tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post6916126753887717304..comments2024-03-28T15:25:30.216-04:00Comments on The CRPG Addict: The Black Gate: The C.S.I. EffectCRPG Addicthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comBlogger208125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-85041321386889934822023-05-31T20:05:28.719-04:002023-05-31T20:05:28.719-04:00The contrary of course, is that if you don't l...The contrary of course, is that if you don't luck into a good build (say if you're drawn to a unique-to-the-setting tech tree like gunsmithing), the combat will still have the decency to be over with fast, but you will be dead at the end of it.<br /><br />RIP, my abandoned playthrough.asdasdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15459638043573476026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-27028839890244892262023-05-31T19:56:18.591-04:002023-05-31T19:56:18.591-04:00I actually thought this was one of Harland's m...I actually thought this was one of Harland's more innocuous rants and brought up a good point directly relevant to the discussion on city size/type/representation. Verisimilitude/realism and abstraction exist on a spectrum, neither is innately good or bad (although some have an innate preference towards one or the other). A system that only exists for its own sake can feel like a chore (if mandatory) or pointless (if not). But immersion is a quality that elevates an experience.<br /><br />The one that always got me was bullets and magazines, in FPS games. In (almost) all of these games, reloading refills your magazine, but only withdraws as many bullets as you were missing from a perfectly liquid pool of reserve ammo. But the reload animation shows you ejecting the magazine and replacing it with a fresh one - so you'd be throwing any unspent bullets away. <br /><br />As a kid I always assumed that this was caused by a limitation in technology. One day consoles and PCs would be so advanced that they could realistically track your ammunition situation! It was only later I realised that this gameplay abstraction was retained because magazine management would simply be too inconvenient and joy-sapping for a pursuit of realism to be desirable.asdasdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15459638043573476026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-86739834531764035342022-06-03T20:07:56.291-04:002022-06-03T20:07:56.291-04:00I could never get engaged in Arcanum solely becaus...I could never get engaged in Arcanum solely because of the combat. I think I played it right after Fallout 2 and couldn’t deal with his broken the system was, comparatively. Interestingly, I sat through worse combat in U6, U7, U8, and even U9 all the way to the end, except for U9 which repeatedly crashed for me at Valoria and I could never get past that bug. Guess this shows how investment in a narrative outweighs clunky interfaces.Miguel Indurainnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-71121737690186710252022-06-03T19:59:11.643-04:002022-06-03T19:59:11.643-04:00Been reading this blog for years and just reached ...Been reading this blog for years and just reached U7 today. I never once felt compelled to post until I saw the mention of The Land and the Covenant novels. I read the first set when an early teen and I can safely say they are what got me hooked on fantasy and into the world of CRPGs and adventure games. I understand certain people find “Lord Foul’s Bane” distasteful because of THAT scene, which I can imagine may have rubbed our addict the wrong way also, but curious as to how much of a following the series still has amongst this community. Any thoughts?Miguel Indurainnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-85654034055805987482021-08-19T08:47:50.075-04:002021-08-19T08:47:50.075-04:00Personally, I prefer highly abstract menu-towns. M...Personally, I prefer highly abstract menu-towns. Menu towns have the following advantages for me:<br /><br />1.Easier for me to get immersed. They're so abstract and minimal that I don't have the computer telling me "no seriously there's only ten people here." My mind is free to imagine a bustling castle chock full of people walking the muddy streets, street vendors hawking their wares, farmers bringing their produce to market and giving various scarred and heavily armed adventurers wide berths. <br /><br />2. They're so fast! I honestly can't play Infinity Engine games (or 99% of modern RPG's) anymore because watching your characters slooooooowly walk from the inn at one end of the map to the armory (or plot point) at the other is such a GIANT waste of my time. Made worse when the characters inevitable get stuck in a corner and you have to drag them out of it. No, not even Pillars of Eternity's fast run feature is fast enough. The town is interesting the first time you go through it. After that, give me a menu that I can navigate at the speed of fingers. Or just give me a menu.<br /><br />Now, I'm ok with large cities when they're actually dungeons (like in Wizardry 7. Wizardry 8 is just enough dungeon to be acceptable). But that's because they're *dungeons*. They have monsters in them, and once you know where everything is, it's very quick to navigate.<br /><br />On a related note, it's been very interesting reading about the Ultima series! Definitely doesn't look like my cup of tea, but it's fun to learn more about a Big Classic series that I haven't played.archolewahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01460651249321940259noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-58894979341774035192020-06-16T14:47:41.341-04:002020-06-16T14:47:41.341-04:00This was the first I'd heard of it. I'm no...This was the first I'd heard of it. I'm not sure why I'd ruin the game for myself that way, though. Maybe just to screw around on a replay.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-48106642165076129752020-06-16T04:22:04.972-04:002020-06-16T04:22:04.972-04:00Pretty much everybody knows about that cheat room....Pretty much everybody knows about that cheat room.Gnomanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13920812227941556716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-34438815354424586642020-04-15T15:04:40.918-04:002020-04-15T15:04:40.918-04:00This, so much. Sometimes sharing a hobby is just t...This, so much. Sometimes sharing a hobby is just the best. Peter Davieshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13750072474903462692noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-91123532394810661852020-04-07T18:23:55.415-04:002020-04-07T18:23:55.415-04:00One of my favourite RPGs and the pinnacle of the U...One of my favourite RPGs and the pinnacle of the Ultima series. The combat is kinda hot garbarge but otherwise i love the more mature storyline, every NPC being unique (expect guards... they are bred from the same clone) and no more transitional screens. Everyhing is represented in the world and you can enter caves, cities... anywhere without loading into a new location. Sadly it's all downhill for Ultima from here.<br /><br />Each of the male portraits actually represent the Avatar portrayed on the boxes of Ultima 4, 5 and 6 :)<br /><br />At anyrate, i was excited when i saw U7 coming up on your list!ActionVestAdventurehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09257307189235621679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-55761093686005552242020-04-04T11:03:18.265-04:002020-04-04T11:03:18.265-04:00I am glad you are playing this game, as I've n...I am glad you are playing this game, as I've never managed or had the patience. While I enjoy the trappings of the more modern graphics/sound/music that Ultima VII presents, every time I attempt a playthrough I find myself playing Ultima V instead.bombatombahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11845139303607587431noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-32897833828735812492020-04-03T01:38:44.200-04:002020-04-03T01:38:44.200-04:00Yes. I find it interferes with the background and ...Yes. I find it interferes with the background and ambient sounds, which I enjoy so much more.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-6444990441428596262020-04-02T21:09:52.154-04:002020-04-02T21:09:52.154-04:00I think this post and replies to it made me realiz...I think this post and replies to it made me realize even more why I love this community. It really feels like a big RPG addicted family where uncle pete is going on an big angry rant about grandpa and everyone is like "uncle pete, be quiet!" but with love. And even hugs.gamerindreamsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-87935130785907570072020-04-02T05:54:10.995-04:002020-04-02T05:54:10.995-04:00I can understand your preference of ambient sound ...I can understand your preference of ambient sound effects over any kind of music. I just wonder when you play modern RPGs (like Skyrim etc.) on your couch with your console, do you still turn off the music there as well?Nestnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-29982469299463030412020-04-02T03:10:29.597-04:002020-04-02T03:10:29.597-04:00That's a relatively new approach, not getting ...That's a relatively new approach, not getting used much until the late 90s for the very good reason that it takes a lot of system resources to do it well. Most older jRPG towns are of the "7 houses, 4 shops, a temple and and inn" variety.<br /><br />That ties into the notion of layers of abstraction that the Addict discusses in the post. THe more immersive the game, the more microtowns stand out. <br /><br />When you're popping out to a world map, it doesn't seem so bad to go three tiles from the town to the dungeon, because that's an abstract distance. When the smallest hamlet takes up the same one tile space on the world map that the largest metropolis does, or even when the larger cities take up two or three tiles, you can abstract away the notion that you only see a few buildings because those are the important ones that have relevance to your quest.<br /><br />When you're set to one scale, and encounter monster-filled dungeons five minutes away from the Imperial Capital, that's a lot harder to rationalize away, even if you mentally note the accelerated day/night cycle and translate the 5 minutes to "really" being 50 minutes. <br /><br />When every mundane aspect of daily life is modeled in a way that has nothing to do with the player, and city size is modeled by one actually being physically larger (but not anywhere close to large enough), it becomes harder to pretend that you're only seeing the people relevant to your quest.Gnomanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13920812227941556716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-61417858375437861092020-04-01T23:39:21.600-04:002020-04-01T23:39:21.600-04:00I'm not an MMO fan, but I was tempted when I h...I'm not an MMO fan, but I was tempted when I heard that they added Morrowind a while back. It's apparently pretty faithful to the game in terms of visuals and lore (ESO is set in the distant past, I believe).<br /><br />I replayed the game a while back, and although I still very much enjoy the gameplay and art direction, the game really wears its procedurally-generated nature on its sleeve in a way that Oblivion and Skyrim do not. Especially with the dialogue system -- I love how much text they were able to include without voice acting, but it's a little odd that every Dunmer in the world can barf out the same dozen paragraphs on various topics. Vivec, as cool as it is, also starts to feel a bit cookie-cutter between cantons if you spend a lot of time there (doing Morag Tong quests, for instance).stepped pyramidsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-27151562710445117172020-04-01T23:23:21.297-04:002020-04-01T23:23:21.297-04:00A friend of mine and I worked up a treatment for a...A friend of mine and I worked up a treatment for a fan remake of Ultima VII called "Lord British Must Die", based on our observation that he is an absolutely awful king. He has an excuse for needing the Avatar to defeat the Guardian, sure, but does he have an excuse for not knowing who's in his castle dungeons? He doesn't even have to walk outside his castle to find problems. Has he even bothered to crack open the main publication of the massive religio-political movement that's been sweeping his kingdom?<br /><br />And that's saying nothing of Cove or Paws, both of which are less than a day's travel from his castle. Does he have any idea what's going on in those places? His privy council seems to know, but they don't seem particularly motivated to do anything about it.<br /><br />Long story short, the people of Serpent Isle may be a bunch of self-centered jerks, but they were right about Beast British.stepped pyramidsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-51340558943942966802020-04-01T22:14:17.061-04:002020-04-01T22:14:17.061-04:00The approach I see mostly in Japanese RPGs is that...The approach I see mostly in Japanese RPGs is that towns are usually shown to be a mere representation of their actual size because you can clearly see the city continues beyond what you can explore. Those games usually stars characters instead of avatars (pun intended) so it's easy for me to interpret this as the characters choosing not to go too far off from the important places (marketplace) in every town due to time constraints.<br /><br />Sometimes I do sigh at not being able to approach a place that looks neat or not having a bigger area to explore.Mopey blokehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15676995334416896716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-6753315488971929692020-04-01T16:20:52.379-04:002020-04-01T16:20:52.379-04:00It's funny how the small locations didn't ...It's funny how the small locations didn't bother me in this series when they bother me so much more in modern games. I think the solution in just time and a combination of different approaches. For instance you could have a population like in a GTA game and interact with the characters on a basic level (trade, directions, offer employment, rob them, whatever) while still having complex characters intermingled with them. As for every interior being explorable, I think it's just a matter of some clever procedural generation. It's certainly possible and we see it even now in games being developed like Project Zomboid. Advances in AI should also be able to help with more realistic feeling procedural generation over the next decade. Gabe Newell from Valve just gave an interview somewhere on that very topic, but I can't remember where I saw it. I went back and played Ultima 7 a few years back and didn't enjoy it nearly as much as I remembered and even with the GOG version I eventually gave up because I encountered a game breaking bug in Minoc, so be aware of that. I can't remember the specifics, but I believe someone wouldn't talk to me making it impossible to advance in the story.Loveblankethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04045420258404373634noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-49275917948969827852020-04-01T11:38:30.277-04:002020-04-01T11:38:30.277-04:00was it the buttler in the library, and he would ha...was it the buttler in the library, and he would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for you damned kids.stmpnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-74647113055773583632020-04-01T02:51:21.959-04:002020-04-01T02:51:21.959-04:00Not exactly happy, no, but as Part One of a larger...Not exactly happy, no, but as Part One of a larger story, I thought it was passable, if not very memorable. I remember characters like Radzig, István Tóth, the engineer guy played by Brian Blessed, Hans Capon and their stories, but I've forgotten most of the main plot.<br /><br />Now, if the sequel(s) don't materialize, that would indeed infuriate me. Or worse, if the suits in charge ever get the "brilliant" idea of turning it into a MMO, like Knights of the Old Republic.Zardashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11856007425128087340noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-78690389292719900082020-04-01T00:10:47.792-04:002020-04-01T00:10:47.792-04:00Don't you dare take my lockdown away! It's...Don't you dare take my lockdown away! It's been the most mentally and emotionally freeing experience I've had in over a decade. We should have one every year.Nathan P. Mahneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01184246437497081701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-78231646159083908142020-03-31T21:45:35.508-04:002020-03-31T21:45:35.508-04:00Think about this: even if you're probably righ...Think about this: even if you're probably right, it's still worth a shot. We can let it rip after if we have to.Gerry Quinnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04078394659680797175noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-17139168268028116622020-03-31T18:36:11.209-04:002020-03-31T18:36:11.209-04:00I'm with JarlFrank on this. Morrowind was a w...I'm with JarlFrank on this. Morrowind was a world, and Oblivion took a lot away. It had some virtues, and honestly it *looked* great in terms of grass detail etc. But you could never get lost there (and not just because you could always see the City).Gerry Quinnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04078394659680797175noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-7432658433204866042020-03-31T18:24:50.399-04:002020-03-31T18:24:50.399-04:00Never heard of Enderal, but it looks pretty good. ...Never heard of Enderal, but it looks pretty good. Downloading now. Though I got an RPG 'Fell Seal' with Humble Choice this month that I'm liking, so that will be first.Gerry Quinnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04078394659680797175noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-36880326371805985802020-03-31T18:13:42.935-04:002020-03-31T18:13:42.935-04:00Or Narnia.Or Narnia.Gerry Quinnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04078394659680797175noreply@blogger.com