This article has spurred two points I'd like to make.
#1 has basically been already made in that Demon's Souls has managed to do an innovative single player/multiplayer thing, and do it well.
#2 was that Yahtzee's comments on Mindjack reminded me of another game that I really wanted to like, but obviously didn't have the development dollars to sit at the grown-up's table: Alpha Protocol.
The game is actually pretty decent. The RPG elements are well done and it has conversation trees similar to DA or ME. I think the core of the game gets things right. Unfortunately, Alpha Protocol suffers from very mediocre graphics and, in the case of the protagonist at least, terrible voice acting. For those that haven't suffered through any of AP's gameplay, it's basically an MGS4 style, 3rd person stealth/shooter game. And I think that's where Obsidian made their mistake with this one was trying to replicate an MSG4 style game, when really they should have been shooting for an MSG1/2 style with RPG elements added in.
As Yahtzee says, "it's the fact that developing for PS3 or Xbox is just a shitload of work for a shitload of people with very specific skills." and either Obsidian didn't have the people with the skills or they didn't have the time to do it properly and a really promising game suffered for it.
Honestly, if Alpha Protocol had been designed like, say, Lara Croft and the Guardian of LIght or a similar 3/4 down shooter with the RPG and stealth elements intact, it could have been a really awesome game. Instead, we got a half baked game full of bugs, bad character models and wonky gameplay.
Game development seems to be at an interesting crossroads where we have the AAA titles we'll always have (like Hollywood blockbusters), the social/casual/iphone/facebook gaming branch, high-quality downloadable indie titles and then, the worst of the bunch in many ways, those developers trying for that high quality console title but falling short due to lack of talent or funds and giving us the Mindjacks and the Alpha Protocols.
Personally, I'd love to see more developers recognize their own limitations and build great games within them, rather than overreach and end up putting out failures.
#1 has basically been already made in that Demon's Souls has managed to do an innovative single player/multiplayer thing, and do it well.
#2 was that Yahtzee's comments on Mindjack reminded me of another game that I really wanted to like, but obviously didn't have the development dollars to sit at the grown-up's table: Alpha Protocol.
The game is actually pretty decent. The RPG elements are well done and it has conversation trees similar to DA or ME. I think the core of the game gets things right. Unfortunately, Alpha Protocol suffers from very mediocre graphics and, in the case of the protagonist at least, terrible voice acting. For those that haven't suffered through any of AP's gameplay, it's basically an MGS4 style, 3rd person stealth/shooter game. And I think that's where Obsidian made their mistake with this one was trying to replicate an MSG4 style game, when really they should have been shooting for an MSG1/2 style with RPG elements added in.
As Yahtzee says, "it's the fact that developing for PS3 or Xbox is just a shitload of work for a shitload of people with very specific skills." and either Obsidian didn't have the people with the skills or they didn't have the time to do it properly and a really promising game suffered for it.
Honestly, if Alpha Protocol had been designed like, say, Lara Croft and the Guardian of LIght or a similar 3/4 down shooter with the RPG and stealth elements intact, it could have been a really awesome game. Instead, we got a half baked game full of bugs, bad character models and wonky gameplay.
Game development seems to be at an interesting crossroads where we have the AAA titles we'll always have (like Hollywood blockbusters), the social/casual/iphone/facebook gaming branch, high-quality downloadable indie titles and then, the worst of the bunch in many ways, those developers trying for that high quality console title but falling short due to lack of talent or funds and giving us the Mindjacks and the Alpha Protocols.
Personally, I'd love to see more developers recognize their own limitations and build great games within them, rather than overreach and end up putting out failures.
