The Gamer's Thread (Rant of a Geek)

[Ñólendil]

Hope this doesn't belong in the Entertainment thread, as I've posted it here in Gen. But I guess it probably will be moved.

I was wondering if there are other gamers out there, specifically of the geeky RPGamer variety.

For the decidedly non-geeky, RPGamers are "role-players", people who play role-playing games. Most people (at least in the U.S. or Japan) have heard of the Final Fantasy series (a wonderful series). RPGs are more centered on story-telling and statistic building than other games. But like virtually all games, the gameplay is centered on killing things.

Anyone who will read my review of War of the Ring (which will be put up in Isengard) will know I'm as RPG as they come. I know afro-elf is out there too. I guess I'd like this topic to be a general discussion thread of PC and video games, particularly the RPG. What's everybody playing? What do you like about RPGs?

I'm attached to the story-aspect of it. There are a lot of bad stories in RPGs, (Tales of Symphonia is the most recent pain I've come across) but every once in while you get a gem. A lot of these plots, such as the one(s) found in Knights of the Old Republic, or Final Fantasy X, would make for great movies, or books. Games like these do almost the same thing that reading a good fantasy does, it fills that creative need in me. I especially like the (very rare) non-linear RPGs, where the player is given choices about the progression of the plot (usually Good or Evil).

To me, the greatest RPG I've ever played was the afore mentioned Knights of the Old Republic: exciting real time combat, a wonderful plot with twists and branches and two different endings (Dark Side or Light Side), great graphics and good voice acting. Nothing can ruin a game like bad voice acting. Perhaps coming in second would be a game that I never finished, a PC one called Arcanum. Came out in '02. Horrible graphics in that game, and compared to others of its time, not very exciting combat. But it was a great classless skill progression system, with an interesting dynamic of magic schools and technological disciplines, and, again, the plot was great. Developed by Troika, which is a team made up of former Black Isle Studios members (Baldur's Gate series), but it's hard to believe that Troika went on to make (the horribly titled) "Temple of Elemental Evil", which I didn't like very much. Very shallow story.

Currently NAMCO, the company that brought us the horrendous (but very popular) Tales of Symphonia, is publishing a game developed by some of the creators of Xenosaga, called Baten Kaitos. It comes out this month, and I'm looking forward to it, although I don't think it will great, I do think it will be good.

And I can't post this in Entmoot without talking about The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age, the first RPG based off the movies. That's out now, but I haven't played it. Anyone out there playing that? Don't know if I will--I'm too attached to the books. If only an ambitious risk-taking developer would create an RPG based off the books that WASN'T on the GBA. My condolences to anyone who played Fellowship of the Ring on Game Boy Advance. *shudders*

And, my apologies to anyone who has read through this and has no idea what I'm talking about.

Currently playing: The Saga of Ryzom, a MMPORPG (Mass-Multi-Player-Online-Role-Playing-Game), with a unique sci-fi-fantasy setting. Very good game, but not a lot to do yet, still feels like it's not quite ready for release, although it came out two months ago.

[Finrod Felagund]

Ahhhh...RPGs,


I'm gonna have to Go with Knights of the Old Republic as well...freaking brilliant!

I am also a big fan of the Final Fantasy series in general, they've put out a whole lot of great games!

[BeardofPants]

RPGs .... and adventure games are my two favourite game genres. I loved Baldur's Gate, and the Final Fantasy series. Want to play Knights, but I have to wait for a sys upgrade on my mac....

[Falagar]

Ah! A fellow Arcanum-player! Now that's a RPG to remember. Incredible story, fun world and everything...but the graphics weren't particulary nice, as you say. Nor the fight-system. Managed to get through it though, incredibly satisfying experience.

Temple of Elemental Evil had really nice graphics and a nice combat-system...and not much more. No story I'd qualify as a story, and lots, lots of bugs.

Never bought Knights of the Old Republic, though I considered it for quite some time. Too expensive it was. Another RPG (or perhaps "RPG", many would say it's more hack'n'slash) I've played and enjoyed is Neverwinter Nights. While I however never managed to get much into Dungeon Siege. Also played a few of the early Final Fantasy-games, pretty fun.

Spellforce, though not stricktly speaking a RPG (more of a mix between RPG and RTS) rocks. Currently playing Rome: Total War (not a RPG either, but still good ), hoping to buy Guildwars (a MMORGP without monthly fee!)

[Earniel]

Moved to Entertainment. (You saw that coming, didn't you? )

[Nurvingiel]

I love RPGs! Rifts is the only one I have played in any depth, and it's totally brilliant! (It's like Dungeons and Dragons in many ways, except Rifts is better. )

Who else likes dice-book-type RPGs? (What are they called anyway?)

[Ñólendil]

Falagar, we have similar tastes. I have also played Neverwinter Nights and Spellforce.

I certainly would not say that NWN is just hack'n'slash. I think there's good tale-progression in that game, and good situations where a character's moral values (or lack thereof) come into play. I especially like the expansion pack Shadows of Undrentide. It wasn't so ... dark. The original story was nice, but all the helpless screams of "My baby!" and "Daddy, where's my daddy?" in the streets taken by the Wailing Death can weigh you down after a while.

Spellforce was a nice blend of RPG and RTS, when you turned the voice-overs off Well some of them were good, but some of them really weren't. I like how you could walk around in third-person, and see your people cutting down trees, or mining ore.

How can Guildwars not have a monthly fee? That's interesting.

Who else likes dice-book-type RPGs? (What are they called anyway?)

I believe they're called "Pen & Paper RPGs". I never played any of those. Do people go in-character when they're playing?

[Nurvingiel]

Originally Posted by Ñólendil

I believe they're called "Pen & Paper RPGs". I never played any of those. Do people go in-character when they're playing?

Thanks Ñólendil. You do go in character when you play. Anything you say is your character speaking. If you want to say something but you don't want it to be your character speaking, you say, "Out of character, I think our enemy is a git." If you say "Pass the cookies" or "I need another D 4" no one is going to insist it was your character speaking; it was obvious it was you.

[Falagar]

Originally Posted by Ñólendil

How can Guildwars not have a monthly fee? That's interesting.

Well, it's explained on www.guildwars.com Seems like an interesting concept.

And the voice-overs in Spellforce were terrible. Hopefully

Played 3-4 sessions of D&D a few years ago, but never managed to get the time or will to really get into it.

Originally Posted by Ñólendil

I certainly would not say that NWN is just hack'n'slash. I think there's good tale-progression in that game, and good situations where a character's moral values (or lack thereof) come into play. I especially like the expansion pack Shadows of Undrentide. It wasn't so ... dark. The original story was nice, but all the helpless screams of "My baby!" and "Daddy, where's my daddy?" in the streets taken by the Wailing Death can weigh you down after a while.

Haven't been able to play neither SoU not that other expanion yet, will have a try when I've managed to finish the original campaign. I liked the dark, gritty atmosphere, it created a very special feel to the game. Though it did get a bit tiring after some time (luckily you get to see a few new places after a while).

[The Gaffer]

Originally Posted by Nurvingiel

I love RPGs! Rifts is the only one I have played in any depth, and it's totally brilliant! (It's like Dungeons and Dragons in many ways, except Rifts is better. )

Who else likes dice-book-type RPGs? (What are they called anyway?)

I used to have hours of fun playing these back when I had loads of time (25+ years ago !). RuneQuest was the best one I played.

Do people still play them or have they been completely replaced by online versions? A few of my mates are into the online games like Dark Ages of Camelot, but it seems to lack the social element which was the main thing that made it enjoyable for me.

I read something recently about how people are selling stuff from online games on eBay, hiring themselves out as mercenaries, etc, and making money out of it. The article estimated that the online gaming industry had a virtual economy which is bigger than Russia.

Baldur's Gate is pretty groovy, though I've only played the stand-alone version. "Buttkicking for Goodness!!" etc.