I don't see it improving either.Ĭlick to expand.I researched the lore first, and then built the characters on top of that and tied the core story points that needed a foundation into the two companions. I'm a programmer - and you uld pay me enough to work on games.but not in the conditions and wages the industry currently presents. How the hell do you make it in this industry. Which came after 5+ years of pre-development eating toast in a garage down in NZ, where wages are 1/11th of the US's. It took the developers 5 years to reach "somewhat mainstream status" after a 2 year beta. In spite of the fact I know nothing could ever come from EA that's remotely playable these days. And if BioWare, in its Zombine-like state, announced it were producing a sequel to JE (instead of making a lootbox Destiny knockoff), I could actually get a little hyped. But if it came out tomorrow I'd probably sing its praises like a drunken fanboy. "What if Jade Empire came out tomorrow? Would I hail it as incline?" I consider JE to be pretty mediocre if somewhat enjoyable. I wish I was an oil tycoon who could fund that dream.
The best showing is Harebrained, plus or minus stuff like Dwarf Fortress (adventure mode is pretty insanely detailed if you can get past how difficult it is to initially navigate conversations)- Liberal Crime Squad, if it had "modern graphics" would be. The latter can't make RPGs though, overall. RPGs are expensive to make, hard to make, and hard to "extra monetize" and also "hard to make replayable for the general audience" that they're just not attractive to any devs but die-hards and indies. I started another playthrough of BG1, which I thought I was over and dead with, but I actually enjoyed my time with it.
Or maybe I'm so starved of genuine RPGs at this point I'm just settling for what's left. Is it that my standards have dropped? Or am I just appreciating all the little details chunked into the game? I feel like if AP had been balanced on launch, and if it had had a little more polish, it would have been an instant classic. I mean, my initial playthrough I remember being dissatisfied with, but now I'm up to playthrough number five. I didn't used to think Alpha Protocol was that good. I forget what it was called, but it was just terrible. The last one I tried was that stupid Mars-centered one. I mean it was bad enough we had shit like Dragon Age 2 or Diablo 3 happen- but the middle of the road studio has died, completely, what few middle market RPGs are still made are simply terrible. World of Warcraft-ification was bad enough for RPGs. RPGs are in such a sad state - people abuse the mechanics, putting XP bars in everything. And while it wasn't perfect, Durance and a few other elements of the game were enjoyable - so I had this naive thought that a sequel might somehow iterate on the experience and come out stronger.
What am I supposed to do? You can take your chances buying a game, but if not buying a game means there are no games left. They're like, quite literally, the last studio that's not "indie" making real honest to god RPGs. Click to expand.I mean, up until reading some of what Chris posted, I was in a mental state where I felt morally obligated to buy Obsidian games.