RPGs in the 2000s?

[sgc_meltdown]

 

[eric__s]

The decline had already started in 1993 when Dark Sun: Shattered Lands reduced the party size to four and dumbed down tactical combat and exploration, replacing it with shiny graphics and more focus on dialog/story.

The decline was gradual at first though, so some games that were effected by the decline were still decent games early on.

I can't believe this is an opinion that is taken seriously instead of one that is immediately derided.

 

[Gregz]

When did the start?

With the introduction of bitTorrent and MMORPGs.

 

[sgc_meltdown]

I can't believe this is an opinion that is taken seriously instead of one that is immediately derided.

always take genre definition semantics into account on the codex

 

[Archibald]

1997.

 

[DragoFireheart]

I blame EA and Activison.

 

[octavius]

I blame Microsoft, Sony and a billion consoletards.

Funny thing is that in 1995 Bill Gates claimed the PC was the platform of the future - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhTkZNrh7Vs. Too bad that future only lasted about seven years.

 

[bloodlover]

The moment when MMORPGs and consoles appeared. Compared to any genre, RPG's need the most dedication to enjoy and finish since you need a shitload of time for them. I always thought that consoles were more for the casual folks, the ones that don't want/have time to spend into a game. As for the MMORPGs, does anyone else think that they (and mostly WoW) killed the possible future generations of RPG players and D&D players?

 

[DwarvenFood]

What was wrong with Everquest ? Ultima Online ?

No I think the shift to 3D and mostly first-person perspective was when it really started to rapidly decline.

 

[hanssolo]

The decline had already started in 1993 when Dark Sun: Shattered Lands reduced the party size to four and dumbed down tactical combat and exploration, replacing it with shiny graphics and more focus on dialog/story.

The decline was gradual at first though, so some games that were effected by the decline were still decent games early on.

I can't believe this is an opinion that is taken seriously instead of one that is immediately derided.

I can't believe you'd think that and still use POR for your avatar.

 

[DwarvenFood]

Platoon on c64

It is more like an old Sid Meijer game being a combination of sub-games with different mechanics, ie. Pirates or Covert Action.

First section was a quite challenging side-scrolling shooter. Then after came the excellent first-person dungeon crawling, and as I recall kind of turn based, until an enemy appeared at least. You had to collect some items to make the end game easier, so by todays standards one could call it RPG. And finally the nicely done (I just loved the flares) pure shooting section, hard to describe. Spent some time looking for a screenshot, but alas.

 

[octavius]

No I think the shift to 3D and mostly first-person perspective was when it really started to rapidly decline.

The real decline started with the shift to behind-the-ass perspective.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

When did it start? With Baldur's Gate series cancelling all the gains made with Fallout and Planescape: Torment and with Troika failing to deliver a single game that would have the general quality of Fallout (which left a lot to be wished anyway).

Also, Fallout: Tactics being made as a crappy tactical game, that was so regressive that it missed features that were present even in Laser Squad with both RT and TB instead of being a exclusively TB party-based Fallout like initially intended.

Then the whole "Turn Based was used in games like Fallout only because of technical limitations" ideology starting to dominate.

Oh and Troika making the best recreation of the D&D 3rd and basing it on a bland boring module and failing to make a console port of it.

 

[DraQ]

Platoon on c64

It is more like an old Sid Meijer game being a combination of sub-games with different mechanics, ie. Pirates or Covert Action.

First section was a quite challenging side-scrolling shooter. Then after came the excellent first-person dungeon crawling, and as I recall kind of turn based, until an enemy appeared at least. You had to collect some items to make the end game easier, so by todays standards one could call it RPG. And finally the nicely done (I just loved the flares) pure shooting section, hard to describe. Spent some time looking for a screenshot, but alas.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-SQw4Dn6ow
How about a gameplay vid instead?

 

[Serious_Business]

There is no such thing as 'pure' RPG, just different combinations of RPG layer with base gameplay. We should concentrate on strength of those individual elements and on how strongly they affect each other rather than pointless discussions regarding the nature of an RPG and what can change it.

stiff upper lip

 

[IdaGno]

DEVO was form in '73.