perhaps if you worked really hard after failing like that you might be able to salvage something and just catch hold of victory. Or perhaps you continue to fail, and you watch the world go down with you. Or maybe the 'bad guy' wins and things actually aren't as bad as you may have thought, perhaps they really were right in the end (and maybe a 'good' character might find this out too late). I guess it's similar to being able to side with the bad guy like people mentioned. What if your character ends up such a menace that you're actually worse than the bad guy.

 

I also like being able to do a variety of things with items. Some of the older games like... I think Quest for Glory? Gave you a number of different ways to use one item. I certainly wouldn't mind the option of trying to use an item on someone, and then getting to choose how I wanted to use it. Like say I have a potion and want to use it on this random villager, which then opened up dialogue where I could choose if I wanted to hit them over the head with the bottle, give it to them, drop it and pretend they knocked it from me then get confrontational about it, make them drink it, offer to trade it for something. Perhaps I could even have a sleeping potion and bottle of wine, and mixing them would create something that I could use to drug some guards. I think this sort of thing is a lot more difficult to put into games these days though.

[Sarevok]

I want a Colosseum I want to hire a doctore to train gladiators for me. I will pit them against one another, placing wagers on their survival. My gladiators will rise in power and my house will become the premiere gladiatorial host in the realm.

 

Basically, this:

 

 

What does that have to do with Project Eternity? Nothing. But, it's cool, right?

[melkathi]

Side with the bad guys, kill everyone who's trying to find a solution to the nasty stuff that the bad guys are doing, kill the bad guys, make the nasty stuff even worse, grab the money from the walking dead (who no longer need money), move to Vegas.

 

Sounds like an evil playthrough of Arcanum.

[Vin]

I want to make a short character that isn't a halfling or an elf.

Seriously, can we get some love for those of us who haven't topped five-foot-two?

I'm sick of playing statuesque human women or perma-stubbled men with rippling abs.

I can't relate to either.