RPG Codex Retrospective: Roguey fights for social justice in Josh Sawyer's Icewind Dale II
Editorial - posted by Infinitron on Thu 27 June 2013, 13:29:38
Tags: Black Isle Studios; Icewind Dale 2Did Josh do a decent job? Is Icewind Dale II the black sheep of the Infinity Engine games, or is it an underrated classic? Is Josh Sawyer a true progressive, or merely a fauxgressive white boy with a rape fixation? One Codexer has decided to find the answers to those questions.
Strap yourselves in, because it's time for...
Read the full article: RPG Codex Retrospective Review: Roguey fights for social justice in Josh Sawyer's Icewind Dale II
RPG Codex Review: Expeditions: Conquistador
Review - posted by Grunker on Thu 6 June 2013, 01:03:32
Tags: Expeditions: Conquistador; Kickstarter; Logic ArtistsEverybody was holding their breath.
Kickstarter. Some called it salvation, some called it damnation. But in May 2013, the first of the RPGs that would herald the coming of the next decade of digital role-playing would be released.
It was called Expeditions: Conquistador. The entire Codex held its breath. Would Conquistador be the bearer of good news or was it an ill omen all along? Would this be the start of a new golden age, or would the Kickstarter bubble burst even before it had begun growing?
RPG Codex Staff put one of the best men on the job of finding out. A man unlike any other. A professor even. I mean come on, how cool is that?
This is ironyuri's review of Expeditions: Conquistador. Read on, dear Codexer, and venture into the first brush of the jungle of the coming wave of RPGs. Will we float on tides of depth and complexity, or drown in a puddle of shit?
Only time will tell. For now, just click the link below and read the fucking review already.
Read the full article: RPG Codex Review: Expeditions: Conquistador
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RPG Codex Retrospective: Roguey smashes the patriarchy in Josh Sawyer's Icewind Dale
Editorial - posted by Infinitron on Thu 30 May 2013, 19:35:35
Tags: Black Isle Studios; Icewind DaleYet no Codexer has been so vehement in the defense of everything Sawyer like Roguey, the forum's resident radical feminist and creepy stalker. When Roguey completed a retrospective playthrough of Black Isle's Icewind Dale (which was Josh Sawyer's first foray into game design) and wrote down his impressions, we couldn't help but feel impressed (and amused) by his dedication. We asked for more, and we received. I present to you what I hope will be the first in a series of retrospective reviews of the works of Mr. Joshua Eric Sawyer.
Prepare yourself for...
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RPG Codex Interview: Colin McComb on Writing for Torment: Tides of Numenera
Interview - posted by Crooked Bee on Sat 18 May 2013, 15:32:06
Tags: Colin McComb; inXile Entertainment; Planescape: Torment; Torment: Tides of NumeneraA large part of this is defining our base storyline and the behavior of our NPCs within those modules. Right now we’re establishing our constraints and briefs for area design, and we’re planning of the relative size, in terms of gameplay, for each section of the game. We’re also working on character and Mere placement and number and size of dialogues. At some point, even the most completionist of players are going to decide they’ve wrung every bit of reactivity out of an area and move on. But some choices are mutually exclusive, and we don’t see it as a possibility that you’ll be able to experience the entirety of the game in a single playthrough. In fact, I don’t think you’ll get it on two.
Now, I should mention that we don’t see it as our job to make sure people move along at the pace we’ve dictated. We’re designing the story so that people can progress through the mainline at their own pace, while trying to keep the sense of urgency on the story.
But the real answer to the question is that we’re designing the game so that you can go back to areas and explore at your own pace, though you’ll start to have difficulties if you stagnate too long in one place. I see that’s the next question, though, so I’ll save further discussion for that question.
It's often held that the combat in PS:T left a great deal to be desired not only in its mechanics, but also in the sense of (to air videogame theory's most impressive-sounding new buzzphrase) ludonarrative dissonance; in that whether you were murdering your way through the Tenement of Thugs just to get to the alleyway on the other side or bashing entire swarms of mindless critters in the Weeping Catacombs or Curst Underground, fighting frequently came across as arbitrary obstacle-placing, rather than relevant to what the player character was trying to achieve in the game's narrative. Without delving into the undecided technical side of things, how would you want to go about ensuring that the combat never feels disjointed from the story?
Combat should be a part of the story, whether to indulge or to avoid. It should always serve the purpose of moving your understanding of your character ahead, and that’s one of the ways we fell down on PST. Kevin, Adam, and I have talked about this fairly extensively, and we agree that our combats should serve a narrative purpose, and that avoiding those combats will help reveal more about your character as well—whether you talk your way out of fighting or flee from your foe, you’ll create a picture of who you are in this game.
So trash mobs won’t be prevalent in Torment. No random gangsters deciding that you look like a prime target. No killing rats for XP. I’m not saying that we won’t have any mindless fights, just that trouble won’t always come looking for you to ruin your non-combat playthrough. In Numenera as well, you don’t get XP for killing monsters, so combat becomes optional – your XP comes from telling a story, from solving problems, from being clever players. We are enjoying exploring in that vein.
Read the full interview: RPG Codex Interview: Colin McComb on Writing for Torment: Tides of Numenera
RPG Codex Interview: George Ziets on Eternity, Torment, and crafting worlds
Interview - posted by Zed on Tue 7 May 2013, 01:58:55
Tags: Baldur's Gate 3 (Obsidian Entertainment); Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn; Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal; Dungeon Siege III; Fallout: New Vegas; George Ziets; King of Dragon Pass; Obsidian Entertainment; Pillars of Eternity; The Elder Scrolls Online; Torment: Tides of NumeneraWe are lucky George Ziets managed to leave a strong mark on the world of CRPGs during his adventures at Obsidian Entertainment. Were it not for his phenomenal work on Mask of the Betrayer, perhaps we would not have seen him as a double Kickstarter stretch-goal superstar. Regardless, here we are with Ziets taking on both Project Eternity and the world of Numenera, and we couldn't be happier.
Mr Ziets, being no stranger to taking questions from random people, was the perfect candidate for an RPG Codex feature. In this interview, we ask him about his approach to game design, his influences, ideas, writing, and of course the games he has been involved with in the past (including NWN2: Mask of the Betrayer and the upcoming The Elder Scrolls Online) and present (Project Eternity and Torment: Tides of Numenera) -- and perhaps future.
Have an excerpt:
PE is still in preproduction, so that hasn’t happened yet. I’ve mainly been contributing to world and story design.
I think of area design as another form of storytelling. So the first thing I do is determine the central narrative of the area. What story (or stories) are we trying to tell? And what kind of setting or atmosphere are we trying to convey? Once those questions are answered, I have a context, and everything – main quest, side quests, NPC chatter, etc. – should arise from that. Even the smallest details can (and should) be used to communicate story and setting, so that the area feels like a unified whole.
Baldur’s Gate 2 generally did this well. When I traveled to each of the major areas (Umar Hills, De’arnise Keep, etc.), I felt like I was entering a coherent side story – a self-contained D&D module - where all the dialogues and quests were focused on telling the area’s story and/or the player’s own. That’s what we tried to do on MotB, too.
I look at quests through a similar lens. Every quest is an opportunity to explore another facet of the narrative. We should use them to deepen the player’s experience of the area’s story and setting and explore how different people/factions would react to the same events. I don’t think we should ever have to resort to “generic” quests in a well-designed RPG.
Is your creative process in any way affected by simultaneously writing for both Eternity and Torment? Have you had any problems managing your ideas? For instance, that one project bleeds into another? Are there things that would work in Eternity, but that would absolutely not work in Torment (or vice versa)?
Not really. The two worlds are very different from one another. Despite its exotic nature, Torment feels closer to science fiction or post-apocalyptic fiction to me, especially to Gene Wolfe’s New Sun series. Eternity, on the other hand, is firmly rooted in fantasy and historical traditions, and in my opinion, it feels closer to the Forgotten Realms or the Malazan Books of the Fallen (with some notable differences).
I tend to base my designs heavily on setting and story context, so I haven’t had any trouble with overlap so far.
Read the full article: RPG Codex Interview: George Ziets on Eternity, Torment, and crafting worlds
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An Authentic Account of an Embassy from the RPG Codex to Larian Studios
Preview - posted by Crooked Bee on Sat 20 April 2013, 21:48:37
Tags: Divinity: Original Sin; Dragon Commander; Larian StudiosHave a really really short snippet from the entire thing:
All the tension melted away when Swen and I started talking. He's the kind of man with a calm and amiable attitude that makes you instantly feel comfortable, so much in fact that you just want to sit next to him to have a chat about various things. That's actually what we did for the next few hours - sit next to each other, chat and play Divinity: Original Sin in co-op.
[...] Before visiting Larian I had assumed that Dragon Commander was an RTS that allowed you to enter the battlefield in your dragon form and take a direct part in the action; I thought that would be the gimmick that would set it apart from the rest of real-time strategy games. Bear also in mind that I'm no great fan of the RTS genre although I do enjoy some of them occasionally. However, Dragon Commander turned out to be much, much more than what I had expected. In fact, it isn't even an RTS but rather a hybrid of different genres, something that has become very rare these days. In one package, you'll find social interactions and political decisions where your choices actually matter, turn-based strategy with a strong board game feel, and real-time strategy with an action twist.
How does the dialogue between Original Sin's two protagonists play out? What are the stats and how do they come into play outside of combat? In what way is Original Sin's combat reminiscent of Temple of Elemental Evil-meets-Fallout? How is Larian's Dragon Commander similar to Origin's Wing Commander? To what extent is it a board game-turned-computer game? Why are gay marriage and choosing a proper bride important? And what does one sandwich matter? Read all about it in Gragt's article!
Read the full article: An Authentic Account of an Embassy from the RPG Codex to Larian Studios
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RPG Codex Interview: Might & Magic X - Legacy
Interview - posted by Crooked Bee on Fri 5 April 2013, 10:20:55
Tags: Julien Pirou; Limbic Entertainment; Might & Magic X - Legacy; Stephan Winter; UbisoftSurprisingly enough, in these days of "reboots" and "reimaginings" (Fallout 3, Tomb Raider and Thief being the most prominent examples), Might & Magic X continues to be inspired by World of Xeen rather than something like Skyrim, and features turn-, party- and grid-based gameplay. To find out more about the game, as well as why Ubisoft even decided to make it in the first place -- so far, they are the first and only major publisher to announce an "old school" title -- we sent some questions over to Ubisoft and had them answered collectively by Stephan Winter, CEO of Limbic (the company that develops the game for Ubisoft), Julien Pirou (Writer & Designer), and Gary Paulini (Producer). Have a snippet from the resulting interview:
To us, Might & Magic RPGs are about a party of adventurers exploring a large world in first-person view, meeting a variety of characters, visiting cities, and of course exploring dungeons and fighting monsters in turn-based combat. The specifics may vary from one game to the next (for instance Might & Magic 6 introduced free movement while the earlier games were grid-based), but these basic ingredients were always there and they are still at the core of Might & Magic X - Legacy.
Since there have been several "eras" as far as the gameplay of the series is concerned, we had to think hard about the kind of game we wanted to make. Several pitches were made, more or less faithful to the original games, but we finally decided to go for a gameplay similar to the World of Xeen episodes. We still kept some ideas of the later games, notably our skill system is similar (though not identical) to the skill system featured in Might & Magic 6-7.
Might & Magic games have always been open-world and not just corridor-based, which distinguished them from other first person RPGs such as Wizardry or The Bard's Tale. How open-world will Legacy be compared to the previous titles, and how big will the world itself be? Will the game have level scaling of any sort, i.e., will it scale the power or number of enemies in an area to your level (like Might & Magic II did)?
Might & Magic X starts with a smaller area. This is the "tutorial" area, which we call "Act I". Here you’ll explore your first town, get your first quests, complete your first dungeons, learning how to play along the way. When Act I is over, the rest of the world opens and what you do next is really up to you. If you want to go to that mountain over there despite the fact it’s notoriously full of angry Cyclopes, nothing will stop you.
There will be no scaling of the monsters depending on your level. We feel it’s one of the great pleasures in RPGs to become a demi-god and then return to those Cyclopes and teach them a lesson. However as you progress through the main story some new creatures and monsters may appear in some areas.
While it’s too early to talk the specifics of the game’s world, we can already say it’s bigger than the world of Clouds of Xeen for instance.
Could you elaborate on how training for skills is going to work in Might & Magic X? When will you need to look for a trainer and when will you not?
While, as mentioned earlier, you don’t have to train just to level-up and gain your skill points, we did keep the idea of teachers that can allow you to reach the next tier for your skills.
You start as a Novice, and then you can become Expert, Master and finally Grandmaster by locating the appropriate teacher. Of course Expert teachers are fairly common, while there’s only one Grandmaster teacher per skill and they can be pretty hard to find. And when you do find them, you never know what they’re going to ask you to do before they grant you the title. : )
The interview also discusses the game's class, race and skill system, the question of "accessibility" vs. "simplification", the size of enemy groups, the attractiveness of "niche" video game markets, the absence of any "always online" elements in M&M X and the presence of UPlay (which is unfortunately required, but only for one-time activation).
Be sure to read the interview in full: RPG Codex Interview: Might & Magic X - Legacy
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RPG Codex Review: BioShock Infinite [Spoilers!]
Review - posted by Crooked Bee on Wed 3 April 2013, 14:49:45
Tags: BioShock; BioShock Infinite; Irrational Games(Warning: spoilers abound!)
I get home, slide in the disc, and the next hour passes in an instant. The start of the game is intriguing with a fairly atmospheric lighthouse scene and a nice aerial introduction of Columbia. I've already got questions I want answered: what's the deal with this girl I need to find? What about the flying city, how does that work? Unlike most other big budget games I've played, there's no combat sequence at first. I spend a solid thirty minutes or more just exploring the city, taking in the interesting art design, the amusing religious songs. The shooting and Vigor-casting tutorials are so cleanly integrated, I barely even notice them. Slight oddities do start to nag at me (people seem to leave a lot of money lying around...) but I push those thoughts to the side.
Then a fight breaks out. Being a hardcore gamer, I have set the difficulty to Hard and the first firefights with Columbia policemen do not disappoint. My measly shield dissipates near-instantly and I spend most of the time hiding behind things, trying to survive. Sure, the enemy AI is as basic as it gets and hiding behind things isn't exactly rocket science but I, once again, push those thoughts to the side. I have to find the girl, after all, and I'm genuinely interested in what will happen next.
Someone knocks on my door. I glance back to see a guy I don't recognize. "Hi, I couldn't help but hear you playing Bioshock Infinite from the hall." I invite him in. "I'm Youtuber. Youtuber DeStupid," I tell him. "Nice to meet you, Youtuber. My name's Mono. Mono Cull." Mono Cull looks a bit older and, after we talk more, I find out that he's a brilliant graduate student, studying Physics. I agree to let him watch as I play the game since he owns no consoles and his computer only runs Linux.
As I hunt for Elizabeth ("the girl"), I'm forced to fight seemingly endless hordes of policemen. It's still sort of enjoyable but I'm wondering when things will evolve. After all, I'm still using the same basic handgun and my only Vigor, Persuasion, uses a full 50% of my Salt bar with each cast. Mono more explicitly voices his concern about the combat's monotony but I shrug it off. Surely, I'll get some sweet new powers and items soon, right? The game answers my question by giving me the Sky-Hook, a feature lauded by many of Weakstock's reviewers.
Read the full article: RPG Codex Review: BioShock Infinite [Spoilers!]
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RPG Codex People's Awards: Best RPGs
Community - posted by Grunker on Tue 26 March 2013, 12:06:17
Tags: Best RPGs; RPG Codex Awards; Top10Ladies and gentlemen, once again Jaesun has gathered the Codex and forced it to vote on its favourite computer role-playing game pastime. After tallying and compiling, Jaesun sent us the finished list of the ten games the Codex just wouldn't be able to live without. Simultaneously, Felipepepe decided the decline in this place wasn't strong enough, and he set out to gather votes for a similar list of the Codex' favourite console RPGs.
Today, we bring you the results of the polls. Will the final list be monocled? Will it be scandalous? Is it incline? Is it decline? We ask some of the Codex' staff, resident mascots as well as random people on the forum willing to contribute, about their comments on the games the Codex found to be the greatest RPGs ever made. Read the full article to see the results!
Read the full article: RPG Codex People's Awards: Best RPGs
(also, don't forget to help the Codex achieve immortality in Torment: Tides of Numenera - click me!)
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Review - posted by Crooked Bee on Fri 1 March 2013, 18:50:10
Tags: Driftmoon; Instant KingdomExcuse Me Sir. I am Looking For a Hidden Fish
So if not combat and character development, what does the game really has to offer? Pixel hunts, for one. The game locations are filled with items you can interact with, hidden treasures and secrets. Crafting ingredients, gold, attribute increasing bonuses... There is a tonne of stuff for those with the obsessive compulsive hoarding habit.
Besides hunting for material, you also obtain a wealth of information. Despite the tongue-in-cheek approach of the game, it is by no means a joke. The in-game lore is well fleshed out, with monster encyclopaedias, small stories and item descriptions.
The real meat of the game is the adventure. Almost every character has something to say; even most of the sentient enemies can be heard grumbling about their miserable duty. Quite surprisingly, the myriad of different followers you recruit on your journeys are quite reactive to the things that happen around them. Sometimes the wealth of one-liners even gets tiresome. Overall the dialogue is well written, even if a bit too simplistic. There are dialogue trees, and occasional choices that lead to a different outcome. [...]
The Verdict
Despite its shortcomings, would I recommend the game for anyone? To much of my own surprise, I find myself saying "yes". Driftmoon has a certain flavour to it. In a way, the magical journey you undertake reminds me of those good-hearted children's fables. And maybe that is where the real target group of the game exists. This would be a good introductory RPG for younger players. Maybe something you'd make your own children play, in the hopes that they'd turn out less fucked up than you did.
The game certainly has something to offer for mature audiences as well, presuming that you go in with the right set of expectations. Building a game of this scale with a two person team is no small feat. I am especially looking forward to seeing what kind of results the community will be able to produce with the rich modding tools the game comes with.
If you doubt your ability to stomach simple light-hearted fun with no gritty grim dark dressing, give the demo a go. Who knows, maybe you'll rediscover your inner child. And if that doesn't work out... you can always find a well...
Read the full article: RPG Codex Review: Driftmoon
The game is on sale today at $11.99. There is also a large demo available at the developer's site.
RPG Codex Report: Expeditions: Conquistador, Logic Artists and Kickstarter
Codex Preview - posted by Grunker on Mon 25 February 2013, 11:26:52
Tags: Expeditions: Conquistador; Logic Artists*EDIT: Since the release of this article, Logic Artists have post-poned the release date of Expeditions: Conquistador due to distribution-issues. See more here. Ah, Thursdays and their RPG releases.
One of the oldschool RPGs funded by Kickstarter is the difficult to define Expeditions: Conquistador, which is coming out soon (February 28th, in fact), and as such looks like it will be delivered on the schedule promised by the developers during the Kickstarter. One of the few Kickstarted games, it seems, to meet its deadline. As one of the first Kickstarted RPGs to actually be released it is of obvious interest to the Codex, and since their studio is located a manageable 20 minutes on foot from my apartment, I decided to pay Logic Artists, the developers of Conquistador, a visit.
Read the full article: RPG Codex Report: Expeditions: Conquistador, Logic Artists and Kickstarter
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RPG Codex Retrospective Interview: Winston Douglas Wood on Phantasie and Star Command
Interview - posted by Crooked Bee on Fri 15 February 2013, 17:19:53
Tags: Phantasie; Phantasie II; Phantasie III: The Wrath of Nikademus; Phantasie IV: The Birth of Heroes; Phantasie V; Retrospective Interview; Star Command; Star Craft, Inc.; Strategic Simulations, Inc.; Winston Douglas WoodThe West saw Phantasie as a trilogy, but actually - and this is major news that hasn't been known before - WD Wood went on to design Phantasie IV after Japanese company Star Craft, Inc., approached SSI for a publishing deal. Unfortunately, as the interview tells us, Winston didn't have the time to adapt the fourth game to non-Japanese PCs, so SSI never published it in English and it has remained a Japanese exclusive. In other news, old-time Phantasie fans will also be excited to find out that Winston is currently working on a Phantasie V in his spare time! We'll be sure to keep you informed about the game's progress.
Here are some tidbits from the interview:
Those skills came from RuneQuest and D&D. They encourage the player have a greater variety of characters so that all of these skills are well balanced in their party. To imagine that your characters are listening for monsters and searching for traps gives a greater sense of realism and danger that was typically more present in tabletop games. I would have liked to have added rock climbing to Phantasie and generally make better use of the other skills but time and resources prevented that.
In 1990 Phantasie IV was released exclusively in Japan for MSX, NEC and Sharp computers. The game credits you as the creator of the series, but the actual development is credited to a Japanese company called Star Craft, Inc. What do you know about this game and did you have any involvement in it at all?
I designed Phantasie IV completely. I was able to go to Japan and meet the programmers from Star Craft but I was never able to test the game to any extent. I did consider doing another fantasy RPG but decided to do Star Command instead.
That's exciting to hear! Did you design Phantasie IV specifically for Star Craft, or have you already had it designed (for SSI perhaps) by the time Star Craft approached you? And why wasn't it published in the West?
Starcraft approached SSI with the idea of doing Phantasie IV in Japan. SSI then contacted me and I designed the game. SSI would have published it if anyone had been available to adapt it to computers like the Apple II or Commodore 64 but that never happened (I was busy designing and programming other software).
As far as I'm aware you left the industry at some point after the release of Star Command. What was the reason for your departure and what have you been up to since?
After Star Command I designed three games for Japanese companies. I thought designing the games without doing the programming would give me a chance to improve graphics quality and game play. However only one of the games (Phantasie IV) actually made it to the market and I found that I missed the opportunity to interact with the games during the design process.
At the same time I was given an opportunity to do some programming for a civil engineering software company (KYPipe, LLC). This proved to be a more stable source of income since sales of one product would continue for years instead of just a few months. I am still in that field to this day as part owner of KYPipe, LLC.
By the way I am currently working on Phantasie V. I don't get much time to work on it so its a very slow process. If you want you can check back with me in about a year and I will let you know the status of the project.
We will be sure to! Can you maybe tell us a bit about how you approach it? Will it look and play similar to the previous Phantasie games, or are you aiming for something new with it?
It is still very early in the development stage and it's really just for fun right now. I haven't given any thought to publishing. It will be a PC game though if it turns out well I may consider Android and IOS versions.
In general the scope should be quite a bit bigger but it should play very similar to the previous Phantasie games. I don't yet know how it will look but the main visual feature will still be the scrolling map on which all combat and exploration takes place.
Be sure to read the full interview.
RPG Codex Interview: Dan Vávra (Warhorse Studios)
Interview - posted by Zed on Mon 11 February 2013, 20:24:58
Tags: Dan Vávra; Kingdom Come: Deliverance; Warhorse StudiosDan Vávra and his Warhorse Studios are no strangers to intricate open world games. So when they announced that they were working on an open world RPG set in a realistic medieval setting, many people wanted to know exactly what they were up to. After two years... we still don't really know anything. We did get a glimpse of the game engine however, so we now know what to expect graphically. But what goes into the design philosophy behind the game? How will they approach the open world design? How do they balance it with strong, coherent storytelling? This and more is what I tried to wrangle out of Dan in an e-mail correspondence, resulting in this interview article.
It's not about making a simulation of any kind—it's about creating a believable, coherent world and a story that makes sense. Because the devil is in the details, every detail counts when making that world. So, it's not important how many things there will be in the game, but rather that the things are well-executed and makes sense.
A real-world example: I am making a castle for my game. It might be a fantasy game, so I may mix different architectonic styles or came up with my own, but I still have to stick to some rules. Are there long-range weapons in my world? Are there any flying enemies? Who lives in the castle? How will it be defended? When you think about such things, you could never design those absurd caricatures of medieval castles you may find in most RPGs. The Witcher is one of the few exceptions. Probably because those guys are from Poland, and unlike Americans, they have real medieval castles all around them.
Speaking of the Witcher—The Witcher 3 was announced recently, with the main feature being that the game will have an open world approach. We have also heard speculation about Dragon Age 3 moving towards having a more open world as well. Why this sudden interest in open worlds for RPGs, do you think?
Skyrim! When something sells 20 million units, it will attract some attention. Publishers were hesitant about RPGs in the past—they are usually very buggy, complicated to develop and very hard to judge whether they're gonna sell or not. Open worlds are also very expensive, and being open world doesn’t guarantee a success. Look at True Crime, Sleeping Dogs, Dragons Dogma, or Amalur… But when they are done right, it's the ultimate entertainment.
Ah yes, Skyrim. I suppose it's the de facto king of the hill. What are your thoughts on Skyrim?
Well, as they say: In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. For me, Skyrim (or the Elder Scrolls series as a whole) is the one-eyed man. So far, it is the only western open world RPG worth mentioning. For that reason, I was more grateful for it than anyone else, but I have lots of issues with the game. It's an American vision of a medieval fantasy world and as such, it's more like Disneyland with bizarre architecture, medieval knights using katanas, half-naked female warriors, illogical quests and story that is often morally very uncomfortable for me (for instance offering no other than evil choices in quests). The RPG I would like to play was still not made, so I am trying to make it. I'm also eagerly awaiting the new Witcher, which seems like it could be something I will enjoy.
Read the full article: RPG Codex Interview: Dan Vávra (Warhorse Studios)
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RPG Codex Review: Alpha Protocol
Review - posted by Crooked Bee on Sat 12 January 2013, 20:53:32
Tags: Alpha Protocol; Obsidian EntertainmentHave a snippet:
Well, too bad the gameplay sucks.
[...] Games can be crippled by a single bad gameplay element. Every element of Alpha Protocol's gameplay - from stealth, to shooting, to bosses, to minigames - ranges from bad to awful. Incredibly rarely does it all come together to something interesting: the game forcing my stealthy character to crack out the big guns to clear the bad guys from the ticking bomb in Italy is the only thing that springs to mind. The rest of the time it varies from easy tedium to dashes of irritation.
I wanted to love Alpha Protocol - it does a lot of things right, and there is much in it that other games should strive to imitate. These elements would be more than good enough to carry a merely mediocre gameplay experience: such was the case of Planescape and Arcanum or, for example, Deus Ex, which had below average stealth and shooting but gained a lot in the way it mixed these elements. Sadly, Alpha Protocol's gameplay isn't just mediocre - it is plain monstrous. It's one of the few games I found both boring (the 'stealth bits') and painful (the bosses, minigames and shooting) to play.
In the end, Alpha Protocol is an interesting experiment, but ultimately a failure. For gamers so addicted to climbing the heights of the (let's face it, pretty low lying) field of computer game storytelling that they're willing to go through the purgatory of playing this game, it's worth a go. Otherwise, steer clear.
Read the full article: RPG Codex Review: Alpha Protocol
The Codex Reviews Drox Operative
Review - posted by JarlFrank on Wed 26 December 2012, 14:35:29
Tags: Drox Operative; Soldak EntertainmentOn the start of a new game, a map of a galaxy's sector is created and different civilizations are placed in it. These civilizations then go on to colonize space and compete with each other, forging alliances, trading technologies and going to war, just like you would expect from a 4X strategy game such as Master of Orion. The galaxy sector consists of multiple solar systems, each containing a jumpgate that allows for quick travel to any other solar system in the sector, starlanes that allow travel between two specific systems, and a couple of planets. The civilizations explore the galaxy on their own, founding new colonies in other solar systems and building an empire.
Read all about Drox Operative and how it tries to spice up its ARPG gameplay by adding 4x-like elements in my little review here. And try out the demo if you got interested!
Read the full article: The Codex Reviews Drox Operative
RPG Codex Preview: A peek at Legends of Eisenwald
Preview - posted by Zed on Sun 9 December 2012, 20:02:56
Tags: Alexander Dergay; Aterdux Entertainment; Legends of EisenwaldHere's a lil' bit from the preview:
You will also come across NPCs wandering the map. Although these NPCs are rarely more than guards and patrols, they help make the world feel a little more alive. While the writing may not be the game's strongest point, the gossip in taverns and the NPC interactions can be quite funny, albeit a little silly at times.
The combat of Eisenwald is initiative-driven and turn-based. This means that units will take their turns based on unit type and equipment. For instance, a ranged combatant will act faster using a longbow than a crossbow. Heavy armor also seems to burden the initiative of units. But, movement is not affected. This is because every single turn in Eisenwald requires an action. You can't choose to move somewhere specific and then end the turn without doing something. Instead, you must choose a target to attack, and your unit will automatically move there and do so. That is, unless the path is blocked by another unit. The only alternative is to skip the unit's turn entirely. This rather simple approach doesn't mean that there is no tactics involved, or that you can just click wherever and be victorious. In fact, combat feels very volatile in that any one unit may suddenly mess things up completely, and your initial positioning of units and how you use them will greatly affect the outcome.
Besides the actual preview, I also asked Aterdux' head Alexander Dergay a few questions regarding their experience with using Kickstarter:
“Before our campaign on Kickstarter, we didn't know much about how it all worked and there was very little information available - no postmortems or other articles on how to do a campaign for a video game on Kickstarter.”
There's more in the preview!
Read the full article: RPG Codex Preview: A peek at Legends of Eisenwald
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Stealth Game Codex Review: Mark of the Ninja
Review - posted by Crooked Bee on Sun 25 November 2012, 16:35:24
Tags: Klei Entertainment; Mark of the NinjaThe enemy AI is satisfactory for the most part. Your foes react to noise and visual contact from a far distance - they go to the place of disturbance to check it out. Being discovered triggers an alarm whereby the enemies from the entire screen rush to your last seen position and inspect the area. Interestingly enough, guards have basic psychology. By default they are relaxed, patrol the area in a stroll, smoke cigarettes and chat with one another. When they are agitated, they raise their gun and carefully approach the source of the disturbance. If they spot you they become alarmed, hold the gun at the ready and move at a brisk pace - they will remain in that mode even if the alarm is called off. Lastly when they witness something horrifying, e.g. see their ally drop dead in a gruesome “accident”, they fly into panic and start shooting blindly around, possibly killing other guards.
Taking advantage of these psychological states is one of the cornerstones of gameplay. You will find yourself acting akin to an evil genius, exploiting the fears of your puppets and having them do exactly what you want: from turning their gazes away from the path to your goal, to disabling security systems for you, to killing their own allies.
[...] Mark of the Ninja is a very solid game. “Focused” is the keyword that underlies its every aspect. True, it targets a very specific niche, ignoring certain facets of gameplay which could not work in a 2D format. Nevertheless, within the limited framework it establishes, it gives no quarter - it does not know what “compromise” means, opting to be a very polished, singular experience rather than everything to everyone. It comes from developers who clearly know their own limitations, but instead of being discouraged, they are eager to work around them to deliver a thoroughly unique experience.
Mark of the Ninja is a model example of what happens when unrelenting passion meets ingenious foresight. It does have some shortcomings, but most of them result from a curious paradox: it is a rare example of a game that leaves you craving for more, even though from the very first moments it offers you plenty. It is the game a true fan of stealth games should not ignore.
Read the full article: Stealth Game Codex Review: Mark of the Ninja
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RPG Codex Interview: Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden 2 (Soon on Kickstarter)
Interview - posted by Crooked Bee on Wed 21 November 2012, 16:09:32
Tags: Barkley 2: Revenge of Cuchulainn; Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden; Eric Shumaker; Kickstarter; Tales of Game'sYou may know that the core person behind Barkley, Eric "Chef Boyardee" Shumaker, goes by the name of cboyardee on the RPG Codex forums and posted about the sequel's development in the Codexian Game Development Thread. So I guess, the developer being a Codexer, it should come as no surprise that while the first game was more of a (faux-)JRPG, Barkley 2 is going to be much more of a WRPG: non-linear, with complex character development and choice and consequence. In this interview, we talk to cboyardee about the game's concept, fully non-linear gameplay and C&C, class-changing character development and character creation that lets you influence not just the character's statistics but also the state of the world, and other exciting matters (such as Arcanum influences on Barkley and Barkley 2). Have a snippet:
Let me give you three examples of how this game is non-linear -
First, the world itself is completely open. You can go anywhere you want or do anything you want so long as you are strong or clever enough to handle the challenges. This doesn't mean it's recommended! Think Gothic.
Second, there are multiple ways to accomplish the same thing. For instance, the very first part of the game is all about getting out of Tir na Nog, this awful megacity that the main antagonist, Cuchulainn, is corralling dwarfs into. You can do this by escaping through the sewers or this whole goofy quest where you impersonate the newly-appointed governor or through other ways.
Lastly, many of the choices you make with your character are permanent and irreversible. You can change classes, but the statistics you distribute and the choices you make for your character last forever. There are a lot of very big choices that change the entire game. For instance, over the course of the game, you can acquire robotic parts. If you acquire enough, you permanently become a robot and you can never change back. This affects mechanics - robots equip items entirely differently and have a different set of skills - as well as how certain people react to you and even the endings available to you.
I don't know if there will ever be times where your character build, or the distribution of your base stats, will ever stop you from completing things but there is a lot of content available only to certain classes. I mentioned the robot thing before. The content available to you is based more on the choices you make with the world than the choices you make with your character's statistics - but there may be times when certain options are only available if you have X amount of piety or luck or whatever.
About the complex character development - can you elaborate on how it's going to work? What new RPG mechanics does Barkley 2 have in store compared to the first game?
You start the game by creating your main character, going through a very long and detailed creation process that was inspired by games like Megatraveller 2, Darklands and Ogre Battle. You make choices at different stages of your character's development that determine not only personal statistics like their alignment, attributes and class, but also crazy things about the world, like whether certain things exist (the legendary Blue Duergar...), character names and the game's starting time (which is a lot more important than it sounds!)
When you level up, you get to distribute points into your attributes and sometimes your class changes. I don't want to say how or why your class changes, but it's pretty simple and it spoils the fun of figuring it out on your own. Classes give you passive abilities that boost your stats and active abilities you can use during combat, so they act more as a way to increase your available tactics than as something you rely on, but you may find there are some classes or abilities that help your particular play style more than others so you try to build your character around them. That said, there are certain classes that have plot or quest significance and a few that drastically alter gameplay. This is a game that highly encourages experimenting, so mess around. You really can't ruin your character, there is no "optimal build".
You posted about the sequel's development in the Codexian Game Development Thread, and when we discussed this interview you told me that, while Barkley was a straight up JRPG, Barkley 2 is going to be more of a WRPG, "fully non-linear," with "complex character development and building mechanics" as well as some "serious choice and consequence." What motivated you to expand the game's concept like that? Do you believe Barkley 2 may appeal to the Codex crowd?
It's weird, because the idea for Barkley 1 and Barkley 2 developed simultaneously. We talked about Barkley 2 a lot as we made Barkley 1 and we even drew ideas from it. For instance, the characters of Cyberdwarf and Cuchulainn were originally from Barkley 2 and we put them in Barkley 1. To me at least, this whole game feels like a very organic extension of the first. This is what we always had in mind from the beginning.
At the same time, we want to do very new things (not just for the series, but RPGs as a whole) with this game and differentiate it from the first in some ways too. It does feature a completely open world, much deeper character development and a very different combat system - so mechanically it is very different, but the tone and themes and humor are very much coming from the same place.
I think there will be people who will pass over this game like mondblut because it's an action RPG, and that's fine. This isn't a turn-based game so it's not going to be everyone's thing here. I like turn-based games more too, but turn-based games with one character suck, so we decided to make it the best ARPG we possibly could. I think people who like games about exploration, choices and mystery will enjoy this!
Be sure to check out the game's screenshots and read the interview in full: RPG Codex Interview: Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden 2 (Soon on Kickstarter)
RPG Codex Retrospective Interview: Guido Henkel on Realms of Arkania
Interview - posted by VentilatorOfDoom on Thu 15 November 2012, 11:55:32
Tags: Attic Entertainment; Guido Henkel; Realms of Arkania; Retrospective InterviewThanks to Guido for his answers and to Vault Dweller for his contribution to the questions and the nice intro paragraph.
Read the full article: RPG Codex Retrospective Interview: Guido Henkel on Realms of Arkania
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Community - posted by DarkUnderlord on Tue 13 November 2012, 23:20:52
Tags: Cleveland Mark Blakemore; Codex Server Slush Fund; Grimoire: Heralds of the Winged Exemplar; RPG Codex; Sir-Tech; Wizardry 8Here's the short version so we don't have a huge sticky here for the next month:
2. We'll also be bidding on some of the items in the Sir-Tech Auction (prices and items to be determined. Trust us).
3. If we get enough spare cash (another $2,500), we'll throw some at Cleve's Indie-Go-Go Project.
4. If we get a LOT of spare cash, it will be held for Future Codexian Purposes, like server space for my own web games and hookers. But mostly
5. Donors will get a special tag, ad-free status and other goodies (to be determined). MAKE SURE YOU ENTER YOUR USER NAME IN THE LITTLE NOTE BOX PEOPLE
6. If you only wish to donate to a specific cause, say so in your donation note. This will all be handled manually anyway for now, so why not make it harder on me?
The future of the Codex rests in your hands. Now is the chance to take those hands and help the Codex. Our future rests on them!
Read the full article: A Codexian Fund-raiser