Well, I have read several comments at RPGWatch, whoch calöled Drakensang "refreshing" BECAUSE of so many "dark & grotty" RPGs nowadays ... I have serious difficulties remembering ANY "good alignment" RPGs in recent times - EVERYTHING tends to be "the darker, the better" nowadays.
In fact, we are getting flooded by dark fantasy settings, and even TDE was influenced so much by dark settings (which you can't see in Drakensang, by the way), that there have been erupted serious discussions whether the current, dark-influenced TDE is still the original, "real" TDE setting ! (TDE = The Dark eye).
Me, I have gained the impression that there are currently 2 groups of people trying to push and influence games into their directions, no mstter whatr other people say :
- gamers who want MP above everything else
- gamers who want a "dark & gritty" game above everything else.
Nowadays, I find myself as being in the minority, because I want SP-only games with a fairy-tale like setting. EVERYINE believes that this is complete crap and must be thrown out immediately !
"The darker, the better" is the current fashion in gaming, and if you manage to tell me 5 role playing games with "good alignment" fairy-tale like settings, you'll get 10 virtual rubber points from me ...
You know, the thing is is that this is true in every genre now-a-days, not even just RPGs.
Name just about any game that's come out recently that actually has an in-depth storyline and you can tell that in the end, regardless of a "karma" system, the backstory is terribly dark and evil.
I can name a few games right off the bat that aren't RPGs and count. inFamous and Resistance are two game series that fit into this greatly. You can play through the entire game and by the end, a terrible and dark thing will occur that just changes the entire mood into a negative one, with some plot "twist" like "Evil is coming" or just the entire game deals with evil all around.
A lot of games recently have this fake wedged in "karma" system where the player can be evil or good, but in the end it makes no difference. Nothing changes by the player being one way or the other.
It is refreshing to see new things where you can be truly good. That's a story-based thing that has left gaming in recent years. What ever happened to the games where in the end, you destroyed evil and the world was at peace? I haven't seen many of those games in the last 3-4 years.
Sorry, just thought I'd add that as I read this thread.
