Interview Knights of the Chalice Interview with Pierre Begue

[Zeus]

Were there stat/skill checks in Deus Ex?

Had to have been, right? Otherwise you could have just walked up and hacked everything successfully without learning computer skills.

 

[Murk]

I don't think there were was ever a case of 1/0 situations but rather the stats influenced how good you were at it.

In some cases a high enough stat meant you only needed 1 lockpick or what have you and was the difference of opening that door or not, but that's not a binary check.

 

[Paula Tormeson IV]

All-out stat/skill checks are just the easiest way for programmers to decide whether the player manages to do something or not. Game-makers would need actual creativity to come up with better solutions.

 

[mondblut]

I guess it depends on which to-down perspective he means. If it's the literal kind where all you see is the crown of someone's head, that'll be kind of rough. Preferable to the vertigo-inducing KotC perspective, but not very attractive.

Well, literal topdown is, due to its ugliness, so rare it almost never gets used. The only RPGs I can recall immediately are Aleshar and the Megatraveller series. Maybe Sentinel and Dark Nova too. Nobody cares about looking at a bunch of helmet crests and hairy monstrous spines.

When someone says "straight topdown", 10 out of 9 they mean something like this:

 

[JarlFrank]

That looks so much better than the newer Spiderweb games.

Although Avernum 6 looks acceptable. Still shitty character art though.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

Yeah, funny thing. I actually like the looks of the Exile series a bit. Not to mention that they work well on Wine.

 

[Sceptic]

Well, literal topdown is, due to its ugliness, so rare it almost never gets used. The only RPGs I can recall immediately are Aleshar and the Megatraveller series. Maybe Sentinel and Dark Nova too.

Did you mean Sentinel Worlds and Hard Nova? If so, they both used literal topdown.

Not an RPG, but Dreamweb used it too.

 

[Severian Silk]

Had to have been, right? Otherwise you could have just walked up and hacked everything successfully without learning computer skills.

I was referring to skill checks during dialogue.

 

[Paula Tormeson IV]

Character skills influencing combat in RPGs = OK.

Character skills determining dialogue = not OK.

The problem with skill checks in information gathering / discussion is that nothing is left for the player to do. Combat is different. The player still has something to do even if character skills influence combat success.

Hacking and lock-picking aren't as important, but I've noticed that mini-games can be very successful ways of dealing with them, as well as much more rewarding for the player, than simple skill checks. Oblivion had a nice mixture of both. And G2: NotR had a perfect example of lock-picking done right.

 

[mondblut]

The only RPGs I can recall immediately are Aleshar and the Megatraveller series. Maybe Sentinel and Dark Nova too.

Did you mean Sentinel Worlds and Hard Nova? If so, they both used literal topdown.

Too little blood in my whisky, hah. Sentinel Worlds and Hard Nova it is.

Strangely, I remember the looks of Hard Nova fairly well, up to that golem-type party member whose sole purpose was to pilot the ship and never get off it, but fucked up the name of the game. Oh well, if you'd mourn the loss of early '90s style RPGs as much as I do, you'd be ever drunk too!