Games and I: Part 3

Playing God: The Role Playing Element

RTS was not the only genre around.

By the very end of my time in Secondary school, a growing new trend seems to eclispse even the popularity of the strategy-turned-twitching game; Starcraft. Strategy games in fact were losing dominance as the premier network game at cyber cafes. First Person Shooter (FPS) was on the rise.

Years and years after Wolfenstein 3D and the Doom and Quake series were initially launched, First Person shooters did not dominate the multiplayer scene as much, or at least not from where I was then. Late 1999 however, a game by some developers called Valve changed that. Half Life proved not only a compelling story driven game, it was also wonderfully enjoyable as a multiplayer game as people flocked to blow each others brains out. I theorized that the personal nature of engaging violence has something to do with it, but earlier games probably did not cater enough in their mechanics to overthrow RTS.

Probably.

However, great as Half Life was, and not to mention phenomenal was Counter-Strike, a Half Life mod then, these are games that are somewhat deeply rooted in the twitch culture, and as I have mentioned, I despise twitch gaming. It is an interesting paradox, because I find some of these FPS are thoroughly enjoyable, but I despise the somewhat unspoken prequisite required to be competitive in these games; twitch skills. This resentment was further deepened when Counter Strike introduced this most hateful of culture amongst gun-wielding personas; the Jump Sniping.

(I have covered my loathing for this in a post in the past, so I will not elaborate further on this)

But I was awakened to the joy of a more personal attachment to game elements as opposed to the somewhat detached nature one would have playing RTS. This in turn steered me towards another genre; Role Playing Games (RPG). One of the most pronounced difference in RPGs over FPS despite both being about controlling just one entity/character was that in RPG it was still largely governed by in-game statistics. The characters speed, response, strength, agility and all that is not a reflection of your finger-skills, but your character-building and development. Therefore, I can have a tad bit slower reflex or less steady finger/hand aiming skills than most, but my avatar can still kick ass.

I have seen RPGs before and heard excessive talks about them by others. For the most part, Dungeons & Dragons style things seemed to nerdy and complex, and those darn Final Fantasy games just doesn't seem to make sense for me.

The first PC RPG I played was Diablo. Not any of the deeper D&D inspired platforms, or such; just plain simple straightforward Diablo. This is good because, in my case, I feel it is better not to dive straight to complexities, and indulge in something easily understood first. By giving quick and easy interface, simple intuitive concepts, I was soon immersed in the quest to destroy the demon lord awaiting at the 16th level of the underground dungeons. It was from this game also that I find myself in preference to relying on 'steel over sorcery'. Magic is powerful, but there seems to be so much intricacies to it that it irritates me; mana consumption, avoiding being closed in, different spells for different situations etc.

It took several years before Diablo 2 came out. It was, and still is quite an enjoyable RPG. At its announcement, my prediction was that the Necromancer would be my class of choice. True, I despise magic, but having multitudes of henchmen seems awesome. Plus, Paladin feels to generic of the old warrior class in the first game, and Barbarian isn't my thing; I was then already an advocate of Legionaries, and despised unruly barbarians, and preferred disciplined soldiery.

It is worth noting that these choices are in fact somewhat of a role playing element, and this can be said as new to me, because in RTS I cater to a side that can suit my strategies; here it seems purely on vain reasons.

I did not want to play as women back then. (Also I have posted before on playing females in RPGS so I won't elaborate on the merits of it much) This stems more from the old childhood mentality like "Girls are loosers and annoying". It was not so strange that I ended up finding the fragile nature of the Necromancer a tad bit annoying, but it was new experience for me to find that I enjoy playing the Amazon. Granted, thigh-baring skin-tight outfit, and seeing her bum wiggle about as she runs around the world is a tad bit sexy, and I have said I am all in support of sexy chicks in games, but still, this is Role Playing, and there I was, my character a chick.

I will only say this; I believe my natural acceptance in playing chick characters is made easy, aside from my liking of sexy chicks, is that as an avid RTS player, I NEVER felt the need to represent myself on the battlefield. Unlike many who play RPGs with their character as an avatar or alter ego of themselves, I view the character as a creation, an extension of an arsenal I wield. I was commanding the character, not being the character.

And just as the Tomb Raider series creator said, if you're going to spend hours playing the game, might as well have a character that is nice to look at.

Later on, Neverwinter Nights came out, and this was character development and storytelling on a much deeper level than Diablo-style games. I feel that for a complete newbie, it can get a little overwhelming. Neverwinter Nights did not start out explosively action packed, and it wasn't all about just killing things. Some people could lose interest. Fortunately, by this time I was well entrenched in preference for RPG gaming that it prepared me enough to take up the challenge.

And yes, I made a chick character.

For the most part, what intrigued me on RPGs like Neverwinter Nights was firstly the relationships one can have with other NPCs, ranging from hostility to friendly comaraderie to even romantic relationships. This for me is epitomized finally in Mass Effect with your character having seduced and made love to an NPC which you have made your character very...chummy with.

That aside, Bioware for one have been remodelling and redifining character alignments, bad or good, lawful or unlawful etc. What started out as generic good and evil turned to shades of grey with Jade Empire's Open Palm vs Closed fist and Mass Effect's Paragon and Renegade alignments in whcih both are not opposites of each other or cancel each other out, but are added traits to a character.

Lastly, where Diablo offered a template of characters based on specific classes, the physical appearance of your character in Neverwinter Nights for example is far more customizable.

Over time, RPGs themselves evolved, an action RPGs ala Diablo are but one of the varieties to choose from and even RTS games began importing elements of RPGs to spice up their gameplay. Deeper RPGs with incredible storytelling though began to capture my imagination more, and from then on, I would name Neverwinter Nights, Knights of the Old Republic, Fallout 3, Mass Effect and the like among my top favourite games.

But along side these pure deep RPGs I also enjoy the occasional Diablo-style action RPG, especially with Diablo 2, Titan Quest, Sacred and Dungeon Siege series. Also for me worth noting is the FPS/RPG hybrid of Vampires: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. This was a rather rough edged or unpolished game that could have benefited with further debugging and cleaner visuals. Yet the concept and story was somewhat inspiring, and the dynamics it gave of vampire society made it much more than just Half Life 2 clone (It uses Hlaf Life 2's engine). Vampires lets you customize appearance as much as Diablo does, which is by class or in this case by Clan. However it does include character stats and attribute that further adds or enhances your avatar's abilities in game. Observing some civilized codes while roaming in the game of conduct also means there is more to this than just blind combat.

RPGs in short allows me a more in depth immersion into fantasy, and with the need to worry less over the big picture and focus from a more singular point of view. As my second choice of genre to play, I feel that this category is worth its own chapter.