I just tiptoed into Adventure Mode to see what it was like (
http://www.bay12games.com/forum/index.php?topic=24726.0), and I got to wondering what others wanted in this kind of game. I don't know what Toady has planned, but this is what is most important to me:
1)
Role-playing. I want a character I care about (at least as much as I care about some of my dwarves in Fortress Mode). I want a person, not just an icon. I want to gradually develop my character from a loincloth-wearing peasant with a dull knife to a well-equipped champion (starting out with full iron armor doesn't seem like much fun). And I want experiences which will test him and develop him (develop his character, not just his skills).
2)
Exploration. I want a reason to explore the world, not just to kill things. I want to find the amazing, the beautiful, the bizarre, and the heart-breaking. I want incredible vistas, scary dungeons (moody environments of all types), as well as powerful stories of the other inhabitants of the world. I want to wander through the world and wonder at the things I find. And, of course, I want to find treasure - not Monty Hall quantities of loot, necessarily, but things that are valuable to me at the time.
3)
Choices. I want REAL choices. I want advantages and disadvantages for everything, so that no choice is necessarily obvious. There should be a trade-off in everything. Equipping my character should be a matter of strategy. There should be a real question about whether plate mail is "better" than chain or even leather (depending on my character, my weapons, and my tactics). I want to slowly improve my character (the journey is FAR more fun than the end result), but I don't want the direction of improvement to be too obvious, and certainly not the same for every character.
4)
Ethics. I want ethical choices, too. There should be advantages and disadvantages to each, but more importantly, it should MATTER which I choose. There must be consequences for our actions. At the very least, they should change how the rest of the world views our character, but even better, they should have an effect ON our character. Not "alignment" necessarily (Toady has wisely avoided "hit points," so I'm sure he can come up with something better here, too), but some significant effect, especially with repeated behavior. What we do should affect who we are,... and who we are should matter!
5)
Logic. Things should make sense. This is one way in which Fortress Mode really, really shines (the other being that the dwarves are real characters, not just statistics). And I love the fact that Toady has eschewed magic in DF. Magic is just a way to do things which make no sense. I want things to make sense, even in a fantasy game. Given what I've found in Fortress Mode, I'm sure Toady will have no trouble with logic in Adventure Mode, but I wanted to mention it, because it IS important to me.
6)
Sound effects. Much - MUCH - less important than the above, but I still enjoy sound effects in a game (more than fancy graphics, I think). I always turn off the music in games, so I don't even know if there are any sound effects in Dwarf Fortress (I'd like to turn the music off, but leave sound effects on, if I could). But sound effects are not just useful for immersing a player into a game environment. They can also be important for gameplay. If there's a lion in the vicinity, I'd like to hear it before I see it. That seems more realistic, and it would increase the tension in the game, too.
OK, sorry this is so long. But I'd be interested in hearing what others value most in an RPG/Adventure game. What would you like to see in DF Adventure Mode, eventually?
Bill
Author
Topic: What do you want in an RPG/Adventure game? (Read 2198 times)