2.5D RPGs: Do you prefer a roof over your head?

[Krraloth]

Roofs, Arcanum way.

 

[mondblut]

Roof as a form of fog of war is fine. It is there until you peek inside, then it is gone forever and never obscures your sight or gets in the way of your actions.

Also, while I am there - fuck isometry. Talk about killing convenience and usability for the sake of eyecandy.

 

[ghostdog]

Roof. Yes.

Sneaking and peeking inside from openings would be cool though. See Underrail, it has some great ideas.

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

+1 for a roof as long as it fades or pops out when necessary.

 

[Daemongar]

I think the last game I played without roofs was the first or second Eschalon. It took a lot away see whats inside every building. No sense of wondering what was in that unreachable building, could just kind of take a look.

 

[DraQ]

Do people actually prefer their 2.5D games sans roofs, or is this just a case of people who can't be bothered to put a few extra occlusion checks in their code?

Shitty hacks making sloppy games? Why, I would never have guessed.

Roofs, Arcanum way.

Arcanum way as in "hurr, we cannot into multi-story buildings"?

Ok, at least it did have roofs, that's always something, but it was notoriously shitty with them - no higher floors, flat roofs in Tarant, etc.

Roof as a form of fog of war is fine. It is there until you peek inside, then it is gone forever and never obscures your sight or gets in the way of your actions.

So you want a permanent wallhack if you ever peek into a building? Why would you know what happens inside if you don't have anyone peeking there at any moment?

Also, while I am there - fuck isometry. Talk about killing convenience and usability for the sake of eyecandy.

It's a viable way to portray z-axis. I have nothing against top down but it makes seeing whether a character stands on top of ground floor building or a multi-floor skyscraper problematic.

You can have shadows, but they are not as universally reliable and happen to be more demanding in terms of eyecandy.

On the upside you get freedom to design your areas any way you please without worrying about occlusion.

Spoiler

FPP is even better for that, though.

 

[mondblut]

So you want a permanent wallhack if you ever peek into a building? Why would you know what happens inside if you don't have anyone peeking there at any moment?

What do you mean, "happens inside"? It's an RPG. Once the player has visited a house, nothing happens inside any longer. Loot is looted, quests are taken, NPCs, if alive, are wandering around pointlessly.

 

[No Great Name]

Roof. Yes.

Sneaking and peeking inside from openings would be cool though. See Underrail, it has some great ideas.

That sounds neat. Do you know of any other game that does that?

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Severian Silk]

roofs that disappear when you're inside or peeking

 

[Ladonna]

It depends on the system.

If you use a system like Jagged Alliance 2/Silent Storm, then roofs at the top level, with no roofs if you scale the levels down.

Apart from that, roofs look nice I guess...it isn't a game breaker either way for me.

 

[No Great Name]

already mentioned arcanum.

Shadowrun while not having roofs got fog of war. One can peek in without opening door by hacking cameras from time to time. Passable in environment without windows...

I don't remember being able to do that in Arcanum.

Also, are you talking about the newer Shadowrun games?

 

[Xathrodox86]

Roofs but I'd like to change the transparency in the options menu, like in JA2.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Abelian]

That sounds neat. Do you know of any other game that does that?

Jagged Alliance 2, although not technically an RPG, uses the characters' field of view to show interiors. Also, crouched and prone mercs are not able to see through windows if they are too close.

I'm in favor of roofs if they properly fade away.

 

[DraQ]

What do you mean, "happens inside"? It's an RPG. Once the player has visited a house, nothing happens inside any longer. Loot is looted, quests are taken, NPCs, if alive, are wandering around pointlessly.

Now imagine a game where shit could happen without being directly caused by player instead of it being just a static freeze frame for player to romp about.

 

[Delbaeth]

R00fles.

 

[Akratus]

I like roof-ies.

 

[mondblut]

Now imagine a game where shit could happen without being directly caused by player instead of it being just a static freeze frame for player to romp about.

NPCs don't buy games.

 

[DraQ]

NPCs don't buy games.

Limp dicked fags, OTOH...

 

[Zombra]

Obviously, more detail is better as long as it doesn't interfere with gameplay. Honestly though I've never played a roofless game and found myself crying, "Where are the roofs??" ... but there have certainly been times when roofs and walls have obscured things my characters should have been able to see. The tiny vision bubble around my character in Fallout often seemed insufficient. And in Dead State roofs would only undraw if you went inside, meaning if you were standing outside a building it was possible for a guy just inside to be shooting you even though you (the player) couldn't see him at all. Elhoim

So I'm going to be contrary and say no roofs by default, because lack of roofs can't screw up gameplay. Roofs only if you do them well.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Now imagine a game where shit could happen without being directly caused by player instead of it being just a static freeze frame for player to romp about.

What could happen that would make the fog-of-war roof matter, though? Not being able to see friendly NPCs walking around the house from the garden isn't an issue ("Fuck, the maid was here in the main hall, I forgot to ask her about something...oh, here she is, in the kitchen."). As for hostiles, I only see it being a factor if you are attacking a building from the outside (instead of baiting them out or entering the building yourself).