Gaming industry Pet Peeves

[Guest Zeokage]

What would you suggest as an alternative?

To turn-based combat? Real-time combat, surely?

[Skummy]

No, you can easily have an RPG without turn-based combat. Turn-based battles aren't a defining factor of the genre; look at Legend Of Zelda, Diablo or World Of Warcraft.

Personally I don't have a problem with decent turn-based battle systems. I quite like the system used in Grandia 2, for example.

[King Ellis]

It annoys me whenever EA releases a game and everyone comes out from the woodwork screaming "I hate the soundtrack, I haven't heard of any of these bands so therefore they must be stupid, whiny Americans who act like they're treated badly when they really have millions of dollars."

[Guest Zeokage]

Zelda = Action Adventure

WoW has things like a "rest" time between attacks, doesn't it? Same with Diablos?

[Skummy]

I'm not sure about WoW, I've never played it, only seen people play it. Diablo's combat is essentially hack 'n' slash.

[Toe]

I actually do prefer Mortal Kombat to Tekken, but thats just because I am not a big fighting game fan and I prefer 2D fighters to 3D (except Fight Night 3, which is the only exception).

One thing I dislike in games is, in a sports game, a certain player is rated lower then another and everyone complains. In some cases the lower rating may seem unjust, but in all reality these companies do research and have reasons.

[Rashid]

Tekken Fanboys. How can people say it has a good gameplay engine? They all play like shit. I'd rather play Mortal Kombat: Advance.

.

You've got to be shitting me. You think the mortal combat games are better than the tekken games? Thats laughable. The tekken games are actually much more techinical and complex and deeper then any and all of the Mortal Kombat games. Let me guess, you're just in it for the blood and gore right?

Only someone who knows jack shit about tekken would even say that its gameplay engine is crap.

I can actually back up my arguement if you'd like.

[Guest Zeokage]

I'm not sure about WoW, I've never played it, only seen people play it. Diablo's combat is essentially hack 'n' slash.

[John Stones' Paint Trophy]

Diablo = Action RPG

Zelda = Fantasy/Action RPG

WoW = MMORPG (slightly different to an RPG, but it's essentially turn based with time between moves etc.)

Final Fantasy = Console-style RPG

So they're all different to Final Fantasy.

[Skummy]

Hills have Eyes is just a gorefest with an abysmal story. I don't "love" blood and violence in the media.

The Hills Have Eyes has a much better storyline than Saw, in my opinion, and certainly a better storyline than the entire Mortal Kombat franchise (and I'm an MK fan). Little mining town refuses to abandon their livelihood despite the nuclear testing in their area, as a result they're adversely affected by the effects of the tests, and cut off from society. Over the generations, the necessity of in-breeding tied in with the radiation causes them to become mutated, and they can only live off whatever they find. Genuinely scary situation, that's what I want from a horror movie. The Hills Have Eyes is one of the finest American horror movies ever made, and the remake's only slightly worse, but balanced out because the violence is a lot more realistic and brutal, and not in a stylised Hollywood sense.

It's a little bit hypocritical, in my opinion, to lash out at someone for assuming you like one thing only because of the violence, and then state that all another product has to offer is violence.

[Rashid]

Hills have Eyes is just a gorefest with an abysmal story. I don't "love" blood and violence in the media.

The Hills Have Eyes has a much better storyline than Saw, in my opinion, and certainly a better storyline than the entire Mortal Kombat franchise (and I'm an MK fan). Little mining town refuses to abandon their livelihood despite the nuclear testing in their area, as a result they're adversely affected by the effects of the tests, and cut off from society. Over the generations, the necessity of in-breeding tied in with the radiation causes them to become mutated, and they can only live off whatever they find. Genuinely scary situation, that's what I want from a horror movie. The Hills Have Eyes is one of the finest American horror movies ever made, and the remake's only slightly worse, but balanced out because the violence is a lot more realistic and brutal, and not in a stylised Hollywood sense.

It's a little bit hypocritical, in my opinion, to lash out at someone for assuming you like one thing only because of the violence, and then state that all another product has to offer is violence.

[ZJ Penn]

It annoys me that to my knowledge, there aren't any "scary" or horror genre games out there. Surely theres a massive target market for legit scary games? I mean, its easy to scare people. Lure them in with intrigue, a soundtrack or heavy concentration. Then wham, something out of nowhere. Not too difficult, and I'd buy them if they were generally scary.

I heard Clock Tower was scary, but could never find them. Other than that, its a genre that hasn't really been touched upon since the early Resi games (which have become more and more action based throughout). Maybe I'm just looking in the wrong places, I dunno. Just irritates me that we've got shit clones of every other game, but certain genres are untouched.

[-A-]

Dude, play System Shock 2. Closed I've ever come to pissing my pants

[ZJ Penn]

Funny you should mention that. Someone brought that up in conversation a while ago, I'd never heard of it mind. Mainly because I wasn't into PC gaming pre-2000ish. Any chance of some elaboration that isn't Wikipedia?

[Fanku Kaibutsu]

Fatal Frame, at least the first few hours I've played, were thoroughly creepy and spooky.

[-A-]

Funny you should mention that. Someone brought that up in conversation a while ago, I'd never heard of it mind. Mainly because I wasn't into PC gaming pre-2000ish. Any chance of some elaboration that isn't Wikipedia?

[Rashid]

It annoys me that to my knowledge, there aren't any "scary" or horror genre games out there. Surely theres a massive target market for legit scary games? I mean, its easy to scare people. Lure them in with intrigue, a soundtrack or heavy concentration. Then wham, something out of nowhere. Not too difficult, and I'd buy them if they were generally scary.

I heard Clock Tower was scary, but could never find them. Other than that, its a genre that hasn't really been touched upon since the early Resi games (which have become more and more action based throughout). Maybe I'm just looking in the wrong places, I dunno. Just irritates me that we've got shit clones of every other game, but certain genres are untouched.

[Farmer Reil]

Silent Hill was scary enough for me

As for the different RPG combat systems... they're all good in their own way, and they're all completely different.

You're allowed to not like turn based RPG's just like you're allowed to not like FPS's. They provide a totally different challenge.

Turn-based RPG's are all about strategy. Similar to turn-based RTS games (Risk, anyone?), you have to think about your moves, and react to your opponents, rather than just rushing in and mashing buttons, or clicking on an opponent and hoping your stats and equipment are good enough for the computer to beat it for you. Naturally, being a tabletop Warhammer player, I like turn-based systems, although of course they can be done atrociously badly, just like any other system.

The other extreme is Action RPG's, which are basically FPS's with levels and stats. Your strength will affect the damage your sword does, and the armour you're wearing will affect how much damage you take, but you're still the one in control, you can still dodge arrows yourself rather than relying on your Agility stat to do it, you can bash the shit out of your opponent with your sword, etc. So that can be fun, if you like that kind of thing. Action RPG's also give you the massive advantage of being able to run around and out manouver your opponent, unlike the other two where a hit is a hit and a miss is a miss. For example, in WoW (where you also freely control your character's movement in combat) a Fireball that hits you (i.e, isn't resisted), will hit you no matter how far you run/dodge/jump etc. Whereas in Oblivion you're able to physically get out of the way.

Then there's the middle ground, World of Warcraft/Diablo/Bard's Tale/Dungeon Siege style, where you control your character in real time and choose which weapons or spells you want to cast, and cast them in real time. However, you're not totally in control of your character; attacks still rely on stats and dice rolling/random number generation, etc. This system relies a lot less on skill, and a lot more on your equipment and stats, but as level 60 rogues in Naxxramus gear continue to prove, it's still very possible to absolutely suck, even though you're wearing the best gear in the game. If you don't know what skills to use, and when to use them, your stats don't matter for shit. Also, in my opinion, an MMO like WoW is no different, mechanics-wise, than a Diablo/Dungeon Siege style offline RPG, other than the fact that humans control loads of other characters too, the system is still exactly the same.

Different Strokes for Different Folks, 'n' all that.

Oh, and Steaming Pile of Shit, don't worry at all about Oblivion being too difficult. It has three difficulty settings, and even Normal is a piece of piss even for me (I tend to suck at anything remotely FPS or RTS oriented ¬_¬), so even if you're the most un-gamerish person ever, Easy should be easy enough for you to have fun with.

Edited November 17, 2006 by Farmer Reil

[Guest Kou]

I only played Oblivion with mods that made the game harder. I WANT TO DIE AS SOON AS I STEP FOOT OUT OF THE JAIL THING.

Fatal Frame, at least the first few hours I've played, were thoroughly creepy and spooky.

Edited November 17, 2006 by Kou

[Guest Zeokage]

Diablo = Action RPG

Zelda = Fantasy/Action RPG

WoW = MMORPG (slightly different to an RPG, but it's essentially turn based with time between moves etc.)

Final Fantasy = Console-style RPG

So they're all different to Final Fantasy.

But they're all RPG's. No matter what tag you throw in front of it.