Is the bar too high now?

Kaiser-Kun · Jun 16, 2010

Yesterday I saw an online review about Alpha Protocol, and a quote caught my attention: "It's now unacceptable for an RPG to have slow and boring combat".

I find it shocking because it's true. Now I demand excellent graphics, story, and gameplay from every videogame I play. I'm afraid this'll ruin my capacity to enjoy games. Have you felt the same?

SPMiller · Jun 16, 2010

I don't demand excellent graphics yet, and I may not ever. Passable (as defined by whatever the current state-of-the-art happens to be) is fine by me, as long as the art design behind the graphics is strong. Story and gameplay, otoh? Better be as close to perfect as possible.

Maxx · Jun 16, 2010

Kaiser-Kun said:
Yesterday I saw an online review about Alpha Protocol, and a quote caught my attention: "It's now unacceptable for an RPG to have slow and boring combat".

I find it shocking because it's true. Now I demand excellent graphics, story, and gameplay from every videogame I play. I'm afraid this'll ruin my capacity to enjoy games. Have you felt the same?

My bar is pretty low. I happily play games with substandard graphics and slow and boring combat if they get at something that interests me.

I'm playing Empire Total War and enjoying the sea battles which are graphically not as cool at Napoleon total war, but I wanted to have the complete Ottoman Experience so I'm okay with odd little problems like murky water and poorly defined hulls under water not to mention very slow battles when the wind is light so that the Ottoman galleys do better.

I also play ARMA II which has some iffy graphics on lots of machines (presumably including mine if I tried to fly a jet or turned up the sight distance or detail or something) and the combat can be extremely slow since the AI can spot you and kill you pretty fast from far away so you move slow and look around a lot.

Shadow_Ferret · Jun 16, 2010

I need slow and boring combat or I get my ass kicked every time.

DeleyanLee · Jun 16, 2010

My reintroduction to gaming came in the form of Assassin's Creed (which I'm now playing myself, instead of watching my daughter play it). I've also watched God of War II, Assassin's Creed II, Bioshock, Batman: Arkham Asylum and Fall Out 3.

I'm spoiled on the good graphics. I don't want to look at pixels. Fast fights, I could care less about, but I want to be looking at something well-done if I'm staring at a screen for hours.

Whether or not I get a good story is less important. Sometime I just want to kill things and the larger scope isn't so important.

Lhun · Jun 16, 2010

I prefer to call it detailed an engaging combat system vs. brain dead ego-shoot knockoffs. What gets called RPG at the moment are mostly just more fucking shooters. But unsurprisingly, those can't afford slow combat. Games that are actually RPGs sell just fine with slower combat. Just take Dragon Age for an example.

whistlelock · Jun 16, 2010

It all comes down to cost for me.

If it's a $50+ game, it had better be amazing.

If it's $9, then I really don't expect that much.

The vast majority of games should be priced at $9.

Cella · Jun 16, 2010

What's wrong with Duck Hunt?

CACTUSWENDY · Jun 16, 2010

I am not that impressed with graphics as I don't have a state of the art operating machine. I like the hunts and kills...but love the team work parts. Working with others makes for interesting outcomes. IMHO.

Shadow Dragon · Jun 16, 2010

Kaiser-Kun said:
"It's now unacceptable for an RPG to have slow and boring combat".

To put it nicely, that person has no idea what they're talking about. Traditional style combat in rpgs still have been selling quite well. For example, Dragon Age Origiins is an amazing game and very popular. Even though it's combat may look a little flashy, it's still the old turn based, roll the dice, rpg combat. The same can be said about most of Bioware's rpgs, but yet they still sell well. To write off a game because its combat is more methodical is insane.

Nivarion · Jun 16, 2010

Graphics are nice. Combat can be what ever pace.

I'm about two things. A crappy story will break it. If the game doesn't even pretend to have a story I'm okay with that.

But the thing that will make or break a game for me, can even save it from a crappy story is the controls.

A game with beautiful graphics and a movie/novel worthy story line with clunky controls will be used to raise my Xbox for better ventilation.

Point in case. Assassins Creed on the Xbox. The story line is goofy, the premise is odd. But the characters are good and those controls were just about flawless. (sometimes you'll slaughter a civilian in a big fight) After I beat it I'd still play it for hours because it was just that much fun to play.

I actually bought a copy of that after I returned it.

AMCrenshaw · Jun 17, 2010

Shadow_Ferret said:
I need slow and boring combat or I get my ass kicked every time.

Try UFC.

AMCrenshaw · Jun 17, 2010

SPMiller said:
I don't demand excellent graphics yet, and I may not ever. Passable (as defined by whatever the current state-of-the-art happens to be) is fine by me, as long as the art design behind the graphics is strong. Story and gameplay, otoh? Better be as close to perfect as possible.

Aside from the sports games I play, I don't care about anything except the story. For example, I was playing Mass Effect the other day - say, 5-7 hours into the game - and realized I wasn't using any of the ammo/weapon/armor upgrades. In short, I was so engrossed in the story, I didn't notice or really even care.

Xvee · Jun 18, 2010

Cella said:
What's wrong with Duck Hunt?

Absolutely nothing! If you enjoy shooting ducks in the face, you do that.

The games with twitch combat tend to be RPG hybrids anyway designed to appeal to people who usually don't buy RPGs. The traditional level-grind RPGs like WOW and Dragon Quest still have slow fighting and they sell way better than these modern hybrids.

DeleyanLee · Jun 18, 2010

Nivarion said:
Point in case. Assassins Creed on the Xbox. The story line is goofy, the premise is odd. But the characters are good and those controls were just about flawless. (sometimes you'll slaughter a civilian in a big fight) After I beat it I'd still play it for hours because it was just that much fun to play.

I actually bought a copy of that after I returned it.

I watched my daughter play Assassin's Creed on the PS3. I loved it all so much, I'm playing it through for myself now. My very first time I've played a video game since the original Pong in the '70's. First time I've been interested enough in what I saw someone else playing to want to do it myself.

JimmyB27 · Jun 18, 2010

Nivarion said:
Point in case. Assassins Creed on the Xbox. The story line is goofy, the premise is odd. But the characters are good and those controls were just about flawless. (sometimes you'll slaughter a civilian in a big fight) After I beat it I'd still play it for hours because it was just that much fun to play.

I actually bought a copy of that after I returned it.

DeleyanLee said:
I watched my daughter play Assassin's Creed on the PS3. I loved it all so much, I'm playing it through for myself now. My very first time I've played a video game since the original Pong in the '70's. First time I've been interested enough in what I saw someone else playing to want to do it myself.

Wait until you get AC2.

Brutal Mustang · Jun 20, 2010

JimmyB27 said:
Wait until you get AC2.

Or Red Dead Redemption--that's a lot like the Assassin Creed games, only it's a western.

efkelley · Jun 20, 2010

Cella said:
What's wrong with Duck Hunt?

Primarily I found the ducks' motivation to be weak. I mean, sure they want to survive, but if they wanted to do that, then why fly out of the weeds in the first place? There might be a dog after them, but ducks in there are invisible AND bulletproof.

It's just too much hand-waving for my taste. It breaks me right out of the narrative.

Is the bar too high now?

Kaiser-Kun

!

SPMiller

Prodigiously Hanged

Maxx

Got the hang of it, here

Shadow_Ferret

Court Jester

DeleyanLee

Writing Anarchist

Lhun

New kid, be gentle!

whistlelock

Whiskey Rebel

Cella

Cella

CACTUSWENDY

An old, sappy, and happy one.

Shadow Dragon

Nivarion

Brony level >9000

AMCrenshaw

...

AMCrenshaw

...

Xvee

I Need Monkeys

DeleyanLee

Writing Anarchist

JimmyB27

Hoopy frood

Brutal Mustang

Loves interplanetary chaos.

efkelley

ow