Where's the "Roleplaying" part of this game?

Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 4:13 am

So... where's the "Roleplaying" part of Skyrim? I'm not seeing it.

Seemingly eliminating attributes in favor of "do you want to increase Health, Stamina, or Magcicka", reducing the amount of skill, etc. all point to a lesser "stats" type roleplaying game. Which seems kind of silly considering 13+ million World of Warcraft players seem to like that stuff. But honestly stats were never my favorite part of roleplaying games.

But where's the npc interaction? The only thing we've heard about this is how conversations are handled is improved. I'd be the first to point out every open world game in the last 3 years has improved upon what Oblivion did in this regard. Even GTA4 had better npc interaction and more interesting morale choices to make. I'm not saying any one way to do this is the correct way, I'm just saying that even non roleplaying games have advanced to the point of having good npc interaction and I've yet to see Skyrim present much of any improvement.

The last thing I can think of is other ways of evolving your character besides stats. The character creator sounds better, but it doesn't sound as good as Eve's "Incarna" or the now defunct APB's character creator, or Fable's awesome way of letting you modify your character continuously over the course of the game.

So... in regard ot those three things I mentioned. How is Skyrim any better? Or forget that, how is it even competitive? Maybe they do have something planned, if so I'd like to see it as I'm not about to assume it's just going to be there.
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Noraima Vega
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 8:38 am

You should be able to plug in your microphone and sing to NPCs. If you are a good singer, they should love you. Otherwise, they should throw stuff into you.
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krystal sowten
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 2:59 am

Seems many people get confused if they see numbers, skills, and attributes. What they are forgetting is the numbers and category names are simply a very literal way of gauging abilities without resorting to some incredibly abstract visual system.

I would have liked it if there was "general" skill categories, (one handed, two handed) and each skill has a "sub-category" (sword, shield, spear, mace, axe, etc) as you raise any of the subcategories, the general skill gets raised, and all the sub categories get a minor bonus, but the particular subcategory you are training in is still raised the most. Simply getting rid of attributes is sort of dumb. I have the feeling it's going to be really easy to get good at everything. Role-Plying entails that you pick a role for your character and stick to it, you shouldn't be able to be good at everything.

I was a bit disappointed when I heard that the skill categories were further reduced. There's been less and less every TES game. I'm sure by TES 7 there'll be three skills that have everything crammed into them, and the game will essentially be an action game :( There should be focusing on streamlining these things, not outright removing them.
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Jessie
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 1:21 am

If you look at common aspects between roleplaying games it's pretty simple: statistics of some sort that determine the characters' skill and power, and "downtime" which allows you to talk to NPCs or buy things from a store. These two aspects are present in Ultima 1, and they're present in Skyrim. Both are RPGs, so quit your whining.

I'm talking about video games here, so don't harangue me on PnP stuff.
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Dezzeh
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 9:27 am

It's in the power of imagination! :thumbsup:
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Lyndsey Bird
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 8:00 am

You should be able to plug in your microphone and sing to NPCs. If you are a good singer, they should love you. Otherwise, they should throw stuff into you.

http://megatokyo.com/strip/21 That way you can actually feel like you're getting hit with a tomato :laugh:
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+++CAZZY
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 2:45 am

We don't know how they're handling the attributes yet even if there is a choice of increasing health,magicka, or stamina it doesn't mean that all of the other attributes were eliminated. The amounts of skills were reduced, yes.. but they're more fleshed out then they ever were in Oblivion or Morrowind by the addition of the perk trees, which is actually more like World of Warcraft, don't you agree? They have what about 10 classes and its which skill trees you choose that takes control over how you play. The only npc interaction in GTA4 was, should I: punch him in the face, shoot him with a gun, run him over, or let him live (yeah right)? Oblivion and Morrowind have much better interaction considering they have disposition towards you and speech was based on that. Also have we even heard anything about Skyrim's actual character creation?

edit: took out the quote
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katie TWAVA
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 7:45 am

I'd personally say: Wait until you play it.
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Tiffany Castillo
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 12:04 pm

Seems many people get confused if they see numbers, skills, and attributes. What they are forgetting is the numbers and category names are simply a very literal way of gauging abilities without resorting to some incredibly abstract visual system.

I would have liked it if there was "general" skill categories, (one handed, two handed) and each skill has a "sub-category" (sword, shield, spear, mace, axe, etc) as you raise any of the subcategories, the general skill gets raised, and all the sub categories get a minor bonus, but the particular subcategory you are training in is still raised the most. Simply getting rid of attributes is sort of dumb. I have the feeling it's going to be really easy to get good at everything. Role-Plying entails that you pick a role for your character and stick to it, you shouldn't be able to be good at everything.


This.

My first rpgs were on forums. No numbers, no stats, just moves mods aproved. Worked fine. However, a game like Skyrim needs numbers to show what a character can and can not do. I don't see how numbers make a game an rpg. No, they don't. Rpg's are games that let you make your own character in a gameworld, and play through how you want to play. No strings attached.
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Jessica Nash
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 1:06 pm

It's in the power of imagination! :thumbsup:


I couldn't agree more. This is what roleplaying is all about. The fact that Skyrim is sandbox already makes it perfect for roleplaying, the rest is up you YOU and what YOU decide to do with the game.
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Cheville Thompson
 
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Post » Fri Feb 18, 2011 11:55 pm

It's in the power of imagination! :thumbsup:

Pretty much this.
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ONLY ME!!!!
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 3:13 am

Role-Plying entails that you pick a role for your character and stick to it, you shouldn't be able to be good at everything.


If this is true, Oblivion must be the worst Role-playing game ever! You don't have to pick a single thing at all. You can easily become the best at every skill, and the leader of every faction, and do absolutely everything on one character.
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Steve Fallon
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 12:06 pm

Ahh, roleplaying. One of the most misunderstood words of the 21st century. So you are this guy, and you are pretending to live in his world, and you do things through him to people in his world. You can befriend or make enemies of nearly anyone. It just so happens that many games where you take the role of someone else use numbers to give a sense of progression. These skills usually signify attributes or skills.
Roleplaying is interacting in a world through the actions of someone else. At least that is what I think roleplaying is, but then you could say that is every game. So I guess roleplaying is having an avatar that progresses in the game and get stronger or smarter as he discovers his world.

Perks will fulfill that part of roleplaying quite well. Aren't there attributes too, and skills, that progress as you use them?

I thought Oblivion's interaction with NPC's was pretty good. I wasn't able to talk to everyone in that game either. I think interaction will be fine.
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Melanie Steinberg
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 7:16 am

It's in the power of imagination! :thumbsup:


winner


I wouldn't be worried if I were you.
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Syaza Ramali
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 11:08 am

dude...you comparing a game we barly know with full fledge games out and played a long time...give it a few months before we get to this okey.
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Sheila Esmailka
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 4:25 am

If this is true, Oblivion must be the worst Role-playing game ever! You don't have to pick a single thing at all. You can easily become the best at every skill, and the leader of every faction, and do absolutely everything on one character.


Actually yes, I hated that fact. Frankly I'm not sure if you're being sarcastic or not, because what you described in that post sounds incredibly inane. At least Morrowind gave you restrictions when it came to things like joining great houses, but even in that game it feels a bit to easy to be good at everything, then again that only really happens when you're at level 30+.

Its hard to feel like you're roleplaying if everybody in the game universe is completely inferior to you in every sense. I'm a fan of equal opportunities in these sorts of games, if you can become the leader of every faction in less than a week it's not only immersion breaking but it really feels like there nowhere to go but down.
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Naomi Lastname
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 9:31 am

It's in the power of imagination! :thumbsup:

nuf said :)

It's all in your heads mates!
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The Time Car
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 7:10 am

I couldn't agree more. This is what roleplaying is all about. The fact that Skyrim is sandbox already makes it perfect for roleplaying, the rest is up you YOU and what YOU decide to do with the game.


This......hmmmm....this......this! This!
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Ymani Hood
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 3:05 am

Actually yes, I hated that fact. Frankly I'm not sure if you're being sarcastic or not, because what you described in that post sounds incredibly inane. At least Morrowind gave you restrictions when it came to things like joining great houses, but even in that game it feels a bit to easy to be good at everything, then again that only really happens when you're at level 30+.

Its hard to feel like you're roleplaying if everybody in the game universe is completely inferior to you in every sense. I'm a fan of equal opportunities in these sorts of games, if you can become the leader of every faction in less than a week it's not only immersion breaking but it really feels like there nowhere to go but down.


I'm not challenging you or anything :P
I actually agree with what you mean. I just don't think that's ALL there is to roleplaying. I feel that Oblivion is one of the best modern games for roleplaying... I mean... it still has thousands of fans playing it daily, coming up with unique stories and characters and even family trees. As I said earlier, I believe it's all about imagination. And Oblivion gave the perfect blank canvas for creating many great roleplaying experiences.
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Latisha Fry
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 11:21 am

I'd personally say: Wait until you play it.


Seriously, or at least some game footage, or demonstration. I have no problem with how they've currently been describing the skill and perk system, to me it seems like a vast improvement over oblivion, and will increase my ability to role-play and build up a character within the world. Fable is very linear, and restrictive compared to the Elder Scrolls, you only get to choose what you wear, and if your going to be good, bad, or neutral. I wasn't building my own character, I was making minor quest and aesthetic decisions for a character and destiny basically predefined. Fable is a great game, but comparing it to The Elder Scrolls role play system is like comparing premature graqes to Watermelons. :frog:
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keri seymour
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 4:20 am

The RPG element has left when Todd got more influence on TES. I think now the "T" in TES stands for Todd.

But nonetheless, i think it will be a great first person action game with some rpg elements.
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Esther Fernandez
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 12:47 pm

I want moral choices, or at least choices in Skyrim. I'm not asking for epic cinematics, I'm only asking for a single coin... I mean some choices.

Kill or spare? Help person A or person B? I hope we can at least choose to join different Nord clans or something, like in Morrowind. To be able to join everything is pretty cool but, Dark Brotherhood leader, Thieves Guild leader, Mages Guild leader... really?
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{Richies Mommy}
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 9:06 am

Uuurrr.... How do you fail to see how Skyrim is going to improve NPC interactions..? We haven't been shown anything yet..?

Same for character creation...

And body/facial features morphing over time? Scars are in no? I don't see what else there is to morph except maybe hair color and skin texture if your character lives for hundreds of game years.
But leave horns and halos to Fable, the less influence Fable/Peter Molyneux has on this game however remotely the better.
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Natalie Taylor
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 7:20 am

I want moral choices, or at least choices in Skyrim. I'm not asking for epic cinematics, I'm only asking for a single coin... I mean some choices.

Kill or spare? Help person A or person B? I hope we can at least choose to join different Nord clans or something, like in Morrowind. To be able to join everything is pretty cool but, Dark Brotherhood leader, Thieves Guild leader, Mages Guild leader... really?


I think this was pretty much confirmed when clans were confirmed in one of the international magazines.
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Kevan Olson
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 1:13 pm

I'm not challenging you or anything :P
I actually agree with what you mean. I just don't think that's ALL there is to roleplaying. I feel that Oblivion is one of the best modern games for roleplaying... I mean... it still has thousands of fans playing it daily, coming up with unique stories and characters and even family trees. As I said earlier, I believe it's all about imagination. And Oblivion gave the perfect blank canvas for creating many great roleplaying experiences.


It's not all there is to roleplaying, but in the literal sense of the word, picking a role and playing the game utilizing the skills of said role is what I consider roleplaying.

You want to roleplay a thief? you pick attributes and skills that a thief would have, and you progress to become really good at something a thief would be good at. You want to roleplay a mage? You pick magic skills as your fundamentals and you use magic to manipulate the world around you.

If somebody wants to play a 'mixed" character with a little bit of everything from all spectrums, he should be at somewhat of a disadvantage, you shouldn't be able to be an ace swordsman who's a master of destruction and is as quite as a mouse when sneaking. In general the game really should funnel you down one general gameplay path, but in doing so it should give you many ways to play the game in such a fashion. When you've completed the game, you can create a new character and play it an entirely different way. That's what a roleplaying adventure game is to me. There's not much replay value if you can do everything with one character, is there? There needs to be character specialization, and int hat character spectrum there needs to be a lot of wiggle room to have fun with your given skillset.
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Hella Beast
 
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