From reading your postings I can tell that you have gone completely wrong in your ideas. One word to remember is AGE: Atmosphere Gamplay Enthusiasm The firs two words pretty much speak for themselves however the enthusiasm factor is rarely appreciated. For example my favourite game is hidden and dangerous, this is because I have a strong enthusiasm for WW2 games because I am interested in this period. Even if someone is not interrested in WW2 they can easily pick up the game and familiarise themselves with the situation. Fantasy RPGs have the fatal flaw that no-one can actually be interrested in the world you have created because they are completely unfamiliar with it, however if a gamer is instantly familiar with the idea of the game then the game must be a cliche! This is why i suggest to all who are thinking of making a game, to make agame themed in the past; for example the game I am working on is a FPS set in europe in about 1200AD where you fight as a hired mercenary with swords, bows horses ect. Missions include sabotage, assasinations and the rest. Now go forth and recreate the past so we can move forward! The gaming world will never move on because of your obsession with RPGs!!!

"The gaming world will never move on because of your obsession with RPGs!!! "

That sure is a silly thing to say.

That is a silly thing to say. I think what you meant is obessession w/ the typical fantasy setting. That I can find validity in.


A CRPG in development...

Need help? Well, go FAQ yourself.

ur right silly me, must stop typing what i think without thinking it through

"Fantasy RPGs have the fatal flaw that no-one can actually be interrested in the world you have created because they are completely unfamiliar with it."

The player is unfamiliar with it, indeed.
But don''t you think it could be exiting to DISCOVER a new world ?
Furthermore, players will get more and more familiar with the world, as they play the game...
Don''t be afraid of the unknown !

quote:
Fantasy RPGs have the fatal flaw that no-one can actually be interrested in the world you have created because they are completely unfamiliar with it, however if a gamer is instantly familiar with the idea of the game then the game must be a cliche!

That isn't actually true, just because RPGs aren't based on real worlds doesn't mean that people can't develop an interest in them. Firstly, there are quite a few people that are interested in fantasy. Ok yeah, they won't be familiar with your specific world but they will be familiar with aspects of it. Like you said, if they were totally familiar with it then it means your game probably isn't very original. Anyway, a lot of the fun of playing a RPG is exploring a new unknown world.

BTW, RPGs don't have to have fantasy settings and not all do. To be honest if there's anything holding the gaming industry back at the moment it's the FPS. Don't get me wrong, RPGs aren't totally guilt free when it comes to being unoriginal but FPSs and RTSs take it to new levels. RPGs do have there fair share of problems and we could do with a few less fantasy RPGs but that's more of an originality problem than a familiarity one. It would be nice to see some RPGs set in more interesting settings but unfortunately this industry's developed a habit for sticking with what is guaranteed to sell.

Edited by - Kaijin on April 21, 2001 5:09:38 PM

I kind of see what ur getting at Kaijin and my attitude towards fantasy games may just be a personal one. However when I play computer games, its usually because ive seen a film that captures my enthusiasm so I do in a strange way, want to recreate what I have seen in a film, for example when I saw Gladiator I wanted to play ceaser 3 and when I saw "A Bridge too far" I wanted to play hidden and dangerous. Now with fantasy games you could say that after reading "The Lord of the Rings" I might want to play a fantasy game, but because fantasy games rely so heavily on story, this does not come in to play as it would be like eating chocolate and pretending its a beef steak.
Hope u understand


 

Yeah, I see what you mean But I think that you are still confusing fantasy games and RPGs a little. Fanstasy games don''t have to have a strong story line, you can have action fantasy games and even FPS fantasy games (e.g. Hexen, Heretic). It just happens that most RPGs are fantasy based which can get a little tedious at times. But then again most games use the same stale ol'' settings - fantasy, sci-fi, cyberpunk (though I do love that setting ). Developers need to take more risk, there''s so many other great settings out there just waiting to be used.