Re: [stella] RPG Design

Subject: Re: [stella] RPG Design
From: emooney@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Erik Mooney)
Date: Tue, 06 Jul 1999 03:35:09 GMT
>So anyway, story is paramont in my mind.  Many RPG's I've been
>introduced to mainly consist of "wander around until you build EP and
>get a high enough level to take out the bad guy."  Admittedly, most
>RPG's follow this to a point, but it can get boring if that is all you
>are doing for thirty hours until the next plot element.  The story
>helps you slog through the monotony of moments like this because you
>want to know what happens next.

My two alltime favorite RPGs are Final Fantasy I for the NES, and Diablo
for the PC (though the RPGness of that is debatable).  Next is probably
Ultima IV NES.  All of them strike a perfect balance between story and
allowing free exploration.  There's just enough structure to keep you from
getting bored, while not reining you in and allowing free exploration.
They also all have great replay value, with different characters and play
styles.

The first Legend of Zelda had that balance as well, though the later games
got too linear (go here, bring this there, get these boots to get past
here) for my taste.  The Playstation Castlevania game also does the
exploration within a story framework thing great, though it's also a tad
item-oriented.

The common thread between all of them is that there's a number of tasks
that have to be done, but it's up to the player to decide how best to
tackle them.  FF1: four orbs and a number of side locations; Ultima IV:
eight dungeons, eight virtues, etc; Zelda: 8 dungeons; Castlevania: get
all the transformation relics in the first castle and then the five relics
of Vlad in the second castle.  Even Diablo does this, in the very long
run... the tasks are to get the best possible weapon, armor, helm, rings,
spells for your hero.

So, that's definitely what I like in an RPG - lots of nonlinear tasks, and
replayability with different characters.

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