Sorry to be picky Thomas, but strictly speaking that distinction is a litle
blurry when applied to rpg games.
In it's interface, ---- if not it's setting or mechanics, entombed is very
much the same style as the modern standard of console rpgs.
You wander around in real time, pick up objects, talk to characters etc,
then a battle starts, and you enter turn based combat betwene your party and
the monster party.
Just to confuse things even further, there are some ascii roguelike display
rpgs with all the trimmings, ---- namely Adom, even though they use very
much the same sort of interface as something like nethack, and much of the
landscape is determined at random, ---- even though there are fixed quests
etc.
Jason has actually said that one thing he'd eventually like to do is get
entombed out of the dungeon. It's possible, now that the engine and core
mechanics are set up, an entombed game with more plot, meaningful quests and
number of settings and environments might be forthcoming in future, ----
it's even possible something like that might be doable with the dungeon
creator eventually.
This isn't saying text based rpg games aren't a good thing, ---- just a note
that the boundaries aren't quite so clear cut, and indeed hopefully Entombed
will eventually cross them.
Beware the grue!
Dark.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Thomas Ward" <thomasward1...@gmail.com>
To: "Gamers Discussion list" <gamers@audyssey.org>
Sent: Wednesday, May 05, 2010 7:46 AM
Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Types of RPG Games
Hi Michael,
Ah, that's my entire point of my original message though. If I
understand you correctly making the roll playing game in real time
instead of turn based makes it more complex to create and is far more
time consuming. Besides that it really goes against what gamebook
style roll playing games stand for anyway. Gamebook roll playing games
are more story oriented where roguelike rpg games are more action
oriented.
For example, Entombed is a roguelike type game. It starts out with the
game's basic story, but once you enter the dungeon your only real
goals are to buy and sell equipment, kill monsters, and try and find
your way out of the dungeon. As stories go it is actually quite
generic, and it isn't really like a series of smaller stories into one
big story. Instead the game is fully centered around exploration and
frequent combat. This style of game is totally different from a
gamebook type of rpg adventure.
Gamebook type rpg games are all about the continuing story of the hero
or heroes in the game. It may contain hundreds and perhaps thousands
of smaller stories that all tie into the main story. Everything is
described in detail, and usually the game gives background history
about a certain place or item. Much more than you get in a roguelike
game. Here is an example of what I mean.
"You are standing at the edge of the Mystic Forest. Several of the
trees look very old, and have turned black with age. As you gaze into
the misty darkness beyond you know that this place has long believed
to be haunted by evil spirits and the home of evil creatures. It is
long said that any who dare enter the cursed forest shall never
return. What would you like to do?"
As you can clearly see with this simple example above there is a lot
more detail about the place you are about to enter. You can get much
more information about how the place looks, some background history of
the place, and really feel apart of the game's story. In fact, most of
the game reads like a good book or ongoing story without constant
action and adventure all of the time. That way you can really get
detail and read it as an interactive story.
With roguelike games you don't get this kind of detail or story.
Instead you would be placed in the Mystic Forest with the freedom to
walk around killing monsters and battling evil races, but what fun is
that without the detail and background story?
That's the fundimental difference I think I am aiming for here. Oh, I
like Entombed well enough, but it really lacks the story content for
me. To me all you basically do is walk around, killing monsters,
collecting weapons, and do more of the same. Where is the background
story, hundreds of little adventures, and detailed descriptions of
people, places, and things. It doesn't really have that, and for me
the old text based roll playing games and interactive fiction games
are thousands of times better than Entombed because they are story
driven not action driven. Does that make sense? I first got introduced
to roll playing games through table top rpg and honestly I still find
it hundreds of times more enjoyable than the roguelike games out
there. That's why I was thinking of something more text based
initially.
Smile.
---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at
http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org.
All messages are archived and can be searched and read at
http://www.mail-archive.com/gam...@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
