RPG Question.
Author
I wonder why most(and also famous) RPG''s are always set in medieval times like Diablo 2 and Baldur''s Gate and also MMORPGs like Everquest. Why cant the game still be like Diablo 2 but only with guns and laser and other science fiction weapons instead of swords and spears and arrows. and the spells instead of magic and scrolls, why not have computers and spells like electromagnetic waves. I know there are games like System Shock 2 that are in modern times but those kind of games are in 3rd-Person Shooter(3D) genre not like Baldur''s Gate where most of the game is in 2D graphics. For example, here a game idea. the protagonist is a um..a becomes an orphan when his parents are murdered when alien attacked earth. when he''s big he seeks revenge against the aliens along with a few other friends namely um a computer geek, a tough gangster-like guy(sort of like the Barbarian) and other characters against the aliens. games will be armed with maybe computers, holograms and weapons like guns and laser. the armor could be kevlar and the shield maybe a trash can cover. Obviuosly there won''t be much varienty in items compared to diablo 2 and other games, so that can give space and time for a programmer to include more features in the game like improving the games graphics, aswell as adding bigger levels and more detailed monsters.
Actually I was looking in the local software store and I saw a game entitled "Arcanum" which appeared to be basicly Baldur's Gate with two exceptions. 1)a map editor (omg) and 2)weapons like flame throwers etc.
The reason this isn't done? I would say if you mean blending fantasy with scifi/future its mostly balancing issues (no your +4 plate mail of invincibility doesn't stop the -4 tactical thermonuclear missile launcher shot).
Also, the primary role of the RPG genre is for people to lose themselves in the atmosphere and so forth while unfortunately the current demand is for the fantasy setting. The whole rpg/scifi thing, while if handled well can be exellent (I enjoyed Fallout), with current standards (ex. must have a minimum of 1000 people servers to be award winning, see EQ or Dark Ages of Camelot) to put people together with access to weapons like rifles etc is really not balance friendly. If they were in the future guns should (depending upon storyline) be in some extent of abundance and as such the lvl 1 newbies with revolvers would not do well against the lvl 50's with lascannons.
I think what I am trying to say is that it is commonly accepted that future=guns which while entertaining makes gaining experience have limited enticement as no one can really ever be immune to a grenade or what have you.
Wow, I've had waaaaaay too much iced coffee....I hope that stuff made sense...
Edited by - kordova on November 15, 2001 8:42:35 PM
The reason this isn't done? I would say if you mean blending fantasy with scifi/future its mostly balancing issues (no your +4 plate mail of invincibility doesn't stop the -4 tactical thermonuclear missile launcher shot).
Also, the primary role of the RPG genre is for people to lose themselves in the atmosphere and so forth while unfortunately the current demand is for the fantasy setting. The whole rpg/scifi thing, while if handled well can be exellent (I enjoyed Fallout), with current standards (ex. must have a minimum of 1000 people servers to be award winning, see EQ or Dark Ages of Camelot) to put people together with access to weapons like rifles etc is really not balance friendly. If they were in the future guns should (depending upon storyline) be in some extent of abundance and as such the lvl 1 newbies with revolvers would not do well against the lvl 50's with lascannons.
I think what I am trying to say is that it is commonly accepted that future=guns which while entertaining makes gaining experience have limited enticement as no one can really ever be immune to a grenade or what have you.
Wow, I've had waaaaaay too much iced coffee....I hope that stuff made sense...
Edited by - kordova on November 15, 2001 8:42:35 PM
Nope, but remember, in these settings, armor is near non-existant... Unless you go for full-body Powered Armor, but... err... Well, when a guy walks into an area in his armor, waving a huge minigun, killing random people... Those random people might join together, and totally kill him of...
Or, when a group terrorises a community, other people might hear from it, and decide to take revenge, book passage on a shuttle to that area, and start to kick arse
Or, when a group terrorises a community, other people might hear from it, and decide to take revenge, book passage on a shuttle to that area, and start to kick arse
The Fallout series was very popular and they weren''t set in a fantasy world.
Maybe one of the reasons a high proportion of the big-name RPGs are fantasy-based is because a high proportion of them are being made by the same studio and they have a license to do AD&D games.
Just one possibility.
R.
Maybe one of the reasons a high proportion of the big-name RPGs are fantasy-based is because a high proportion of them are being made by the same studio and they have a license to do AD&D games.
Just one possibility.
R.
I forget the name of it, but there was recently a PenAndPaper RPG released that was based in a Jules Vern type of world, i.e. with flintlock guns and a lot of 19th century stuff going on. Though, if you can take a storyrpg with themed settings, the wild arms series and xenogears of the top of my head.
:: Inmate2993
"Please refrain from bothering Booster."
[Edited by - Inmate2993 on March 28, 2007 6:48:15 PM]
:: Inmate2993
"Please refrain from bothering Booster."
[Edited by - Inmate2993 on March 28, 2007 6:48:15 PM]
There are actually lots of futuristic RPG''s out there if you look around hard enough. I''ll just point out a few of the ones I''ve stumbled upon.
Final Fantasy VII is semi-futuristic. The city you start in uses all the Earth''s mako energy to power all the shiny things. There''s a transit system that takes you all around the place. There''s a railroad cemetary full of broken down trains, showing that they''ve moved on from locomotive transportation. And there are motorcycles and trucks and cars and everything. Sigh, everytime I think about this game, I love it more and more. Of course, once you leave Midgar and get to other cities, they carry the familiar "Village" look. But the contrast between that and Midgar makes it cool. Cloud, the main character, uses a huge sword. Barret, another playable character, has a gun attached to his arm. That''s technology. But, you run into the point that someone above made. In the end, a sword probably isn''t as deadly as a machine gun. The fact that it takes Barret up to 3 rounds to kill a soldier really makes getting shot look painless.
Final Fantasy VIII was another futuristic RPG. There were space ships and airships and super-high-tech military academy sorta thingies. There''s this one giant mechanical spider you have to fight. I don''t wanna spoil it for anyone that hasn''t played it yet, but here''s some advice. Only kill it if you wanna miss one of the coolest FMV''s in the world.
Parasite Eve is really the most realistic RPG I''ve played. If I''m not mistaken, it''s set in the year 2000 or something like that. The main character is apart of the police force or something and uses real handguns and stuff. No swords or anything. And she battles some wierd parasite thing. I dunno. I only played the game for a couple minutes. But the thing is, after playing all these RPGs set in totally midieval times, Parasite Eve just had a different feel. It just felt strange. And the same thing happened when I played FF9. It was back to the cartoonish midieval look. I wasn''t used to it after playing two Final Fantasies that had futuristic technology mixed with the midieval times. Don''t get me wrong. I loved FF9. It''s just wierd taking such a leap.
The Phantasy Star series is a group of games that were for the Sega Genesis. Old school. But they''re all futuristic if I remember right. If you have a dreamcast, you should try Phantasy Star Online. It''s fun (if you''re not already addicted to EQ like I was).
I think we should call it the "Star Wars" effect. In that movie, fantasy (light-sabers) met science fiction (blasters). The reason it''s such a great movie is that light-sabers really do beat out blasters by deflecting the laser shots. That''s creativity. Final Fantasy VII and VIII were great games, and I''ll always love them, but you have to admit it. When forming a party to go take on the big bad bosses of evil, if you were thinking straight, you thought about which characters would work best with the sword-swinging Cloud/Squall before you thought about adding in the gun-blazing Barret/.......see? I can''t even remember the cowboy in FF8''s name. Only reason I remembered Barret was because his skin''s the same color as mine.
Final Fantasy VII is semi-futuristic. The city you start in uses all the Earth''s mako energy to power all the shiny things. There''s a transit system that takes you all around the place. There''s a railroad cemetary full of broken down trains, showing that they''ve moved on from locomotive transportation. And there are motorcycles and trucks and cars and everything. Sigh, everytime I think about this game, I love it more and more. Of course, once you leave Midgar and get to other cities, they carry the familiar "Village" look. But the contrast between that and Midgar makes it cool. Cloud, the main character, uses a huge sword. Barret, another playable character, has a gun attached to his arm. That''s technology. But, you run into the point that someone above made. In the end, a sword probably isn''t as deadly as a machine gun. The fact that it takes Barret up to 3 rounds to kill a soldier really makes getting shot look painless.
Final Fantasy VIII was another futuristic RPG. There were space ships and airships and super-high-tech military academy sorta thingies. There''s this one giant mechanical spider you have to fight. I don''t wanna spoil it for anyone that hasn''t played it yet, but here''s some advice. Only kill it if you wanna miss one of the coolest FMV''s in the world.
Parasite Eve is really the most realistic RPG I''ve played. If I''m not mistaken, it''s set in the year 2000 or something like that. The main character is apart of the police force or something and uses real handguns and stuff. No swords or anything. And she battles some wierd parasite thing. I dunno. I only played the game for a couple minutes. But the thing is, after playing all these RPGs set in totally midieval times, Parasite Eve just had a different feel. It just felt strange. And the same thing happened when I played FF9. It was back to the cartoonish midieval look. I wasn''t used to it after playing two Final Fantasies that had futuristic technology mixed with the midieval times. Don''t get me wrong. I loved FF9. It''s just wierd taking such a leap.
The Phantasy Star series is a group of games that were for the Sega Genesis. Old school. But they''re all futuristic if I remember right. If you have a dreamcast, you should try Phantasy Star Online. It''s fun (if you''re not already addicted to EQ like I was).
I think we should call it the "Star Wars" effect. In that movie, fantasy (light-sabers) met science fiction (blasters). The reason it''s such a great movie is that light-sabers really do beat out blasters by deflecting the laser shots. That''s creativity. Final Fantasy VII and VIII were great games, and I''ll always love them, but you have to admit it. When forming a party to go take on the big bad bosses of evil, if you were thinking straight, you thought about which characters would work best with the sword-swinging Cloud/Squall before you thought about adding in the gun-blazing Barret/.......see? I can''t even remember the cowboy in FF8''s name. Only reason I remembered Barret was because his skin''s the same color as mine.
Oh I just remembered this one right after I clicked the done button. Chrono Trigger is another RPG with futuristic technology. Crono uses blades, while Lucca uses guns. That''s technology. But the Final Fantasy thing happens again. By the end of the game, Crono''s swords are atleast 4 times as strong as Lucca''s guns. I mean, what is she shooting out of that thing? Water?
There are more futuristic MMORPG''s aswell.
even where they are using swords next to long range weaponry.
Balance is an issue here though.
just take a look at StarWars galaxies (in dev) and Anarchy Online.
I just think that most of the interest people have still goes out to fantasy settings as mentioned in earlier posts.
greetz,
even where they are using swords next to long range weaponry.
Balance is an issue here though.
just take a look at StarWars galaxies (in dev) and Anarchy Online.
I just think that most of the interest people have still goes out to fantasy settings as mentioned in earlier posts.
greetz,
Space is unknown and wild .
Magic is unknown and wonderfull.
That''s enough to make star wars the most popular movies ever.
In fact you could use star wars story and translate it with minor changes in a pure medfan world.
-* So many things to do, so little time to spend. *-
Magic is unknown and wonderfull.
That''s enough to make star wars the most popular movies ever.
In fact you could use star wars story and translate it with minor changes in a pure medfan world.
-* So many things to do, so little time to spend. *-
quote:Original post by Ronald Forbes
Oh I just remembered this one right after I clicked the done button. Chrono Trigger is another RPG with futuristic technology. Crono uses blades, while Lucca uses guns. That''s technology. But the Final Fantasy thing happens again. By the end of the game, Crono''s swords are atleast 4 times as strong as Lucca''s guns. I mean, what is she shooting out of that thing? Water?
Vampire the Masquerade suffered from this as well.
You could kill someone quicker with a sword you got from 1000 years ago than you could with a minigun. Probably a balance issue, but it was kind of stupid.
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