Spill your blasphemous opinions on CRPGs here

[Keyrock]

 

Elves, as they first were conceived by whatever Germanic tribe, were very different than what elves are depicted as in popular culture right now.  The current depiction of elves all stem from Tolkien's depiction of them.

 

The things you describe are called faeries or sidhe and they have very little in common with the Elves. Granted that Tolkien drew inspiration from them, but that doesn't make it his fault that people today took inspiration from him and made it in to something else again.

 

The elves we know today are awful in large part to being inspired by the awful elves Tolkien depicted.  You start with an awful base and your modified version is more likely than not to also be awful.

[LadyCrimson]

Single-player: I like endless saves and being able to savegame whenever I want.  

[Gfted1]

^Me too. I save scum, rest spam, powergame, and reload if I don't like the outcome and everyone can suck it.

[mkreku]

- Obsidian's writing skills are highly overrated. I'm far more impressed by writers who can convey a story with a few words than page after page of exposition.

- Bethesda writes better stories than Obsidian.

- First person view is the only view for rpg's, isometric is for people who enjoy playing with dolls. And bronies.

- I prefer learning-by-doing more than any other type of skill system.

- I look down on people who enjoy romances in rpg's. Except one South African who's too damn friendly and impossible to hate. I know, I've tried.

[Amentep]

 

 

Elves, as they first were conceived by whatever Germanic tribe, were very different than what elves are depicted as in popular culture right now.  The current depiction of elves all stem from Tolkien's depiction of them.

 

The things you describe are called faeries or sidhe and they have very little in common with the Elves. Granted that Tolkien drew inspiration from them, but that doesn't make it his fault that people today took inspiration from him and made it in to something else again.

 

The elves we know today are awful in large part to being inspired by the awful elves Tolkien depicted.  You start with an awful base and your modified version is more likely than not to also be awful.

 

 

Not sure if its a blasphemous opinion, or just trying to speed read too fast, but initially I read this conversation as using "Elvis" instead of "Elves".

Edited February 20, 2014 by Amentep

[Valsuelm]

• Baldur's Gate 1 is better than Baldur's Gate 2 (2 is still great though)

Bethesda games are horribly overrated and other than the good graphics frankly just bad, very bad (and good graphics are not a reason to play a game). I'm talking about Morrowwind, Oblivion, and especially Skyrim and Fallout 3.

Monsters that scale with your level is one of the worst ideas to ever be realized in a RPG (see above)

The 2nd edition AD&D ruleset as was realized in the infinity engine games is so far the pinnacle of in game combat design for a turn based RPG. Everything else has been a step down in quality and complexity in regards to gameplay. With a notable exception for 'tactics' type games which are really a different genre, ie: Final Fantasy Tactics.

Bioware is no longer a good game studio, they sold out and gave into greed many years ago.

Icewind Dale combat is often horribly overrated on these forums. It is no better in any way than either BG 1 or 2's combat.

Edited February 20, 2014 by Valsuelm

[Maria Caliban]

• Knights of the Old Republic 3 would have been bad, whether developed by BioWare or Obsidian. The Old Republic MMO was a much better way to develop that sub-franchise.

Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition has the best DnD system so far and the only one worth using for a cRPG.

Kickstarter won't create a revolution in cRPG development because most studios need a publisher to keep them on time and within budget.

[Amentep]

• Bethesda games are horribly overrated and other than the good graphics frankly just bad, very bad (and good graphics are not a reason to play a game). I'm talking about Morrowwind, Oblivion, and especially Skyrim and Fallout 3.

 

I confess, this may be the first time I've seen "good graphics" and "Morrowind" used in the same sentence...

Edited February 20, 2014 by Amentep

[aluminiumtrioxid]

- Obsidian's writing skills are highly overrated. I'm far more impressed by writers who can convey a story with a few words than page after page of exposition.

- Bethesda writes better stories than Obsidian.

 

[Malcador]

- I prefer learning-by-doing more than any other type of skill system.

- I look down on people who enjoy romances in rpg's. Except one South African who's too damn friendly and impossible to hate. I know, I've tried.

Hm, depending on how gradual the curve is, learning by doing can be fun. As for your second point, it's possible, you just aren't trying hard enough.

[Valsuelm]

 

• Bethesda games are horribly overrated and other than the good graphics frankly just bad, very bad (and good graphics are not a reason to play a game). I'm talking about Morrowwind, Oblivion, and especially Skyrim and Fallout 3.

 

I confess, this may be the first time I've seen "good graphics" and "Morrowind" used in the same sentence...

 

At the time it was released it was considered to have very good graphics, and indeed for it's time it did.

[Amentep]

 

 

• Bethesda games are horribly overrated and other than the good graphics frankly just bad, very bad (and good graphics are not a reason to play a game). I'm talking about Morrowwind, Oblivion, and especially Skyrim and Fallout 3.

 

I confess, this may be the first time I've seen "good graphics" and "Morrowind" used in the same sentence...

 

At the time it was released it was considered to have very good graphics, and indeed for it's time it did.

 

 

I found it unplayably ugly.  it was about a year later when I finally played having installed a bunch of mods to beautify it.  But maybe I was alone in that opinion at the time...

[Sarex]

The elves we know today are awful in large part to being inspired by the awful elves Tolkien depicted.  You start with an awful base and your modified version is more likely than not to also be awful.

 

Ah so you think Tolkiens Elves are awful, well can't help you there. I can agree with you that today the market is oversaturated with elves, but Tolkiens book is older than all the crap that exist today and in that light I think they where interesting and good, especially after reading Silmarillion.

 

 

• Knights of the Old Republic 3 would have been bad, whether developed by BioWare or Obsidian. The Old Republic MMO was a much better way to develop that sub-franchise.

 

Well you just need to burned on a stake for this heresy.

Edited February 20, 2014 by Sarex

[tajerio]

• Knights of the Old Republic 3 would have been bad, whether developed by BioWare or Obsidian. The Old Republic MMO was a much better way to develop that sub-franchise.

 

I'll take this a step further, and say that the Star Wars universe is just a bad setting for cRPGs.  The Light Side/Dark Side opposition is even worse than D&D's alignment system for artificially pigeonholing characters.  Not to mention that all the history is the most pulpy sci-fi bollocks you ever read. 

[forgottenlor]

 

 

 

• Bethesda games are horribly overrated and other than the good graphics frankly just bad, very bad (and good graphics are not a reason to play a game). I'm talking about Morrowwind, Oblivion, and especially Skyrim and Fallout 3.

 

I confess, this may be the first time I've seen "good graphics" and "Morrowind" used in the same sentence...

 

At the time it was released it was considered to have very good graphics, and indeed for it's time it did.

 

 

I found it unplayably ugly.  it was about a year later when I finally played having installed a bunch of mods to beautify it.  But maybe I was alone in that opinion at the time...

 

 

I remember when I first installed it being blown away by the giant mushrooms and the beautiful forests. On the other hand the people (and elves and so on) weren't particularly good for the time. Still the scenery was, in my memory incredible. I actually think Betheda makes beautiful scenery.

[Monte Carlo]

 

Elves, as they first were conceived by whatever Germanic tribe, were very different than what elves are depicted as in popular culture right now.  The current depiction of elves all stem from Tolkien's depiction of them.

 

The things you describe are called faeries or sidhe and they have very little in common with the Elves. Granted that Tolkien drew inspiration from them, but that doesn't make it his fault that people today took inspiration from him and made it in to something else again.

 

 

Correct targets would be Tolkien imitators, not the great man himself.

[forgottenlor]

 

• Bioware is no longer a good game studio, they sold out and gave into greed many years ago.

 

I'm really not sure how this is heresy. I thought it was more or less common knowledge.

[alanschu]

I remember when I first installed it being blown away by the giant mushrooms and the beautiful forests. On the other hand the people (and elves and so on) weren't particularly good for the time. Still the scenery was, in my memory incredible. I actually think Betheda makes beautiful scenery.

The water was also pretty fantastic.

[aluminiumtrioxid]

 

I'll take this a step further, and say that the Star Wars universe is just a bad setting for cRPGs.  The Light Side/Dark Side opposition is even worse than D&D's alignment system for artificially pigeonholing characters.  Not to mention that all the history is the most pulpy sci-fi bollocks you ever read. 

 

 

Well, yeah. Canon Star Wars is bad. On the other hand, when you start to deviate (like KotOR2 did), you can do some pretty awesome stuff with it.

[Enoch]

Mask of the Betrayer was not particularly fun or interesting, and I had to force myself to finish it.  This had nothing to do with the spirit-eater mechanic, which didn't bother me much. 

 

Forcing yourself to finish a game is a dumb thing to do.

 

Troika's games were all rather bad. 

 

IWD2 was more fun than IWD1. 

[Monte Carlo]

Now we have identified them, Brother Exterminatus... cleansing can begin.

[rjshae]

•  DA2 was more enjoyable and a better cRPG than ME2.

Edited February 20, 2014 by rjshae

[Noviere]

I found it unplayably ugly.  it was about a year later when I finally played having installed a bunch of mods to beautify it.  But maybe I was alone in that opinion at the time...

I thought the world/landscape in Morrowind was very good at the time... But like every Bethesda game, the character models and animations were embarrassingly bad.

 

 

I'll take this a step further, and say that the Star Wars universe is just a bad setting for cRPGs.  The Light Side/Dark Side opposition is even worse than D&D's alignment system for artificially pigeonholing characters.  Not to mention that all the history is the most pulpy sci-fi bollocks you ever read. 

If SWTOR has taught me anything, it's that evil in the Star Wars universe(or at least how it is interpreted by Bioware) is just juvenile nonsense. There is no motivation behind the bad actions one takes, other than being "ohhhh so deliciously evil." My female sith inquisitor would constantly spout stuff like "Time for blood!" Also, all of the villains are moustache-twirling mwahahaha'ers. 

Edited February 20, 2014 by Noviere

[aluminiumtrioxid]

I'll take this a step further, and say that the Star Wars universe is just a bad setting for cRPGs.  The Light Side/Dark Side opposition is even worse than D&D's alignment system for artificially pigeonholing characters.  Not to mention that all the history is the most pulpy sci-fi bollocks you ever read. 

If SWTOR has taught me anything, it's that evil in the Star Wars universe(or at least how it is interpreted by Bioware) is just juvenile nonsense. 

 

Well, KotOR2 is somewhat more nuanced than that, so it's not the sole fault of the source material. That's part of the reason I hold it in such high esteem: they've managed to create morally complex characters in a universe which is literally about the eternal clash of the most unimaginably pure purity and the evilest evil with puppy-kicking cherry on the top.

It's beautiful, really.

(Edit: and a testament to how wrong the previous poster is who finds Obsidian's writing to be overrated and generally bad.)

Edited February 20, 2014 by aluminiumtrioxid

[FlintlockJazz]

 

I found it unplayably ugly.  it was about a year later when I finally played having installed a bunch of mods to beautify it.  But maybe I was alone in that opinion at the time...

I thought the world/landscape in Morrowind was very good at the time... But like every Bethesda game, the character models and animations were embarrassingly bad.

 

 

I'll take this a step further, and say that the Star Wars universe is just a bad setting for cRPGs.  The Light Side/Dark Side opposition is even worse than D&D's alignment system for artificially pigeonholing characters.  Not to mention that all the history is the most pulpy sci-fi bollocks you ever read. 

If SWTOR has taught me anything, it's that evil in the Star Wars universe(or at least how it is interpreted by Bioware) is just juvenile nonsense. There is no motivation behind the bad actions one takes, other than being "ohhhh so deliciously evil." My female sith inquisitor would constantly spout stuff like "Time for blood!" Also, all of the villains are moustache-twirling mwahahaha'ers. 

 

If you look at Star Wars A New Hope by itself, and look at some of the earlier ideas for the script, it appears that the Imperials were more nuanced and had more developed motivations, such as Moff Tarkin being quite the power player despite having no gooby powers.  The original idea for the emperor was that he was actually just a figurehead who was becoming more irrelevant and that people like Moff Tarkin were the real power players, but then Georgie made the emperor a sith lord and more a mustache twirler who likes to do stupid things for no reason.  

 

Notice that as the original trilogy went on the higher echelons of the Empire became more and more faceless and irrelevant while the Emperor and Vader gained more autocratic control: A New Hope you had guys like Moff Tarkin who actually order Vader around (who wasn't that important a person in the Empire it seems).  Then in Empire Strikes Back, Vader becomes the bossman of a fleet and the senior officers are all terrified of him and get choked to death inbetween trying to do their job professionally.  Then Return of the Jedi, where the officers are irrelevant and get killed by teddy bears.  And as this happens the Empire turns more and more into moustache twirling stupidity as the focus and control is all put on the Emperor, who really is just a pathetic one dimensional character who epitomises the cliche Bond villain.