Meaningfulness in CRPGs

Over the past couple of weeks, Armchair Arcade has been musing on the “meaningfulness” in CRPGs, which essentially boils down to an analysis of (and counterpoints to) some of the statements made by Matt Barton about both single player and massively multiplayer RPGs in his excellent book Dungeons & Desktops: The History of Computer Role-playing Games. Parts one, two, and three are online thus far, but I’m going to go with the section devoted to the author’s interpretation of the “ultimate CRPG”:

1. The chance to either go “stat-heavy”, or to basically ignore the stat-management aspect of the game. This might seem contradictory, but is easy enough to implement in the programming. When a character gains a level of experience, depending on which mode is selected, the game will just use an auto-allocate formula (based on character class, secondary profession choices, alignment/morality/ethic choices made during the game, etc.) or I can micro-manage the thing to my heart’s content.

2. Detailed control over game-engine behavior, apart from the Easy/Medium/Hard/Insane difficulty options:
  – worry about food/water, or ignore it
  – worry about sleep/rest, or ignore it
  – worry about item durability/wear, or ignore it
  – worry about weather effects on game-play, or ignore it
  – worry about magical item “recharge”, or overcharge/explosion, or ignore it
  – strict carry-weight/encumberance limitations, or the ability to ignore them (controlling item stacking)

There could be some consequences of these choices too. As an example; if the user decides to ignore “item durability”, then perhaps certain special/magical weapons would be excluded from the “loot drop” generation. There are other possibilities for ‘rewarding’ the more hardcore players, but doing so should not unduly restrict the more ‘casual’ player.

3. Capability for extremely fine-grained control over the real-time vs. turn-based spectrum of behavior. The Bioware games Baldur’s Gate, Planescape:Torment, and Baldur’s Gate II offered this in a wonderful form. You can trigger an “auto pause” feature after certain conditions hit in-game:
  – an attack on one of the players
  – a hit by one of the players
  – a hit by an enemy NPC
  – etc.

4. Skill-trees that are tied to “actual in-game behavior.” As an example: More time spent wielding a short-sword, regardless of character level, means the character gets ‘better’ with that weapon. I’m not talking about class-restrictions on weapons (clerics wield maces but no blades, rogues can’t use pole-weapons, etc.) nor am I talking about class-bonuses for weapons either. What I mean is; if a player decided to “grind” for a while, even on really low-level stuff, they can improve their skill with their weapon–to a point. Some games offer ‘trainer’ NPCs who offer improvements with given weapons, and this is fine, but it’s usually capped behavior. Naturally there should be a diminishing returns limit to this kind of thing, but to encourage the player “special moves” can be unlocked in this fashion.

5. The dynamic generation of quests. In addition to the pre-made, canned stuff, the game engine should generate various quests based on what the NPC and AI logic encounter in the game. Here’s an example of what I mean:

A group of AI thugs, instead of just ‘lurking ominously’ around the same drab patch of forest, ought to get bigger and tougher if they aren’t put in check by the player or NPC AI. Soon, instead of robbing stray travelers, robbing the local village might seem like a grand idea. At the point a NPC family’s heirloom is stolen, they would naturally be anxious to get it back–hence the game generates a quest, which the player can accept or ignore when they wander through.

One game that does this kind of “dynamic quest with accept/ignore consequences” is Din’s Curse by Soldak Entertainment. While I don’t love the game, the fact that there are real, tangible, visible consequences for actions, that there are dynamically changing quests, is a wonderful addition to the CRPG genre.

6. Secondary or “profession” skills which _matter_, which affect game-play, which affect how players are “perceived” by the NPC/AI of the game. Gathering herbs for a long time ought to get you a good discount from the village alchemist on potions and the like. There should be “dynamically generated quests” which play into the secondary-skill/profession choices made by the player.

7. Secondary or “profession” skills, done in a way that makes sense. Too many games treat the player like a moron–offering in-game skills like ‘fishing’ which the player is NOT EVEN ALLOWED TO TRY?!?? How hard do the designers think it actually IS to fish? Sure, I might suck at it initially, and perhaps can only advance past a certain point by finding a “fishing trainer”, but the whole notion of not even being able to “try” the skill without paying for it is ludicrous. I buy a pole, I cast a line, I have some chance of catching a stupid fish. Simple.

8. The ability to actually try things with some hope of success. I have a good example: In the Eschalon: Book I & II games (from Basilisk Games), there is the typical fantasy-CRPG ‘Alchemy’ skill. You collect various items to combine to make potions; ‘reagents’ vs. ‘reactants’ are the phrases used in-game. You are allowed to TRY mixing various things, though often enough you end up blowing up the flask, destroying the ingredients, and incurring damage on your character in the process.

This is a fantastic thing! Eschalon does one thing wrong in this regard though. While your current “Alchemy” stat affects the percentage chance-of-success, you cannot raise that stat without gaining levels in the typical fashion. If I continue to successfully mix things, not blowing myself up, after X number of successes my “Alchemy” stat SHOULD INCREASE.

9. The ability to try things in order to “identify” them. I get sick of traipsing halfway across a game-world, down through 8 layers of dungeon, only to find something that I then have to take to someone to ID for me. Yes, aiming an unknown wand at a monster might be fraught with danger. Yes, slapping on unknown magic armor can be problematic when it semi-permanently attaches to my skull and lowers my IQ to 3. Yes, drinking an “Exploding Incendiary Oil-Potion of Reeking Troll Innards” probably won’t sit well on my stomach. But when I put on an unknown helmet, and notice that I disappear from view, that’s a “Wicked Cool Thing”(TM)(R)(c)(mouse).

I should still be allowed to TRY it. The original text/ASCII dungeon crawl CRPGs like Moria, Rogue, Angband, et al, allowed you to do this. More often that not, it was like playing Russian-roulette with with a bazooka. By by God, it was FUN!! Even in a perma-death game, it was a blast.

10. Items that I “identify” through; guessing, trial-and-error, temporarily boosted IQ or Wisdom, random lunar alignment, all SHOULD STAY IDENTIFIED.

11. A “fatigue” stat, for tactical combat. I need to be able to RUN AWAY from a battle. Too many games do not allow for a temporary boost of panic-induced speed. No, I shouldn’t be able to keep it up forever. Gothic 3 does this well, with a “fatigue bar” that drains when running/fighting/fast-attacking/etc. The bar recharges slowly when walking, faster when standing still.