CDProject Devs comment on "dumbing down" RPGs and Co

Post » Thu Sep 16, 2010 12:34 am

I just might have to get a gaming rig to play the Witcher 2 and having the byproduct benefit of Skyrim on a PC as well just because of this review..

"If there’s one aspect of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings that’s worth singling out, it’s the fact that it’s not afraid to punish you when you make a mistake. This fact, more than the gorgeous graphics, the stellar script or the incredible depth that’s been built on and around Andrzej Sapkowski’s lore, is what defines The Witcher 2.

This quick-to-punish ethic isn’t a bad feature either, although we predict that most reviewers will downplay its significance with a meaningless ‘old-school RPG’ label. The Witcher 2 is anything but old-school; rather, it presents a hopeful future for the RPG genre based on respecting and challenging players in equal measure."

Show me an 'old school RPG' with bells and whistles, and I'll show you a happy customer.
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Lily Evans
 
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Post » Wed Sep 15, 2010 12:27 pm

Yes Bear Witcher 1 had its issues, and those were addressed will witcher 2 be sixy indefinently? it just came out, unsure, but im loving it so far.

Two worlds svcked from day one....honestly and TW2..not much going there either.


Bethesda has no excuse, because unlike witcher and Two worlds each game was vastly different from each other, Daggerfall plays differently from Morrowind Plays differently from Oblivion will Play differently from Skyrim.

So...lets see.


Combat is as legit as any other category in a game. Also how do you know their center focus is combat?


"Combats more Visceral quick and violent"

"the trailer showing mostly combat"

"emphasis on dual wielding and only mentioning of perks were combat perks"

Combat has been touted harder than any other feature for skyrim thus far lol
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Sarah Edmunds
 
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Post » Wed Sep 15, 2010 1:50 pm

What a joke.
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Emily Martell
 
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Post » Wed Sep 15, 2010 7:53 pm

I hope the rpg mechanics are not lowered, all while adding better combat.

Who wouldn't want that?^
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Robert Devlin
 
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Post » Wed Sep 15, 2010 1:23 pm



Combat has been touted harder than any other feature for skyrim thus far lol


I dunno we've heard alot about Town Economy and the whole Radiant Quest/Story/NPC system's, both which seem above Oblivion.
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Angelina Mayo
 
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Post » Wed Sep 15, 2010 6:50 pm

I dunno we've heard alot about Town Economy and the whole Radiant Quest/Story/NPC system's, both which seem above Oblivion.

If you were to make a poll on what changes do people hear the most from Bethesda, Combat will probably riegn majority.
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Robyn Howlett
 
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Post » Wed Sep 15, 2010 7:04 pm

If you were to make a poll on what changes do people hear the most from Bethesda, Combat will probably riegn majority.


doesn't mean the RP was improved in the game.
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Sarah Kim
 
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Post » Wed Sep 15, 2010 9:51 pm

I hope the rpg mechanics are not lowered, all while adding better combat.

Who wouldn't want that?^


I really miss turn-based combat systems. Everything's being made "action" these days. :sadvaultboy:
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Sakura Haruno
 
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Post » Wed Sep 15, 2010 10:09 am

What bothers me, is that RPG's these days aren't deep enough, and are too 'accessible'. I want an RPG that takes me a while to figure out, with great depth to it.

Morrowind is my favourite game, because it's the truest open-world game I've ever found, and it combined that with being the best RPG I've ever found. Oblivion lost some of the open-world aspects Morrowind had, but it was still an amazing RPG. I'm confident Bethesda is doing well with Skyrim, but the direction Oblivion was heading from Morrowind isn't encouraging. It's like Bethesda is trying to appeal to more people, not just hard-core TES/RPG addicts, like they want to make 'money' or something. :P
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Krystina Proietti
 
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Post » Thu Sep 16, 2010 12:58 am

Witcher 2 is disappointing been playing it for 8 hours now, the graphics got dull, the terrible performance issues, long loading times (which there are many off so the devs bragging was complete lies) and so many bad design choices and I mean come on you can't even configure the controls, it doesn't have a good story like they were bragging about, combat system is simple ugggg
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Rach B
 
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Post » Wed Sep 15, 2010 3:48 pm

I don't see any reference in those quotes to the sort of "dumbing down" people criticize. It has little if anything to do with the difficulty of the combat. What matters is EVERYTHING about the game - not just the combat.

Are there fewer choices? Are there fewer consequences to those choices? Are there fewer skills? Are there fewer limitations on what a character can do? Are there fewer obstacles to overcome? Is the world smaller? Is it less complex? Is it easier to figure out where to go next and what to do next? Is it less likely that you're going to simply fail?

Those (and, I'm sure, many others I've failed to mention) are the sorts of things that people are talking about when they complain about games being "dumbed down."


I just might have to get a gaming rig to play the Witcher 2 and having the byproduct benefit of Skyrim on a PC as well just because of this review..

"If there’s one aspect of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings that’s worth singling out, it’s the fact that it’s not afraid to punish you when you make a mistake. This fact, more than the gorgeous graphics, the stellar script or the incredible depth that’s been built on and around Andrzej Sapkowski’s lore, is what defines The Witcher 2.

This quick-to-punish ethic isn’t a bad feature either, although we predict that most reviewers will downplay its significance with a meaningless ‘old-school RPG’ label. The Witcher 2 is anything but old-school; rather, it presents a hopeful future for the RPG genre based on respecting and challenging players in equal measure."

Show me an 'old school RPG' with bells and whistles, and I'll show you a happy customer.

Dayum..... that sounds exactly up my alley. And I think my current rig might just barely run it...... Though I did want to upgrade soon anyway, so.......
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Adam Kriner
 
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Post » Wed Sep 15, 2010 11:48 pm

If you were to make a poll on what changes do people hear the most from Bethesda, Combat will probably riegn majority.

Just like improved combat being high in majority of polls. Also I haven't seen enough combat really while I heard more about story, more than I needed. The whole hype started with lore and story.
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Josh Trembly
 
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Post » Wed Sep 15, 2010 3:05 pm

"`"

tgm

God Mode Enabled

:rofl:

but seriously, I like it when a game is challenging, but there is a difference from that and frustrating. But if all else, I probably take it slow.

It's nighttime so I made no sense tbh lol
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Phoenix Draven
 
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Post » Wed Sep 15, 2010 2:10 pm

What exactly is he getting at?
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Jessica Phoenix
 
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Post » Wed Sep 15, 2010 8:30 pm

Just like improved combat being high in majority of polls. Also I haven't seen enough combat really while I heard more about story, more than I needed. The whole hype started with lore and story.

Your avatar is amazing. Also I agree too many easy games these days, no challenge in them. I don't care if there's some [censored] sheep out there who like things calm, easy, and a relaxing fun experience. I want something to test me in a game. It happens to be a small market with two very radically different types of people. I can't believe I used to play on easy, it boggles my mind. Then a chat with a friend I haven't seen in a long time totally flip flopped my perceptions of what it means to play a game.
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Sammykins
 
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Post » Thu Sep 16, 2010 1:14 am

Game difficulty isn't the main issue that bothers me when it comes to the so-called dumbing-down of RPGs.

What bothers me more is a lack of content, depth, and freedom to go where you want, do what you want, and be who you want.

In general, making an RPG "more accessible", "simpler" or "more appealing to mainstream action game fans" are three things I don't want to hear.


My problem with RPG's is that too often they don't have enough realistic content. That and a lack of freedom.

Otherwise, my biggest issue with RPG's is them being unrealistic, and by that, I mean exactly what Skyrim is removing: Classes. I'm not born knowing that I'm a hunter, or priest, or battlemage; if I want to do any of those things, I learn them. I don't think that RPG's should put players in a box and say "you can be this, this, or make up your own thing" rather, I think they should be "you start with x stats at x level and then depending on your choices you can learn to be x thing, spend enough time learning y thing and then you can learn to be x and y." Rather than "You pick x or y and can never learn the one you don't pick."

I also dislike perk systems in RPG's, as they too are unrealistic and quite frankly don't make any form of sense in games. In Skyrim they sort of do, since they could be considered "blessings" from the Gods, but in games like Fallout they make no sense what-so-ever.

Basically, I think that RPG's should be less pen and paper and more "role play" than they are now. Sure, keep the stats, I like them in fact, but don't confine me to certain things. Real life is a sandbox game, and I believe that RPG's should be too.
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Victor Oropeza
 
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Post » Thu Sep 16, 2010 3:51 am

Meh, don't really care as long as a game is fun.

True. At the same time, I don't play a roleplaying game in the hopes that my Mass Effects now feel like Gears of War, or my Dragon Ages now feel like God of War. If you can't tell, I am not the biggest fan of Bioware at the moment.
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Cayal
 
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Post » Wed Sep 15, 2010 7:30 pm

double post
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Robert DeLarosa
 
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Post » Wed Sep 15, 2010 4:19 pm

What bothers me, is that RPG's these days aren't deep enough, and are too 'accessible'. I want an RPG that takes me a while to figure out, with great depth to it.

Morrowind is my favourite game, because it's the truest open-world game I've ever found, and it combined that with being the best RPG I've ever found. Oblivion lost some of the open-world aspects Morrowind had, but it was still an amazing RPG. I'm confident Bethesda is doing well with Skyrim, but the direction Oblivion was heading from Morrowind isn't encouraging. It's like Bethesda is trying to appeal to more people, not just hard-core TES/RPG addicts, like they want to make 'money' or something. :P

I find it hilarious that Morrowind fans who didn't like Oblivion as much tout themselves as being true Elder Scrolls fans without having the slightest clue that Morrowind (the THIRD Elder Scrolls game) is practically a complete off-shoot and spin-off in comparison to the first two Elder Scrolls games. Of the two, Oblivion is actually closer to the original Elder Scrolls game. Hell, Oblivion is practically an homage to Arena... but it's still also very different from the first two because it's so similar to Morrowind. Oblivion is, in many ways, what would happen if you cross the spirits of Arena and Daggerfall with the design of Morrowind, with a few tweaks of its own. I appreciate the light-hearted tone of your post and am not directing my post towards you, but a point in your post merely reminded me of this and so I had to bring it up. I don't know what some people experienced, but Morrowind is not a difficult to get into... not by any means. Difficult is Arena or, in my opinion and to lesser degree, Daggerfall. Morrowind is a product of modern gaming. It's design and the mindset the devs seemed to have in development of it is a very modern one. Bethesda's old-school days are nearly unrecognizable to those familiar only to Morrowind and above.
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JaNnatul Naimah
 
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Post » Thu Sep 16, 2010 2:09 am

Combat has been touted harder than any other feature for skyrim thus far lol


because combat has always been arguably the most important thing in an Elder Scrolls game. Arena, Daggerfall, Morrowind, and Oblivion are pretty much just dungeon crawlers. 90% of the quests involve going into a dungeon somewhere and killing at least one thing, or looking for a thing while having to kill other things in order to find it. whether you're doing it through archery or stabbing or fireballs you're still killing a thing.

i don't get where people got this idea that combat was ever not in the spotlight. even everyone who for whatever reason praises Morrowind as this pinnacle of RPGs - you can't talk Dagoth Ur to death. you straight up have to fight him. they might as well make the act of fighting him feel good and responsive and not artificially limited by a bunch of skill-/stat-based abstraction that's literally impossible to portray from a first-person perspective.

also you can't go BETHESDA'S DUMBING THE GAME DOWN IT'S JUST AN ACTION GAME NOW when they're adding COMPLETELY USELESS THINGS like the ability to [censored] CHOP WOOD and COOK.
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DAVId Bryant
 
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Post » Wed Sep 15, 2010 2:58 pm

because combat has always been arguably the most important thing in an Elder Scrolls game. Arena, Daggerfall, Morrowind, and Oblivion are pretty much just dungeon crawlers. 90% of the quests involve going into a dungeon somewhere and killing at least one thing, or looking for a thing while having to kill other things in order to find it. whether you're doing it through archery or stabbing or fireballs you're still killing a thing.

i don't get where people got this idea that combat was ever not in the spotlight. even everyone who for whatever reason praises Morrowind as this pinnacle of RPGs - you can't talk Dagoth Ur to death. you straight up have to fight him. they might as well make the act of fighting him feel good and responsive and not artificially limited by a bunch of skill-/stat-based abstraction that's literally impossible to portray from a first-person perspective.

Thank you. Thank you for speaking the truth. When we play these games, we kill things. Stereotypical western fantasy and western fantasy RPGs are practically about dungeon-crawling, monster-killing, loot-collecting, dragon-slaying, etc. They're not talking simulators. Civilization, The Sims, flight simulators, racing games... these are games that don't prominently feature combat. Elder Scrolls games are violent. They're dungeon-crawlers and real-time action-RPGs, not diplomatic simulators or turn-based strategy games, yet people seem to conveniently forget that the majority of gameplay comes from killing. Character skills are there for the purpose of killing. Swords, armor, spells, and enemies in practically every environment outside of storage areas and shops are for killing. Quests involve killing. The main goal is to kill, and so I'm baffled by the lack of acknowledgement of in-game combat.
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Britta Gronkowski
 
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Post » Thu Sep 16, 2010 12:04 am

Does it have to? I just wanted to talk about combat.


If you're talking about the whole attribute thing, I dont' consider it a dumb down since they replaced it with 18 perk trees, not just removed.


the problem with that line of thinking is, why couldn't they have ADDED the Perk system to go alongside? I mean, doesn't make sense to remove a system that the majority of TES fans have always enjoyed/liked. Not a single reason to do it other then to "simplify" and "Reach other target audiences".
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AnDres MeZa
 
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Post » Wed Sep 15, 2010 7:35 pm

Whatever it is, it didn't look very attractive at all. But then, I've never really felt any desire to play those 3rd-person action-boss-fight games (DMC, Bayonetta, God of War, etc.)

It's a dungeon crawl hack&slash RPG. The Witcher 2 is a story-based hack&slash RPG. TES is a series of open world hack&slash RPGs. It's a broad genre. ^_^
the problem with that line of thinking is, why couldn't they have ADDED the Perk system to go alongside? I mean, doesn't make sense to remove a system that the majority of TES fans have always enjoyed/liked. Not a single reason to do it other then to "simplify" and "Reach other target audiences".

It's just different. Remember what bonus abilities you got when you reached the different levels in skills in Oblivion? Now you have several perks you can choose at various skill percentages. It's a different way to express the same things. That's how RPGs always have been - different systems to express various situations.
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Tom
 
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Post » Thu Sep 16, 2010 2:02 am

Witcher 2 is disappointing been playing it for 8 hours now, the graphics got dull, the terrible performance issues, long loading times (which there are many off so the devs bragging was complete lies) and so many bad design choices and I mean come on you can't even configure the controls, it doesn't have a good story like they were bragging about, combat system is simple ugggg

Long loading times? What? The only time the game loads is when entering/exiting buildings (about 1 second of loading) and between some long scenes (a few seconds), and of course when you load a saved game (5 seconds at max). Traversing the environment is pretty seamless.

http://i.imgur.com/eyQ5K.jpg
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helen buchan
 
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Post » Thu Sep 16, 2010 2:11 am

Long loading times? What? The only time the game loads is when entering/exiting buildings (about 1 second of loading) and between some long scenes (a few seconds), and of course when you load a saved game (5 seconds at max). Traversing the environment is pretty seamless.

http://i.imgur.com/eyQ5K.jpg

This is just me, but I was under the impression that PCs vary... wildly, therefore he/she may very well be having some technical problems.
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rheanna bruining
 
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