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Old 04-30-2002, 11:52 PM   #1
Threshold
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Join Date: Apr 2002
Home MUD: Threshold RPG
Posts: 1,260
Threshold will become famous soon enough
As a gamer, I was very excited for this spring/summer/fall's crop of CRPGs. It looked like there would be hundreds of hours of PC RPG goodness to enjoy. So far, this has not been the case.

Might and Magic IX - This was a very buggy, very ugly, half finished game. I am a huge fan of the Might and Magic series, and have played every one except 1 and 8. I was really excited for this game, and it was a huge disappointment. The firing of 2/3 of their staff within a few weeks of its release, and the half finished nature of the game are evidence that this game was horribly rushed out the door in an effort to cash out. This is probably the death of an excellent franchise. =(

Dungeon Siege - I have been excited for this game for almost 2 years. It turned out to be nothing but an engine with an included graphics and sound demo. The game is gorgeous and sounds wonderful. The gameplay is unbelieveably boring and reptitive. It makes the gameplay of Diablo and Diablo 2 (which I actually loved) seem constantly evolving and ever-changing.

Up and coming CRPGS:

Elder Scrolls III, Morrowind - This is my last hope for a top notch CRPG for the year. It looks great from the screenshots, and the preview information makes it appear to be a great game. Since they had to develop it for the XBOX as well, I hope it will arrive bug free. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Icewind Dale II - I already played this game. It was called Baldur's Gate. Seriously- how long are they going to milk this engine? IMHO, the interface has never been very good, and the gameplay has always been a mixture of Fed Ex quests and dealing with smart mouthed peonic NPCs that you have to take a bunch of lip from or else you destroy the plot line. The concept of Innovation has been absent from Bioware/Black Isle's vocabulary since BG1 and Planescape: Torment.

Neverwinter Nights - This has been hugely hyped, and I plan to buy and play it. I'm worried its going to suck, however. First, I think D&D game rules translate poorly into computer games. Why? Because pen and paper rules need to be simple enough to resolve in a few dice rolls. A computer can handle SOOOO much more, so a simplistic pen and paper rule system seems empty. I hope this will be a good game, but I am not optimistic.

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There are a few other CRPGs for this year but those are the big ones. The conclusion of the whole post is that what looked to be an awesome year for the PC is not shaping up very well so far.

What do you think, and do you think things will get better in the upcoming months?
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