So, about replay value...

[Frisk]

I think many of us expect the game to have good replay value - be able to play it through multiple times, and perhaps select different options that will have an effect on how the main story unfolds. We could have mutually incompatoble quests or storylines (you can do A or B, but not both), or perhaps just the selection of different companions will make the story different if you play the game again.

 

However, just what are people hoping for regarding replayability?

Edited October 19, 2012 by Frisk

[Tsuga C]

If the various companions and scenarios that change depending upon our in-game decisions allow for a half dozen play-throughs without the experience becoming stale, then I'll be very well satisfied. I'm big on replay value, so I say, "The more, the merrier when it comes to engaging replays!"

Edited October 19, 2012 by Tsuga C

[rjshae]

That's a good question. Games I've enjoyed replaying usually have a lot of side quests and places to explore. Sandbox games like Oblivion and Fallout 3 were really good that way; I could replay them in a completely different style and enjoy the experience without too much sense of repetition. I also enjoyed replaying the BG series more than the IWD for similar reasons. The diverse character mix and social interactions in BG* allowed for a unique experience each time through and it didn't feel quite as linear.

Edited October 19, 2012 by rjshae

[Larkaloke]

I've found that how different I can make each new character from the last is the thing that has the single greatest effect on the replayability of a game for me. Even if the plot is completely linear, and you can't really choose what order you do things in, I'll still find it to have a high level of replayability if I can make a completely different party of characters each time (Icewind Dale and Icewind Dale II are the games I replay the most often, for instance; though that probably because they're shorter than Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate II).

 

Things like mututally incompatible quests and storylines are also good. Also, just a very large number of quests and things, some being more difficult to find than others, can help. So can being able to do things in a different order, or the world reacting differently to those with high reputation or low reputation, that sort of thing. Also, though this may seem odd, I love finding strange hidden things of madness in out-of-the-way areas in games (such as all the madmen wandering around in the outdoors areas of Baldur's Gate, or some of the odd things in houses, that you might not find the first time).

 

As for what I'm hoping for -- well, replayability is something I value quite a bit, so I'm happier the higher it is. The first thing I mentioned is the most important to me, but each thing in addition to that is great.

[eimatshya]

Honestly, I usually make the same choices every time I play a game, so reactivity doesn't necessarily enhance replayability for me (not that I don't like having meaningful choices, I do, I just tend to make the same decisions each time). Usually what makes me replay a game is its story. I've played through KotOR II at least 10 times because I love the story. That said, it isn't always the plot that makes a story great; often it's the little things that add up to make a game a memorable experience for me. For instance, I've played through Alpha Protocol probably six or seven times because there are so many little things I love about the game (e.g. every part with Steven Heck).

 

Basically, if it's an adventure that I'd want to go through again, I'll probably end up replaying the game.

Edited October 19, 2012 by eimatshya

[Sensuki]

It will be fun with the faction reputation system I think.

[Falkon Swiftblade]

I would appreciate a good replay value if it's tied into the narrative. I'm creating a game right now and I'm purposefully designing it so there are 3 perspectives of the same story and initially you only get to play 1-2 levels of other characters, but I want to create it so after the story is beaten, the player can start a whole new adventure as one of the npc's and see things from their perspective, and then they may eventually get to recruit my hero as a companion for a quest or two. In these types of games I'd like it if I get special perks for being from x faction or race, and have access to content unavailable the first play through, like maybe now I have access to the kings armory since I'm the prince of Y.... etc.

[GhostofAnakin]

When I think of replay value, I typing think of two main things (there are obviously other stuff, but these are two of the things that immediately comes to my mind):

 

1-Different choices available when solving quests or speaking in dialogue that affect the game world. That's the number one thing that gives a game replayability for me. Branching quests that will alter events, whether in a small or big way, depending on your decisions is a huge factor in the replay value of a game for me.

 

2-Companions with deep backstories and with personal sidequests, and who also can alter how things play out in the main story depending on if they're in your party or not.

 

If Obsidian can pull off the above two to some significant degree, I can foresee PE being a game I'll play multiple times.

[Autodaf]

I expect that Eternity will be story driven RPG, as any good RPG should be, so in general I don't expect there will be replayability, in a sense of a new content. I could play the game again, but it would be because of the story, I experienced first time. As I read a good book multiple times, I would like to play the game multiple times. I'm not saying that it must be linear or anything like this. I want different ends, different paths throughout the game so I have freedom of choice. But when I play games like this again there is very little deviation from my last play. So that it from my side.

In general the only replayability in story driven RPG I can see is in that freedom of choice and following consequences to the world itself. I think random generated content on big scale hampers the story (I don't mean random loot or encounters, but rather random dungeons, towns whatever).

[Pshaw]

I don't mind replaying a game the same way I've completed it before. However the more things I cannot do in 1 play through the more motivated I am to replay it. To that end the things I'd really like see to are...

 

Multiple victory paths: They've already said this will be in the game so I'm thankful for that. I will absolutely do a play through with a character that tries to talk their way out of everything and another that uses stealth as much as possible. So for me that's at least 2 play throughs.

 

Mutially exclusive content: I think these sort of things not only make common sense but add replay value. I do extra play throughs in order to join different factions each time, romance a different party member, see different endings, or even just go for different outcomes in the same quests. I good example of the latter would be the Urn of Sacred Ashes quest in Dragon Age: Origins. It was the same every time in terms of what you did but the outcomes varied depending on if you sided with the cult, against them, killed the dragon, and who you told about the ashes afterwards. I also find it odd when you can just join every faction in sight and nobody seems to mind. In an elder scrolls game you can end up the head of the mages, thieves, fighters, and assassins guild. Surely once you've done that you might as well declare yourself king, because you're probably the most influential person in the region. That just seems silly to me.

 

Personality and choices matter: I loved my first Baldurs Gate 2 play through when Anomen tried to kill me. Needless to say it affected how I chose to play in future games. I like it when your companions or NPCs really react negatively depending on how you deal with them. Sometimes it's fun to play it reckless sometimes it's fun to play it safe, I think both sorts of choices should be available.

 

Companion incompatibility: I touched on this with Anomen but I personally feel that not all companions should be willing to work with each other or the main character. If you're off slaughtering innocents even if your paladin isn't with you while you do it he should probably leave the group. Certainly you shouldn't then be able to earn their trust/loyalty while you're doing things they're completely against. Make us have to replay in order to fully access all of our companions dialogue and backgrounds.

Edited October 19, 2012 by Pshaw

[mokona]

I think many of us expect the game to have good replay value - be able to play it through multiple times, and perhaps select different options that will have an effect on how the main story unfolds. We could have mutually incompatoble quests or storylines (you can do A or B, but not both), or perhaps just the selection of different companions will make the story different if you play the game again.

I don't want to be forced to play the same game multiple times just to experience the best features. 'A or B but not both' choices force you to play through the game a second or possibly even a third time. I'd rather it be possible to do all the cool stuff and have all the fun, if you want, the first time I play through the game.

 

Replay should be about having the game be fun a second time and not be about forcing you to play through the game at least twice just to experience the best parts of the game.

[Osvir]

1, Party setup/party reaction

Story-wise, how does your party react (depending on who you got) to different events?

 

2, Tactical aspects

A Wizard in my party will change how I get through battles, whilst having a Chanter instead gives me a different style.

 

3, Origins~

Temple of Elemental Evil and Dragon Age: Origins both do this very well, now I have barely played ToEE anything so can't say much about the first starting area... but "Ostagar" is all I want to say, it looses a lot of replayability because of that. Candlekeep/Ostagar are both the same thing in my opinion, Ostagar just gives the illusion that it is not like that.

 

4, Paths

If you go evil, you should go evil. Factions in other words, there might be one Kingdom that accepts you into their city if you are evil, in turn the other Kingdom rejects you (and vice versa if you are good). Certain villages, or areas (e.g., Bandit Camps) will react to you differently.

 

5, NPC reaction

Continuous from "4," if you are good people might come up to you, cheer you on on your adventure (as your reputation grows or whatnot), whilst an evil path will make people run away and hide in their houses in some areas (closing windows as you pass by). Likewise, an evil city or village might pat you on your back and slither mature words down your ears in "agreement" to your actions.

 

6, Ease-of-use modding

Edited October 19, 2012 by Osvir

[rjshae]

5, NPC reaction

Continuous from "4," if you are good people might come up to you, cheer you on on your adventure (as your reputation grows or whatnot), whilst an evil path will make people run away and hide in their houses in some areas (closing windows as you pass by). Likewise, an evil city or village might pat you on your back and slither mature words down your ears in "agreement" to your actions.

 

You can have a really evil character without necessarily causing the peasants to flee in terror at your approach. An excellent example of that is Al Swearengen (Ian McShane) in Deadwood. He was a respected member of the town, but man, that was one of the most evil dudes I've ever seen on TV.

 

Another good one was Sylar (Zachary Quinto) in Heroes. He could pass himself off as a perfectly rational human being, then turn around and peel your head open. Basically an evil, utterly ruthless version of Spock (and his casting for that role was perfect!)

[Tusck]

For me, the one thing that kills replay value for me is playing through the same start for every character I create. I really hope that you can choose different backgrounds and therefore play through the beginning differently until you hit the main quest.

[Osvir]

For me, the one thing that kills replay value for me is playing through the same start for every character I create. I really hope that you can choose different backgrounds and therefore play through the beginning differently until you hit the main quest.

 

Yes, totally, I would love to be able to hit the main quest tree from each angle (entering it from North, West, East or South~ metaphor). What I'm suggesting is some sort of "Ostagar" that you can jump on in different ways, from different positions. It'd be awesome to be a regular guard or infantry man, and from that position you are noticed by the Grey Wardens and ultimately get to join them (instead of always, repetitively being escorted by Duncan). Or you are Wynne's ward/apprentice and go with her to Ostagar (without any involvement of Duncan). These ways make it more unique, in my opinion... is there any backdoor you can sneak in from, onto the main quest after the origin without each and every one of them practically starting the same?

[Hormalakh]

Robust modding is basically it for me. I'll end up playign the game 3 or 4 times for the first few months. Then I'd like to come back to it maybe in a few years and play with some interesting mods. I've noticed that the good old IE games had mods that always made the game fresh, even after 10 years.

[eselle28]

For me it tends to be:

 

1. A variety of choices when creating my character, both in terms of cosmetic choices and more meaningful ones that will affect how others react to me in game.

2. A varety of ways to express my character's personality. This can take the form of mutually exclusive quest lines or factions, but what's even more important is a good variety of dialogue options. I generally tend to play characters who are somewhere on the good end of the spectrum, so it's important to me that there be different ways of expressing personality (funny, snobby, idealistic, naive, and so on) beyond choosing the good option or the evil option.

3. The ability to really crank up the difficulty settings.

4. The game being modable and having a good community of modders. Nothing can freshen up an old game like a new companion or an extra series of quests.

[Feldoth]

I mentioned this in another thread, but not being able to 100% the game in a single play-through is a pretty big deal. In Skyrim, you can literally do everything with a single character - this makes no sense, and actually renders most of these accomplishments meaningless <rant>someone should really freaking take note if Dragonborn savior who fought an ancient dragon god is also the head of the Dark Brotherhood - who by the way assassinated the emperor - and is also the Archmage of the area's only school of magic... instead they ask you to cut wood and kill bandits and the thieves guild sends out on grunt work to "prove yourself". I'M THE NEXT THING TO A GOD YOU MAGGOT *stab* *stab* *stab* Oh wait, you're immortal and I can't kill you despite how stupidly powerful I am - perhaps you're right to treat me like a baby after all since you seem to be some sort of godlike being yourself. Oh well, I'm going to bounce your still-living rag doll body off every wall in this place until I can see a color other than red.</rant>

 

*deep breaths*

 

So yeah, I want to be able to accomplish only a limited amount of potential goals per play-through, but I want those goals to make a difference on how the world and the people in it react to me. This, combined with character customization (which I have ranted on at great length previously, and which Obsidian has mostly satisfied me on), are the two things that determine replay value for me. If the choices aren't going to matter then I'd rather the game be linear so as to be internally consistent.

[Hassat Hunter]

1. Many different ways to finish quests. Nothing more fun than to try "the other ways"

2. Endgame isn't decided at, well, the end or 2 hours before that but an accumilation of everything you did throughout the game. No reload and get all endings within 15 minutes!

3. Mutual exclusive content sounds good (like differen guilds).

4. Many companion interuptions. So the next time you pick another group and see what they say instead when X happens.

[mokona]

I don't care about replay value.

[Sacred_Path]

People will keep coming back to this for about 10 years, 15 with mods. About the same as Wizardry 8

[JFSOCC]

Good reply value means the content you get is significantly changed from another. to me that means getting different quests, not different choices and endings in quests. I'll still register the quest as "done before" So, a good amount of class-specific quests, or mutually exclusive questlines (such as going for one faction instead of another, and the quests are not the same narrative.)

Otherwise I wouldn't rate it very high as "replayable"

[Frenetic Pony]

Besides mods being available? I'm definitely replaying with the eventual multiplayer mod.

 

But as far as what Obsidian can do, aside from making sure the shipping code is as open to modding as possible.

 

Randomization works very well. Randomized enchanments for magical items. And randomized equipment to begin with, from chests and containers and in stores. It would be neat to see a list of unique very high level items that are randomly inserted into the game each time you play, so you'll never be able to access all of them in one game, and never know which ones you'll get.

 

Further randomization can work for enemies as well. Ok, you might be fighting giant spiders or insert cliche fantasy monster here. But, levelling aside, you don't have to have the same giant spiders or X in the same place each time. The giant spiders in the giant spider room could be a swarm of smaller ones all with an effective poison attack. Or maybe a pair of large miniboss type spiders that shoot the equivelant of web spells at you, or maybe a queen spider boss monster with a few extra normal types around her.

 

Randomization can even work for quests, or at least tiny quests and encounters. Assuming you are going to be "waylaid and can not go further" while travelling between areas there could be different tiny encounters that are randomly assigned. Maybe one where you're saving some random NPC, who might give you a cool unique item for saving them. Just as an example.

 

Beyond that, I expect just giving players different choices and different outcomes to be cool. What companions you use, what class you are, high int/low int/charisma/wisdom dialogue stuff. Different endings to quests. It would be neat, assuming there is something like Prestige Classes, to be able to choose different ones for companions based on some quest or other.

[Hassat Hunter]

While randomising smaller rewards (no point in the devs manually adding small coinage to crates) randomness to that high a factor are only good for ARPG's, not RPG's. Especially the "quest randomniser" will be a no-no for good quality quests.

The less fed-ex or kill x of y the better, random or not.

[Pipyui]

I already mentioned something regarding this in a different post, so I'll just copy/paste it over here cause I think it's relevant and I'm a terrible human being:

 

Fetch / rescue quests can be randomized and don't always have to send you to the same places.

 

Or, side quests can have slight, maybe even quirky, variations in presentation depending on choices the player has made in main quests. If you let a bandit leader live early on for example, you might find later that he has kidnapped a couple's daughter for ransom, and you'll be hired to get her back. If you killed him, his sister and second in command has taken his place, and you find that the couple's son has been kidnapped because this young new bandit leader found him dreamy and intends to marry him. The quest has the same structure, just two different NPCs.

 

Simple to implement, and effectively adds replay value I think.

Edited November 7, 2012 by Pipyui