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WHERE DID ALL THE FRESH ONES GO? by Mr Biffo

20/5/2015

19 Comments

 
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Hello, Fatfather. Did you buy The Witcher 3? You probably did.

It's quite a large pudding to dissect, but Digi2000 will hopefully bring you some sort of a work-in-progress review next week. For now, the things you need to know are as follows: it is a good game, it is a big game, and it is an extremely good-looking game. 


Indeed, all the reviews or first impressions thus far seem to be talking about it in terms of a sort of classic. Which, within its genre, it may well turn out to be... that genre being the genre of Tolkein-Infused Fantasy Role-Playing Games That Aren't Very Original.

Because haven't we been to this place before - like, about a billion times? The medieval villages? The snarling, werewolf-y things, and the dragon-y things, and the castles, and forests. Why do we seem to be stuck on an endless journey to regurgitate the same fantasy tropes, only in ever prettier ways? Frankly, where have all the original ideas gone?

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NO DENYING
Don't get me wrong: there's no denying the talent and artistry that has been pumped into The Witcher 3. It seems to be a truly beautiful game. 

However, while I appreciate that it's based on a series of Slavic mythology-inspired novels (written by an author who - let's face it - nevertheless owes a significant debt to Tolkein), I can't shake off a sense of world-weariness while playing it. It's like repeating the same journey to work day in day out - there's part of me that is starting to switch off when I'm seeing the same things in these games over and over again. 

Fantasy RPGS - unless they get a swift, sharp injection of originality pretty soon - are at risk of becoming utterly mundane, of being too tethered to the tabletop roots of the genre. It's like people can't separate the idea of Dungeons & Dragons with the idea of what a role-playing game can be.

And yet, tabletop, dice-rolling RPGs were never just D&D. 

The spectacularly bleak Twilight 2000 was set in Central Europe in the immediate aftermath of a limited nuclear war. Call of Cthulhu was set in the 1920s, and inspired by the work of HP Lovecraft. Shadowrun - long overdue for a return - mixed cyberpunk and fantasy. 

I'm not even talking about gameplay here (though I could literally shriek until I prolapse if I play another RPG where you can just help yourself to whatever isn't bolted down). It's simply the complete lack of newness and invention in the setting and visuals that's causing my sternum to dissolve.

All that talk of "Elders" and runes, and places called things like "Redania" and "Kaedwen". I'm sick of wandering around caves, and tired of "Northern Kingdoms" and "Blue Mountains" and "Empires of Nilfgaard". So much of everything in The Witcher 3 is interchangeable with so much of what has gone before. And I'm sorry to say that I'm growing painfully bored of it now. I mean... seriously, just piss off with it now. 

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COWBOYS AND ORCS 
Here's a thing (as the bishop said to the choirboy). 

It was five years ago this week that Rockstar's epic Red Dead Redemption was released. The Wild West isn't a setting for fiction that's particularly original, but there have still been so few Wild West-themed video games (and certainly none that are remotely on a par with RDR) that it felt original. When I read about the 5 year-anniversary, my stomach did a little giddy cough of excitement - the thrill of that world, the sheer boldness of it, has stayed with me.

And it just lead me to question why role-playing games have to be set in either fantasy realms or post-apocalyptic wastelands (the other games genre at severe risk of becoming stinking up the fridge). Yes, you have Mass Effect, and a handful of other RPGs that buck the omni-pervasive trends, but in terms of epic-budget titles, we just end up trudging through the same sorts of landscapes, meeting the same sorts of robe-clad idiots wielding staffs.

Why hasn't there been a Wild West RPG? Or the video game RPG equivalent of, I dunno, Saving Private Ryan? Or - heck - one where you play a ghost in a world otherwise populated by the living? Or if you can't come up with something completely new, and don't want to borrow from existing genres, can't we at least reinvent things? Why does it always have to be Bavarian medieval towns, for pity's sake? 

Games can take us anywhere, introduce us to anyone. They are a blank canvas for the fervid imaginations of game developers to go utterly mental. And yet... they don't. Those imaginations seem content to stay in their comfort zones, sipping tea, and keeping the curtains closed.

Isn't it time that changed? Isn't it time RPGs went nuts?



FROM THE ARCHIVE:
  • THE FEEL THING by Mr Biffo
  • FINDING MY FAVOURITE GAME by Mr Biffo
  • GTA V - WHO ARE WE KIDDING? by Mr Biffo



19 Comments
kelvingreen link
20/5/2015 10:49:34 am

"Shadowrun - long overdue for a return - mixed cyberpunk and fantasy."

I see what you did there.

Numenera is on its way and that looks different and interesting, but I would love to see a proper Call of Cthulhu crpg.

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Matchstick
20/5/2015 01:16:38 pm

Talking of TT RPGs and Shadowrun in particular the rather excellent Bundle of Holding is currently doing a Shadowrun 4th edition RPG book bundle
https://bundleofholding.com/presents/Shadowrun4E
for another week or so

They also have a Ars Magicka bundle on at the moment and have run bundles in the past of everything from Delta Green (Call of Cthulhu meets the X-Files) to Numenera.

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Chris link
20/5/2015 01:32:18 pm

There are so many Cthulhu themed board games that I'm amazed there don't appear to be any Cthulhu themed video games.

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matchstick
20/5/2015 01:47:24 pm

There have been a couple, the most famous would probably be Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, but there have been a few other full-on Cthulhu Mythos games and many more that have taken themes or inspiration from the works

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kelvingreen link
20/5/2015 02:02:53 pm

Oh, there have been plenty: Shadow of the Comet, Prisoner of Ice, Dark Corners of the Earth. There are even more that have been inspired by the Cthulhu Mythos: Alone in the Dark is full of references, as is Quake -- although one of the writers of the Call of Cthulhu rpg worked on that, so it's no surprise -- and Eternal Darkness is Cthulhu in all but name.

No rpgs though, aside from perhaps The Wasted Land, although that's more strategy-based.

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Another Chris
21/5/2015 01:30:40 am

When I was playing through LA Noire, I was desperately hoping the twist towards the end would be some Lovecraftian horror in the sewers. Alas not. If they could take that engine it would make for a gorgeous Call of Cthulhu RPG.

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Mr Biffo
22/5/2015 06:00:08 am

Ooh, yes. That'd work for me.

Snids link
20/5/2015 02:15:56 pm

Unfortunately the the first two RPGs I ever played properly were Planescape: Torment and Final Fantasy 7.
In terms of setting and plot, it's all been downhill since.

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oxomoron
20/5/2015 02:21:01 pm

There has been a wild west RPG, Wild Arms. It was snazzy as all get out. They should get more Chinese mythology into RPGs as well. Jade Empire was fresh as hell.

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grodecki
21/5/2015 03:15:22 pm

I have seriously vivid memories of the theme tune to WIld Arms.... I can remember little about the game but that theme tune sticks in my head like nobodies business. That and the save game music from Final Fantasy 9.

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Dr Peanuts
20/5/2015 04:10:19 pm

About 7 years ago I posted a very similar thing to this article on a pc gaming forum. It was met with complete resistance if not anger. "RPGs are all swords and sorcery and always will be. If you want any special interest stuff you've got Fallout" type of thing. They may have been angry at the fact that I had suggested a thought provoking, story led RPG set during the English civil war though. I'm not even joking there.

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Michael
20/5/2015 04:17:14 pm

The video game of A Field in England?

Shroom Mode!

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Dr Peanut
20/5/2015 04:43:06 pm

Load of Cavaliers bashing their Roundheads.

Oleg
20/5/2015 04:14:35 pm

Biffo, people like the same things. It's like cinema: you have a genre, or a mix of genres, and you go on with it.
I ask myself, every time I fire up an FPS, why should I stick with them or why should I praise Deus Ex for being a 'diverse' RPG, but it's still an FPS with items' micromanagement? Or why should I stick with Need For Speed With Police Chase installments? Points of view, I guess.

Cheers, and thanks for bringing up you passion! We're all with you.

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Mr Biffo
22/5/2015 06:00:34 am

Cheers for that, Oleg. Also: people are stupid.

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Frank Chickens
20/5/2015 06:18:55 pm

A change of scenery would be a good thing. Why not set one in a working office or hospital or a TV studio? It would vary things up and present something different.

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Lorfarius
21/5/2015 01:42:17 am

There's loads you haven't mentioned. What about the new Planescape game that's in production which isn't your typical RPG or Wasteland 2. Yes it's a sequel from a game over 20 years old but its not dragons and villages. There's always more in the genre if you have a look, we are all expecting some big Fallout news soon as well.

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Mr Biffo
22/5/2015 06:01:13 am

Curse my faltering omniscience! Yeah, looking forward to the next Fallout. Love that world.

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PS1Snake
24/5/2015 10:29:18 pm

Agreed. It's always the same medevil aesthetic accompanied by the same nerdy lingo. Something different would be good. For example imagine a dark RPG set across several inner London boroughs where you take on psychotic youths, drug dealers and human traffickers etc. Battles could take place in dungeon-like council tower blocks and local parks. Riots could be like Shenmue's 70 man battle. Sidequests could include bedding rich, lonely MILFs. It would certainly switch things up in this genre.

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