5 votes

How Fallout's Timothy Cain would make the worst RPG ever

2 comments

  1. [2]
    kru
    Link
    Here are the bulleted notes I took while watching: Unskippable cinematic (unpausable, too) Initial character creation is number heavy with very little explanation (e.g. range of attributes goes...
    Here are the bulleted notes I took while watching:
    • Unskippable cinematic (unpausable, too)
    • Initial character creation is number heavy with very little explanation
      (e.g. range of attributes goes from 0 - 1000 with no explanation)
    • Attributes can never be changed after initial creation
      (even with items or temporary buffs)
    • No respec
    • Many aspects of the player's character can't be set at all
      -name
      -gender
      -background
      -appearance
      -voice
    • The player's character is a cultural outlier
      (e.g. playing an unusually tall dwarf named whackadoo)
    • None of the important story elements can be changed or altered by the player's decisions
    • None of the mechanics mesh with the story
    • The effectiveness of the character's actions are based on real player ability, not character skill
    • aiming is done manually
    • blocking is timing based, and skills have no effect
    • Minigames for everything (also based on player ability, not character)
      -disarming traps
      -picking locks
      -haggling
      -etc
    • Minigames are inaccessible and difficult
      -color-based minigames
      -math-based minigames
      -time-sensitive minigames
    • Stealth is typical (stay in dark and hidden behind objects)
      BUT
      stealth has no UI element to indicate to the player where their attention is focused
    • Useless perk choices
      -e.g A perk increases the character's armor class while they are hidden and untargetable
    • Some character builds can't finish the game
    • Actions can be taken while playing that prevent the game from being finished
    • Critical quest items can be sold or lost/destroyed
    • Storyline is completely linear
    • Player choices aren't going to matter
      -they might seem like they matter, but they don't
      -all dialogue choices lead to the same ultimate outcome
      -all quest choices lead to the same ultimate outcome
    • Big unskippable cinematic right before challenging encounters
    • Lots of exposition to explain the story in these cinematics

    I get that he's having a bit of fun. Also, I generally agree with Tim Cain's philosophy on what makes RPGs great. However, he is, perhaps inadvertently, saying that many JRPGs are making bad decisions as they often have fixed player characters with sometimes unusual backgrounds and very linear stories that offer very little player agency outside of combats. But, I love JRPGs, too, and wouldn't suggest that they're bad RPGs just because they don't offer the same amount of player choice and agency that your Fallouts and Planescape Torments do.

    7 votes
    1. Sodliddesu
      Link Parent
      Well, two thoughts - One, in the Western sense, they are bad role-playing games. You don't play a role in most JRPGs, you play a character. One could say that since FF1 let's you build your whole...

      Well, two thoughts -

      One, in the Western sense, they are bad role-playing games. You don't play a role in most JRPGs, you play a character. One could say that since FF1 let's you build your whole party it's more of an RPG than FF7 which only lets you fiddle with their magic and equipment.

      Two, in a general sense, due to the schism between JRPGs and (C)RPGs, Tim's background, he's not laying any criticisms on JRPGs since he's not taking about them. Many of these critiques may be equally leveled at JRPGs but that's just because most of those things suck whether they're in JRPGs, FPSes, or RTSes.

      8 votes