RPG Roundtable #6, Part Two

The second installment to RPGVault's sixth RPG Roundtable feature is now available, this time including comments from Flagship Studios' Erich Schaefer, CD Projekt's Lukasz Mach, and others. Erich's take on why "They don't make RPGs like they used to":
Truthfully, when trying to think of the differences, one of the biggest paradigm shifts has been from party-based play to a single hero focus. With my old favorites, like the Wizardry, Bard's Tale, or Might and Magic series, you would create a complete party of six before setting foot in the world. Even in the Ultima games, you'd end up leading Iolo and Dupre into every encounter.

These days, however, we usually play as one hero per player, whether in Oblivion, World of Warcraft, or our Diablo series. Some of the reasons for this shift are the graphic and control requirements of new game engines. If you have to actually maneuver up 3D stairwells and constantly manipulate your real-time combat distances, it's just much easier to control just one avatar.