Let's say your getting bored with EQ. You've played it for four years, you're tired of the same old raids, and tired of the neverending experience treadmill.

So, what are you looking for in a computer RPG? What do you think EQ is missing? For me, I look for 2 primary factors; Gameplay and Immersion. But how do you define Gameplay, and how does it effect the games Immersion?

In many modern day computer games including EQ, many developers rely on graphics for immersion. For me, the problem is graphics alone do not create Immersion, Gameplay has to work side by side with graphics to create this. If you've ever played D&D or any text based MUDs, you know a game does not need fancy 3D graphics to draw you into its world. In those games, they describe the world to you through words to paint the image in your mind, leaving your imagination to fill in the gaps. A benefit of using textual description to immerse you in the world is that the game allows for more interaction with the world itself.

EverQuest is a MUD (Multi User Dungeon) that relys on 3D graphics and computer modeling to describe its world to you. My problem with the current model is that the world itself is not as interactive as I would like it, many text based games can have a more interactive world than the current EQ model. EQ doesn't take any true advantage of its 3D and use it in gameplay, it really only uses 3D in its graphics. For me, EQ could be 2D and pretty much play the same.

If Sony wants to truely create an immersive 3 dimensional world, then it has to do more than just 'look' 3D. The physics have to be 3D, the gameplay has to be 3D. Players have to interact with the enviroment in 3D. No more static rooms and hallways with some moving 'hit boxes' that have 3D creature graphics attached to them.

I want to be able to interact with the world. I want to have to climb, jump, swim, pull levers, push buttons, move objects, dodge boulders and falling rocks. I want enviromental hazards and traps. I want to be cautious of my surroundings, not just the creatures in it. I want to fear falling off the mountain, the bridge, fear being swept downstream in the rivers current. I want to ride down the mine shaft in an out of control ore cart, to run down the passageway from the rolling boulder, to dodge the swinging axes and plumes of fire coming out of the walls.

In all the great adventure movies the heros did more than just combat creatures, they had to avoid all the perils and pitfalls of the land to reach their goal. Indiana Jones had more to fear from the temple than just the natives. For me, good games rely more on Gameplay than graphics. Gameplay is much more than just 'classes' and 'buffs' and 'damage per second', it's what all the player has to do to reach his goal. If your reading this Sony, in your future games please please please give us more than just a static enviroment with a random creature graphic that runs up and starts mindlessly meleeing us. Give us an interactive world, with enviromental hazards, traps, puzzles, and riddles.

For starters, how about putting the RP back in RPG? Eh? Make the game about RP, not about powergaming, not about loot, not about killing gods. Gods shouldn't be able to be killed in the first place. Demons, yes. Demigods, OK, but draw the line, sheesh. How about religion too? Make it @#%$ count for something.

How about better character development such as quests with stages for the life of your character? Don't make epic quests one item. Make the quest something that you start early as a rite of passage and that gives you intermediate rewards.

And for skill trees, please, for crying out loud, have real trees instead of do-it-all smorgasbord AAs that anyone can do such that every druid ends up with the same AAs as the next druid. Have paths of individuation.

A game where there are more dynamic events with real rewards.

World-changing events.

Why is this in Rants?

I thought of a question related to this topic yesterday.

Would players be willing to exchange rediculously charged(hps, damage, etc) but dumb mobs for mobs with far more AI than they currently have?

Would players prefer mobs that gave commands to minions, attempt to attack healers first, have dynamic tactics(even a random playbook), gate away(really away) when the fight looked bad, running away in many more circumstances(than just 10% hp)? Could not run through players, obstacles, mobs. Could not summon, unless it was a spell ability or such. Essentially all the hacks that seek to overcome poor AI.

Quests written by writers not programmers?

I look forward to intelligent AI, non-powergamer inclusive (Hello? Everyone knows EQ is not an RPG, it's just a flag MMOG. No RP about it.), and the ability to keep my interest for extended periods of time.

Hard for online games since they need to keep EVERYONE'S attention.. thousands at once. Still, I think it can be done.

Tippwindy, your ideas remind me of the old days when I was playing Ultima 4 or 5, and Ultima Underworld came out. Was totally blown away and lost by the whole 3-d thing, total interactiveness of the environment, etc. Took a lot of adjustment and never did get the hang of that particular game.

My feeling at the time was that it needlessly complicated things that could have remained simple and lost none of their playability. Course this was the first attempt at a full 3-d game/rpg so I assume things will be done better nowadays.

It's important to remember that every decision in game design SHOULD be prefaced with the question "Will this make the game more fun?"

That goes for intelligent mob AI as well. There's a thread on monkly about it atm, most agree, that while some variety in the mob AI would be nice, a real human-level mob AI would simply wind up being too hard to deal with time after time, and not really be fun.

However I would LOVE to see some seriously good Quest generation AI, that would really tailor make your game session any time you wanted to, make it challenging but within your abilities.

Tia

I really like the idea of an epic quest that starts at level 1 and continues till the very end. They have that in daoc and its a BLAST! At certain levels, when you go back to your class trainer to use your skill points the trainer will offer you a quest. As you get higher in level the quests get harder and longer and the rewards you get keep improving. Finally, when you hit 50, you can get your epic armor! Its a full set of armor tailored specifically to each class with a lot of stats and magical things put on it plus a very unique look so everyone knows that it is epic gear. The best part is, you HAVE to do all of the quests, wether you wait till you hit 50 to start or you do it all the way through. You cant just wait till 50 and do the last one. There is a definate storyline to the epic quest line, for instance, my cabalist is currently setting up a small scale revolt by the commander of a large outpost and most recently had to stop an assasination attempt on the commanders life which I found out about by killing a messenger and getting the letter translated by a linguistic expert. Cool quests like that.

Traab "Love Machine" Fellhammer
Human Mob Compactor of the 52nd Cycle
And Almost Too Sexy To Live!

"Most of the quests ive done so far have had STORIES connected to them. Not just, kill this mob and i will give you a reward."

I'd like to see one based on the Fallout universe (i.e. a post-WWIII apocalyptic semi-radioactive world loaded with mutants, outposts of civilization, lost technology, etc.).

Fern

On the first post, I would disagree that the game only uses 3d for graphics. 3d is very important to gameplay in EQ ... it determines mob positioning, and as we all know line of sight is very very important in the game. It is, in that sense, a real 3d world with 3d objects.

However, I agree that it is a very flat, non-interactive 3d world. It is kind of like the old shooters. The walls and surroundings look painted. And a big change in realism happens when suddenly you can interact...your weapons cause dmg to show on walls (god that would suck in EQ though)....you can sit in chairs...you can move furniture...you can climb walls...cut down trees...etc.

A lot of that would help the immersiveness of EQ, but I think the real problem is one that comes with all open ended games (basically all online RPG's, but also the Elder Scrolls series). The NPC's are just not real...they don't live...they don't interact. In game time, how many YEARS has that stupid NPC been standing at the corner, doing nothing, only repeating the same phrase every time someone happens to hail them? Elder scrolls does a MUCH better job of this. When interacting with NPC's, there are a variety of prechosen questions you can ask, and you can get information from any NPC in zone which may or may not be accurate. So you talk to a lot of people...some of them tell you the same things, some of them have unique information, some of them know nothing at all...but it is not the same people all the time for every person.

I think back to how wowed I was by hearing the din of people talking and cups clinking the first time I went into a Thurgardin pub. It was more alive than past pubs...and it made the city more real. THere was also more NPC interaction that just added flavor. It was all to the good.

For a next stage, though, the game would need real scripting to make it breathe. I am not talking about a GM guided event that lasts a half hour. Nor am I talking about a lot of gibberish that you mostly ignore while saying key phrases to do a quest. I am talking about sweeping events in the game world that are temporary and always in flux.

Imagine if you suddenly found out that the Sarnak king had again moved to make Chardok imperial and the Sarnak raiding parties were randomly moving throughout Kunark. You wouldn't know when they would show up...where they would be. Full on assaults could occur...an attack on Cabillis or FV. Depending on your faction and your chioces, you could fight on either side. Then a few weeks later, perhaps Felwithe and Kaladim send a reinforcing army to FV, and the battle lines shift back, with the dwarves and elves now raiding Chardok.

It is hard to fit it into the static game world we now have. The first impulse is to think "10th ring" (ok that is a good one) or "GM event." But what I am getting at is a CONSTANT state of flux in the game world, where the factions and power struggles matter. Perhaps a city could be wiped out if there is not enough player support to save it (/mourn Ak'anon).

That I think would be my ideal.

While the rock falls etc sounded interesting, I really don't like arcady aspects in CRPG's. It begins to feel nintendo-y if you need to do a lot of "jump and land on the moving disc" type stuff.

It would be hard to introduce environmental hazards that did not shift the game in that direction for me.

However, it WOULD be possible to put in hazards that are more RPG-like in their execution.

For instance, perhaps Skyfire would be prone to tremors, and you could take random dmg from them when they did. It would make the world a bit more real, but if I had to hop hop hop over sinking mounds in lava lakes I would get really, really annoyed. I have given up on a lot of games that play that way.

big difference on elder scrolls...

there are a LOT of NPC's that move around. If you walk into a town, it is not filled with a bunch of people standing around stiff as trees. People walk around the town, enter buildings, etc. I think some of them even say something to you as you pass (NPC initiated dialogue,even if it is not a conversation, is more immersive).

Soldiers patrol, though some do stand guard. Businesses close at night, and the vendors go into their back rooms to sleep (you can break in and rob them then). Soldiers will only run to the rescue if there is enough noise or the person calls the alarm.

The sneaking and lockpicking skills matter a lot since you can use them anywhere and everywhere.

That would have been something interesting to have had implemented when EQ was being developed: The ability for rogues to sneak into a NPC's home at night and attempt to rob the house or assasinate the NPC. Not like a poorly designed quest that's already in EQ, but more like something like what you see in other games like The Elder Scrolls or Thief series or even Ultima Online.

The use of sound in those games is simply amazing.

Actually, Arx Fatalis incorporates some of those ideas. There are not as many houses, true, but it matters how much noise you make...and sneaking really takes skill (stay in the shadows, have a high skill, move slowly, etc).