Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com Joystiq http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/feedlogobig.gif Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[Freedom Force: Superhero role-playing done right]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2012/05/11/freedom-force-superhero-role-playing-done-right/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/05/11/freedom-force-superhero-role-playing-done-right/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/05/11/freedom-force-superhero-role-playing-done-right/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

This is a weekly column from freelancer Rowan Kaiser, which focuses on "Western" role-playing games: their stories, their histories, their mechanics, their insanity, and their inanity.
Image
The Avengers' huge success in its first week of release may represent the pinnacle of the superhero takeover of mainstream culture. Superhero comics have long been comparable to video games' bigger brother, with many of the same criticisms and stereotypes and similar slow paths to respectability. There's always been a great deal of crossover between the two, especially in terms of games based on comics. Most of these were platformers or brawlers, and most, like licensed games generally, were mediocre at best - with a few exceptions.

Roleplaying games especially seemed to be a natural fit for superhero games. Both usually have origin stories, over-the-top villainy, straightforward morality and, most importantly, characters overcoming adversity by gaining more strength and greater power, with single characters or small party dynamics. There were a few attempts of varying success, like the simple RPG/adventure hybrid Superhero League Of Hoboken, but it still took until 2002 for a great superhero RPG to be released: Freedom Force.

Continue reading Freedom Force: Superhero role-playing done right

JoystiqFreedom Force: Superhero role-playing done right originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 11 May 2012 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Freedom-ForceIrrational-Gamespcwestern-rpgsFri, 11 May 2012 19:30:00 EST<![CDATA[How Mass Effect 3's roleplaying roots empower the multiplayer]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2012/05/04/how-mass-effect-3s-role-playing-roots-empowers-the-multiplayer/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/05/04/how-mass-effect-3s-role-playing-roots-empowers-the-multiplayer/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/05/04/how-mass-effect-3s-role-playing-roots-empowers-the-multiplayer/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , ,

This is a weekly column from freelancer Rowan Kaiser, which focuses on "Western" role-playing games: their stories, their histories, their mechanics, their insanity, and their inanity.
Image
"I just want to see how this integrates with the single-player campaign," I thought, clicking on the multiplayer option in Mass Effect 3's main menu. I had no expectations of making it a habit. Like many people, when the multiplayer component was announced, I thought it sounded completely extraneous. Once I started playing, though, I fell for it, and have been putting more time into the multiplayer than the campaign.

Arguments about whether Mass Effect 3 is a role-playing game or not have existed since the first game's release. Regardless of which side you take in those, Mass Effect does include many components of role-playing games, two of which are essential to the multiplayer's success: world-building and character development mechanics. Of course, there are simple gameplay reasons to enjoy the co-operative gameplay of Mass Effect 3 online. The levels are well designed for dynamic changes within matches, and waves of enemies seem ideal for both difficulty and time. But those things aren't what make it special.

Continue reading How Mass Effect 3's roleplaying roots empower the multiplayer

JoystiqHow Mass Effect 3's roleplaying roots empower the multiplayer originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 04 May 2012 20:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>mass-effectmass-effect-3microsoftpcplaystationps3rowan-kaiserxboxFri, 04 May 2012 20:04:00 EST<![CDATA[Why skills are in, attributes are out in modern role-playing games]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2012/04/27/why-skills-are-in-attributes-are-out-in-modern-role-playing-gam/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/04/27/why-skills-are-in-attributes-are-out-in-modern-role-playing-gam/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/04/27/why-skills-are-in-attributes-are-out-in-modern-role-playing-gam/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

This is a weekly column from freelancer Rowan Kaiser, which focuses on "Western" role-playing games: their stories, their histories, their mechanics, their insanity, and their inanity.
Image
It took four or five levels gained for me to realize something was different. I was playing the Diablo 3 open beta last weekend, merrily leveling my monk up, when I noticed that half the time a gained level just happened, without me needing to do anything. Sometimes I could choose new skills, yes, but I wasn't given five points to distribute to my core attributes like Strength, Vitality, etc. There's a little bit of text that notes which attributes have improved, but that's all. Diablo 3 isn't the only major recent role-playing game* to downplay the importance of its characters' core attributes. Mass Effect 3 and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, both released within six months of Diablo 3, avoid core attributes entirely.

Skyrim and Mass Effect 3 don't include attributes at all, in fact, something that would have been unthinkable for a computer role-playing game at the dawn of the genre. But the lessened importance of attributes isn't necessarily a sign of the simplification of the genre (although that's often part of it). Instead, it's part of a trend in which skills, not attributes, serve as the most important statistical measure of an RPG character.

Continue reading Why skills are in, attributes are out in modern role-playing games

JoystiqWhy skills are in, attributes are out in modern role-playing games originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 27 Apr 2012 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>columnDiablo-3microsoftpcplaystationps3rpgxboxFri, 27 Apr 2012 19:30:00 EST<![CDATA[The surprising accessibility of older RPGs]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2012/04/20/the-surprising-accessibility-of-older-rpgs/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/04/20/the-surprising-accessibility-of-older-rpgs/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/04/20/the-surprising-accessibility-of-older-rpgs/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

This is a weekly column focusing on "Western" role-playing games: their stories, their histories, their mechanics, their insanity, and their inanity.
Image
One major problem with loving role-playing games is that old titles can be hard to accept due to difficulty. RPGs are particularly vulnerable to this because their focus on plot and core mechanics over technology mean that they age well. Fans and critics view games in the genre over a historical continuum of relative equality, instead of simply making the assumption that better technology makes for better games.

While mechanics and storylines may be roughly comparable, interfaces have definitely improved, and this is the problem. It's one thing to say that Wizardry VI has the best and most complex class system in gaming, but quite another to try to play it without knowing that you need to draw or find maps of its dungeon. Alternately, I can't count the number of people who I convince to try the original Fallout, only to see them getting frustrated at its difficulty spikes, lack of effective auto-save, and occasionally obtuse item manipulations. It happens to me to sometimes, especially with games that I didn't play when I was younger, which is why I was surprised recently to fall in love with Might & Magic III: Isles Of Terra.

Continue reading The surprising accessibility of older RPGs

JoystiqThe surprising accessibility of older RPGs originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 20 Apr 2012 20:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Might-and-MagicMight-and-Magic-3new-world-computingpcrowan-kaiserUbisoftFri, 20 Apr 2012 20:07:00 EST<![CDATA[The delightful smoothness of classic Japanese role-playing games]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2012/04/12/the-delightful-smoothness-of-classic-japanese-role-playing-games/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/04/12/the-delightful-smoothness-of-classic-japanese-role-playing-games/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/04/12/the-delightful-smoothness-of-classic-japanese-role-playing-games/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , ,

This week, Rowan Kaiser and Kat Bailey have switched roles -- with Rowan taking lead in this week's column focusing on the wonderful world of Japanese role-playing games.
Image
I was only defeated once in Suikoden. Even that was an accident - I thought it was a fight I was supposed to lose. Calling the game "easy" is something of an understatement. With a little bit of planning, you can win virtually every fight in the game, including the final boss battle on auto-pilot using the "Free Will" option in the combat menu. Yet, despite this easiness, Suikoden is one of my favorite Japanese role-playing games. "Easy" isn't the right term for it exactly. Instead, Suikoden is smooth.

"Smoothness" isn't a common criteria used to judge games. If anything, it's the opposite. Getting the difficulty level just right, so that the game seems like a challenge but is completable with practice, seems like it's an ideal. Or, you can use Sid Meier's model of games as "interesting choices" - but if the game isn't challenging, those choices don't seem to matter, right? I think acceptance theories like those are part of the reason that Japanese role-playing games are considered less important than they used to be.

Continue reading The delightful smoothness of classic Japanese role-playing games

JoystiqThe delightful smoothness of classic Japanese role-playing games originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 12 Apr 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>chrono-triggerfinal-fantasygolden-sunjrpgradiant-historiarowan-kaisersuikodenThu, 12 Apr 2012 20:00:00 EST<![CDATA[What makes role-playing game combat good?]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2012/04/06/what-makes-role-playing-game-combat-good/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/04/06/what-makes-role-playing-game-combat-good/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/04/06/what-makes-role-playing-game-combat-good/#commentsThis is a weekly column focusing on "Western" role-playing games: their stories, their histories, their mechanics, their insanity, and their inanity.
Image
Last week's column on changes in role-playing combat systems through history ruffled a few feathers, so I thought it would be a good idea to discuss what, in my opinion, makes for good RPG combat systems. I had no intention of sounding like I hated turn-based combat (since my two favorite RPGs use it!), or that every new game was better than old.

Responsiveness may be the single most important component of a good combat system. I mean "responsive" in a broad fashion, specifically encompassing four different forms of responsiveness that can all work together: pace, information, animation, and sound.

Responsive pace means that when you press the button to have something happen, that thing happens quickly. In Jagged Alliance 2, one of the greatest tactical RPGs of all time, you click your mouse and you immediately see what happens. Your choices register instantly. Or, in games like The Elder Scrolls: Arena and Daggerfall, your sword follows your mouse when you hold the attack button, and you see the effect instantly. On the other hand, there are games like Anachronox, a fascinating Ion Storm homage to Japanese classic Chrono Trigger. Anachronox does extremely well at setting a tone for the game with interesting characters and narrative, but its sluggish combat is a major drawback and renders the game extremely frustrating in battle-heavy areas.

Continue reading What makes role-playing game combat good?

JoystiqWhat makes role-playing game combat good? originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 06 Apr 2012 16:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>pcrowan-kaiserrpgrpgsFri, 06 Apr 2012 16:45:00 EST<![CDATA[(Don't) Give me that old time RPG combat]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/30/dont-give-me-that-old-time-rpg-combat/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/30/dont-give-me-that-old-time-rpg-combat/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/30/dont-give-me-that-old-time-rpg-combat/#commentsThis is a weekly column focusing on "Western" role-playing games: their stories, their histories, their mechanics, their insanity, and their inanity.
The Kickstarter success of Wasteland 2 may be one of the most important developments in Western role-playing games in years. It could re-open the doors to bringing back party-based, less cinematic role-playing games of the sort that have been largely gone since the mid-1990s. The trick, however, will be in using a style of combat that assures both quality and popularity for Wasteland 2. Because if it simply follows in the footsteps of the original Wasteland, it may have problems on both of those fronts.

The original Wasteland was released in 1988, towards the start of a transitional era for role-playing games, both technologically and creatively. The core mechanic of role-playing games of the era -- combat -- started to shift, and lose some of its importance.

Continue reading (Don't) Give me that old time RPG combat

Joystiq(Don't) Give me that old time RPG combat originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>pcrowan-kaiserwastelandwasteland-2Fri, 30 Mar 2012 20:30:00 EST<![CDATA[Diablo's Descendants]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/27/diablos-descendants/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/27/diablos-descendants/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/27/diablos-descendants/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , ,

This is a weekly column focusing on "Western" role-playing games: their stories, their histories, their mechanics, their insanity, and their inanity.
With Diablo 3's release date set, I decided to take a look back as the series' legacy --and play some of the better Western-style action/role-playing games around. Last week I talked about how Fallout, not Diablo, became the model for a generation of blockbuster role-playing games.

But Diablo did wield some influence. The first initial wave of clones didn't make much of a splash, but around the time Diablo II came out in 2000, the action/RPG style began to grab more attention. In 2002, Dungeon Siege and Divine Divinity were both released to some acclaim, but they never really fit the model of a Diablo clone. Dungeon Siege was as much Ultima VII and Baldur's Gate as it was Diablo, while Divine Divinity merged many concepts from Fallout and similar games with a real-time core. Missing from both? The constant clicking that, to me, defined Diablo.

Continue reading Diablo's Descendants

JoystiqDiablo's Descendants originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 27 Mar 2012 20:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>bastiondeathspankdiablodiablo-3divine-divinitypcrowan-kaiserrpgtitan-questTue, 27 Mar 2012 20:12:00 EST<![CDATA[Fallout: The first modern role-playing game]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/16/fallout-the-first-modern-role-playing-game/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/16/fallout-the-first-modern-role-playing-game/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/16/fallout-the-first-modern-role-playing-game/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

This is a weekly column focusing on "Western" role-playing games: their stories, their histories, their mechanics, their insanity, and their inanity.
It wasn't supposed to be Fallout. After the role-playing game genre crashed in 1995, new models for the style began to appear. Smart money would have been on the wildly popular Diablo to become the trendsetter, where Fallout was an underdog from the start. At the 2012 Game Developers Conference, Fallout's lead producer, Tim Cain, described its creation: he was the only Interplay employee assigned to the game for months, it was almost canceled twice, and when it shipped Cain was told it was a "risk" despite the low level of company investment.

Despite all that, the original Fallout has become widely known as one of the greatest and most influential games of all time, and the model for the biggest RPGs of recent years. Several weeks ago I argued that Ultima was the most important game series of all time, but Ultima's influence through new games was almost gone in 1997. Fallout was its replacement; it was the first modern role-playing game.

Continue reading Fallout: The first modern role-playing game

JoystiqFallout: The first modern role-playing game originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 16 Mar 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>falloutinterplaypcrpgtim-cainFri, 16 Mar 2012 20:00:00 EST<![CDATA[The year role-playing games broke]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/12/the-year-role-playing-games-broke/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/12/the-year-role-playing-games-broke/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/12/the-year-role-playing-games-broke/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , , ,

This is a weekly column focusing on "Western" role-playing games: their stories, their histories, their mechanics, their insanity, and their inanity.
The most important year in western role-playing history was also its worst. The late 1980s and early 1990s were an obvious Golden Age, as RPGs were the drivers of innovations in graphics, interface, complexity, and narrative in Wizardry, Ultima, and the Gold Box series. That came to a screeching halt in 1995, when the once wildly popular genre suddenly became devoid of games.

The genre was rebuilt after 1995, but it looked very different. The companies and franchises which had dominated withered away, replaced by the ones we know now: Fallout, BioWare, and Blizzard. All these started shortly after 1995, and the only residual series from before, The Elder Scrolls, squeaks in with its first installment in 1994. So what changed, and why did it change?

The chief contributing factor was the rise of the compact disc for storage. Games comprised of a dozen ungainly 1.5 megabyte floppies were growing more and more common, so the CD, with 500 megabytes, was a godsend (or so it seemed). All the other technological advances: better sound and music, voice-over, 3-D polygonal graphics, full-motion video, etc, could be used with CDs. This made games bigger -- but it also made budgets bigger, teams bigger, and development times much longer. Role-playing games and their developers struggled to adapt.

Continue reading The year role-playing games broke

JoystiqThe year role-playing games broke originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 12 Mar 2012 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>baldurs+gatebaldursgatebiowarefalloutmicrosoftpcplaystationps3rowan-kaiserultimaxboxMon, 12 Mar 2012 19:30:00 EST<![CDATA[No Violence Necessary: The case for The Sims as a role-playing game]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/02/no-violence-necessary-the-case-for-the-sims-as-a-role-playing-g/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/02/no-violence-necessary-the-case-for-the-sims-as-a-role-playing-g/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/02/no-violence-necessary-the-case-for-the-sims-as-a-role-playing-g/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

This is a weekly column focusing on "Western" role-playing games: their stories, their histories, their mechanics, their insanity, and their inanity.
Is combat a necessary component of a role-playing game? It doesn't seem to be, by any number of common definitions. Yet if you look at how the genre is interpreted, combat seems to be essential. RPGs are built around swords clashing and guns blazing, with occasional conversations. Sure, there are a few games like Fallout and Deus Ex which offer non-violent, alternative pathways, but the bulk of the game is still oriented towards players who want to fight.

There's a wildly popular, but under-discussed role-playing game that only includes a tiny amount of violence. It's The Sims, a game that shares almost every trait with role-playing games ... except combat. Don't believe me? Well, what do you actually do in The Sims?

Continue reading No Violence Necessary: The case for The Sims as a role-playing game

JoystiqNo Violence Necessary: The case for The Sims as a role-playing game originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 02 Mar 2012 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Fri, 02 Mar 2012 18:30:00 EST<![CDATA[Lighten up!: On thematic consistency in role-playing games]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2012/02/24/lighten-up-on-thematic-consistency-in-role-playing-games/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/02/24/lighten-up-on-thematic-consistency-in-role-playing-games/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/02/24/lighten-up-on-thematic-consistency-in-role-playing-games/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

This is a weekly column focusing on "Western" role-playing games: their stories, their histories, their mechanics, their insanity, and their inanity.
One of my all-time favorite role-playing games features a militaristic, near-fascist race of rhinoceroses who walk on two legs and wear uniforms. When you encounter them, they slide across the game screen, waving their muskets and cutlasses. They also fly spaceships around the galaxy, and are considered one of the most powerful empires in space, along with their spider-like rivals. It's a fantasy world.

The game is Wizardry VII: Crusaders Of The Dark Savant, released in 1992. The setting and story aren't what make the game great (see: the mechanics of the class system) but they are part of the whole, pleasant experience of the game. Yes, the setting is utterly ridiculous, but that's not a point against the game. If anything, it's a benefit. It's not serious, and it knows it's not serious, so why not just do fun weird stuff, like take on an army of blue-skinned theocrats aligned with an empire of spiders?

Continue reading Lighten up!: On thematic consistency in role-playing games

JoystiqLighten up!: On thematic consistency in role-playing games originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 24 Feb 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>dragon-age-originspcrowan-kaiserultimawizardyFri, 24 Feb 2012 18:00:00 EST<![CDATA[East Is West: How Two Classic RPGs Prove the Stereotypes False]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2012/02/16/east-is-west-how-two-classic-rpgs-prove-the-stereotypes-false/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/02/16/east-is-west-how-two-classic-rpgs-prove-the-stereotypes-false/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/02/16/east-is-west-how-two-classic-rpgs-prove-the-stereotypes-false/#commentsFiled under: , ,

This is a weekly column focusing on "Western" role-playing games: their stories, their histories, their mechanics, their insanity, and their inanity.
"Oh, East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet," - Rudyard Kipling

Conventional wisdom holds that role-playing games are easily divided into two categories: Japanese and Western, or, before the technical lines got blurred a decade ago, console and computer games. We can name the stereotypes easily. JRPGs are story-based, WRPGs are system-based. JRPGs are action-based, fast, and simple, whereas WRPGs are strategic, slow, and complex. JRPGs have bright, cartoonish graphics and catchy music, WRPGs have realistic graphics and darker music. JRPGs linear, WRPGs open. In JRPGs, your characters are given to you, in WRPGS you create your characters. And so on.

It's not true, though. What's more, it never was.

Continue reading East Is West: How Two Classic RPGs Prove the Stereotypes False

JoystiqEast Is West: How Two Classic RPGs Prove the Stereotypes False originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 16 Feb 2012 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>betrayal-at-krondorcolumnlands-of-lorepcrowan-kaiserrpgThu, 16 Feb 2012 19:30:00 EST<![CDATA[Dark Side 'Cause It Looks Cool: The Failings of Moral Choice in Games]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2012/02/10/dark-side-cause-it-looks-cool-the-failings-of-moral-choice-in/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/02/10/dark-side-cause-it-looks-cool-the-failings-of-moral-choice-in/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/02/10/dark-side-cause-it-looks-cool-the-failings-of-moral-choice-in/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , ,

This is a weekly column focusing on "Western" role-playing games: their stories, their histories, their mechanics, their insanity, and their inanity.
Morality systems have become role-playing. Or at least, a significant amount of people have come to believe this. To take one example, this review of The Old Republic is premised on the concept that BioWare's style of moral choices are effective character-building mechanics. It's a fine review, but it's one that I can't agree with because I find the model of game morality used in The Old Republic and many other role-playing games ineffective at creating a moral system.

In order for a moral choice to have weight, it needs to have two components. First, meaningful choices have to cause the player to lose something in order to gain power. Something has to change, or be expected to change, within the game in order for the decision to matter. In Mass Effect, at one point in the game, you have to choose which of two party members to rescue - the other dies. Or, in Fallout: New Vegas, working with Caesar's Legion turns the New California Republic into an enemy, and vice versa.

Second, a moral choice has to be a difficult choice. The old adage "If doing the right thing were easy, everyone would do it" applies here. This is where games usually fail. They can do it with little choices, like with stealing even when you won't get caught in New Vegas. Take the owned items and you'll lose karma, which might be a small hit compared to the benefits of a new weapon. Alternately, in some games, honorable characters will simply refuse payment for quests, forcing money to be acquired by other means.

Continue reading Dark Side 'Cause It Looks Cool: The Failings of Moral Choice in Games

JoystiqDark Side 'Cause It Looks Cool: The Failings of Moral Choice in Games originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>columndragon-age-originsfallout-new-vegasmass-effectmicrosoftpcplaystationps3rpgstar-wars-the-old-republicThe-Old-RepublicxboxFri, 10 Feb 2012 19:45:00 EST<![CDATA[The Rhythm Of The Quest in Fallout 3 and New Vegas]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2012/02/02/the-rhythm-of-the-quest-in-fallout-3-and-new-vegas/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/02/02/the-rhythm-of-the-quest-in-fallout-3-and-new-vegas/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/02/02/the-rhythm-of-the-quest-in-fallout-3-and-new-vegas/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

This is a weekly column focusing on "Western" role-playing games: their stories, their histories, their mechanics, their insanity, and their inanity.
Have you ever been horribly frustrated by one part of a game, only to think of it as the best and most memorable section of that game in retrospect? It's the ruins of D.C. for me. I played Fallout 3 on the PC a year or so after release, so the first thing I did was load up on mods, introducing different play balance, graphics, more weapons, and most motivating of all, more music for Galaxy News Radio. But at the start of the game, GNR is in trouble and the station's signal is weak. So I went to fix it as soon as I could.

When I went into the ruins of D.C., I wasn't ready. By heading in that direction almost immediately, I skipped doing smaller-scale quests, which would have provided more experience and better equipment. D.C. was a slog. I scrambled for ammo, for health. I explored nooks and crannies that I didn't need to, because I hadn't even really figured out the game's compass yet. It was nail-bitingly tense, it was fresh, it was new, it took me hours. It was a pain, too. I died multiple times, but oh was it magnificent.

Continue reading The Rhythm Of The Quest in Fallout 3 and New Vegas

JoystiqThe Rhythm Of The Quest in Fallout 3 and New Vegas originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Fallout-New-Vegasmicrosoftpcplaystationps3rowan-kaiserrpgxboxThu, 02 Feb 2012 20:15:00 EST<![CDATA[Ultima: Most. Important. Game Series. Ever.]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2012/01/26/ultima-most-important-game-series-ever/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/01/26/ultima-most-important-game-series-ever/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/01/26/ultima-most-important-game-series-ever/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

This is a weekly column focusing on "Western" role-playing games: their stories, their histories, their mechanics, their insanity, and their inanity.
Hey there. Whatcha playing? No, actually, don't tell me. You're playing Ultima. You don't know you're playing Ultima, but you are. If you're playing an open-world game, you're dealing with Ultima. If you're playing a massively-multiplayer game, you're dealing with Ultima. If you're playing a game with a morality system, Ultima. Even something as simple as three-dimensional graphics - either in perspective or overall representation - have ties to Ultima. How?

Open-world gaming: From the beginning, the Ultima games took place in worlds which were as big as possible given the tech constraints. You traveled across swamps, oceans, and hills, discovering what the world had to offer. The world was rarely "gated", letting exploration proceed in a non-linear fashion. What's more, the developments of open-world gameplay throughout the course of the series presaged the open-world games to come.

Ultima VI (1990) may be the most important open-world game of all time. Previous games in the series had switched perspective based on your context - dungeons were first-person, combat was top-down, and exploration on the world map had a completely different scale than exploration of towns. In Ultima VI, perspective was consistent. Your party walked into a town in the same way that it walks through a dungeon. It was a seamless, consistent world, that felt lived-in, and that open-world games from Grand Theft Auto to Skyrim owe a huge debt to.

The deeper into the series you go, the more complex the world. Want to quit adventuring for a while and bake bread? You could do that. Want to explore dungeons that are totally irrelevant to the plot? That was an option. Grab a cannon and start slaughtering guards so you can steal everything in the town? Well, you could do that, but there were consequences.

Continue reading Ultima: Most. Important. Game Series. Ever.

JoystiqUltima: Most. Important. Game Series. Ever. originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>pcrowan-kaiserrpgultimawrpgThu, 26 Jan 2012 20:30:00 EST<![CDATA[A Diversity of Roguelikes]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2012/01/19/a-diversity-of-roguelikes/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/01/19/a-diversity-of-roguelikes/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/01/19/a-diversity-of-roguelikes/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

This is a weekly column focusing on "Western" role-playing games: their stories, their histories, their mechanics, their insanity, and their inanity.
Once upon a time, the "Roguelike" genre was a semi-hidden cache of secrets in gaming. Games like Rogue and NetHack were passed around from floppy to floppy, not sold in stores, not discussed in magazines, and certainly not treated as part of the same tradition as an Ultima or even a Gold Box game. Maybe it's because the genre name is just so stupid. We don't call first-person shooters "Doomlikes" or puzzle games "Tetrislikes."

Unfortunately, I don't have a better term for it. Perhaps over the course of describing them in a column we can think of something. Here are the consistent attributes of the genres: it involves a series of randomly generated levels, starting hard and getting progressively more difficult. They're usually stripped-down role-playing games, where you roll a quick character, pick a class, buy a couple items, and then get killed permanently by a slime and have do it again. They're also designed for short play sessions.

Continue reading A Diversity of Roguelikes

JoystiqA Diversity of Roguelikes originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>desktop-dungeonsdungeons-of-dredmormacpcrowan-kaiserthe-binding-of-isaacwestern-rpgsThu, 19 Jan 2012 16:30:00 EST<![CDATA[State of the Western RPG]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2012/01/13/state-of-the-western-rpg/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/01/13/state-of-the-western-rpg/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/01/13/state-of-the-western-rpg/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

Greetings, readers, and welcome to Joystiq's new weekly column on western role-playing games! RPGs are usually my favorite games, and they have been for years. Beyond that, they're among the most popular and interesting games of any era. It's true for every generation of gaming, from Wizardry through Dungeon Master, Ultima, Fallout, Morrowind, and Dragon Age. No other genre has been so consistently important through every era of home video gaming.

But unlike adventure games or flight simulators, which have been driven into tiny niches, RPGs are still prominent. Skyrim, World Of Warcraft, and Mass Effect are among the most important games of this generation, which is not to mention cult hits like The Witcher or Torchlight.

Continue reading State of the Western RPG

JoystiqState of the Western RPG originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>columnmicrosoftmobilepcplaystationps3rowan-kaiserrpgxboxFri, 13 Jan 2012 14:20:00 EST