243: Misadventures in Role-playing

[Alan Au]

Misadventures in Role-playing

Most people play computer role-playing games in order to find out what happens at the end of the story, but one gamer chooses to exploit every digital loophole in such games to create his own wacky narratives. Alan Au shows us the man behind the anti-walkthrough.

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[StriderShinryu]

Very cool article. I've often thought about things like this but have never had the patience to really go after it, never mind to the point where I could write an entire walkthrough on it.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

I don't like doing stuff like that in games.

Which is why I NEVER will kill off Vivec in Morrowind.

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Vivec_%28god%29

 

[BangsLiekWhoa]

Very interesting article. Now I want to go find some of these "anti-walkthroughs" and try it.

 

[Brad Shepard]

this is making me want to do an anti walkthrough for oblivion...

 

[Andy_Panthro]

I've read the Ultima 8 one, very funny.

It helps if you know the game well, because you can find out so much that you didn't know! It's amazing to see peoples different approaches to situations.

 

[Fappy]

Really interesting bit of gaming history. Was hoping you'd mention some of the back door ways to beating Morrowind's mainquest though... so funny.

 

[Flying Dagger]

In a game without a good story, there seems little to interest me to try something like that, and if the story is good, no point in changing it.
Don't see the attraction, Unless it's simply an extended version of taking screenshots of bugs.
Like the time i managed to park a car on the underside of a bridge in GTA:VC stories on my psp.

 

[zmanu]

I remember using powder kegs in U7: Serpent Isle to break through locked doors I wasn't supposed to 'unlock' just then. Several per door, one wouldn't do. Fun. Got me to the endgame zone way too early and the story didn't make much sense, and got me double companions. Really, it's the game's fault for putting unpickable locks on wooden doors.

 

[rembrandtqeinstein]

And that is why Deus Ex is the greatest game ever. Because there was no way to break the story and no way to act that didn't produce consistency later on in the game.

 

[Richard Hannay]

And that is why Deus Ex is the greatest game ever. Because there was no way to break the story and no way to act that didn't produce consistency later on in the game.

Almost. It's possible (though very difficult and it actually depends largely on luck) to complete Deus Ex without killing Anna Navarre. The game does not account for this possibility and will continue as though you had killed her.

Still the greatest game ever, though.

 

[Otterpoet]

Intriguing article - and I do see the amusement the anti-walkthrough can offer /after/ numerous normal plays. It's sort of like playing Dungeons & Beavers, I guess. Still, I'm more interested in completing the story the old-fashion way.

 

[Yokai]

This is great. It's like griefing the AI. Good article, I'm reading through that site and it's awesome.
I remember doing something similar in the Command and Conquer 3 campaign. Many events were triggered by very specific effects or actions, and it was often possible to work ahead of the AI to make your life a little easier, if you knew what and what not to do. I can recall one instance where the enemy had set up an ambush for a vital transport vehicle that moved on its own, and I kept failing, getting the vehicle destroyed, and having to restart. Eventually I sent a bunch of my troops to the ambush point at the beginning as soon as the game started. Sure enough, no enemies. I kept them there until the transport was in range, at which point the ambushers appeared for the first time--surrounded by my troops. It was an easy (and ironic) win.

 

[LTK_70]

Yeah, this reminded me of Deus Ex and how surprisingly hard to break it was. It had an answer to almost everything. The only bug I recall finding in it was an infinite skill point glitch when Gary Savage tried to give you a reward when your inventory was full. Man, I love that game...

 

[JemJar]

Pickpocketing key NPCs in the Black Isle games is a classic, I remember pickpocketing the ruler of Baldur's Gate which would have allowed me to skip almost all of Chapter V. And Stalker allows you to go backwards through certain sections of the game if you're prepared to brave some severe radiation.

 

[Blayze]

This is pretty much the only way to win at Supreme Commander if you're me -- you work out what direction the game will expand the map in once you meet the mission criteria by failing once, then you deploy your troops and turrets in that direction to counter the inevitable army that will fall upon your base from that direction.

 

[BlahBlahBlat]

JPM (or Doug the Eagle Dragon as he's also known) is a legend - I've read all his stuff at ithe.org, hilarious!

Shame the article didn't mention his anti-walkthrough for Ultima V Lazarus (free Ultima 5 remake), as that's the most recent Ultima one he's done http://it-he.org/lazarus.htm

 

[wfpdk]

great article. i used to do that kind of stuff in fable all the time.

 

[RagnorakTres]

So...what you're telling me...is that what these guys do is kick reason to the curb and go beyond the impossible?

Are you sure that name shouldn't be spelled K-a-m-i-n-a?

And I may check that "anti-walkthrough" thing out for some of my open-world RPGs...

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

Maybe things like this are the reason that games are becoming more and more linear.

I just had a fun thought, Metal Gear Solid 4, it is largely played how Hideo Kojima wants you to play it, I wonder if there is a way to free yourself of those shackles...