Ironworks Gaming Forum - View Single Post

mortification · 05-14-2001, 01:40 AM

Hey everyone,

Thanks very much for the warm reception. It's always a pleasure to find a good discussion group on CRPGs. Reading over all of the replys I had a few more comments to make.

I had suspected that the product was rushed to market somewhat. Unfortunately this is all too common these days. Since it was a fairly high-profile game, had been in development for more than 3 years, and apparently switched publishers and names, this usually spells disaster for computer games. However, in this case the game is really fun to play (as many have pointed out) and after all, this is the real measure of a game's success. In fact, it's worth living with the frustrations to get at the meat of the game/engine, which is one of the better replications of pen-and-paper games that I've played in a long time. I wish that more of these types of games were made but unfortunately they aren't very popular in America (as compared with Redneck Deer Hunter Motocross Rampage XXVI or whatever sells at Wal-Mart). Usually the Japanese seem to luck out when it comes to RPGs - maybe they are more patient as a culture. Main screen turn on!

Other games that I liked include the Phantasie series, the Rogue-like games, and Dragon Wars, Wasteland, Anvil of Dawn, etc. My favorite publishers/developers are New World Computing, the old-days Origin, SquareSoft, Interplay, etc. I started playing CRPGs when Zork came out a long time ago. I fondly remember the "good old days" of VIC-20 gaming when you had to type in the program yourself!

Some other thoughts that I had about this game that may be worthy of discussion:

1. I really like the music and use of voices. IMHO, all characters in modern RPGs should talk with recorded voice (see Anvil of Dawn). It just adds so much suspension of disbelief to do this. Some of the voices are drowned out sometimes by ambient noise or music (although this may be because I'm standing too far away from them).

2. The graphics are fine. Personally I see no real need for graphics any better than this for a CRPG. The immersion is almost total. The only suggestion for improvement would be an auto-hide interface so you could go full-screen, and higher resolution. The lighting and fog effects are nice. Maybe some more textures for the next release.

3. There should be some sort of "camp" or rest feature, or at the very least a "wait" command. For one things I can't figure out how to tell what time it is ever other than day/night or listening for the "bongs" of the clock. Maybe I'm missing something. Also, at the very least when you go into town there should be an option to reset the time to dawn, like resting overnight in the Inn. This also heals and recharges mana. Am I missing this feature? It'd make the game a lot easier. True to life, it is really hard to see at night, even with night vision, and I'd prefer to "go home" at night and wait for the next day. (Side Note: you'd have to disable the "wait" feature for some events like the Monk quest).

Thanks again for the warm reception and for reading the post.

------------------
(This space intentionally left blank)

05-14-2001, 01:40 AM	#7
mortification Elite Waterdeep Guard Join Date: May 13, 2001 Location: West Lafayette, IN, USA Posts: 35	Hey everyone, Thanks very much for the warm reception. It's always a pleasure to find a good discussion group on CRPGs. Reading over all of the replys I had a few more comments to make. I had suspected that the product was rushed to market somewhat. Unfortunately this is all too common these days. Since it was a fairly high-profile game, had been in development for more than 3 years, and apparently switched publishers and names, this usually spells disaster for computer games. However, in this case the game is really fun to play (as many have pointed out) and after all, this is the real measure of a game's success. In fact, it's worth living with the frustrations to get at the meat of the game/engine, which is one of the better replications of pen-and-paper games that I've played in a long time. I wish that more of these types of games were made but unfortunately they aren't very popular in America (as compared with Redneck Deer Hunter Motocross Rampage XXVI or whatever sells at Wal-Mart). Usually the Japanese seem to luck out when it comes to RPGs - maybe they are more patient as a culture. Main screen turn on! Other games that I liked include the Phantasie series, the Rogue-like games, and Dragon Wars, Wasteland, Anvil of Dawn, etc. My favorite publishers/developers are New World Computing, the old-days Origin, SquareSoft, Interplay, etc. I started playing CRPGs when Zork came out a long time ago. I fondly remember the "good old days" of VIC-20 gaming when you had to type in the program yourself! Some other thoughts that I had about this game that may be worthy of discussion: 1. I really like the music and use of voices. IMHO, all characters in modern RPGs should talk with recorded voice (see Anvil of Dawn). It just adds so much suspension of disbelief to do this. Some of the voices are drowned out sometimes by ambient noise or music (although this may be because I'm standing too far away from them). 2. The graphics are fine. Personally I see no real need for graphics any better than this for a CRPG. The immersion is almost total. The only suggestion for improvement would be an auto-hide interface so you could go full-screen, and higher resolution. The lighting and fog effects are nice. Maybe some more textures for the next release. 3. There should be some sort of "camp" or rest feature, or at the very least a "wait" command. For one things I can't figure out how to tell what time it is ever other than day/night or listening for the "bongs" of the clock. Maybe I'm missing something. Also, at the very least when you go into town there should be an option to reset the time to dawn, like resting overnight in the Inn. This also heals and recharges mana. Am I missing this feature? It'd make the game a lot easier. True to life, it is really hard to see at night, even with night vision, and I'd prefer to "go home" at night and wait for the next day. (Side Note: you'd have to disable the "wait" feature for some events like the Monk quest). Thanks again for the warm reception and for reading the post. ------------------ (This space intentionally left blank)