That's why I don't like Drakensang 1 not as much as Drakensang 2 ... Although DRASA 1 isn't a bad game either. It just has more combat in it.
I just wish there would be a rather story-driven game for the Divinity universe as well - but I accept and understand the current decisions to make them more action-focused.
And that's why I loked FOV (which I tested in May, remember ?) much more than the main game.
In my case, it seems to be a matter of taste, really.
And if you take away all of this "dark & gritty" stuff of Dragon Age 1, then - from this perspective - it's a very nice, story-drivn game, too, imho.
And regarding this story stuff : There's currently a pure adventure game for TDE in development : "Satinav's Chains".
Apart from the darker nd much more action-focused game of "Demonion", which is in development for TDE also.
Both take place in Aventuria, but the known screenshots of "Satinav's Chains" (German : "Satinavs Ketten") are far too dark for my taste.
Too often I feel like a real Alien here in Gaming, because I do love those light-hearted settings and colours - but nobody does them anymore ... At least not here in Europe, and most certainly not with the overall influence of the DRagon Age series on the whole genre ...
I expect ( ! ) the whole RPG genre becoming kind of flooded with Dragon Age clones - and I mean the art direction. More dark, more gritty, more mature (whatever this means . I'm 41 now and I don't like this "mature" stuff at all, just because I want to *relax* from real-life affairs when I play a gme and hate it when real-life themes are dawn into games - that's why I like love Maniac Mansion, for example).
I fear and expect the whole RPG genre become "flooded" or/and at least heavily influenced by the art direction of Dragon Age 1.
People will - I fear - EXPECT role-playing games to be as dark and as gritty as possible - they'll HATE games which are light-hearted, I fear ... And even worse : I fear that the youngsters mong the players of hese "D&G" gmes ("D&G" = "dark & gritty", an abbreviation I developed last year)will call the playrs of light-hearted and colourful game "whiners" and "losers" and so on - regardless of age. That's why I often throw in my *real* age of 41 ... The older the people are, the more respect hey get ...
And this is my current theory on the PC as a gaming platform :
http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1061062585&postcount=30And if you of Larian want to become really famous for a really long, long, long time, then do a turn-based strategy game ! - Because that's what just in't there, currently. The fans of TBS games are thirsting for it.
The only *real* poblem ould be to find publisher for it ...
The other thing totally missing is space flight sims. The X series is currently seemingly the only one avilable. That's a real "drought" as well.
Ad I don't mention Jump & Run games becue I'm not sure anyon would play them nowdays - but since the casual games mrket is insnely lacking true creativity right now, I see potential there, if someone managed to sweep away the whole market with a REALLY COOL product ...
And here's a imho very good analysis of the casual games market, albeit in German language (but there are good translation programs out thre already) :
http://www.makinggames.de/index.php/magazin/825_casual_in_der_sackgasseKey sentence there (manually translated by me) :
"The design of casual games is dictated by business plans, not by the willingness for risks and creativity, because the publishers are schockingly spineless regarding experiments. The network of the casual business with its peripheral [?], individual developer teams should be a source of immense creativity. Instead the finance-strong gatekeeprs use/utilize their whole force/power for phase/synchronize [?] its acteurs [the developing teams]."
Das Design von Casual-Spielen wird von Wirtschaftsplänen bestimmt, nicht von Risikobereitschaft und Kreativität, denn die Publisher sind schockierend feige gegenüber Experimenten. Das Netzwerk der Casualbranche mit ihren dezentralen, individuellen Entwicklerteams müsste eine Quelle immenser Schöpfungskraft sein. Stattdessen richten die finanzkräftigen Torwächter ihre ganze Kraft darauf, die Akteure gleichzuschalten.
This isn't only the main problem in the casual games market, ut also in the complete PC games market, and tht's one of the reasons I speak of the PC platform as a "degenerated platform".