Reavera
Recruit

My biggest complaint with open-ended RPGs is the lack of impact that your character seems to have on the world around him/her.
I loved morrowind for its endless array of options, but I felt utterly alone. I could not get past this, and was anable to play it for long before I got bored. I have not played mount&blade long enough to see any real impact on the world around my character. Please keep in mind that I am not just talking about having an impact on the story, as the story is focused and the impacts you have tend to be related to the main story path alone. I am talking about things like, your relationships with certain towns or areas, you relationship with certain characters, you relationship with traders in certain areas, even your relationship with your squad of men.
I want to talk a bit about ego. I think whenever a developer is making a game it is important for them to keep the players ego in mind. A developer would be hard pressed to make a game that did nothing but deflate the players ego. Alot of games deal with this by making the character more powerful than those around him, making him feel stronger and better. There is a since of satisfaction to be gained from this.
The best example I can think of, when in reference to another title, would be fable. I thought fable was an average game, but it did a satisfactory job of inflating your ego. The man behind this game, Peter ( don't ask me to pronounce his last name ), knew very well that games need to boost the ego of the people that would be playing them. He knew this fact so well that he initially called Fable, Project Ego.
I dont want to run around a world killing people aimlessly and leveling without end, or with end for that matter, just to see that I have no real impact. Finishing a story is great, but after that story is completed 1 - 3 times the replayability drops dramaticaly. If a main story element is there and is backed by a " player created story " then I beleive this can have a huge impact, not only on a players ego, but on replayability in general.
Although I have already given some examples for player impact on the environment, I will list a few others and games that I have seen implement them.
- Reaction to a characters stats, most Black Isle games
- Reaction to a players sex, again most black isle games
- Reaction to a players character class, cant think of any off the top of my head
- Reaction to a players actions, such as, killing a random group, making successful trades over a period of time, getting goods to a needy city. Many games have implemented these features.
- Reaction to a players good or evil deeds, again MANY, MANY games have done this well.
- Reaction to a players equipment, fable, darklands
- Reaction to a players social status, darklands
- Reaction to a players excessive trading, many games
- Reaction to a players military involvement, The space based X series
- I could keep listing but I think this is a good list of examples to start with.
I know the story has yet to be implemented, but a story alone does not garantee repalyability. I really dont want to go through a game story or no story when I have no impact except on the battles I choose to engage in.
Edit: I am including a short overview of examples that the developer can use for M&B
-Direct Ego Boosting Mechanics
*Fable
*Neverwinter Nights (overbearing in its implementation)
-Social Impact
*Elder Scrolls Series
-Economic Impact
*Can't think of any off the top of my head
-Social and Economic Impact
*Elite
*Patrician
*Port Royal
*Pirates!
*X series
I appriciate anyone who took the time to read this,
Reavera
I loved morrowind for its endless array of options, but I felt utterly alone. I could not get past this, and was anable to play it for long before I got bored. I have not played mount&blade long enough to see any real impact on the world around my character. Please keep in mind that I am not just talking about having an impact on the story, as the story is focused and the impacts you have tend to be related to the main story path alone. I am talking about things like, your relationships with certain towns or areas, you relationship with certain characters, you relationship with traders in certain areas, even your relationship with your squad of men.
I want to talk a bit about ego. I think whenever a developer is making a game it is important for them to keep the players ego in mind. A developer would be hard pressed to make a game that did nothing but deflate the players ego. Alot of games deal with this by making the character more powerful than those around him, making him feel stronger and better. There is a since of satisfaction to be gained from this.
The best example I can think of, when in reference to another title, would be fable. I thought fable was an average game, but it did a satisfactory job of inflating your ego. The man behind this game, Peter ( don't ask me to pronounce his last name ), knew very well that games need to boost the ego of the people that would be playing them. He knew this fact so well that he initially called Fable, Project Ego.
I dont want to run around a world killing people aimlessly and leveling without end, or with end for that matter, just to see that I have no real impact. Finishing a story is great, but after that story is completed 1 - 3 times the replayability drops dramaticaly. If a main story element is there and is backed by a " player created story " then I beleive this can have a huge impact, not only on a players ego, but on replayability in general.
Although I have already given some examples for player impact on the environment, I will list a few others and games that I have seen implement them.
- Reaction to a characters stats, most Black Isle games
- Reaction to a players sex, again most black isle games
- Reaction to a players character class, cant think of any off the top of my head
- Reaction to a players actions, such as, killing a random group, making successful trades over a period of time, getting goods to a needy city. Many games have implemented these features.
- Reaction to a players good or evil deeds, again MANY, MANY games have done this well.
- Reaction to a players equipment, fable, darklands
- Reaction to a players social status, darklands
- Reaction to a players excessive trading, many games
- Reaction to a players military involvement, The space based X series
- I could keep listing but I think this is a good list of examples to start with.
I know the story has yet to be implemented, but a story alone does not garantee repalyability. I really dont want to go through a game story or no story when I have no impact except on the battles I choose to engage in.
Edit: I am including a short overview of examples that the developer can use for M&B
-Direct Ego Boosting Mechanics
*Fable
*Neverwinter Nights (overbearing in its implementation)
-Social Impact
*Elder Scrolls Series
-Economic Impact
*Can't think of any off the top of my head
-Social and Economic Impact
*Elite
*Patrician
*Port Royal
*Pirates!
*X series
I appriciate anyone who took the time to read this,
Reavera