@~This has been 'on file' for a while, following Roy/Richard's
@~article ... and pre-DM2 ...

               Searching For the Perfect CRPG

                       by James Judge

Aaaaah, the perfect RPG, if only such a thing existed.
Unfortunately it never has for me and, probably, never will. It's
such a developing thing, the CRPG, first off we were all happy
with block movements and creating our own maps. Now all but the
most battle hardy complain if there is no auto-map. We were
content with just a selection of spells and monsters, now we want
a flexible spell system and a whole menagerie of fiendish
monsters, not just orcs and goblins everywhere we turn.

Luckily things are progressing well with the CRPG and with each
new game there is always something new to offer (unless, of
course, you get a complete turkey such as Arena:  Elder Scrolls,
but disasters like that are few and far between) the old RPGer, as
well as exciting new prospects for the new bod.  I've been lucky
enough to play all but a few of the major RPGs in the five or six
years I've been into CRPGing, and so I've got quite a long wish
list.

As Roy said in his article, a huge factor in any RPG is the
atmosphere. After all, you need to get into the ROLE of the game
to be able to play it well and get the maximum enjoyment out of
it. True, maybe we shouldn't then continue this role that we play
into real life (if we do that we conform to the stereo-types that
surround our sect of the games market), but being Jegayer, Mighty
Wizard Of The North for a couple of hours every day does no-one
nay harm.

But, to get into that role we need to believe the place where
we're playing the game. These days I tend to look at CRPGs in two
camps. Those which are games and those which are slightly more
than games. The games are RPGs such as DM, Bloodwych and Captive
where you move in steps in a pseudo-3D world. The
better-than-games camp is where you'll find gems which give you a
complete 3D world in which to play, with a few physical rules
attached on for fun. The Ultima Underworlds are great examples of
this; very rarely have I been sucked into a game as I was with UU2
- running down the cramped corridors at 1am to bump into a monster
often sent the mouse flying across the table as I reflexively
jerked in surprise.

As with Roy music tends to spoil this enjoyment as having a piece
of music blaring out as you try to sneak behind a guard isn't
exactly life like. Also the music tends to be boring, repetitive
and, in the whole, sounds terrible. On goes a CD instead
(personally I find that Jean Michel Jarre, Mike Oldfield and
ambient music does the trick).

Sound effects, though, go a long way to creating the old
atmosphere and this is where the CD-ROM should come into a league
of its own. Sadly it rarely does (filling the space with lots of
pretty but essentially useless cut-scenes instead).


The viewpoint is important. Unlike Roy I prefer the first person
affair - especially with a full 3D one character jobby such as
UU2. The 3rd person view tends to remind me too much of games such
as Lords Of Chaos etc (which I'm not too particular on) and also
it makes me feel distant from my characters. The element of
surprise can also be lacking due to this third person view - many
a time I remember running around like a BA'ed fly trying to find
an elusive monster that has just attacked my rear members.

Combat, though, depends entirely on the game. There are some games
where the combat aspects seems to take over from the plot and this
can sometimes be very dangerous for the all important gameplay.
But, some games which are heavily combat orientated (such as
Wizardry 7) are really good fun. If the combat is in rounds and
brings in a heavy strategy element then it can only be good in my
books. It may take some thought and far more time than ordinary
battles, but the 'oh yes I killed the blighter' quotient
sky-rockets after a hefty tactical battle. Games such as DM are
just standard fare with little to criticise - they do the job
adequately and can be good fun in the main. More arcadey fighting
(as in UU2, Ravenloft: Strahd's Possession and Arena: Elder
Scrolls) is also good fun. It allows full 3D games to flow really
well. The hit and miss aspect can be removed with careful
positioning (only Ravenloft seemed a bit strange, but you'll have
to play it to see what I mean) and swiping your mouse in time with
your sword can drag you further into the game.

Following on from combat is the obligatory spell system. I really
like having spells in RPGs which I play as often they can be
spectacular in their effects. I wrote a lengthy article on spell
systems for The Armchair Adventurer a little while back and at the
end of my wanderings decided that the best system for me was an
entirely flexible system (such as the one found in Legend) that
allowed you to create your own spells from a number of runes. Also
the system should rely on just mana points, no ingredients to make
your potion as it was in the early Ultimas. Ingredient hunting was
a huge pain and I found myself continually losing track of the
plot as I hunted out the all important reagent to cast a spell.
Most annoying.

As I like spells in my game the settings I tend to go for are
normally the standard wizard and warrior gumpf, but I won't say no
to a bit of hefty hardware in games such as Captive.

Also the plot of games matters little to me. True, innovative and
enjoyable scenarios always get the extra brownie points, but I
honestly don't mind nipping into the bowels of the darkest dungeon
to rescue the fair maiden who has been kidnapped by the evil
dragon. As long as there is the normal RPG diet in there somewhere
I don't care whether I'm a no-hope serf or mighty magician...

Of course, with all good RPGs come enemies, and a plethora of
different enemies is good - more is better. It gets a bit tiring
lopping the head off your 987682531824975th orc, but sticking a
sword into the guts of a chimera gives you that little extra zip
of pleasure.

How about talking with the monsters in the game? Maybe not
(Bloodwych may have gone OTT with allowing you to trade and talk
with EVERY monster in the game from floating eyes to crabs to
demons) but a host of NPCs is a must to make the game feel more
realistic and full - there's nothing more annoying than wandering
around a town without any people.

The NPCs in Arena: Elder Scrolls were pretty good - there were
LOTS of them and they all seemed to have their own job, name and
go about their daily lives. As there was so many there needed to
be much depth to the interaction with each one. UU2 provided a far
richer PC/NPC relationship.

Monster AI is another point in which CRPGs may be lacking.  Only a
couple of games that I have played will target your weakest
character (often the mage) first and then pick off the stronger as
they go. This may be a good thing for virgin RPGers, but after a
game or two you need to have an opposition that may be able to
stop you with intelligence instead of sheer weight of numbers. DM2
sounds as if it will go a long way to correct this. The monsters
learn from your mistakes, attack weaker characters, learn your
overall battle style and adopt to it and if they are badly injured
will run away to heal and get help from other monster parties. Oh,
and they'll pass battle tactics from one to another. If all this
is implemented then I'll be very happy to lay into the swarms of
monsters, no matter how badly depicted they are...

The 'BIG THING' I feel with RPGs are the puzzles. DM got it
completely wrong for 'puzzle' puzzles (the riddle room was really
easy and so were the other 'verbal' clues). But spatial puzzles it
did pretty well in. UU2 got a nice mixture of both in relying on
intelligence, spatial awareness and manual dexterity to get you
past some of the problems encountered (and they were really
satisfying to complete). At the moment I'm playing Betrayal At
Krondor (badly) and the puzzles in there are pretty good too.
There are plenty of riddles (which often have me stumped, but I
have yet to stoop so low as to read Mongoose's riddle answer) but
there are also puzzles in the form of getting an item to open a
new part of the game to get a new item which, used in conjunction
with a third item, will allow you to get some gold which will...
well, you get the idea.  Pretty linear but good fun none the less.


Puzzles are a matter of personal opinion. For me UU2 has got the
balance between spatial and 'puzzle' puzzles correct so far, but
there are loads of other games that have a few outstanding mazes,
riddles, quests etc.

As I said at the start it would be very hard to get a game that
included everything I liked - 3D, first person, puzzle and spatial
problems, completely free-wheeling spell system (that's never
heard of a reagent), large areas to get lost in, plenty of NPC
interaction, a host of monsters, myriads of artefacts and weapons,
an innovative control system, life like sound effects, intelligent
monsters... where do I stop. Then when this game comes out I'll be
wanting something else like direct neural link-up or smell-o-RPG.

Still, there's plenty of good RPGs on the market at the moment and
I still have Betrayal At Krondor to complete, so I may be happy
for a few years yet...


                              - o -