It seems like the one genre that has yet to widely embrace destructible environments is the RPG. In 2011, there is no technical reason why an open-world RPG like The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Two Worlds, or Fable cannot have destructible environments. The Frostbite engine from the Battlefield series debuted in 2008, Far Cry 2 had an extremely realistic way of modeling fire and how it spread and that game is over three years old, and Red Faction featured the ability to deform and dig through terrain all the way back in 2001.
So from a technological standpoint, it can be done. Obviously some game engines would have to be reworked; for example, in Skyrim, towns and buildings are in a separate "cell" from the outside world and this would have to be changed. However, I'm sure it could be done if a developer really wanted to do it.
The real question is: should it be?
My initial reaction to this was an emphatic YES. Taking everyone's favorite game of the moment as an example, imagine how much power you would feel if you could burn down an entire village with the Dragon Fire shout, or level trees and collapse caves with a powerful Fus Do Rah? It would completely change how the game reacts to the player. For example, if you burned down Riverwood, the Jarl of Whiterun would have it out for you for the rest of the game and regularly send mercenaries and soldiers to try to kill you. The tactical options would be greatly increased too - if you're too weak to fight those bandits holed up in a house, sneak up to it and use magic to set the house on fire. It would also really give the player a sense of progression, because his or her early magic would be laughably weak, but by the endgame it could topple entire buildings.
However, my initial enthusiasm for this kind of homicidal destruction is tempered when I stop to think of the potential consequences of an RPG with destructible environments. First of all, what about buildings or other locations that are important to a later quest? For example, let's say I burn down a random farmhouse at whim or an enemy does it during combat. Then later I discover I can't complete a sidequest because I had to meet some NPC in that farmhouse. Should that building be invincible then? Should the game rebuild it without my input? Or, what if I'm fighting a dragon in a town and the dragon or an errant spell destroys the local inn... am I permanently out of a town service? Also, I fear what a well-traveled world look like near the end of a hundred hours of questing. Anyone who played Bad Company 2 multiplayer knows that maps get completely leveled until they are only piles of debris.
So what do you think: do destructible environments have a place in RPGs?
So from a technological standpoint, it can be done. Obviously some game engines would have to be reworked; for example, in Skyrim, towns and buildings are in a separate "cell" from the outside world and this would have to be changed. However, I'm sure it could be done if a developer really wanted to do it.
The real question is: should it be?
My initial reaction to this was an emphatic YES. Taking everyone's favorite game of the moment as an example, imagine how much power you would feel if you could burn down an entire village with the Dragon Fire shout, or level trees and collapse caves with a powerful Fus Do Rah? It would completely change how the game reacts to the player. For example, if you burned down Riverwood, the Jarl of Whiterun would have it out for you for the rest of the game and regularly send mercenaries and soldiers to try to kill you. The tactical options would be greatly increased too - if you're too weak to fight those bandits holed up in a house, sneak up to it and use magic to set the house on fire. It would also really give the player a sense of progression, because his or her early magic would be laughably weak, but by the endgame it could topple entire buildings.
However, my initial enthusiasm for this kind of homicidal destruction is tempered when I stop to think of the potential consequences of an RPG with destructible environments. First of all, what about buildings or other locations that are important to a later quest? For example, let's say I burn down a random farmhouse at whim or an enemy does it during combat. Then later I discover I can't complete a sidequest because I had to meet some NPC in that farmhouse. Should that building be invincible then? Should the game rebuild it without my input? Or, what if I'm fighting a dragon in a town and the dragon or an errant spell destroys the local inn... am I permanently out of a town service? Also, I fear what a well-traveled world look like near the end of a hundred hours of questing. Anyone who played Bad Company 2 multiplayer knows that maps get completely leveled until they are only piles of debris.
So what do you think: do destructible environments have a place in RPGs?
