Skraeling on 6/6/2001 at 01:20
I remember finishing the demo of Deus Ex and seeing the splash screen that always follows any demo. You know, the one where they say what the game has for you. I read, "Create a compelling alter ego", or something to that affect, and was stunned. I bought the game for the sole reason that I thought you could develop a rich and varied personality for JC. Then, when I finally beat the game, I realize that there wasn't nearly as much as expected. I thought it was a bad thing at first, but then I realized that giving the player as much control over JC as possible was a ponderous task, and would definitely have some flaws. My question to you: How much control do you think the creators should give the player?
Agent Monkeysee on 6/6/2001 at 03:11
It depends on the game. RPGs should give the player nearly total control of their character. More story-driven games that depend at least partially on you as the central character should give you less control, or implement a storyline for each possible permutation of your character, which would be incredibley difficult to do well.
IMO DX struck a pretty good balance with character growth and integration into the storyline. Any more freedom of control and the game would have been too ponderous for most present day systems.
[ June 05, 2001: Message edited by: Agent Monkeysee ]
santaClaws on 6/6/2001 at 16:22
good question. but in comparison to a rpg where everything passes rather slow so you have time to think about your character developement, dx (or any other rather action-oriented game) is a lot funnier when you try to act quickly. there's simply not enough time.
a similar question would be: how far should character interaction go?an example: of course it ain't reality that someone doesn't notice you hacking their computer when they're still using it. but wouldn't it be too much of interaction if even you had to distract them?
i dunno.
santaClaws AKA triCKster
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if you can't
convince 'em
con?fuse 'em
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kostoffj on 6/6/2001 at 16:58
Players should be given as much control as possible without diluting or wrecking a compelling story. Ideally, the plot will be responsive to the choices of character development the player makes. But giving 'unlimited' freedom limits you to very basic Kill Foozle plots and munchkin gameplay. I'll take a good story over that anyday.
buglunch on 14/6/2001 at 11:11
I couldn't get JC to comb his hair...
davpod on 14/6/2001 at 17:48
How about a Fallout-like amount of freedom and compelling storyline combined with Deus-Ex's natural style and flair? I agree with Monkeysee that a RPG should give you almost total control over the character you create - you are supposed to be playing a role after all.
In Deus Ex (superb though it is) you are really just controlling a (highly customisable) character and after a certain point, your actions don't really affect the way people treat you and react to you. I'm not saying any computer game has yet arrived at this magical point but it is certainly something to aim for.
menchise on 8/2/2002 at 12:44
I have only played DX for a short while, but the fact that you can hack into someone else's computer when they're sitting right in front of you ruins the immersion factor for me (the paranoid Smuggler doesn't even notice!), especially when you have to hack in a dozen times to read the entire email. Are there any people in the early parts of the game that do more than just say "Hey! You can't do that!" every time JC hacks their terminal?
ignatios on 10/2/2002 at 18:42
deus ex isn't a good candidate for creating that type of alter-ego ... not from a design perspective anyway.
who wouldn't love an everquest-type game set in the deus ex universe? the problem is that deus ex was meant/written/designed to be story-driven, not personality/stats-driven like in most RPGs. you get elements of FPS, RPG, and adventure games, but a really thorough treatment of none of those.
compare to games like fallout, asheron's call, etc ... there are story elements, but it's character-driven.
hopefully neverwinter nights will help bridge the gap between story and character emphasis, but we have a long way to go yet. what would be unimaginable is if neverwinter nights is modular and customizable enough that people could make mods for it as they can for games like myth2 ... rules, settings, weapons, you name it.
imagine running a deus ex campaign like neverwinter nights that you could play from a top-down, isometric, or even first-person perspective?
