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Stradden 1/13/07 3:17:39 PM
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Managing Editor
Joined: 7/08/05 |
News Editor Garrett Fuller and Staff Writer Derek Czerkaski sit down to discuss the issue of Traditional fantasy races.
You can read the whole debate here. |
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VideoXPG 1/13/07 4:16:30 PM
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Novice Member
Joined: 1/13/06
"Human stupidity knows no bounds" ~Albert Einstein |
I am curious about the Spider thing. Concerning the whole band of humans against a small group of them, what would stop the majority of players from just being spiders? Such as the majority of players being Alliance over Horde in World of Warcraft.
Making a game mechanic especially with such a biased, 1-way view on a 1-on-1 combat situation is a formula for disaster. Even with games such as Warhammer that focus on a large scale war effort, there is still a sense of individual accomplishment and 1-on-1 PvP, at least that is what many of the previews have been hinting at. The other issue with going crazy with making new races is the idea of being able to relate to them as humans. Humaniod races are easy to relate to, which is what makes them so popular. Even if they may be a color switch or a re-skin, Orcs are Green Humans with probably better strength, Elfs are taller and better with Magic, the whole nine yards. The game, Shadowbane had many strange and "out there" races, even some races that had wings and could fly. Although it didn't really make much of a difference in gameplay at all. Especially for a game to be played by thousands of players, any "dominant" race that may have an unfair advantage will be exploited. I still like the idea, but I don't see personally how it could make a significant difference in a new kind of gameplay experience. |
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robbyberry 1/13/07 4:24:34 PM
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Apprentice Member
Joined: 6/26/06 |
I would love to see new races with much more varied abilities being introduced, would give a whole new perspective when choosing one game over the other, and would likely give developers a much broader basis for competition when trying to win over gamers from the start.
The problem i see is the balancing issue, already there are huge arguments over differing levels of power between classes and races, and adding another dimension would add significant workload onto developers. |
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Thony 1/13/07 4:48:17 PM
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Novice Member
Joined: 1/02/07
"Its not "HOW" something is written but its "WHAT" someone has written" |
This is where Star Trek Online can stand out, i do not actualy know if it is going to be possible but if it is then i think that ip can bring forth many different races tho still somewhat familiar because of the movies/tv serie and what else but still their should be alott to choose from and make them destinct towards other classes. Klingons, humans, andorians, talaxians, romulan, you name the whole STAR TREK universe can be one heck of a game if they really take their time and work it out so that it really become Star Trek Universe and not just a episode feeling. Also would like to see a real WW2 mmorpg , not like "WW2 Online" but more like BF1942 style graphics with every mmorpg feature possible, meaning all sorts of ranks(duh!) and their are many proffesions that can be taken. So this isn't really about races but i think it can also make a difference if people are getting tired of fantasy based mmorpg, tho you might also have those that are sick of WW2 games, but i think that terrain is still hardly touch in the sence of transforming it into a reall mmorpg. As for Fantasy based games i really think its the game engine that limits races, if you look at regular single player games you hardly get to play anything else then either :Human, Cars, Mechs, they are basic structures and easy to implement and give body to for a game, for now we have to do with the Boss/Creatures that look complex but are game controled, but i do believe in time they will be able to let us play more complex kind of creatures/machines or anything that comes to mind. Technoligy has come a long way and isn't stopping yet, i bet in 5/10 years from now we get to play games we can not even imagin would be possible :D |
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Tsiya 1/13/07 4:53:22 PM
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Novice Member
Joined: 10/21/06 |
Funny thing is, AC2 did that, in a way. The races all had 2 legs and 2 arms, but Tonks didn't look any more like hoomans than the Lugians did. Unfortunately the game had other downfalls. I have to play a hooman in real life, why would I want to be one in a game I play to take a break from that life?
I miss my tonk, with her tail spikes...it's just a skin, why would that bring additional balance issues? If you can balance elves, dorfs, goblins, and hoomans, why would adding an additional race make it more difficult? Most racial traits in the games I've played haven't been even close to character-breaking. At best they're a mild buff that only applies in certain situations. I really liked playing a char whose only hoomanoid characteristic was the ability to walk upright. |
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Guler 1/13/07 5:36:43 PM
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Novice Member
Joined: 3/14/05 |
One curious option that could truely bring out a bunch of different races without unbalancing it to much, is the old warhammer point system. It would require the game to be almost entirely battleground based but it would work something like this. Someone on your team wants to be a spider who can weild six swords at once, thats great but it takes up four team member slots where as a normal human might only take up one, and if only 20 team members are allowed per team do you really want a single player controlling four of them.
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robbyberry 1/13/07 5:56:07 PM
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Apprentice Member
Joined: 6/26/06 |
When i was talking about balancing issues i was considering the differing impacts of having spiders with greatly differing abilities, not like on a d&d model where the only difference between the races are a few stat points. If races are truly going to be a draw factor for undecided gamers then racial traits need to have a far greater impact than cosmetic appearances as the game "Horizons" shows.
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necrotherion 1/13/07 6:44:17 PM
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Novice Member
Joined: 12/08/06
"The Pope? How many divisions has he got?" - Joe Stalin |
There's a whole whazoob-load of issues that hold devs back from creating "truely unique" races.
Humans are obsessed with aesthetics. Using WoW as an example, most people would rather play a pretty race such as a human or night elf than an ugly race such as a troll or tauren. That's one reason why you get more Allies (the other being the whole "some people are attracted to good/some people are attracted to evil" thing). Also, I agree, racial abilities that are extremely unique or overpowering tend to create balance issues. Personally, I'm all for unique races, as long as they have two legs and walk upright. |
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Karse 1/13/07 7:24:51 PM
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Novice Member
Joined: 4/11/06
Jack of all trades master of none is still better than master of one. |
I'm the first to say "oooo I can play a spider monster?! splee!!!"(yes these are the exact words i'd embarass myself with in a store...) I can see plenty of ways to balance it against a race with two arms... With increased ability to use weapons might come with loss of defenses such as a major weakness to fire and inability to use heavy weapons, maybe their armor is more expensive and they can use certain skills... or a lizard race thats immune to fire and can spit acid but weak to cold and blunt weapons... that would be fun as well in my book. I'm all for new inhumanoid races I'd easily play as an ant creature or a djinn or something to that effect and there are plenty of way to balance strengths by giving proportionate weaknesses. I find it a bit depressing that it's impossible to find a game that has done something like this well even if it would be hard it would make a unique interesting game that would reinvigorate the fantasy setting... to be honest I'd like to at the least see a were-creature playable for once even if I'd have to do an extremely difficult quest (think Jedi from SWG before they became impatient difficult) to be one through starting as a human or elf or something. There are many ways designers could create a unique world even in the fantasy setting... unfortunately none seem to even both | |
