RPGCast - Episode 200: "The Skyrim's the Limit"

[sabin1001]

RPGCast - Episode 200: "The Skyrim's the Limit"

It's our 200th episode! Thanks for sticking with us during this crazy ride. Today we've got crazy Bioware and Game of Thrones speculation, Skyrim impressions, Distant Worlds reviews, and Vita criticisms. Unless we get sent a cease and desist, then we'll only have Tides of Destiny news.

You can find the links to all our stories on delicious: http://delicious.com/rpgamer/200

RPGCast streams live, sometimes on Friday at 10 PM Eastern / 7 PM Pacific, usually on Saturday at Noon Eastern / 9 AM Pacific.

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[Gold_guardian]

Congratulations on reaching 200 episodes. I've listened to them all and enjoyed every one! May their be many many more to come

[Shaymin]

Congrats on 200, and here's to another couple thousand.

Wasn't SquareEnix using "We lost the source code" as an excuse for not supporting the Virtual Console for a while? Or was that just conjecture on Retronauts? Still, the M2 story is what I'll associate this episode with.

Relevant image:

[Firemyst]

The Relevant Image is win.

[tri9591]

Hi RPGCast,

First off, congratulations on your 200th episodes!

I've always listened to the podcast but this one, in particular, aligns with so many of my interests that I've decided that I will tune in the live podcast next week. Skyrim (of course), Vita (BTW, Japanese have always paid much more than Americans for games and stuff so please don't use that in comparison - just listen to 8-4 Play), DISTANT WORLDS (I went twice and still have fanboy's goosebumps when it's mentioned), Game of Thrones and THE WHEEL OF TIME SERIES (FINALLY SOMEONE WHO LOVES IT TOO). Pardon my liberal use of all-caps but please tell me the name of the gentleman who mentioned WOT because I'd like to give him a virtual hug .

There's only one obstacle left in my journey to the live cast. That is the fact that Mr. Chris never mentioned what day it's on...

Looking forward to the next episode!

[shoptroll]

Wasn't SquareEnix using "We lost the source code" as an excuse for not supporting the Virtual Console for a while?

Well Capcom certainly used that reason for the lack of a Mega Man I-V (the gameboy games) compilation on the GBA.

[Severin Mira]

tri: Welcome ^^ The livestream is on Saturdays, if it moves for a week for some reason there'll usually be a notice given

[jcservant]

I know I'm a little late to the party...

So, those of you who say you on the cast would play the bioware games with little/easy/no combat... my question is... why not just read a book, watch an anime, etc?

[Ocelot]

I know I'm a little late to the party...

So, those of you who say you on the cast would play the bioware games with little/easy/no combat... my question is... why not just read a book, watch an anime, etc?

For me, it's the role-playing decisions that make it. Non-interactive entertainment doesn't allow me to create my own character and make decisions for her. And yes, I can do PnP role-playing for that, but it's not easy to find a good group to get together with when when you're an adult. Plus, in a single-player video game, you can be the bad guy and/or make whatever decisions you want without social consequences, which can be freeing.

[jcservant]

Can't find a group? I can help you with that! I have four groups...one local and three online! And they're 90% adult (We have the occasional teenager who joins...usually the son of another player).

And along the lines of being evil...I'm planning on an evil based campaign for my more experienced players. You may not like it though as I play Pathfinder which can be very combat intense.

Well, the way this mass effect story mode is being described, it sounded like choices won't play a big role or something. Odd. I know you don't get to make choices reading a book or watching something, par se. But I'm not sure suffering through 20+ hours of grindy rpg battles that most games bring to the table are worth that extra option vs others if battles aren't fun for someone.

[7thCircle]

Unfortunately RPGs have moved away from the full branching dialogue trees and plot paths that were used in the 90s mostly by Black Isle. Fallout 3 and to a lesser extent New Vegas let you be evil if you wanted, although it was more of a "you can kill ANYTHING!" type of evil than the sort of well-scripted evils in a game like Planescape: Torment. I see where Becky is coming from. BioWare makes the only games with role-playing in branching dialogue nowadays, so if you want to do that you're stuck with either shooting a lot in Mass Effect or watching all the dialogue paths mean nothing in Dragon Age II. Dragon Age: Origins is the only recent RPG that gave you choices that mattered, although they didn't usually come at the end of branching dialogue trees.

Guess I'm still waiting for that perfect Choose Your Own Adventure RPG that I thought was on the horizon 10 years ago, then never came. What I really want is a game that lets me play as Lawful Neutral or Lawful Evil. Something like the Mercykillers in Planescape. I want to help orphans one day when they're being attacked, then murder them in cold blood later if I catch them throwing rocks at the mayor. And I want it to be somewhat scripted with exp and quest awards for killing them, and I want townspeople to talk about it when I walk past them 10 hours later. Too much to ask? BioWare, Obsidian, and Bethesda *almost* do this now. I would need Obsidian's willingness to write a ton of dialogue, Bethesda's open world, and BioWare's role-playing structure to be adopted by one of the three of them.

[Ocelot]

I'm actually less interested in playing evil (I'm a pretty dedicated Chaotic Good player, with the occasional Neutral Evil/Larcenous streak) and more interested in being the main character of my Choose Your Own Adventure. That can't and shouldn't happen in a group of real people (which is enjoyable for other reasons, but I honestly don't have the time). I'm not even terribly picky about how I do this... hell, I was delighted in Zelda Skyward Sword to see that I had occasional dialog choices, even though they make very little difference in the long run. They do change the next line that the NPC says to you, and that alone increases my enjoyment of the game.

I'm not terribly happy with the direction BioWare seems to be going, but the good will the company earned from me with Dragon Age: Origins will last for a while. I'm hoping they bring back that level of choice and consequence in Dragon Age 3. Of course, I also love reading books, and very few games provide the kind of narrative enjoyment I can find in a good book, but CRPGs are a different kind of narrative enjoyment... one in which I'm in the driver's seat.

[jcservant]

Then another suggestion that might scratch your itch....two of my PnP sessions are done with only one or two players which not only allow the story to have that strong single person decision focus you seek, but it takes less time to play and we just run whenever we have time instead of a set schedule.

I echo both 7ths and your sentiments re: bioware and pc rpgs