Paradox Interactive RPG Survey

[Latelistener]

I wish it was a PC RPG. I don't even remember when was the last time I played high budget PC-exclusive RPG (Bloodlines? Mask of the Betrayer?). Even if it will be ported to consoles, I'm okay with that, but PC should be the primary platform.
Obsidian has higher chances of delivering better experience than anyone else. Paradox definitely won't be able to pull this off on their own.

 

[Mortmal]

Last time I filled out a Paradox survey and they asked me what I would like to see of them next, I wrote I'd like some grand strategy in space and/or some kind of Master of Orion. A little later we got Stellaris.

What should I wish for this time? It is pretty clear that I've got the magic touch and what I ask of them becomes reality.

Ask for a feature complete game , not a dumbed down mainstream DLC skeleton.

 

[Thonius]

My top preferences for a new masquerade game would be:

1. First person
2. Real time combat
3. Single protagonist instead of party
4. Open world
5. Hardcore survival mechanics, including sunlight, hunger, hunting, etc

Don't forget crafting, mining, base building, romances and integration with facebook.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

My top preferences for a new masquerade game would be:

1. First person
2. Real time combat
3. Single protagonist instead of party
4. Open world
5. Hardcore survival mechanics, including sunlight, hunger, hunting, etc

Don't forget crafting, mining, base building, romances and integration with facebook.

Joking aside, a very light weight metagame might make sense in terms of accumulating influence / power as a ventrue or something like that. Having the sewer network change up the game as a nosferatu is a neat idea in VtmB, and if clans or bloodlines could feel a little more unique beyond combat changes that would be cool.

 

[Glop_dweller]

Myself, I'd be more interested in a Vampire:Redemption style game using Unreal 4, over a Bloodlines (presumably FPS) style franken-shooter; though I can understand that the majority [of the minority] interested in the Vampire IP will want PC substitution gameplay over RPG mechanics... IE. A game like Skyrim that encourages one to pretend at being a vampire...personally, or at the very least (least being unintuitively better), like Dishonored.

 

[ArchAngel]

Myself, I'd be more interested in a Vampire:Redemption style game using Unreal 4, over a Bloodlines (presumably FPS) style franken-shooter; though I can understand that the majority [of the minority] interested in the Vampire IP will want PC substitution gameplay over RPG mechanics... IE. A game like Skyrim that encourages one to pretend at being a vampire...personally, or at the very least (least being unintuitively better), like Dishonored.

Nobody here wants a game like Skyrim. Bloodlines is nothing like Skyrim. It is as much Skyrim as it is Doom.

 

[Glop_dweller]

Nobody here wants a game like Skyrim. Bloodlines is nothing like Skyrim. It is as much Skyrim as it is Doom.

Nobody here is who they [the industry] care about. I mentioned the majority [cash-crop] for whom all major studios tailor their products; sadly. It's business sense; if you are in it for the money, you make Transformer films, not Laurence of Arabia.

 

[Coma White]

It's business sense; if you are in it for the money, you make Transformer films, not Laurence of Arabia.

Actually Lawrence of Arabia grossed a total of ~70 million USD at the box office, which is pretty fucking profitable for 1962.

 

[Latelistener]

Myself, I'd be more interested in a Vampire:Redemption style game using Unreal 4, over a Bloodlines (presumably FPS) style franken-shooter; though I can understand that the majority [of the minority] interested in the Vampire IP will want PC substitution gameplay over RPG mechanics... IE. A game like Skyrim that encourages one to pretend at being a vampire...personally, or at the very least (least being unintuitively better), like Dishonored.

I always thought VtMB and Dishonored both draw their inspiration from Deus Ex. Except the first one is more heavy on dialogues, and the second one is more heavy on popamole.
And they don't even have Skyrim in their survey list. New Vegas is the closest game to it, but it's drastically better than anything Bethesda did since Morrowind.

 

[Jaesun]

Took the survey. Couldn't answer any questions about Dishonored. Never played it.

The inclusion of Mass Effect 2 was amusing...

 

[Roguey]

Looks like I have to Joshpost again.

I feel that a 1st person perspective will always handicap melee. The biggest problems are low situational awareness (due to the proximity of enemies and the limitations of FoV -- in fact the DMoMM designer admitted that enemies effectively hold back when out of view to deal with this problem), poor readability of your own character's attacks (for the same reason), and poor depth perception (a DMoMM designer admitted that their hit detection effectively "cheats" to help the player).

I sort of view first-person melee like turbine-powered motorcycles. You can make a well-executed turbine-powered motorcycle. Unfortunately, turbines are poorly suited for the sort of use that motorcycles actually see in most applications. DMoMM was the most viscerally satisfying first-person melee I've seen yet, but I found it frustrating to actually play.

 

[Johannes]

Thanks for the link.

I let them know I like turn based games, customizing character builds, multiple endings, and making sure there's not too much swearing. I also asked them to make sure to use both the medieval and modern settings for any vampire game, and also of course to make sure not to have too many colored people in the game and none at all in the medieval portion of the game.

We wuz kangz!

 

[cherry blossom]

Considering the questions they were asking, and the games they were asking them about, the obvious assumption is that they've got Obsidian in the pre-production phase of a new WoD / Vampire game.

First concept art already leaked!

 

[cherry blossom]

Looks like I have to Joshpost again.

I feel that a 1st person perspective will always handicap melee. The biggest problems are low situational awareness (due to the proximity of enemies and the limitations of FoV -- in fact the DMoMM designer admitted that enemies effectively hold back when out of view to deal with this problem), poor readability of your own character's attacks (for the same reason), and poor depth perception (a DMoMM designer admitted that their hit detection effectively "cheats" to help the player).

I sort of view first-person melee like turbine-powered motorcycles. You can make a well-executed turbine-powered motorcycle. Unfortunately, turbines are poorly suited for the sort of use that motorcycles actually see in most applications. DMoMM was the most viscerally satisfying first-person melee I've seen yet, but I found it frustrating to actually play.

I propose to lead a team to kidnap and imprison Sawyer until Obsidian makes a Bloodlines sequel free from his corrupting influence.

 

[Kem0sabe]

Took the survey. Couldn't answer any questions about Dishonored. Never played it.

The inclusion of Mass Effect 2 was amusing...

Dishonored is pretty cool if you try to go about things the stealthy way, and find alternate story means to get rid of every target. Also the world building is very well done.

Can't wait for the sequel.

 

[HoboForEternity]

Took the survey. Couldn't answer any questions about Dishonored. Never played it.

The inclusion of Mass Effect 2 was amusing...

Dishonored is pretty cool if you try to go about things the stealthy way, and find alternate story means to get rid of every target. Also the world building is very well done.

Can't wait for the sequel.

Yeah, that was a really nice touch.

My only complain with dishonored is the overpowered skills.

 

[Ismaul]

The "why did you replay" options were way too positive.

I replayed BG2 many times, trying to find out what was good about it, not getting very far each time. It was banal clichéd my ears/eyes-are-bleeding shit, and RTwP sucks. How that guy with the hamster became a classic is mind-boggling, and the rest of the party isn't that much better.

 

[Jaesun]

My only complain with dishonored is the overpowered skills.

Have you played Bloodlines?

 

[Latelistener]

Dishonored is pretty cool if you try to go about things the stealthy way, and find alternate story means to get rid of every target. Also the world building is very well done.

The stealth way was actually pretty awful, because you were using the Tyvian choke-hold in 90% of the situations. It's very, very far from Thief in this regard.
On the other hand, the game offers you a whole wagon of sharp instruments from a butcher shop, and then slaps your hands saying that using them will lead you to a bad ending. And it's a shame, because this is where the game shines most.

Spoiler

 

[Coma White]

Have you played Bloodlines?

 

[Glop_dweller]

It's business sense; if you are in it for the money, you make Transformer films, not Laurence of Arabia.

Actually Lawrence of Arabia grossed a total of ~70 million USD at the box office, which is pretty fucking profitable for 1962.

Of course it was; it is a fantastic film... But the mass audience was very, very different from what we have now. These days you won't find any films with a fully scored intermission, and audiences seem to have the attention span of toddlers, and lack any appreciation of craft, subtlety [in dialog], or facial expressionism. These days acting is nostril flaring and jaw clenching to look intense; if they remade John Borland's Excalibur, it would play like A Knight's Tale, and probably cast Mos Def as Merlin.

... but it's drastically better than anything Bethesda did since Morrowind.

Meaning basically anything Todd had a hand in directing. Sad to say it but he is very good at his job.
His job is optimizing commercial sales of the product; and the profits have gone up as the [RPG] quality has plummeted [aside from the artwork]. This is not unrelated, the two seem to go hand in hand... and the audiences eat it up. They are refining a formula with each new release.

In his own speeches, he recounts seeing players obliviously click past detailed quest dialog to get to the end... and that has to tell them they are wasting their time writing & testing that stuff.

I posit that their games are not bad by ineptness, but by careful, and calculated action; intended to be within a hair's breadth of just tolerable enough ~for everyone.

 

[Coma White]

Of course it was; it is a fantastic film... But the mass audience was very, very different from what we have now. These days you won't find any films with a fully scored intermission, and audiences seem to have the attention span of toddlers, and lack any appreciation of craft, subtlety [in dialog], or facial expressionism. These days acting is nostril flaring and jaw clenching to look intense; if they remade John Borland's Excalibur, it would play like A Knight's Tale, and probably cast Mos Def as Merlin.

Granted, but your contention wasn't that audiences have changed; it was that the industry tailors its products for the majority audience. These aren't the same thing.

 

[Latelistener]

This is not unrelated, the two seem to go hand in hand... and the audiences eat it up. They are refining a formula with each new release.

Zenithesda is lowering the bar every time they release a new game, that's true, but that doesn't mean you can't sell a good RPG these days. New Vegas sold even better than F3. It's just that Zenithesda isn't really talented, to the point that they can't even copy what Obsidian did. The whole RPG system is non-existent, the writing is awful, and they're still using this Gamebryo engine from 00s.

 

[Glop_dweller]

This is not unrelated, the two seem to go hand in hand... and the audiences eat it up. They are refining a formula with each new release.

Zenithesda is lowering the bar every time they release a new game, that's true, but that doesn't mean you can't sell a good RPG these days. New Vegas sold even better than F3. It's just that Zenithesda isn't really talented, to the point that they can't even copy what Obsidian did. The whole RPG system is non-existent, the writing is awful, and they're still using this Gamebryo engine from 00s.

Is it not so that NV got flak for some of the very things it does right? (And consider that Bethesda has learned from New Vegas; and among the things they learned ~is perhaps what not to do.)

**Oddly enough, I have no problem with them using the Gamebryo engine... I only have a problem with how they used it for FO3 & 4. It certainly has its unfortunate quirks, but they are running a highly specialized version that suits their task.

Granted, but your contention wasn't that audiences have changed; it was that the industry tailors its products for the majority audience. These aren't the same thing.

Think about that though... A changed audience begets a change by the industry [all industries; and film & games both]. Can you imagine 12 Angry Men done in 2017? Just look at the recent Ben Hur remake.

 

[Latelistener]

Is it not so that NV got flak for some of the very things it does right?

No. It was criticized for bugs, and no one gave a rat's ass about the fact that it was Zenithesda who handled QA, and decided to release it in the state it was.
Funny thing is that almost every Zenithesda game is filled with them too, despite much longer development cycles, but "critics" aren't lowering scores in their case.