Anime Criticize my CRPG Book

[felipepepe]

Honestly it looks pretty good, but I think you should embrace hyperlinks and an electronic (ebook) format.

Hyperlinks and bookmarks have already been added, they'll be on the next release.

The book is in .pdf already, what else you mean when talking about ebook format? .epub? The problem is that fucks up all my layout, but it's as easy as clicking "Export to..."

Not sure whether you want structure and editorial feedback or not.

Anything you want - if you feel a review is bad, that a section should be formatted differently or whatever, feel free to say. I really want this to be a brainstorm on how to improve the book.

And if any of you want to criticize a particular review and don't want to be rude in case the author is reading, just PM me.

 

[Mychkine]

Hello,

A single remark on RPG precursors. Following the CRPG addict for quite a long time, I've read with interest his covering of mainframe games. It gives the common ancestors to both Wizardry and Roguelike genres and shows a impressive symmetry in CRPG and RPG history. Don't you think it could be interesting to add a couple of pages on 1. Mainframe gaming in universities. 2. One or two significant games of this era?

 

[felipepepe]

A single remark on RPG precursors. Following the CRPG addict for quite a long time, I've read with interest his covering of mainframe games. It gives the common ancestors to both Wizardry and Roguelike genres and shows a impressive symmetry in CRPG and RPG history. Don't you think it could be interesting to add a couple of pages on 1. Mainframe gaming in universities. 2. One or two significant games of this era?

Sure, that will happen! Two years ago I did a post on PLATO games here on the Codex, I just need to stop being lazy and transform that into an article for the book.

 

[Lurker King]

I want the Codex to do what it does best: criticize the shit out of it.

I think no one would dare to criticize your endeavor, Felipe. The world of cRPG aficionados is a better place after your project. However, I think that there are two minor flaws in this case. First, given its voluntary nature and the type of invitation you made (“If you like a cRPG, make a short review about it!”), it only attracts laudatory reviews for the most part. That is unfortunate because we miss an opportunity to have more balanced reviews. I have the interest to know why that particular game captivated the audience, but I also want to know what its flaws are, either because I don’t want to get my hopes too high, or because I want to make a proper list of the ones I intend to play – games that will have more troublesome features will go to the bottom of the list. Second, the fact that the reviews are too short practically ensure that the author can’t be too detailed in his comments.

 

[Marten Broadcloak]

It's a bit disappointing to see RPS list at the end of the book, right after the excellent Codex list. Those guys think Dark Souls is the best RPG ever and Fallout is only listed in tenth position (if such a rant doesn't make me sound too cliché). What kind of joke is this? Anyway. I enjoyed the Editor's Pick at the end however - it was good to know the opinion of the guy that assembled/wrote the book.
Also, I imagine it must be tedious to be reading feedbacks that are basically "why is <game> not in the book?", but why is Fallout not in the book?

So far I think the only thing that could be considered lacking in the book would be several interview with major personalities from the industry, but I guess that would be very difficult to put together. A couple of pages on mainframe/PLATO games would be very interesting, too.

Will the book be printed (maybe through crowdfunding), or will it remain an ebook? I would gladly pay for a print version of it, even if it were expensive.

 

[Nyast]

Is the goal to review the history of cRPGs ? If so maybe the book would benefit from a paragraph every year with a description of the (r)evolutions seen that year, explaining the inspirations and the shifts in popularities (ex.: when action rpgs became the norm, when 3D became the standard.. ) ?

Something like this:

I made one every 5 years. Still tweaking it, but should be on the next release.

Yup, absolutely. Good job !

 

[Mychkine]

A few more questions :

- Why didn't you include Ultima VII + expensions?

- More understandable, but still, why didn't you include mentions of M&M3, whitch did everything (arguabily, in an uniformly worse way) World of Xeen did but a few years before? And why VII over VI, whitch had among the most daunting dungeons among any games I ever played.

- Still on the Might & Magic series, why no review of HM&M games (the second or the third). They may not be CRPG in the proper sense of the term, but I don't think they are further away from the genre than XCOM, who got reviewed here.

Otherwise, I'm appreciating what I am reading. Reviews are of varied tone and scope, but blend well together, and I'm pleased to know a proper book about CRPG history is being made !

 

[V_K]

hey felipepepe do you have Golden Land in your book and, if so, where the fuck do I find a version with english text?

it's not on the book, but I googled it before. The original game, Zlatogorye, was released in English as Heath: The Unchosen Path, but I never heard of Golden Land (aka Zlatogorye 2) having an English version or fan-patch. Even the Codex pics are in Russian.

There's reports of it being available in English, and I actually saw the box art cover that poster described in an earlier search, but I can't find it right now.

You haven't lost absolutely anything by not being able to play it. It's absolute shit, worse than Oblivion even. You spend the whole game hauling dozens of trinkets from one NPC to another and fighting random battles on the world map on the way. There's not a single dungeon. I'm not even exaggerating a slightest bit.

 

[Sykar]

Page 234, Fallout 3:

"..even if lacking the wit and dark sense of humor that characterized its forebears"

I think it should be "forebearers". It would be nice if a native speaker could confirm this dirty Germans mediocre English in case I am wrong.

 

[Mychkine]

p 259 : conclusions about ME are both cut in two by the Mod's tab and incomplete ([...], or blurring what we define as evil. Equally interest-???)

About the RPG maker games chapter, I'd like to introduce you to a french project, called Aëdemphia (http://www.aedemphia-rpg.net/) , which may be far too ambitious for it's own sake. It is still a ongoing project, in devellopment for at least 14 year. The betas haveas a lot of interesting things to show, including a score of original pixel art and rich gameplay. Author is a self-proclaimed fan of Fallout, Planescape Torment and BG. I havent played it more than a few hours. It was enough to appreciate the amount of work put into the game.

 

[Sigourn]

I think no one would dare to criticize your endeavor, Felipe. The world of cRPG aficionados is a better place after your project. However, I think that there are two minor flaws in this case. First, given its voluntary nature and the type of invitation you made (“If you like a cRPG, make a short review about it!”), it only attracts laudatory reviews for the most part. That is unfortunate because we miss an opportunity to have more balanced reviews. I have the interest to know why that particular game captivated the audience, but I also want to know what its flaws are, either because I don’t want to get my hopes too high, or because I want to make a proper list of the ones I intend to play – games that will have more troublesome features will go to the bottom of the list. Second, the fact that the reviews are too short practically ensure that the author can’t be too detailed in his comments.

Good observation.

Reviews should be handed out at "random" amongst the Codex. I could write a Skyrim review that talked about its strengths and its weaknesses. It's mind-boggling that the review has a miniscule section talking about Requiem, when the review (IMO) should be four pages long (for a title of its importance): half Skyrim, half "what Skyrim could have been".

And remove "Immersive Weapons and Armors", that mod is downright terrible, and you should add Realistic Needs & Diseases and Hunterborn instead (all of which have compatibility patches for Requiem ), as well as ELFX.

If you are remotely interested (you should), I could PM you mod recommendations for Morrowind, Skyrim, FO3 and FNV, as the ones currently on the book are fairly terrible and some downright criminally insane (like Mission Mojave instead of Yukichigai's Unofficial Patch).

EDIT: "NV Bounties". Oh shit nigger what are you doing

EDIT: No Morrowind mods, what the fuck. Granted, there aren't many good ones to choose from, but at the very least you need my unofficial patch on MediaFire and BTB's Game Improvements.

 

[Goral]

Page 234, Fallout 3:

Including Fallout 3 in this is a disgrace. I can somehow stomach jRPGs (even hentai ones) and Morrowind even but Fallout 3? Seriously? Same goes for Skyrim, Dragon Age... Same goes for lists other than RPG Codex one (and XP4T) but I understand it's the price of advertising your book on these sites. It would also be great if the titles were sorted alphabetically, in an electronic version it's not a problem to find what you search for but if someone would like to print it nicely and bind it in a cover searching through the book wouldn't be optimal. And yeah, a dedicated .epub version would be great (otherwise there's no point in converting a .pdf to .epub using calibre or something like that).

 

[Sigourn]

Including Fallout 3 in this is a disgrace. I can somehow stomach jRPGs (even hentai ones)

what did he mean by this???

 

[Sykar]

Including Fallout 3 in this is a disgrace. I can somehow stomach jRPGs (even hentai ones)

what did he mean by this???

He is a fag who enjoys fantazising about getting his anus raped by tentacles.

 

[thesheeep]

Probably just made a typo and meant especially.

 

[Sykar]

Am I blind or is the Gothic 2 review missing? I'd consider it a sacrilege if it would not get its deserving spot when trash like DA 2 got theirs.

 

[Goral]

what did he mean by this???

You can find reviews of hentai jRPGs in this book and written by Felipe Pepe himself so he won't throw them away.

 

[J_C]

My only criticism is that is seems you are aiming to put Grimoire into the book, because the release date is not coming closer. I want to hold this book in hands!

 

[Snorkack]

Including Fallout 3 in this is a disgrace.

Considering the big impact this game has had on the genre and the Fallout scene, not including it would have been the bigger crime. This book isn't a "Let's recommend some good CRPG's", but a historian's work.
Also the "LM" dude who wrote the review (LM doesn't appear in the contributor's list) did a good job at pointing out the bad as well as the good sides (which definitely existed, too) about F3 without falling into that boring, old 'Worst Game Evaaaaar' codex/nma trope.

So far my criticism:
Why no printed version for the bookshelf
Amazing work, felipepepe and contributing bros!

Oh, and I'm butthurt about the lack of Realms of Arkania games. Not even in the editor's recommendations. To my knowledge the first games that introduced a whole lot of p&p mechanics beyond looting&shooting to pc games.
What have we germans done, world, that you hate us that much?!

 

[Lord Azlan]

I can't criticize it - it's the best book ever, in the history of all computer gaming.

I love it. I hope I have some real stomach problems coming up so I can end up with enough time to read it all whilst on the John.

If your aim was to highlight and try and safeguard our collective history, I think you have done an amazing job.

Would have loved to see a few more Spiderweb reviews as I think that is the only part of our history I seem to have missed so don't know much about - despite buying them all a while ago.

AND I LOVE YOU SO MUCH

 

[Goral]

Considering the big impact this game has had on the genre and the Fallout scene

It's Oblivion with guns, where do you see this "big impact"? They did nothing revolutionary for RPG genre other than dumbing down the Fallout franchise and releasing a Fallout mod to Oblivion.

 

[Snorkack]

Not only did it keep the Fallout franchise alive and in people's memory - for better or worse -, but whenever someone releases a post-apoc RPG game now, people will ask "is it like Fallout?".
Without Fallout 3, there wouldn't have been a New Vegas, either.

Another actual criticism:
Why has E.Y.E. a different title font? Sticks out in kind of a bad way.

 

[Neanderthal]

- Why didn't you include Ultima VII + expensions?

I were going to offer to review U7, but I may be too much of a fanboy an i'm a bit scared that i'll not do justice to game. Gotta say though Felipepepe is a damn good editor, really knows how to shape a word vomit up into something presentable.

 

[Lurker King]

Including Fallout 3 in this is a disgrace.

Considering the big impact this game has had on the genre and the Fallout scene, not including it would have been the bigger crime.

I think the reason why it shouldn’t be included it’s pretty simple. If you belief in a combatfag view about the nature of cRPGs, you can discarded it because the character building doesn’t have any meaningful role. If you believe in a storyfag view about the nature of cRPGs, you can discard it for not having any meaningful C&C. In both cases, the only thing this game has in common with the other games in the book is the title, which is a retarded excuse to include it.

 

[felipepepe]

First, given its voluntary nature and the type of invitation you made (“If you like a cRPG, make a short review about it!”), it only attracts laudatory reviews for the most part. That is unfortunate because we miss an opportunity to have more balanced reviews. I have the interest to know why that particular game captivated the audience, but I also want to know what its flaws are, either because I don’t want to get my hopes too high, or because I want to make a proper list of the ones I intend to play – games that will have more troublesome features will go to the bottom of the list.

Indeed, most reviews have a positive, or at least "it's shit but I fondly remember it" tone. I ask writers to be fair and point out flaws but, as you said, the wordocunt is a bitch - and when cutting I prefer to cut criticism than unique qualities.

Bluntly speaking, I don't like how Matt Barton's CRPG book is entirely written by him and you can clearly tell apart the games he loves and the ones he doesn't give a fuck about (or never played). If the game is in the book, there's something cool about it, and getting that info out is the most important aspect for me.

but why is Fallout not in the book?

Am I blind or is the Gothic 2 review missing?

Oh, and I'm butthurt about the lack of Realms of Arkania games.

- Why didn't you include Ultima VII + expensions?
- More understandable, but still, why didn't you include mentions of M&M3

Book is still WIP people, all those games will be included, but I need someone to write the reviews first... and while 3 different Codexers promised a Arkania trilogy review, no one delivered.

The full list of games that will be included can be found here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1t-49SyrsdP0M5re68sDH9cB2MrPqVKwQQiFF_54VibI/edit?usp=sharing

Those in Blue are finished, Green are being written / edited, White are available if you wish to contribute.

Will the book be printed (maybe through crowdfunding), or will it remain an ebook? I would gladly pay for a print version of it, even if it were expensive.

That's the plan. Finish the ebook, release, collect feedback and do a printed version via crowdfunding. I originally was going to use Amazon's CreatSpace, but on-demand printing is EXTREMELY expensive for colored books. That's why Unseen64's book costs insane $64. Meanwhile, if you get enough volume via KS you can negotiate with printing companies directly and get much better prices.

Like, BitmapBooks does some amazing stuff at decent prices - a 450 colored hardcover book at $30. And that's with the guy's profit - the CRPG is will be cost-priced, so hopefully a successful crowdfunding can wield a Hardcover printed version at ~$25. That would be fucking sweet.