Posted March 14, 2021
dtgreene
vaccines work she/her
Registered: Jan 2010
From United States
sanscript
Ltd. DeepSeeker
Registered: Jul 2011
From Norway
dtgreene
vaccines work she/her
Registered: Jan 2010
From United States
Posted March 14, 2021
A roleplaying game used to be about changing the narrative/story and the outcome as you play (from board-games). Now everything is "RPG" or "RPG-like" without even properly implement the core mechanics of it, the branching story. Much like rouge-like and this fetish for procedurallly generated content for lazy developers have become - stagnant.
To me, the core mechanic of a CRPG is that the player does not directly control their character. Rather, the player tells the character what to do, and the character then executes it, with the success of said action being determined by the character's abilities, not the player's.
(Things get trickier with table top RPGs, but the core mechanic I mention above still applies; if it didn't apply, then why bother with a rulebook in the first place?)
Also worth noting that procedural generation has been an element of some RPGs since the early ones; Rogue, Akalabeth, and Ultima 1 all are at least partially procedurally generated (though Ultima 1 limits it to just the dungeons). Also, I have seen Rogue classified as a rogue-like, which can be justified that there's no game more like the original Rogue than Rogue itself.
When I think of a game with a deep story, I start to think of games like Final Fantasy 4, which is when the FF series started to focus more heavily on story. In this game, there's less room for imagination than in, say, the original Final Fantasy.
https://www.amc.com/shows/halt-and-catch-fire/exclusives/colossal-cave-adventure
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1g84m0sXpnNCv84GpN2PLZG/the-game-30th-anniversary-edition
Also, it should be "its", not "it's", in that context. ("it's" = "it is"; its not a possessive like "its" is.)
Post edited March 14, 2021 by dtgreene
dtgreene
vaccines work she/her
Registered: Jan 2010
From United States
Posted March 14, 2021
For example, if one is looking to buy a game for a young child, the fact that the game is text heavy might be relevant. If the child hasn't learned to read, they might not be able to enjoy the game. On the other hand, for a child learning to read, a good text heavy game (especially if it's marketed at children, like Pokemon) may give them a fun way to practice their reading, and hence get better at it.
Warnings can be good for other reasons as well, like if the game has intense flashing lights that could cause seizures in a minority of people (those affected can heed the warning or decide that it's worth the risk), or if a game might legitimately trigger someone's PTSD (such triggers are worse when they occur by surprise; seeing the warning, even if the person decides to play the game anyway, will reduce the harm done by the game, especially since the player might be more able to deal with their triggers at some times than other times).
The Magic of Scheherezade is a really good game (especially for its time), but it unfortunately needs a seizure warning. Similarly, Wonder Boy 3: The Dragon's Trap has the screen flash red when you damage a boss, which can cause seizures or discomfort in some (if playing the 2017 remake, you can avoid this by switching to modern graphics for boss fights).