What's YOUR vision for the ultimate RPG?

I'd like to hear what other people think would help the game out, more of a suggestion box than rattling the chains or one-liners about what you don't like. I come from a single-player with companions RPG background. My favourites are U6 & U7, Baldur's Gate 1 & 2, Planescape Tormet.... but I know a lot of other people came from UO (which is a world I never understood) or WoW. However I loved how Valemark came together in R6 and spent some considerable time there just hanging out with the locals, which surprised me as in online games I usually just forge my own way and don't do much together-content.

Guys, what would YOUR ultimate RPG vision be from where SotA currently is? How would you improve on it, disregarding visuals/combat/things we know are coming?

 

Edit: Nevermind, answered incorrectly. Good thread though

 

But I didn't get to read what you wrote before you edited it out! Try again?

 

Let me preface this with the idea that I am pretty happy with current design process and goals. Also, the things I'm mentioning, I am confident will be addressed to some degree or another as production continues.

In my "Ultimate RPG," the focus would move toward a pretty and more robust conversation system for NPCs (and I KNOW @Lum is already all over this, this is just for funsies). I would change the presentation from the current chat box to something a prettier and easier to read and I would put a focus on character portraits during convos.

I would also make sure that there were some memorable, fun, dynamic and robust companions to take along. Hearing them banter, comment on my decisions and take part in the story (think Dupre's Sacrifice in U7 part II or Aeris' death in FF7 or recruiting Magus in Chrono Trigger).

These things really pull me into an RPG, so they are of paramount importance for me.

In the end, I think the team will get it right though.

 

Without getting crazy, I'll make it simple. For me, the perfect RPG would be a cross between Skyrim, Ultima VII, and Neverwinter Nights - but with an online mode. lol

 

For sure, and living companions that have their own agendas and motivations, best done in BG2 in my opinion. "Jump on my sword villainy, I won't be as gentle!"

 

My ultimate RPG would be a first-person game with slow-paced combat (like, WAY slower than Elder Scrolls) that features permanent death; Akin to a rogue-like. Where the world, NPCs (and their dialogue) and events are procedural generated and actually react to your actions. It's not about having alternate endings, it's about the game completely altering the stories based on what you did... like an improvised D&D campaign. Have the player make difficult choices and live through the consequences of their actions... for better or worse. Each death means starting fresh in a completely different world with different politics. Also featuring multi-player coop with friendly fire to emphasize team play and coordination.

 

You mean slow paced combat more similar to Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor? Some found the combat in that game to be too slow, although I didn't mind it. I found it to be very strategic.

 

Probably slightly faster but the idea would be to have it slow enough so that you have time to react to various situations whenever that's an attack the your opponent is telegraphing, or a trap that you accidentally sprung. You need time to see what's going on when there's 4 players running around in a room filled with orcs... especially when friendly-fire is concerned. If a player casts a fire storm, for example, others in the room need to be able to warn the caster to stop, etc.

"What the hell happened" is the worst thing that could happen in that kind of game.

 

Hello everyone,

Totally geeked for the eventual release of this game. As an old (old old) and original player of Asheron's Call, I vote AC1 for my ultimate RPG. I'm wondering if SotA will include something like skill points/experience points and levels and I'm sure this question has been asked and answered before, if someone could point me in that direction I would appreciate it.

Thanks

 

Yeah, take a look at the Magic, Combat and Crafting Skills megapost. That has most of your answers in it.

 

Welcome Severian

 

I would like a true Ultima successor with a rich and complex story, with excellent background music, some nice and notable companions and a large world to interact with. And a game that makes me able to avoid PvP - I have enough of that stuff in real life in my office ;-)

 

I just realized that I do not understand RPG, at least the way everyone else seems to. I mean, how do you role play when you are in single person mode? I guess if I was going to play the whole game naked, that would be role playing wouldn't it? Just seems to me that if there was no one around to observe my actions and accomplishments then playing naked would just be a way to increase the difficulty. Why would it be called role play, or is it? I don't know. If I was in single player mode and tried to act like an Orc, would it be role play? To me the audience is critical to role play. Group role play, as a band of Orcs, Pirates, or similar distinct types would be challenging and a lot of fun. However I fail to see where the fun or even immersion succeeds in single player mode.

 

Everyone is different. I certainly don't need an audience to settle into a persona and have a great deal of fun. It's more like the immersion one gets reading a good book, where you're absorbed by the characters and the world, than it is like a play.

Different strokes.

 

For me, I like to think of the Ultimate RPG to be some kind of Dragon Age, UO, FF7, Skyrim, Mass Effect Hybrid... Breaking this down it would be something like the very Epic Story line and character development we saw in FF7. Awesome quest lines like FF7 and the Materia. The huge open world of Skyrim and UO. Everything about UO. Mass Effect.. need i say more. And etc.. Ultimately with a great story line, I would still want it to be an unending game, true open world..

Hell, Honestly, Just remake UO and slap a 2 on the end of it, give it today's type graphics and I'd be beyond happy.

 

For me, the perfect RPG has always been about the story. The more in-depth the story is, the more interesting the game becomes. Also, the NPCs need to 'feel' as if they are alive, each with their own lives, routines, history, problems, etc. A well written NPC script could potentially make you become attached to that NPC ( or hate that NPC ), depending on their deeds or personality. This is one of the things that really stood out in the Ultima series, especially from Ultima 4 through 7. I feel that Ultimas 5 and 7 SI were the two best in terms of in-depth story line and character realism. If the back story in BOTA is any indication of what the story in the game will be like, then I will be very happy. I hope to see a lot of TLC put into this story.

 

For me the ultimate RPG would be a game that makes me feel that I am there, that provoques emotions at what I see, where I feel like, while maybe part of a bigger plan (aka the main plot), I am still picking up my own route, I am being allowed to be myself or what I choose to be.
One of the biggest things about the old RPGs was how much freedom you had in creating caracthers, I mean, you literally created the party ground up from stats to name. Then there was this openess that allowed you to take your time and play your own way, then developers invented sandboxing where you were allowed to mess up with things and still have results.
The Rping for me came with immersion, tho creating alter egos was fun as well. I spent my first years of WoW on a RP server and the people there were amazing considering WoW had little more than custom emotes as tools for roleplaying.

In line with what I wrote there were some games that filled that glass, some of those were the usual suspects and others included less aparent candidates from other areas that while not RPGs still managed to grip me into their world and make me feel part of it.

 

I've said this before, but I'd like the game to roll up into something like Civilization. So that there's some map with warring kingdoms holding territory. But that the paths to victory are extremely varied so that it's not all about combat. Effectively, conquest, exploration, and crafting have to work together to accomplish things.

 

To be honest, I have no idea! I'll know it when I play it though.... The closest thing so far has been TSW.


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