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Comments
It actually rewards immoral actions mechanically. But you can't progress in the game if you aren't acting morally, and if you start acting immorally, you'll lose progress.
But that is exactly my complaint with it.
90% of roleplaying games are terrible at actually allowing you to roleplay. A lot of this is because the developers would have to try and anticipate a lot of possible choices at every step, have them inform each other, and so on. It is a terrible amount of work.
In fact, I cannot honestly say that any game so far has allowed me to completely roleplay a character while still having a central story.
However, that will not stop me from criticizing games that allow roleplay but force you into roles.
The way I see it, roleplaying can create two things: immersion and agency.
The route U4 goes is immersion, while you prefer agency.
No. I prefer immersion through agency.
Fair enough; games today can actually do both (sometimes). But my point is that lack of agency is a dealbreaker for you, so it's fair if you prefer to regard Ultima 4 from a distance.
The thing is that the term "roleplay" does not include freedom within its definition. Through video games, we have an association with personal moral agency and the term roleplay, but it really only means that we are stepping into the shoes of another person and behaving differently as a result.
So a roleplaying experience that forces you into a role isn't just an existent and legitimate experience, but a powerful and arguably necessary one. At its core, to roleplay isn't to exercise our own agency, but to participate in the agency of another hypothetical person.
After all, plenty of RPGs force roles on you. One example might be the near entirety of the JRPG genre, which is about as narratively linear as they come. These are certainly RPGs, but they're focused down different lines to provide a different experience, and that focus can provide some things that the freeform WRPG standard can't. Ultima IV looks to be a very early and clever merging of the two, where it takes the format of a WRPG while incentivising the "hidden JRPG" within itself. Like I said, this wouldn't be appropriate for every game, but I also think it's very clever and insightful, not to mention an avenue that seems to have been forgotten about in modern game design.
Yes.
However, while lack of agency is a dealbreaker, a lack of immersion is also a dealbreaker- I get bored as all hell when I'm not immersed in the game.
IJBM:
This ship will not fucking attack me.
That's probably not a great example. JRPGs aren't generally meant to be RPGs because they provide roleplaying, but because they have mechanics that descend from tabletop RPGs. Actually, WRPGs too, really. Roleplaying was kind of a thing that happened later.
Swim out there and burn it down.
^^ The same can be said of WRPGs. Of all WRPGs, I consider the best roleplay experience to be The Witcher 2, which is actually constructed more along the lines of a JRPG anyway.
My essential point is that agency isn't a necessary factor of roleplay, just something we associate with the term these days because of reasons. Both JRPGs and WRPGs are considered roleplaying games largely because their mechanics and structures are the grandchildren of pen-and-paper RPGs moreso than anything else.
Last call for my buying anyone a free copy of Trauma!
It's from Playism (a digital distribution website for indie/doujin games run by the localizer/publisher Active Gaming Media). It's DRM-free (though it doesn't come with a Steam key).
Right now it's selling for pay-what-you-want (US$1 minimum), but I'll buy you a copy if you let me know by the end of today.
I want to get mine and y'all's copies at the same time so that will hopefully save Playism and Krystian Majewski (the developer) a little bit of money in Paypal commissions.
Steam's having a Halloween sale.
YES!
^^Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines and The Walking Dead are included in the sale. Both are among my favorite PC games, and I'd recommend them highly to anyone who doesn't have them.
Thanks for reminding me about the sale, bloodlines purchased.
I don't know what software they use to detect what graphics settings you can handle, but it kind of sucks. I played the Amnesia demo and it detected that I could handle high graphics. I'm hitting about 5 fps at the lowest settings and it's barely playable.
>Steam Halloween Sale
Oh god this is going to take all my willpower not to buy anything.
Also, if anyone wants to make a topic about this, go ahead. I don't feel like it this time around.
Eh. Amnesia was the only thing I was interested in, and I can't quite run it fast enough to be playable. Like, I couldn't finish the demo because the water bit just bogged down too much.
I'm considering getting it anyway while it's up for $5 so I can put it on whatever desktop I'll inevitably get a couple months after I land a job.
Also, seconding The Walking Dead like the fist of an angry god. And Alan Wake is half off.
Alan Wake is also good; I didn't mention it because, though very good, it isn't on my "best games ever" list.
(i still haven't played the dlc or american nightmare I'm a bad fan)
Yeah, the only reason I didn't mention it was so I could say "two of my favorite games ever" after mentioning Bloodlines and Walking Dead.
Same.
So there's a joke on the Persona 3 character sheet about cosplaying Death.
As of this past month, cosplaying Death has become a thing.
Ordered a boxed copy of Ultima V. Hell yeah.
Decided to hold off on buying IV physically until I have more money saved up so I can justify it better.
Decided I'm going to try my very hardest to save for the next few months so I can afford a 3DS. There are some games out, I want. Badly.
Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward being the top of them.
As soon as I can find a chance to conserve some money I'm gonna get Satazius.
Also, playing Deathsmiles for Halloween lulz made me realize how tired I am of CAVE games.
On Steam or elsewhere? If on Steam, what's your username?