[project1dev] Re: [offtopic] Game theory TOP 5 GAMES

  • From: Hanaan <hanaan.fu@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: project1dev@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Fri, 26 Feb 2010 09:18:20 -0600

Never played KOTOR but always hear about it.

Really I am goldfish for a reason ...Im not sure I can recount the best 5 rpgs I ever played, sadly. In recent memory Dragon Age is worthy of all its praises. The secret with Bioware seems to be they can implement leveling in a game without making you feel like you are leveling at all. Since everything you do in the game is carrying on the story, its always taking you places, offering you info ...I mean you never feel like you are *not* on a journey. NPCs gossip, give info, lend very subtle clues. Towns and locations are very involved in what you are doing. The story just pervades the entire game and thats just amazing that they do it in such a way that the player is simply exploring and journeying. Never focused on quests, just living out the story. The options are amazingly well done. These are things I love and always want in my RPGs: good story, many options which are all truely optional yet engaging and worthwhile, feeling like my choices have consequences, epic dungeons. Could probably name more but thats what comes to mind.

When our game is finished I hope we have some of these elements! I dream of making a game that is significant, even if its niche.

Mass Effect is great so far. I get what Eric is saying and also Cid but really if you dont feel heroic on normal mode, just up the difficulty and "earn" your praises :) It is quite hard when you do. I dont get very into scifi games easy, but ME so far is pretty engaging for me.

Castlevania IV is my favorite old school RPG. Just loved the spooky feel, the towns, and the Dracula fight is always very cool.

usually when I find a good RPG I just play it forever unless friends tell me of some other cool one out there. Ive been a lot better about it in recent times, but I probably missed quite a few gems in the past. I also dont strictly play RPGs, they are just one favorite. RTS/strategy games, sims, and some action (racing or fighting, etc) are games I really love to play. In that department Age of Empires II was a dear favorite of mine. I love civilization (civ 5 is out later this year!).


On 2/24/2010 12:36 PM, eric drewes wrote:
personally, i was a *huge* fan of the two kotor games (even though the 2nd is often dismissed as inferior, i thought the "dark side" aspects of the story were among the best in star wars lore - it actually framed the dark side in a way that was relate-able and made sense logically, something that i had hoped the prequel trilogy would do *sigh*) but Mass Effect was a HUGE let down for me. I read all the previews and had it pre-ordered and was totally amped for it when it was released but there were some major flaws that killed it for me: basically, in the KOTOR games there was a build up to becoming a Jedi, you really had to put in your dues and earn it. When you finally made it, it felt epic and meaningful. They tried to do something similar in Mass Effect w/ the specters (its been awhile, that may not be the right name) but you became one in the first hour or so of the game, and even though they tried to make it seem like a huge honor and they played orchestra music, etc. it felt really hollow... there wasn't enough background or context to make it seem important and you, the player, did nothing to justify being bestowed the honor.

I actually thought the real time combat held up ok in Mass Effect also, but really the game didn't really suck me in the way KOTOR did and i lost interest after a few hours and never really picked it up again. Maybe I didn't give it enough of a shot though because a lot of people I respect seem into it.

I am also a fan of all 3 fallout games, for different reasons though. the first two, basically i agree w/ everything Cid said, but i thought the 3rd one was great as well, even though it was a completely different style than the originals. Fallout 3 was great because i love exploration and finding stuff and it seemed like every night i could go home, fire up my xbox, wander into a random direction, and find an interesting quest/story/situation. I really hope bethesda learned from fallout 3 and what made it great compared to oblivion (another massive disappointment, imo) and make the next elder scrolls game fucking AMAZING. Oblivion seemed to have all the pieces in place but the level/treasure system completely undermined it.

I am a huge fan of square's older games, including ff1, ff4, ff6, ff7 and chrono trigger. loved the music and characters and story, ff6 in particular will always have a special place in my heart. I realize its trendy now to bash ff7 but i remember when it came out, it totally blew me away, the graphics and environments were so great, that game felt like an adventure from start to finish.

i also really enjoyed the older dragon warriors, the 3rd in particular is one of my fav games of all time, i liked how you could customize your party to match your play style. If you haven't played it and want to, i suggest the GBC version because of the add-ons they put in, there's a really fun dice game :) and i love gambling on monster fights.

Another RPG i am really fond of is "Mordor" which is an old windows rpg where you created as many characters as you wanted (but parties were limited to 4 at a time) to explore this huge deep labyrinth, if a character died you had to retrieve their body and pay to get it resurrected, or sometimes you'd just say "well bon voyage mon ami" and let em go. There were a ton of classes you could join and different weapons/armor, you could even capture beasts and have them in your game. Mordor was really a neat concept and i'd love to do an updated version someday (the UI and graphics dont really hold up anymore). A somewhat similar game called "Etrian Odyssey" was released on the DS a couple years ago, it was pretty good but lacked the depth of customization Mordor had.





On Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 1:06 PM, Kent Petersen <kentkmp@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:kentkmp@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:

    I love your choices. I haven't played Mass Effect but I definitely
    want to. Your other 4 choices are great.


    On Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 12:52 AM, CiD <screamingdazeez@xxxxxxxxx
    <mailto:screamingdazeez@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:

        Top 5 RPGs in no particular order because it would be too hard
        to choose:

        -Mass Effect Trilogy - Yeah, I know the 3rd hasn't been
        released, but this is Bioware we're talking about.  These guys
        know how to tell a story cinematically better than anyone in
        the business.  The first 2 made me feel like I was saving the
        galaxy and making a difference and they did it in style.  So
        many great dialogue quotes, fun action oriented combat, and a
        company that listens to it's fans about what they didn't like
        to change or remove it in the sequel.

        -Chrono Trigger - I've never been a fan of the Final Fantasy
        series so for a Squaresoft (pre-Enix) game to tell the tale of
        time and catch my interest I was surprised.  This thing even
        holds up to today's standards and it's 16 bit!  I'll never
        forget the opening sequence: "Chrono.  Chrono?  Wake up, Chrono!"

        -Fallout 1 and 2 - Humor in a post apocalyptic world with
        lightning striking twice = GOLD!

        -Planescape: Torment - Black Isle's masterpiece before
        shutting down.  Nothing is more philosophical than this gem.
         Socrates himself would have died a thousand deaths, each time
        waking up in a dustman morgue, only to die a thousand more
        pondering the intricacies of this D&D universe.

        -Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - Bioware again?!
         Somebody should buy these guys already (*wink wink* EA)!  A
        large portion of the greatest fan base in existence believes
        this original Xbox/PC title re-energized the legendary saga
        after the atrocity of the prequel trilogy disaster.  So good
        it's being made into an MMORPG.






        --- On Tue, 2/23/10, Hanaan <hanaan.fu@xxxxxxxxx
        <mailto:hanaan.fu@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:

        > From: Hanaan <hanaan.fu@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:hanaan.fu@xxxxxxxxx>>
        > Subject: [project1dev] Re: [offtopic] Game theory
        > To: project1dev@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:project1dev@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
        > Date: Tuesday, February 23, 2010, 3:25 PM
        >
        >
        >
        >
        >
        >
        >
        > Yeah you are missing out :)  But I like your
        > comments.
        >
        >
        >
        > I dont know why but I have this "blackout" in my
        > gaming history where I
        > have been playing games since NES and then hop to PC around
        > the time of
        > Diablo and then I go straight from Diablo into sims and
        > strategy.  I
        > have heard of Chrono Trigger but never played it.
        > Have not played
        > Fable 2 but I think I might rent that and give it a go.
        >
        >
        >
        > I want to finish Mass Effect but havent had time
        > lately.  Dragon Age is
        > amazingly well done.  You just dont find good RPGs
        > very often this day
        > and age so dont miss that one if you enjoy story driven
        > games.  There
        > is a game for PS3, Demons Souls, thats supposed to be
        > great.  I have
        > not found the interest to turn that game back on tbh,
        > hehe.  But it is
        > said to be well done so I will finish in the future.
        >
        >
        >
        > For me, RPGs have to have a world worth exploring.  It
        > just has to,
        > thats sort of what the genre is about for me.
        > Uncovering the secrets
        > that make you the hero of the day, not just coming to the
        > rescue of
        > some besieged town or troubled family or whatever
        > else.  Its your
        > ability to get into the world and learn things for yourself
        > and bring
        > the baddies to their end.
        >
        >
        >
        > And yeah story has to be very compelling.
        >
        > On 2/23/2010 3:27 PM, Alan Wolfe wrote:
        > oh i also liked final fantasy 3, thought that
        > game had
        > great characters and TONS of places to explore and lots of
        > hidden stuff
        > which was really neat.
        >
        >
        >
        > Good storyline that kept you involved too.
        >
        >
        >
        > I liked chrono trigger too, for alot of the same reasons
        > but i think it
        > was a more light / cartoony game than ff3.
        >
        >
        >
        > breath of fire was pretty good but it was too complicated
        > for me or
        > something, i couldnt figure it out and so stopped half way
        > through.
        >
        >
        >
        > elder scrolls oblivion was kinda fun for a while but it was
        > almost too
        > open ended, like everything was so procedural there was no
        > "heart" to
        > any of it or something.  Especially since enemies were
        > always your
        > level, it seemed like leveling up didn't really matter,
        > nor did any of
        > the skills. It did have it's fun parts though.
        >
        >
        >
        > I havent played mass effect or dragon age hehe, i bet im
        > missing out :P
        >
        >
        >
        > </spamtastic>
        >
        >
        >
        >   On Tue, Feb 23, 2010 at 1:13 PM,
        > Alan Wolfe <alan.wolfe@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:alan.wolfe@xxxxxxxxx>>
        > wrote:
        >
        >   i
        > think an emersive story that keeps your interest is what i
        > look for
        > most in an RPG
        >
        >
        >
        > my fav game of recent times i think is fable2, although
        > there was a lot
        > of open endedness to it too besides a general storyline you
        > followed.
        >
        >
        >
        > i really liked the atmosphere of that game and i think when
        > people
        > really have a good vision and really enjoy the game they
        > are making
        > that it shines through.  especially in small details
        > that you don't
        > really *need* to do, but that you want to to make it
        > better.  hard to
        > explain what i mean but i think when developers are really
        > into the
        > game they are making that you can tell and it makes it a
        > lot better (:
        >
        >
        >
        > there was that movie not too long ago about the guy who
        > aged in
        > reverse.  In that movie this lady told him regarding
        > music: "it doesnt
        > matter what you play, but how you feel about it that makes
        > it sound
        > good or not".
        >
        >
        >
        > I think the same is true of any creative endeavor, and that
        > the best
        > games are those that you can tell the developers really
        > believed in (:
        >
        >
        >
        >
        >
        >     On Tue, Feb 23, 2010 at 12:54
        > PM, Hanaan <hanaan.fu@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:hanaan.fu@xxxxxxxxx>>
        > wrote:
        >
        >     Any
        > of you play Mass Effect or Dragon Age?  I have not
        > finished Mass Effect
        > but am enjoying.  Have finished DA a few times and I
        > can not stop
        > dissecting it in my mind.  Always asking myself what
        > makes this game
        > work so well as an RPG.  You guys always seem to be
        > talking about other
        > games and there seems interest in discussing game theory.
        >
        >
        >
        > what makes a good RPG work for you guys?
        >
        >
        >
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