My ideal experience with a CRPG is that it needs to sell me the idea of being on an adventure, doing adventurous things, going through the struggles that an adventure implies.
Which may include, among other things:
- dangerous but exciting and satisfying combat where a lot is a stake but the rewards are proportional
- highly reactive social encounters, where who I am, what I do and the consequences of my actions are acknowledged as much as reasonably possible
- finding and exploring new exciting and interesting places
- being troubled with the correct spots to rest and/or struggling for resources
- celebrating the finding of something valuable (loot or treasures) and benefitting from it.
- living through a setting that feels consistent with its own premise and doesn't attempt to take you out of it with 4th wall breakings at every step
- achieving some short term goals and some overarching big final one. Bonus points if the story feels personal rather than being about saving the world
Consequently I'm not particularly happy when a game in the genre keeps trying to "gamefy" and simplify things, when against any best judgement it tries its best to BREAK the sense of immersion reminding you constantly that it's not an adventure, just a silly videogame.
When you are rewarded for cutting through the curtains and laugh at/with the people moving the puppets behind the scene, etc.
I can't be a fan of the removal of "tedious" parts of the game experience like identification of items and attunement, that for me helped to sell that illusion of finding mysterious things and living the adventure.
I can't be excited about "shove" being a cartoon gag instead of selling the idea of a physical struggle during a melee engagement, when pushing someone down a precipice doesn't mean watching the bastard fall to the ground but trace a goofy parabolic arc mid-air, when shooting a bow looks like it's just missing a squeaky noise to be a Benny Hill skit, when resting is just a reset button that doesn't involve any actual decision of when and where, nor any potential risk.
I can't say I'm "living the dream" when the fictional virtual world I'm exploring can't be bothered with the notions of day, night, passing time, changing weather, urgency or what else.
And while this is not strictly related to the above rant about immersion and adventure, I also can't say that I'm going through my ideal gaming experience when the UI and controls feel like they are ANTAGONIZING me as a player, rather than supporting what I want to do.
So, NO, I'm NOT playing the game in the way I WISH it could be played.
It has nothing to do with being "married to the sourcebook" (I said even before in the past that I don't even particularly like D&D, among the few P&P I had a chance to actually play it may be my least favorite).
It's also decidedly NOT about being a "rule lawyer", no matter how some would attempt to frame it. I just wish to have something that would feel RIGHT to play, that could deliver that sense of immersion convincingly.
A lot of older, cheaper and far less ambitious games managed that just fine, especially considered their circumstantial limitations, so I don't really want to hear that I'm asking for something unreasonable or unrealistic.
Last edited by Tuco; 02/08/22 05:46 PM.
