I would say it is safe to say, Tidus as they really owned gamesas in the end. So yes you are correct there. When Brian Fargo left cause of corruption of a company not knowing what it was doing, gamesas continued to fall. Brian and the rest of the team were about making games fun. They believed in making a game that well they themselves would play and this is why they had so many great sellers in the past because they believed in For Gamers By Gamers.
Gamers want diversity and sadly I see PC gaming taking the turn for the worst. It's mostly FPS. Even RPGs have some form of FPS some where. Folks have said that Isometric is dead, that side scrolling is dead, and the likes. But this is entirely not true. The problem is that the world of gaming has become about the looks. I'm sorry but my 82 s10 for instance looks like crap but she runs great! I know the comparison is of two worlds but the meaning at hand is still here. Its about game play over all.
When a developing team comes up with an idea of a fun game the first thing they do is get a general idea of how they want it to yes, look. But then they take the next step to find the best way to present it to work with their idea. Isometric for Fallout was far behind times folks have said. Well honestly its what was felt to best portray the game with the game play at hand. They wanted a paper and pen style RPG and that is what they created. And after all the critics that gnawed at the very paws of Fallout could see that it made RPG of the Year.
FPS has been around for a looooong time. Everyone wants the instant gratification of "Point, Shoot, Blood Chunks Everywhere" moment. But me I'm tired of being spoon fed. I want to break out and actually start using my head again. Do I shoot the guy and kill everyone or do I just say hey lets talk this out? But I will say that RPGs themselves especially MMO's (take notes Chris and the team
) have taken a long spiral down crapville.
I have beta tested and played many of MMORPGs starting back to 1999. That's roughly 2 years after the surface of Fallout RPG. MMOs at the time where great! You could play with so many people that you didn't even know and make a friend just by helping each other slay a dragon or bring a cyclops down and reap the rewards together. It was great because it was new. But years are showing age, gamers are becoming more drones than ever. World of Warcraft is a number 1 seller of all MMOs. Why? Well honestly I say it was because Warcraft already had such a great fan base. The name alone sold the MMO.
But its actually the same mechanics as every other MMO before it.
An expansion comes out and hmm they add a couple new classes, add a new map or two, WOW they totally reinvented the game!!! >.> Psht! I do understand the unfortunate reality that Gaming is yes, a market. But gamers to me now are looking more like sheep being satisfied with just a couple of yards instead of wanting the whole 10 miles! If you want an MMO to work. One thing is don't make it FPS unless that is the MMO you want. RPG then make it RPG.
Secondly (which I have no doubt in you guys) reinvent the MMO genre! Grinding is long well over rated these days. I don't feel that I should have to run 30 minutes around a map just to tell a guy, "yeah this other npc wanted me to tell you that a war is heading your way!" Then get even less rewarded for the time. Again I believe in yes a challenge but make it more imaginative then the simple running around all day. Fallout though a single player was perfect due to the fact that the grinding wasn't really grinding. If you wanted to help the farmer rid his place of raiders, BAM! you were taken there ready to start your tactics of how to go about it, same goes for the Radscorpion caves to name another.
Though this may seem impossible at one point the world needs to actually live and breath around the player. I love how you see a cute bunny frolicking around with a pack of wolves. I want to see nature taking place. See a wolf attack a deer every once in awhile for example. Maybe run into a war between NPCs which you can choose which side to take or just leave the fray. And most of all the world must change with players at some point. We need to see that changing the story's history (being provided by the story) that we see the change at some point.
And that's the greatest point to make for an MMO, story. I want to feel like I'm doing more than just going for that ever increasing level. I want to see a story that actually stays in line. That immerses me to continue on to help save the world or myself. Fallout did this very well story wise. Though yes its not an MMO but of course is the main inspiration for V13 I'm sure. You had the main story and you knew what you had to do and where to go but along the way you found others needing your help. This was woven so tightly into the game that it was enough to let you explore yet not take your eyes from the main objective in the end.
WoW I feel that I am doing nothing more but talking with friends to get nagged about having to reach level 70 so that we can run through BGs endlessly and retain strong armor and weaponry which pretty much is pointless because the story doesn't advance. I'm not sure if I even remember a story really being told other than everyone is at war period. Yes I know there are books that tell the story but I feel this should be included in the game ya know.
Okay I am done with my rampant rampage and I hope that you Chris and the rest of the guys take this to heart and do what you will.
I told the Overseer of Vault 13 I'd give everything to save everyone, and so I did, I saved them all. Since then I've felt loneliness.
» Sun Apr 19, 2009 7:13 pm 
