so, today's elemental blog post contained another subtle reference to the idea that stardock might be making an RPG, or planning to make one.
personally i think it's a great idea; there are few studios putting out great WRPGs these days, but sales are still high, so it seems like demand exceeds supply. and those that are coming are being increasingly consolised, or have the joy of creation stripped out in the name of streamlining. i personally don't consider choosing between 4 stats to increase (and nothing else), or rigidly defined classes and "builds" makes for great roleplaying. i would cite dragon age 2 as an example. stardock as a middle-ware developer could definately fill this niche.
so what are your thoughts on the idea of a stardock rpg? what sort of setting should they use? go for a licence? maybe use the elemental setting? should they make their own ruleset, or an existing one? what sort of perspective do you prefer for these games?
Well, since neither of us can back up our statements, let's just hope we won't find out who is right.
yes, that's why i'd lean towards a baldur's gate or nwn2 style game. stardock will never be able to make the next fallout or oblivion anyway. hopefully they can do this without imposing rigid class systems on characters. nwn2 is a good example of how you can do this (with multiclassing and prestige classes, it is effectively classless in all but name). specialised characters make for better tactical interplay between group members.
but i agree they will definately need to step up on the voice acting, music and writing to be taken seriously (although i'd ratehr not have player character voice acting). and cut back on the snathi. seriously, it makes them look amateur.
it's definately not worth doing unless they can do it well.
+1
Friends,
I wouldn't mind seeing an OLD-SCHOOL game, but with modern graphics in 3/4 perspective (I HATE RPGs in FIRST-PERSON!!!! I want an RPG!!! NOT a SHOOTER!!!). When I say old school, I mean something like the system that EA used for "WASTELAND". You created your character and you could add the points to your skills that you obtained upon leveling, but you didn't have to because every time you used a skill (lockpicking, brawling, gambling, etc.), it had a chance to raise by +1 on it's own. This was a cause of running my team around the desert looking for tough opponents to get their combat skills up. I used my points for my stats, and NEW SKILLS when they were available.
I have to admit, I'm not too big on traditional fantasy games right now. Let's face it, that's 99% of all the games ever released. Right now I favor post-apocalypse games, and I'd REALLY like to see a decent Wild West RPG. Anyone else a fan of, "WASTELAND"? Imagine that system transferred to a Wild West setting.
Imagine "WASTELAND" with modern graphics but the same system. OOOOHHHH!!!!!
CKB
Wasteland with modern graphics would be Fallout, seeing as how Fallout would have been Wasteland 2 if Interplay had retained the rights to the name. Although I can understand wanting an RPG with a top down perspective, RPGs with first person perspective existed long before the shooter was invented.
As for the Stardock RPG, if you ever get around to it, my thoughts: Look at Bioware, go in the other direction.
Can't quite agree there. FPS came out a little bit before a FPRPG came out. The early 70's I believe. Yep, they had games back then!
Also, Frogboy has stated many times in the past, they will always support their games so long as they exist as a company. If a game does terribly, they most likely will not continue to make expansions for it, but a patch here and there isn't out of the question. However, this worry is somewhat moot in my opinion, as Frogby has said that Elemental's sales have picked up in recent months. I believe the series has a bright future, and I am looking forward to seeing where they take the world they've created.
As for the Stardock RPG.. I'd like a real in-depth RPG set in the world of Elemental. Maybe something around the time of the Titans coming and wrecking everything. That'd be the best place for them to start in my opinion.
You're right, there was Maze War. What I should have said was that there were first person RPG games before the First Person Shooter genre was defined as it is today.
I would also like the setting you mentioned, mostly because if it were set after the war with the titans, it would be a post apocalyptic fantasy game, and then it would clash with Age of Decadence.
How about a post-apocalyptic fantasy game? Because that is what Elemental is (it just does not come though very well in E:WoM).
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