Slightly off topic - For some reason, I can't force myself to go through any RPG other than BG. Likewise, I have no interest in any game other than BG and an occasional game of DoTA(multiplayer) /C&C Generals(modded skirmish). I tried PoE, tried DA:O; I can't find any pleasure in those games for some reason. Sooner or later, I go back to BG. I did like Fallout 2 and Arcanum, but I can't imagine playing through them again however. When I started playing them, I did "complete runs", doing all little side-quests etc. If I had to play them today, I'd probably run through the game in 2 hours. RPG indeed... Maybe I'm just getting old.
You've just described me. I'm not even able to finish SOD for that reason ...
DAI must be a nightmare for a completionist, with it's masses of trivial sidequests.
Yup, I think that's one of my biggest criticisms of the game. Especially when said trivial sidequests are just looting X number of items, or reading a journal entry, killing an enemy, quest completed. Barely any human interaction and when it's there, it's just "Do X for me!" "Thank you for doing X for me!" Such a step down from most previous Bioware fetch quests.
DAI must be a nightmare for a completionist, with it's masses of trivial sidequests.
Heh. Yeah, try DA:I not only being a completionist but also a chronic restarter and a 'perfectionist' with respect to leveling up and equipping your entire cast of companions. I easily put over 200 hours into that game and truly surprised myself that I actually finished it.
The only real problem I got is the sewers... Why would you open a grate and climb down into the sewers, with metallic armour... Wait... Chainmail... That is going to get the middens and toilet paper into every chink... No. NO!
To assume that toilet paper is used in FR looks quite silly to me. Is an invention and habit quite recent, that also now is used only by in some parts of the word, the ones where the western civilization rules. Western civilization that traditionally had bad sanitary habits also in the past, not only between the low classes, with people and animals sharing the same rooms, but also between the nobles. That was using and abusing perfumes to try to hide the smell of their poop, that had no problems to produce in some corner or their castles or behind a statue. More civilized parts of the world still now use water, and soap if available. A nickname that Indians often use describing western people is "the people of the jungle", alias the monkeys, because we have clean clothes but under them a dirty ass. I assume that in FR maybe only the ogres and the half orcs don't use water, but try to clean themselves, after poop, with some piece of cloth of paper.
@gorgonzola said: To assume that toilet paper is used in FR looks quite silly to me.Is an invention and habit quite recent, that also now is used only by in some parts of the word, the ones where the western civilization rules.
I tend to think of the Sword Coast in terms of a medieval society ripe with slavers, discrimination, a class system where the nobles rule, uninvolved laws concerning the treatment of women and fidelity, etcetera. When role playing, I love immersing myself in such a gritty world.
Yet I still choose to delude myself into thinking that they have developed some form of toilet paper.
I found playing as a completitionist very boring... In the other hand, playing BG roleplaying is an amazing experience, that almost reach a table-top D&D experience in a good group.
@Vitor , I agree. My most fun runs have been when I only went places that I had been given an in-game reason to go to, and when I tried to get into my character's head, think like my character's alignment, and only go where that character would go.
My most tedious runs, and most likely to be abandoned long before finishing, were the ones where I made myself lawnmower every map to clear every speck of fog, go every place, and fight every battle, just because I knew they were there.
To second that thought, I just finished a run through the first game as a LG paladin, actually role playing LG for the first time. Man, it was such a different experience. Skipped more than half the wilderness areas, didn't see anything of Baldur's Gate except The Iron Throne base and Flaming Fist HQ. Finished the game without my mages even getting level 4 spells. Used temples for healing because my character felt compelled to put an end to the Iron Throne before they cause too much damage, so no resting unless it really made sense. Didn't get find any stat tomes. Didn't loot the catacombs beneath Candlekeep. No Durlag's Tower, no Ulgoth's Beard. Much more interesting than lawn mowing.
Really interesting to hear your opinion. The prevailing opinion is that those games was designed for good parties, and that evil characters are intentionally more powreful to compensate it. If this is the outcome of RP a LG charname , chosing only what make 100% sense RP wise, we should think at it in a different way. As I play mostly good, but mediate it with completionism and power gaming, I was not aware of what you now say.
Well the way I saw it, my paladin would happily go take care of other things AFTER Sarevok was defeated, but we don't get the chance to do that in game terms. Sarevok was by far the biggest threat to the Sword Coast. My LG paladin wanted to prevent the war at all costs and ended up finishing the game with the weakest power level I've ever seen myself play
I think there needs to be a subtle balance between the two...
You need to be able to feel like you are doing well and achieving stuff, but likewise you don't want to feel punished because you didn't play it in a certain way. When playing your way causes you to miss lots of stuff or things to go wrong it can feel devastating - sometimes that only comes from meta-gaming, other times it can smack you the in the face....
I remember playing Fallout: New Vegas and doing something, and suddenly 'Quest Failed - xxxx' came up. This was a quest that I was completely unaware of, and my action had meant it was no longer possible to complete that quest so it failed. FAILED. I had done WRONG and I was punished for it. Whilst the logic is perfectly sound - my actions prevented the quest from being completed - the fact I'd failed was enough to make me reload a save and try to play it the RIGHT way. That's wrong IMO.
What you are describing as WRONG is RIGHT to me. One of the biggest strengths of FNV is you being actually able to make decisions that bear consequences. Failing a quest doesn't mean you played the game in a wrong way. It's a RPG, not an "I need to complete all questsPG" in the mold of your typical Bethesda game where you can do anything and join anyone without ever experiencing some sort of outcome of your decisions. Yeah, in FNV you can "fail" quests, by killing a potential later quest provider, for example. But you know what? That is so much better, than encountering a gazillion immortal NPCs like in Fallout 3 or 4.
I also try to do as much as I can during a playthrough. But I'm perfectly fine with not being able to do "anything I want". Because I like a well told story, and a coherent game world where my decisions are actually recognized. Completing quests should be a mean to have fun in a game not the end to it.
Comments
Is an invention and habit quite recent, that also now is used only by in some parts of the word, the ones where the western civilization rules. Western civilization that traditionally had bad sanitary habits also in the past, not only between the low classes, with people and animals sharing the same rooms, but also between the nobles. That was using and abusing perfumes to try to hide the smell of their poop, that had no problems to produce in some corner or their castles or behind a statue.
More civilized parts of the world still now use water, and soap if available. A nickname that Indians often use describing western people is "the people of the jungle", alias the monkeys, because we have clean clothes but under them a dirty ass.
I assume that in FR maybe only the ogres and the half orcs don't use water, but try to clean themselves, after poop, with some piece of cloth of paper.
To assume that toilet paper is used in FR looks quite silly to me.Is an invention and habit quite recent, that also now is used only by in some parts of the word, the ones where the western civilization rules.
I tend to think of the Sword Coast in terms of a medieval society ripe with slavers, discrimination, a class system where the nobles rule, uninvolved laws concerning the treatment of women and fidelity, etcetera. When role playing, I love immersing myself in such a gritty world.
Yet I still choose to delude myself into thinking that they have developed some form of toilet paper.
My most tedious runs, and most likely to be abandoned long before finishing, were the ones where I made myself lawnmower every map to clear every speck of fog, go every place, and fight every battle, just because I knew they were there.
Didn't get find any stat tomes. Didn't loot the catacombs beneath Candlekeep. No Durlag's Tower, no Ulgoth's Beard. Much more interesting than lawn mowing.
As I play mostly good, but mediate it with completionism and power gaming, I was not aware of what you now say.
Failing a quest doesn't mean you played the game in a wrong way. It's a RPG, not an "I need to complete all questsPG" in the mold of your typical Bethesda game where you can do anything and join anyone without ever experiencing some sort of outcome of your decisions.
Yeah, in FNV you can "fail" quests, by killing a potential later quest provider, for example. But you know what? That is so much better, than encountering a gazillion immortal NPCs like in Fallout 3 or 4.
I also try to do as much as I can during a playthrough. But I'm perfectly fine with not being able to do "anything I want". Because I like a well told story, and a coherent game world where my decisions are actually recognized.
Completing quests should be a mean to have fun in a game not the end to it.