Re: Off topic: How are games failing you?
/de-lurk
Some good suggestions here, thanks. Got to check out that 'Crawl.
To the people talking about balance nerfs, item-based gameplay and level grinding... ever tried Guild Wars? As far as action RPGs go, it's pretty lenient on grinding or finding items, and even though skill rebalancing happens once in a while, re-speccing is free. Only the primary profession of the character is set in stone at character creation, otherwise you can freely change the "build" of the character after you've picked up the skills from quests or trainers. (There are 1300+ individual skills that result in literally hundreds of "viable" character builds, and many times that if you accept less viable ones.)
The "higher" forms of GW PvP are very strategic and demanding. There are no char level or gear differences, and lots of communication and coordination is required. However, it does take quite a commitment to build the skills and social networks required to break into PvP. Also, it certainly doesn't represent even remotely realistic fantasy army action - it's just small-teams tactics in a fantasy setting.
-----------------------
I'd like to see a very casual action RPG enter the market, something that could be played with friends a couple hours per week. Focusing on the "action" part would be nice too - complex character systems probably wouldn't fit the bill with my buddies. The multiplayer expansion for Mount & Blade sounds nice, we'll see how that turns out.
|