OT: a nice RPG-ish game?

[Stormbinder]

Alneyan said:
I must say my view is closer to Deccan. Torment is based on dialogue, its universe (which is borrowed from the pen and pencil RPG of the same name), but has little else to its name. At least, I get quite bored when doing battles and the like, and only the dialogues kept my interest alive in this game (they are good enough to make me love the game, however).

I would definitively not put Torment on the same level as, say, Darklands or Daggerfall, or others. So a Category should be created for this one; what about "rattling box RPG"? A game such as Albion would be much closer to the gameplay I had with Torment, or even Omkiron for this matter . These are games I did not play for their RPG side, but for their ambiance and background. On the other hand, my description quite looks like some of the Ultimas (namely Ultima VII and VIII; I did not play Ultima IX), so perhaps I am just splitting hair.

Errr... You are saying Ultima 7 and Ultima 8 in the same breath??? Most Ultima fans would call for your blood at this point. Are you sure you did not confuse numbers?

As for the Tornment and other roleplaying games - there are many different types and subgenres of RPGs, naturally. Obviously PS:T is different type of RPG than Darklands. Just like Fallout is different type of RPG from System Shock 2.

However just because one RPG is different from another, that doesn't make one of them none-RPG. RPG stands for Role Playing. In Albion that you mentioned for example, you can't roleplay at all. IIRC it has no choices, no multyply endings, and is very linera. It is still considered to be RPg, because it has mechanics and numbers, and this is fine. In PS:T in addition to all numenrs and choices how to develop your character, you roleplay more than in any other RPG that I ever played during each step of your long journey, and as I said I've played a lot of computer and none computer rpgs. So of course PS:T is RPG.

[Alneyan]

Ultima VIII isn't a bad game, as long as you do not expect it to be the same as Ultima VII (or any other Ultima I know of for this matter). It should have been released under another name I guess though. So while Ultima VIII isn't exactly what you would call a game as the previous Ultimas, it is a fine game on its own (not the better I have ever played however).

Well, I gather RPG is only a convenient label to stick on anything that has a character and ways of "changing" this character (either her behaviour or various statistics). For this matter, you could probably roleplay in Minesweeper. Sure, there are easier things in the world, but if you have too much time on your hands... It would even be an exciting adventure.

"I stood here, at the crossroads of fate. On my left was a barren land, a suitable place to lay a trap for the unwary. A grove could be seen to my right, a pleasant place to look at. I was left to wonder at which direction to take, and where was the Last Mine of Power I sought. While the waste seemed a cliché place for an ambush, nobody with her wits would even think of crossing this place. On the other hand, the forest was a welcoming place, but a trap would be difficult to set up there.

These many questions came to my mind while I stood there, contemplating the various options at my disposal. And suddenly, the answer occured to me: why, I but had to cast this spell of Detect Hidden I found after disabling the Seventh Mine of Power. And so I understood; there was no trap either in the wasteland or in the grove, for I had already discovered where was the Last Mine. I was standing right over it, and did not have the time to consider this particular pattern of thought before being sent to the closest afterlife that could be found for me." Make sure to seek our exciting sequel next time, "The thoughts of a leaf of bread left under a dusty desk for two weeks"!

Hmm, back to our original scheduled programme...