A New Commandment for Developing Games With RPG Elements

[ZippyDSMlee]

And here I thought he was going to complain about RPG stuff in general not over site issues like this. Well done!

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

...I have a feeling Yahtzee won't like Dragon Age: Inquisition, since it kind of does the same thing(enemies deal more damage at higher levels, yes, but they all have an annoying amount of health that makes fighting them more of a chore rather than a challenge).

That, and the total amount of Power you can get from all missions and areas is way more than you will ever need.

That is a game that absolutely would have benefited from a more active antagonist. The idea of zones being overtaken and keeps and areas being under siege. Every time you zone, you progress time in areas you aren't. This means you have to spend power in areas you aren't to keep them under control while doing missions elsewhere. You can't be everywhere at once, after all.

That is what I was hoping for. Instead I had 200 power at the end of the game and could have had even more if I wanted.

I know right?

I mean, it's not like they even to make things up: sure, you kind of 'deal' with the templar v mage war in the Hinterlands, but there are other areas where the war continues.

It's supposed to be this world-spanning conflict of different ideologies...which gets swiftly swept under the rug for a more generic story.

The game could've had your Inquisitor visiting different factions of mages and templars...where you use that extra Power to support them or destroy them.

Maybe it's reserved for DLC or the expansion pack...and thus we once again feel EA's disturbing influence over the whole game again >.<

It is likely, and a shame. Once you finish the game, it really does feel like a big intro to something larger. The entire game was a tutorial for something they want to build on and I am not ENTIRELY bothered by that since I did still enjoy the game. However, it had a lot of potential to be so much better than it was, especially with the antagonist they chose.

Ah well, I guess I can't really complain about any game that gives me over 100 hours of play time. Also, this is all pretty off topic for this thread now I guess, whoops.

 

[svenjl]

The original Risen and Two Worlds II are examples, if memory serves me right, of RPGs that have static difficulty for enemies. The story and side missions guide you to particular areas where you can succeed while trying to maintain challenging gameplay. Sometimes that involves chugging potions to stay alive, but still. If you enter areas before you have levelled or geared up appropriately you will get smashed. I like the tempo of progression in these games as they encourage exploration and daring but make it clear that it's at your peril. Don't have a warhammer to deal with skeletons who are guarding a treasure but are immune to bladed weapons? Tough shit, come back later when you do! The side quests almost always give you meaningful information, loot and/or XP. The overall quality of these games is questionable but I really enjoyed them.

 

[oldtaku]

Two huge offenders here were Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Chronicles of Van Hellsing (Ep 1).

These pretended you could build the character you wanted, but punished you brutally if you didn't have the 'right' build for boss fights.

I know DX:HR got a patch, not sure about Van Hellsing. I generally liked the game (it filled the Diablo gap while Diablo III was crap), but that really annoyed me to the point where I just started cheating through some boss fights so I wouldn't have to go through the tedium of respeccing twice for them.

 

[normalguycap]

They should stop considering people so dumb and useless. Make a game that forces people to step up. People can surprise themselves by stepping up to a challenge. Sick of this pussy shit. Hate catering to the lowest common denominator. Add an easy mode at maximum for those who can't hack it.