I remember a day when old RPG games had either a level cap or a definite ending. From Pool of Radiance to Secrets of the Silver Blades to Final Fantasy the game had a final boss or stage and often had some type of level cap. Today, gamers don’t want it to end, they’d rather have the option to wonder around aimlessly or completing minor quests in order to soak up every ounce of money they spent on the title.
Now even Bethesda is saying “we’ve learned our lesson” from the whiplash of ending their game title and capping levels. Gamers want to go back and re-try content they missed, they want to run side quests and talk to everyone in the world they want to grind themselves to über powerful levels and become a god in their fantasy world. Can you blame them?
You can’t really blame them for wanting to maximize the content, although it’s slightly more evolved than RPG’s of old. Perhaps it was World of Warcraft and other MMORPG’s that brought us to the stage in life where we all want to squeeze every last RPG dime out of the title. As a kid I wondered the world of Hyrule and covered every tile of graphical color, burned every bush, bombed every stone looking for all the content. However, even Zelda had an end with scrolling credits – you didn’t just land on a platform with your master sword and a dream.
Other titles have used level caps to limit you and draw you into the next release of the game. This was popular in the D&D world because the game is designed to target specific levels of difficulty. They may only allow you to gain level 10 because the enemies are no tougher than level 13, allowing the challenge to be good but not overwhelming. If they allow you to get to level 50 they’d have to design the game so all the enemies grow powerful along with you — that’s not always a desired result.
Final Fantasy is a popular franchise that typically allows you to grow infinitely powerful depending on how much time you want to spend repeat killing the same enemies. Gamers aren’t always into the grind, they just want to grind “enough” to make the challenges a little more do-able.
Today, however, with larger storage capacity, larger development teams and the desire to build more value into your gameplay experience titles have dozens of side quests and sub-plots that are totally optional. The result of so many sub-quests results in a player who is much more powerful at the end of those quests compared to a player who sticks to the narrow path of the main plot. So, games much grow dynamically challenging to keep the fun per dollar high.
Do you like your RPG’s to have a definite end and a high but capped level?
@Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater.
Never played it as well.
@Microsoft unveils new tablet
The tablet is quite interesting. I like the cover/keyboard that transforms the tablet into a netbook.
Damn, I probably sound like a Microsoft fan, but if I’m to buy a tablet, I’d get this one.
@Rumor: Leaked doc claims 720 launches in 2013, 3D Kinect in 2014, OnLive acquisition
Dunno about 3D. Movies are nice in it, but I have doubts about games.
Last time I tried 3D gaming I didn’t like how characters were rendered: they looked like flat pieces of cardboard. Granted, they were placed at different depths, but they were still flat.
As for OnLive, why? They already have a network, they can expand that one for game streaming rather than buy an existing one.
@May 2012 US sales down 28% over last year despite Diablo III
Meh … Romania sales never left the underground levels, so …
@Australian gamers get adults-only R18+ classification
Yaaay!!! My friend will finally be able to get games without having to resort to having them shipped and whatnot.
:O Jordan … you don’t like the keyboard mouse combo?
Somebody challenge him on Quake 3 …
Alan, high five!
QOTW: where can I get some spare time? Hiring people to do my chores does not count 😛
Naah, no question this week.
@Microsoft unveils new tablet: Eh, not really interested for this, because I know for a fact that I will never need to use it. It still looks pretty cool though.
May 2012 US sales down 28% over last year despite Diablo III: Yeah, they always pull this “SALES ARE GOING DOWN OMG THE GAMING INDUSTRY IS FAILING”, and then a few months later sales go back up again and more records are broken.
Australian gamers get adults-only R18+ classification: Good for them, I hear they also have higher-priced games there, so at least they have one bad thing that is being amended.
@Jonah: What makes you so biased against Nintendo? I swear, I have never heard you say something good about them, at least not anytime I remember. I admit I am slightly biased against other companies, but you are way too pessimistic.
Gentelmen, I am dissapoint. I thought Christmas was specifically created for playing video games. Oh yeah, some bloke was born on that day too. But that was long ago… I had a tradition for the past 5 years to play an Elder Scrolls game around 1am on the 1st of Jan. A tribute to my favourite game franchise. I lie to myself that it brings me luck ( it doesn’t).
This weeks news seem to be rather dull to my taste. A high end gadget. Leaked secret documents. An ailing industry. And Australia. Would make for a nice James Bond movie setting. But boring otherwise.
@Jordan not liking mice
I hook up my PC to the telly and play using the Xbox 360 controller. I use gamepad mapper software. I recently played through the original Fallout using the pad. Works pretty fine, although it leaves you at a disadvantage in online competitive shooters.
This week I promise not to raise Nintendo’s Private Army. I already see Dynamic calling out Jonah. Brace yourself. Nintendo is on the offensive.
@QOTW
Have any of you ever had any weird traditions related to gaming?
@My belated E3 impressions
In a word: ‘Meh’. Microsoft, Sony and EA was all just more of the same, mostly. Nothing very exciting. Ubisoft had a decent showing, but not much that appeals to me personally.
Now Nintendo? They had an awful, awful conference. I mean, only showing launch window games? Come on, you have to show why we NEED to buy this system. To be fair, the launch line-up actually looks pretty decent with Pikmin, Mario Bros, Warioware, Platinum Games’ Project P-100, etc. But only 2 of those were shown at the conference and even then, where’s the 3D Mario? Where’s Metroid? Where’s Retro’s game? Where’s a new IP? They needed to show at least one or two BIG AAA games, but they held back. And that made their conference the most disappointing of all E3 conferences.
Also Jonah, the 3DS conference overall might have been awful, but Paper Mario made it all worthwhile! 😀
@Leaked Xbox 720 rumours
I guess I could see it as being plausible, but being from 2010, a lot of the Xbox 720 details were quite vague. So whether it’s real or not doesn’t make too much difference.
@May sales down
Yeah, this gen is really wearing out its welcome. E3 showed this, with mostly just more of the same, nothing surprising. Sales are just reflecting this. We need next gen now!
@Warren Spectors comments on ‘Ultra-violence’
I don’t see why his comments are so controversial. I agree with him. There’s so much violence for the sake of violence right now, it’s the cool thing to do. You gotta have the goriest combat, the over-the-top violence, because that grabs peoples attention. ‘Woah, he just tore that guys arm off and beat him with it! Look at all the spurting blood!’ It’s pointless, juvenile and makes me embarrassed as a gamer, and it’s another reason why E3 made me sigh this year.
@Jonah
Please make sure Dan is paying attention to the show this week, since God’s and Kings will probably be distracting him 😛
Distracting Dan? It’s distracting ME. 😀
This comment is for Jordan:
1) PC users CAN have controllers to use on PC game, not just with the USB but with the now obsolete serial ports. So you are not shackled to a keyboard, I also find the mouse to be far more accurate and responsive then a thumbstick or gamepad. I find for first person games the keyboard/mouse combo to be better and for third person (like Pyschonauts) the gamepad is easier.
2) You do not need to kill the drug lord in Heavy Rain, you can let the man live. The game is about the choices your character makes you have many paths to the end and multiple endings depending on what choices your character made. You can get all “hero’s” to the end or kill them off one by one until only the Villian is left.
I agree that Heavy Rain is a very dark game and is vastly underrated because people don’t have the patience to get through the beginning controls tutorial.