I've trudged through act I, gone through act II, III and have emerged in act IV. (There isn’t much else to play. Where I’m at now doesn’t have much in way of games. The other choice is Dungeon Siege.) Thus far, I must profess to being distinctly unimpressed, and while the "it gets better after act I" claims are somewhat true, it's mostly because surely it cannot get any worse. BD is an adequate offering in light of the less-than-good RPGs released recently, but overall, it still is average at its best moments, and downright mediocre at worst. It has some good points, but the flaws overshadow most of them. About all I can say is, hey, at least the music is lovely.
I agree with all your points Winterfox. BD was a mediocre offering. I also did like the music, however. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
I don't know why BD irritated me as much as it did - I've certainly played much worse games. Two reasons perhaps: Firstly my expectations were high after enjoying Divine Divinity several times through. Secondly, there were just too many bad or mediocre things to overlook. You'd get past one irritating bug or piece of sloppy editing or design and up would pop another one. The stuff that was OK (of which there was plenty) was just OK, not fresh or compelling enough to make up for the bad stuff. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/disagree.gif" alt="" />
But to concentrate on the positive, here's what I DO look for in an RPG:
1. Strong and interesting story with some decent character and plot development. Not just the usual generic fantasy repeats that too many rpgs dish up these days. If you can't think of anything fresh to write about demons, goblins and wizards then give us another setting please. Please also give us some decent interaction between characters.
2. Humour. Make that humour and intelligence. A few modest smiles at some of the lines in BD left me wanting more. More scenes like the very funny existential discussion between the skeletons in DD please.
3. Interesting and attractive settings. Somewhere that's actually intriguing and rewarding to explore. BD had FAR too much boring repetitive dungeon and corridor type scenery and the open air settings were mostly dreary wrecked looking wastelands.
4. LESS BLOODY RUBBISH! Geez, I'm tired of lame barrel smashing nonsense and endless pointless junk. Some of us can actually play for more than 7 seconds without some idiotic "reward". Whoops! That's sounding negative... Please give us more interesting and relevant items to discover, even if it is at the cost of less things to find overall.
5. Stats that actually make a difference. I would greatly prefer a much streamlined set of skills that make a difference to how the play unfolds. Too many of the stats and attributes in BD were simply too "lite" to make any noticeable difference to how the fights or story played out.
6. IMAGINATION. BD felt like Larian had used up all their imagination in DD and had slapped together BD from leftovers in the waste basket. Please, if your well of imagination has run low, get some fresh talent on board, or do whatever it takes to refill it. I'm sure it's an easy thing to fall prey to - even Bioware turned out a stale piece of writing work with the original Neverwinter Nights.
RPGs pander to the following human interests:
Nosiness (exploring, gossip, storyline...)
Shopping (Item collection, stats, etc...)
Violence (A decent fight sytem that offers something more than just the same fight over and over and over with slightly different graphics...)
So I want something that panders to my inner Shopper - some interesting and engaging shopping, not just a walk through yet another K-mart or McDonalds. I also want something that really gives that nosiness something to sniff out, not just more dungeon walls, barrels and levers... And some fun and variety in the violence too please. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
