Well - even though it is for consoles he does touch up on some important issues. However - all I read most of the time in the article is - more, better, more, faster.
He want better AI, better stories, more emotions and bla bla bla.
All nice and dandy - however - we will *never* get that while gamers simply continue to buy and hail dumbed down games with fast and easy access to action.
Why should companies push the envelope when this "recipy" of fast action works (read: sells) so well.
And in my view - the author falls right into that recipy himself, and this is where I disagree hugely with him:
Quote:
The New RPG
I personally don't like RPGs, particularly because most are turn-based. They're slow, plodding and I usually quit before too long because of boredom. But I love good stories, and I love adventure games. And I crave playing an RPG like Knights of the Old Republic in full action. Why isn't there a game like that now? Is Jade Empire what I am looking for? Is Kingdom Hearts? They may very well be.
In these games, you fight in realtime, upgrade abilities, and change based on your actions. Why aren't there role-playing games that seamlessly blend action and role-playing? The next-generation of games should make RPGs even more accessible
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This is excatly what I feel we have now in current games. To much focus on action and to little on what the author otherwise thinks we need in games. (AI, Emotions, Better stories etc)
Take SW:KotOR and NwN just to mention 2. Decent RPGs, but come on .... they were much more action games then Roleplaying games. The puzzles were easy, the quests were most of the time simplistic (I remember 2 good quests from NwN, the rest was fed-ex or kill something). The characters were mostly bland (although SoU and HotU tried to correct that), NPCs were not alive and I could go on.
SW:KotoRs "Tower of Hanoi" puzzle? Whoah - now there is a puzzle not seen in the last 20 years (not), that nobody can solve in their sleep.
And it is this way with so many games these days in my view.
Nobody says that puzzles needs to be mastermind - but come on - challenge the player. Otherwise - make it so that there are multiple paths - remember Indiana Jones adventure. Playing with brawns or brains would mean you either took the puzzle solving way or the fighting way. Now that was innovative.
As long as it seems like a crime to actually expect people/gamers to think and be challengede by something other then 20 monsters to kill, instead of 10 (because this is how difficulty is in games now) then all we will see are mediocra games labled as "best of bla bla bla", instead of truely an innovative and great game.
The answer? Expectations and demands. We as a gamers have to expect and demand better this and more that. Not just prettier graphics and better sound - but better AI, better character-devlopment, NPC development, puzzles, live gameworld, challenges .....
....gameplay.
I strikes me as odd, but the more advance our gaming hardware and development hardware becomes, the more dumb the games becomes as well and thus, subsequently the gamers. A good example of this is the RPG-genre over the last couple of years, and nowadays the MMORPG genre.
And this is one are where I disagree hugely with the author of this article, but
This development is sad in my view - and possible what can drive me from gaming once and for all.
Sure - I know there are bright stars on the sky, and that taste and opinnion differs. But if only this "dumbing down" was not proving to becomming a trend instead of the execption.
Oh well. My 2 coppers from an old grumby, blabbering,
Roleplaying game player.