I made a post about what I wanted to see in the future of RPGs (video game wise)  and even computer games in general. So here it is in verbatim (grammar and spelling mistakes included ):

Well, me? I want to see much more involving or even cinematic storylines similar to Mass Effect. RPG’s with epic storylines should try any actually make the atmosphere epic.I mean if an RPG is going to a have a storyline similar to Metal Gear Solid or Half Life, then it should have that type of atmostphere and pacing as well.

NPC’s should be a lot more interactive and involving. For example, instead of having a choice of dialogue lines, you could have a choice a type of response (agressive, weak..etc) each mapped to a different button and when you respond you don’t actually say anything (ala Gordon Freeman) and the NPC reacts to it. You could but into conversations if you press a button quick enough or have very long awkward pauses and the NPC will ask if there is something wrong with you. It’ll add so much more to the role playing.

Cities should actually feel more like cities. Developers should look into MMO’s as an inspiration to creating virtual communities in a single player RPG. I felt that GTA:San Andreas did a great job in creating a living city (except for the fact that they did noting but wanl/drive around and you couldn’t really interact with them besides killing them) and when you played the missions, you felt like you were a part of a community. Shame that you couldn’t visit your fellow ganstas outside of missions.

I wish developers were aware that you don’t actually need stats in an RPG anymore. I don’t mean that stats should be abolished or anything because some games require them but they need to know it isn’t a neccessity (like random battles). Stats were used to create a sense of realism back when we were limited by our technology. Now we can actually see where we are injured by just looking at our avatar or with visual aids. We don’t need to roll a dice to see if we have dodged an attack, we can just move our avatar away.
I know the removal of stats won’t please anyone. A few diehard fans weren’t happy when they found out that Mass Effect used a GRAW/Gears of War type of battle system. Some games will need their stats and I feel they should but games that want to be action oriented should know that stats don’t have to hold them back from being more realistic or involving.

I think there should be a blurring between the systems a RPG uses. You don’t need to have seperate screens for a battle or an inventory. We don’t have to have a battle bit, a world map bit, a conversation bit and a inventory bit. It can be more persistent. For example you could be in a shop without actually having to open a new screen. You can see the merchange physically handing a sword over to you as you give him your money. Suddenly some bandits burst in but there is not battle screen transition. You are already in battle. You fight the bandits in real time as well as talking to/ordering your party. you manage to kill most of the bandits and many of the towns people come and congratulate you. Meanwhile the merchant is hiding in the closet scared shitless. He has thrown money at you and you start to pick it up as well as the other items from the fallen bandits while your party talk to the townsfolk inquiring about the bandits. Suddenly a little boys calls out and points up the road. You see bandit riding away on horseback in the distance and your party are about to give chase. But a woman points and says “Look!” and as soon as she says that a guard knocks the bandit off the horse and engages him in battle. You see that he needs help but already one of you party members have lined up the bow and shoots the bandit in the leg. The guard lops off his head and waves to you in thanks in the distance. The townspeople cheer and throw money at you.

Yeah that’s what I want RPG’s to be like. Not too much to ask I suppose?

So yeah, I’ve been too lazy (or busy) to write anything recently. >____>  I guess my posts will be sporadic for this year while I get to my grips with my study. I promise I’ll try and write when I can!

Role Playing Games are an interesting bunch. I haven’t really played much of them but they are one of the genres I think that do really hold the future of gaming.

There has been a common misconception about RPGs in which people I know (and also myself used to) believe in. A lot of people I know think that RPGs are about ‘leveling up’ your character, fighting monsters and gaining loot, roaming through dungeons and doing side quests. It’s true many RPGs contain these elements but that is not what the core of the genre is about. RPGs are exactly what they say they are; Role Playing Games. You take a role of a created (or a pre-defined) character and you make choices which reflect the personality of your character and the world responds to these choices appropriately.

By taking on that definition, this means there hasn’t been many RPGs made (argueably none at all), with Fallout being the many few. This is true, the genre itself has kind of lost its direction. I guess this is because of the early games that came out which did not have the technology to make worlds that responded to your actions and instead they focused on combat, monsters and dungeons. Also, games like Final Fantasy introduced the RPG genre to the Japanese market and they then began to take a different, more story-focused approach the genre.

I don’t know if there will ever be ‘true’ RPGs anytimes soon. After all, the worlds the developers make must respond to all different sorts of characters in appropriate ways. But what I would like to see is a more of  focus of what RPGs are about. A little less focus of statistics and more on choices and consequences.

I’ve always never liked/been good at stealth games. The very thought of them contradict why I primarily play games (but not why everyone else does). I play games ultimately to have fun and rest my mind after all the work I have done. I don’t really want to think much while I play and nor do I care about how I play. I guess that’s why I’m not a good gamer and it speaks volumes of my personality. But this is the nature of who I am when I want to escape from work and I hope to change it when I have more free time.

Anyway, to the point. Stealth games frustrate me. I love Metal Gear Solid and although the stealth is rudimentary in the first game, I always did not like it. I’m probably not a patient person, I like to run and gun at things. Also, I don’t really understand the games and how they work. Playing Deus Ex, I did not know that I could hide in shadows so I spent time cowering behind cover and when I peeked out I would be caught. I also don’t know what I can and can’t do in a stealth game; how far the AI saw, and whether or not the enemies had a patrol we had to observe and exploit. I also like to explore in games. Making me do stealth restricts that. I also feel unsatisfactory as I felt like I need to kill everyone to complete the game. >_>

However I did like the stealth elements in Crysis. It is easy (you had an invisibility cloak) but at the hard difficulty, the game edged you towards sneaking around. I guess I liked games where stealth was an option which you did not have to choose. I always hated it when you are forced into a stealth task where the main game isn’t about stealth-ing. It always causes frustration for me. But in Crysis, I liked sneaking right under the nose of the North Koreans with the opportunity of de-cloaking anytime for some gun action.

I guess that’s the reason why we don’t see may stealth oriented games anymore. Many people probably feel the same as me and this has caused a changed in target market. Games like MGS4 and Splinter Cell: Double Agent allow a combat oriented approach (or so I hear). But I don’t want this. I still like the stealth genre to stay even if it isn’t for me. I want to see a new Thief sequel. I hope one day to have a craving for these types of games and then to enter a new wonderful genre (which I did with Prince Of Persia : SOT, I did not feel like playing it at first and now later, I felt like playing and finished it, enjoying it immensely). After all, doesn’t the thought of being a cold and calculating character, hiding in the shadows passing through guards like a ghost sound fun to play?

Well it’s been a while since my last update. I’ve been inundated with work for the past few days. I really shouldn’t leave my work to the last minute. :/

I’ve been having some sort of procrastination problem for the last few years (or probably my whole life) in that, every time I need to complete a task within a long time frame, I put it of until the very last minute. Well you can say that’s quite normal, since everyone procrastinates. But the problem is, I still do it during the last hours of the deadline. I end up rushing it late at night with me dissatisfied with how it turns out. Every time, I promise myself not to do it and every time it happens.

The moment I receive a task, I think to myself, “I have plenty of time. No need to rush it.” So I attempt to do something the first few days but it usually amounts to nothing as I am dissatisfied with it or it is too little to be considered progress. I then get distracted with other tasks and procrastination over most of the time frame. I keep thinking that I have heaps of time. So when the last few days come, I finally try and put some effort into it. The progress then is still small. I always feel that I’m not in the ‘mood’ to do it and that perhaps the next day, I will have more motivation. This is why I haven’t really finished something a day or more ahead of its due date. It is then the last day I start doing a lot of work. Most of the work goes without planning and I even use the earlier work as there is no time to redo. I even get distracted then. It is then, very late into the night (or even early morning), I finish most of my work. I still leave some of it to the last minute, literally.

I guess I’m some sort of wannabe perfectionist. Everything I do, I don’t think its ‘right’ so I redo or leave later. It is only then, near the end, when I have no choice, I make progress.

I always say to myself it will be done better next time but it doesn’t happen.

I believe the problem comes in my motivation and my distractions. The distractions are the easy part. I’ve limited them to two; computer and music.

Everything I do on the computer always leads me to wander off into the net or mucking around with my settings. I almost never play games to procrastinate so my distraction is both unfulfilled and time wasting. I can work on other computers, like at the library, as they seem designed for work whereas my PC seems more for fun. All I have to do is to do all my work on writing and use library computers when I need to.

I wish music was not a distraction. I think I am one of the very few who can’t work and listen to music at the same time. I always tend to listen to it actively and stop all my work. It feels as if I need to do it to enjoy it properly or it doesn’t make me concentrate well. Sometimes I can work with it well but it is a bit of a hit and miss. If I listen to music with others, I can work like the reason above with computers. I don’t really have a MP3 player so the problem is not a prevalent.

So I guess all I have to do is to keep myself away from these distractions. Sounds easy doesn’t it?

I don’t know what to do with motivation. I find myself working better at night when even one is asleep and I feel more alive. I think if I remove my distractions, my motivation will soon come as a discipline.

So I guess this is my new (year) resolution. I hope I can pull this of as this year is quite important to me.

PS: I just noticed that I had some visitors! Either that, or it was me viewing my page multiple times. Anyway, thanks for popping by! Hope you enjoy the stay.

QTEs have been quite prevalent in games today. Almost every blockbuster action/adventure includes some sort of QTE in it at some moment. For those that don’t know, the Quick Time Event is essentially an interactive cutscene. At some point in the game, there will be a prompt for the player to push a key within a certain time frame so that the character within the game can successfully deal with an obstacle. Many people feel that the QTE is an overused feature that is not very fun at all.

So here are some cons regarding QTEs:

• Strict time limits and insta-death. QTEs are notorious for making the player feel like they need the reaction time of a ninja to perfom them successfully and if they fail, they die and have to replay the whole scene again. This is mainly why people hate QTEs.

• Arbitrary button presses. You could basically call Guitar Hero and Dance Dance Revolution a very long QTE but what makes them so enjoyable is that they feel like you are doing the real thing (maybe not so much DDR). However, many other games have QTEs that don’t fall in line, or even contradict, their main control scheme. And they may also not have the correct rhythm so that it feels like the player is actually performing the action.

If this sounds so awful, then why do developers still keep on insisting using these QTEs? Well simple, they convey complex and intricate maneuvers with simple button presses. It keeps the player in control and makes they feel like they are doing awesome things. It makes cutscenes more fun and interactive. This is what I liked about QTEs but unfortunately many have fallen short of what they were intended to do in the first place. They become overused for mundane actions and require split-second reaction. It’s not very fun when you are playing your favourite game when a message pops up on your screen saying, “Press X within a second or you’ll die and have to replay this level again!”

My suggestion? I propose the STE (Slow Time Event). They are more generous in their timing so that even a grandma can handle them. They feel like you are actually doing the action and give you prior warning if they are about to come up. If you fail them, you can continue playing but those that do them successfully gain some sort of reward. They don’t happen very often but when they do, they feel like you are undertaking something awesome when in fact, they are leading up to something even better.

Well I guess that English journal thing I was planning to do kinda failed.

Fortunately I can now use this blog to talk about things I like! Right now, I’m actually I bit busy so I’ll post something later. This is just a note to let you know that I’m still alive (if you care).