Re: Daily Radar review

From: STEPHEN HUNT <chipchat_at_...>
Date: Wed, 4 Oct 2006 17:18:08 +0100 (BST)

Probably I'm being a bit harsh on the old shoot-em-ups, just used to be a games reviewer and saw too, too many that were all about shiny effects and very little about an intriguing or branching story. Mind, there's still plenty of games from that era that get replayed on my machine (rumours this is because my machine really could do with an upgrade from its current steam-driven incarnation may be more accurate than I wish).    

  The RQ question, I guess, was because I've been an addict of that since 1980 and so the background knowledge of all the cults and gods, etc, was already in my head, making it really easy to pick up on everything in the game. Made me wonder how easy it was for non-RQphiles to get into the game.    

  S.

roger_ducasse <murometz_at_...> wrote:

wrote:
>
> And... oddly enough... its low-tech nature enhances its
>replayability. It was never competing with the high-end
>shoot-em-ups of the time that now look very dated. Instead,
>its use of a different approach ensured it didn't age as
>horribly as some of those games once hailed as essential,
>now by comparison a bit rubbish.

I suspect...no, I know that a lot of fans of that rubbish would disagree with you on that one. :D But then, the computer games industry is built, not around games, but around the marketing of games, IMO. You pre-sell a title by building it up to kiddies with an endless series of teasers in the form of interviews, screenshots, trailers, and lists of features (many of which will be removed before release). Then, after its sold, you quickly market the next set of advanced information on a game that will be even better, have more of everything, and of course overwhelm the kiddies with yet eye and ear candy before release. It is a quintessential quest after an ever-receding rainbow's end.

But I do agree, and with your suggestion about KoDP's replayability. There are so many different parameters you can change, so many different paths you can take. It's a great time waster. I have it running, now, in the background, in compromise 800 x 600 mode, while I transcribe an interview for work.

>Out of curiosity, how many folks out there came to this game
>having not been fans of Runequest beforehand?

I wasn't, and still aren't. I have no interest in PnP games, or game universes as such.

Barry B.          

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