erobb

By the end of Mass Effect 3, the story is so big in scale, it's almost unbelievable, even for a video game, that one man (or woman, hey FemShep) could possibly solve the problems at hand. In a reverse way by having such a small cast fighting such a big fight, it made me feel as though the universe was actually underpopulated. And that goes for most games that involve destinies or saving the world. Infamous and it's sequel have you traveling through what is essentially and empty city husk. Even the side missions feel empty. Rather than being given to you by side characters, they're faceless, nameless NPC's.

I think the problem with these games is that in striving to give you such a huge spectacle, they lose personal stories. Aside from the main character, usually a generic, brown haired, white, thirty year old with a gravelly voice, the worlds feel comparatively empty. Even ones as big as Skyrim's. I think these major games should focus on smaller stories. Interpersonal conflicts. The Dark Knight was a massive movie, in scope and success, and the climax of that movie involves the Joker, some dogs, and two boats. No doomsday device. No saving the world. No chosen hero following destiny.

Game of Thrones shows the perfect roadmap. The consequences in Game of Thrones, both the TV and book series, are no doubt massive as entire nations go to war, but the inciting incident is usually quite small. Two families quarreling. One guy had a son out of wedlock, someone breaks a vow, one person is executed. Small struggles involving select groups of people that ripple outward as the repercussions suck everyone in. But rather than having a main villain be a cackling stereotype who wants to destroy the world for no real reason, or an omnipotent dragon, or an alien race who wants to wipe out humanity just because, have the villain be a person. Just a guy with a goal. A three dimensional, non cliche, whose goal runs contrary to the hero, thus causing the conflict of the story.

There's no reason to default to world destruction. Not every villain has to be evil. The lives of every human don't need to hang in the balance. By going smaller in scope, you can tell a great emotional story. Max Payne isn't saving the world. And the villains aren't looking to destroy it. And at times, you wonder if Max is even doing the right thing. Shades of grey, you see. Those are good.

Good. I kind of wish Dragon's Dogma managed to make it out of the "pre-rethinking" stage though.

Podcast Beyond, Gamescoop, The Kevin Pollak Chat Show, The Slashfilmcast, Nerdist Writer's Panel, WTF with Marc Maron.

I really do wish a story based RPG would adopt a Dark Souls style of combat. Difficult, timing based combat that has a lock on mechanic. Or maybe the next Souls game includes a story. Either way. But I hate the auto-attack of Dragon Age, and I found Amalur to be bland and button mashy. Then there's Skyrim where the combat is more like an obstacle than fun.

@Doctorchimp said:

@VDay said:

@Doctorchimp: Try actually messing around with stuff like attack timings and incorporating your skills in combos. Also try the prologue portion without picking up the two pawns at the rift stone at the beginning. The demo's not good because it's the same one that they've been using for a while at conventions/shows, so it's designed for someone to jump on and play for 15 minutes. You're playing the tutorial section(prologue) and then a mission that you're slightly over-leveled for. If you actually mess around with it, you'll see the combat can be pretty deep. This is all assuming that you thought the combat was boring because you just went through the whole thing mashing light attack until stuff died.

Also the guy who put up the videos is from OXM UK, not the OXM that gave the game a 6. There's also no actual review out yet from them besides their clever blurb on metacritic which I'm sure they were proud of thinking up.

I mean it's not like I got hit during the demo...or just mash on light attack. Have you played Dark or Demon's Souls? That has some great skillful combat, alright, sorry. This is what I get for coming into a topic called Expectations vs Reality and thinking it was going to be a little bit more than just a hype thread.

A hype thread? Excuse me for having interest in a game. But you're right, it is odd someone with such a grim outlook on a game would spend time discussing it, in a thread about it.

@Doctorchimp: Check out the videos on OfficialXboxMag's Youtube page. That's what sold me.

@SuperSambo: Ha! I'm not some psycho who talks to his characters. But if I'm gonna play an open world game that's all about character development that takes 100 hours to beat, I have to actually like my character. Or in this case characters.

@gamefreak9: In those games you didn't customize team members and trade them online.

I'm highly anticipating Dragon's Dogma. In fact, now that Ni No Kuni has been delayed until next year, Dragon's Dogma is the only game I plan on buying this year. That will definitely change come E3, but for now, it's all about Dogma. Which is why I'm kind of being bummed out by every limitation I find out about. I suppose I let my imagination of what the game could be get away from me.

When I first heard about the four party system, I was excited. You don't get four characters in most RPG parties. And when I heard about customizing your pawns, I thought you could customize all three pawns in your group. Imagine all of the character creation possibilities. You could make four Dwarves (they'd technically still be human, but whatever). It'd be hilarious to see all four tiny little fighters climb onto the back of a Cyclops. But, as it turns out, you only get to make one pawn, the main sidekick. I'm sure I could find two pre made or user made pawns online that would match a theme, but it's not the same.

That's okay, two is better than one. I quickly thought up another fun party dynamic. I'd make the main pawn a good looking, gallant, magic fighter, as close to a Paladin as I could. Heavy armor, like a true Prince Charming. Then I'd make his partner, a fucking ugly oaf with a bowl cut, big nose, and scars. A big dumb lug who picks everyone up and throws them (something you can do in the game). It'd be like Lenny in Of Mice and Men. But the funny part is, I'd be playing as the oaf, and the true Hero is the AI controlled pawn. But then i found out the pawns will be limited to the basic classes and advanced classes. The advanced classes are really just purified versions of the basic. So realistically your pawns can only be one of three classes: fighter, mage, or archer. So if I can't make my Prince Charming a paladin (called a mystic knight) he'd just be a basic fighter, and my oaf would have all the cool abilites. Well that kind of ruins the dynamic I had planned. If the oaf is doing complex magic buffs and heals, and Prince Charming is just hacking away. This also means that trading and optimizing pawns (a big online component) will really just be trading fighters for mages and mages for rogues. Players will most likely play as the three cool hybrid classes, and pawns will just be basic party additions. Why? Why limit the pawn system, which seems like one of the main aspects of the game?

Capcom is pouring money and resources into this game, which before being tied to a Resident Evil 6 demo was an unheard of game no one cared about, but had become a black horse engine that could. All of the sudden people are talking about this game. There's hype and excitement. My thoughts are that this game could be the Saint's Row to Skyrim's Grand Theft Auto. While GTA/Skyrim have massive budgets and sales, they deliver mostly conventional experiences. Good looking, well polished, but very by the numbers. Whereas Saint's Row uses it's lack of standards as a boon, and the game delivers all of those whacked out moments and freedoms missing from the bigger game. This was and is my hope for Dragon's Dogma. So why then would they limit the pawn system? Why not allow me to customize all four party members and loan out any of the three at any time? Why not allow me to access all of the game's classes for any of my group members?

Still have no idea what DOTA is.