So far, I've talked a lot about First-Person Shooters (FPS's), like Half-Life and Quake. There's a lot of effort expended in FPS's to give you a sense of immersion in the game worlds. That's what the first-person perspective is for, after all. One immersive element is missing, though; in first person shooters, you may be playing the role of a character in the story, but the only growth your character shows is shown when you, the player, improves and
gets better. You may be sharpening your skills, but what about those characters in the game? Rarely do they
change. Or do they?
Welcome to computer Role-Playing Games (or RPGs), where you control at least one virtual person and watch them
grow. To readers who are already well-versed in computer RPGs, this month's column is more for folks who are new to this venue of video gaming; sorry if anything sounds repetitive. Now, there's a variety of RPGs and I'll try to explain the two major types I categorize them into here.
There's the hack-and-slash kind--otherwise known as the "dungeon crawling"
variety. In these types you don't do much except fight and kill stuff. You
explore an area, kill everything that moves, and then you explore a new area.
Examples of this type are Diablo and (for the most part) Darkstone.
Then there's the plot-based type. In this type you have a world to explore,
people to interact with, and plot elements happening. Examples here include the
Baldur's Gate series (including Icewind Dale) I have to point out that, as far as I can tell, Darkstone
wishes it was in this category... But it's not.
So, what are the two types good far? Well, RPGs like Diablo (and Diablo 2) are very good at getting lots of
clicking in. Gameplay is sort of midway between Quake and Baldur's Gate; you get to
build up a character, chosen from a varitey of archetypes (I like the Fighter-types best), and watch it
improve. You get new skills. You get new weapons. These skills and weapons
allow you to kill bigger and tougher monsters. That's the good news. The bad
news is that the monsters keep getting tougher, so it all sort of evens out.
This game type is very nice for multi-play as well. You can team up with
friends and kill the monsters more easily. (Or you can attack each other and test
your abilities.)
I like these hack-and-slashers because they don't have to take a lot of time; you can play a bit now and a bit later and you
typically don't worry about what's coming next in the story. You already know: another monster. The only
surprise is what weapons you get as your character advances. I also really enjoy modifying and building up the
abilities of my character over time--seeing what each new skill or ability does. That's the
fun of these.
Plot-based RPGs are the "thinking" kind of RPG. The "takes-a-lot-of-time" kind. And wow, do these
take a lot of time. You get thrust into an entire world. You control the life
of a person. Not only do you fight things (they're video games, after all) but
you also get to interact with the denizens of the world. In Diablo, some limited amount of world-interaction is designed; you walk
around and can talk to a handful of people in town, like shop owners, mostly so you can get new stuff
so you can go kill some more monsters. In these more plot-heavy games, you get to talk to a much wider variety of people walking around in--and outside--the cities. You learn about their lives. You learn about what's going on in the
cities. You can reply to questions and your answers will determine what happens
to you. Your actions now hold weight. (Some of you might remember games like the old Nintendo Legend of Zelda at this point--they're all part of the same family, and a lot of the elements you remember from Zelda are still around.)
In some of the newest RPGs, that "non-player" character (NPC) interaction carries through to the whole world, too. In Diablo, for example, you are't allowed to attack inside the cities; it isn't even an option. In Baldur's Gate, you can. If you do, though, the
city may send guards after you, people in the town who've "heard" of your reputation won't like you, and shop keepers may no
longer deal with you.
I mentioned that these sort of RPGs take a lot of time. Of course, they can both suck up a lot of time, but with Diablo, the issue is in taking another minute to beat the next monster in line. With Baldur's Gate, you take another hour to finish the
next plot element.
Unfortunately Baldur's Gate isn't very multi-player friendly. Since
interaction with NPCs is such an intricate part of the game, all communication becomes
important. That means, whenever someone in the same group of characters talks to a person, everyone gets to hear
it (whether their character is within "ear shot" or not). This makes for very slow and frustrating game play. Also, everyone has to
be in the same area together in order the progress the storyline. That's both good news and the bad news about being a
team--you get the advantage of each others' skills, but no individual can hope to break off and do their own thing, progress the story at their own pace, or what have you. [Of course, that's what pencil and paper RPGs are for. - Editor] Oh, you can't fight each other either. Since it's a plot based game, if
you die, the game is over--not like some of the hack-and-slashers, where you simply restart in the nearest town, minus your gear.
Both types provide for a very satisfying gaming experience, depending on what you're in the mood for. I try to trade off
between the hack-and-slashers and the plot-based RPGs, so that I can waste all of my time effectively. Currently I'm
losing sleep over Baldur's Gate II. I'm planning to finish the next chapter or
two before I buy the Diablo 2 expansion pack. Then I'll bash for a while. Then, when I'm all bashed-out,
I'll go back to the world of Baldur's Gate.
On a final note: yep, there are RPG style FPS's. DeusEx is the only example I
know of. [Another fairly recent release in this category is Daikatana. - Editor] In DeusEx you get to custom-build the skills and special abilities your character possesses. You can make his aim more accurate and focus on his weapons skills, for example, or choose to make him better at sneaking around, improving the "stealthy" skills and powers. It's more a Diablo-style RPG than a Baldur's Gate, but it puts the experience in a perspective that's still pretty new to RPG fans.
By the way, if you're curious, all of the above games have demos for downloading available on their websites.
--MIC
Visit these links to check out some of the games mentioned in the article:
Diablo and Diablo 2 are trademarks of Blizzard Entertainment. Darkstone is a trademark of Delphine Software International, used under license by GOD Games. Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate 2 and Icewind Dale are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, used under license by Interplay. Deus Ex is a trademark of Ion Storm LP. Used without permission. No challenge to their status is intended.
8/17/2001
