Are CPRGs REALLY the wave of the future?

[I'm A Banana]

I absolutely ADORE the story-based CRPG's. They're what got me into D&D in the first place.

I see PnP RPG's as being much more open-ended, and much more concerned with balance.

In a videogame, there can be a cheat to get an uberitem at an early point in the game...part of the fun of the game is to "win" and see the ending. Uberitems help you win.

In D&D, you can't haven a uberitem, because you can't really win. There's no point where you really have to say: "Okay, it's done now. Yahoo. Press start."

Similarly, you can't have complex collecting schemes or anything in D&D. Because it bogs down play.

CRPG's automate so much, it's possible for them to have some truly complex mechanics. For D&D, not so much.

D&D, however, is open and varied. Because you don't have to program what happens when Character x uses item Y, ther's a lot more room for development and random insertion. You can do more with D&D, because you can do things with your imagination that the limits of hardware say you can't do otherwise.

You never reach a wall you can't break in D&D. It's never a case of "I do this, this always happens." You never go through the first stages in an automated trance, because you know all the secrets.

There are some things that are mutually exclusive. It's like film and a novel. There are some things that just won't work in translation. But each has their own superb strengths.

 

[MulhorandSage]

Nothing can replace the infinite imagination of a human being.

I waited 2 years with high hopes for NWN, but it turned out so much less.

The infinite imagination of the human being is way overrated. If the majority of GMs had one-tenth of the imagination of Planescape: Torment, our games would be much more interesting.

Scott Bennie

 

[Tsyr]

I don't think CRPS will REPLACE PnP. I think they do fill a niche as an augmentation or filler for when PnP isn't doable.

My little Top 10 CRPG of All Time list:

1) Final Fantasy VI: Love this one with all my heart and soul. Suspect I would be a broken shell of a man had I never encountered this game. All aspects of life since are coloured by this encounter.

Okaaaaay, so that sounds corney, but this game will hold a special place in my heart for all time.

2) Deus Ex: Very cool... great for a fan of Shadowrun, Cyberpunk, Rifts... Yeah, it's an action/RPG hybrid in that it's a first person game and you get to aim the gun yourself and stuff, but it's so much more too. Gimmie a Dragon's Tooth, a wrist-crossbow with poison darts, a taser, enough lockpicks and multitools, and a couple of the right nano-augs, and I'll rule the world...

3) System Shock 2: Another good one for fans of Cyberpunk type games... also downright creepy. Psionics, Cybernetics, Lasers, Zombies, Hacking, Psionic Mutant Monkies of Doom, a haunted computer with multiple personalities, a great storyline and good gameplay... this game is a blast.

4) Daggerfall: Yeah, it's buggy. Yeah, it's old. But my word is this game huge. Cities that actualy fell big enough to be a city (Something most CRPGs don't have, I regret), hundreds of cities and towns, hundreds of dungeons, and absolutely no need to follow a plot whatsoever! Be a hero of millions, a traveling merchant-prince, a mage-smith, a grand archmage, a theif, an assassin, a werewolf or a vampire... you name it.

5) Baldurs Gate II & Expansion pack: Ok... not quite as good a storyline as Planescape maybe, but IMHO, it's a lot of fun in it's own right.

6) Morrowind: Not quite as freeform as Daggerfall, but it comes close... Not near as large in scope though, sadly. But the ability to edit it to your hearts content helps! Also not as old and buggy as Daggerfall.

7) Anarchy Online: The best of the "current gen" of CRPSs... a year or so ago I would have had Everquest in this spot, but IMHO, Everquest hasn't kept up with the emerging games very well. Also highly recomended for a fan of the Cyberpunk genre.

8) Neverwinter Nights: Ok, this game has gotten a bad rap. It's a bit undeserved IMHO. People were expecting this game to be the next best thing to sliced bread or something, but it's only a computer game. Yes, I have a few problems with it too... BUT, overall, I think it's done very well for what it is.

9) Ultima: Black Isles (I think I got the right one...). A good game, if a bit dated. This is a good clasic none-the-less.

10) Dark Age of Camelot: IMHO, the best of the current fantasy MMORPGs... though both Horizons and Shadowbane have a chance of unseating this one.

 

[hong]

The infinite imagination of the human being is way overrated. If the majority of GMs had one-tenth of the imagination of Planescape: Torment, our games would be much more interesting.

Scott Bennie

We're not worthy
We're not worthy


Never will I miss an opportunity to pimp Rhys Hess's novelisation of the in-game dialogue:

http://www.wischik.com/lu/senses/pst-book.html

Chris Avellone is a god.