I would agree, just look at Assassins Creed great gameplay mechanics, but the mission where carried out the same over and over for the whole game, there no fun in that, and what the hell where they thinking when it can to the big final, real letdown. Still is a good game to jump in and have some fun now and again.
The main issue now is games have developed to fast and have become very complex, so development time increase, more money is invested and making a profit is more important. That’s not an entirely true statement but there truth in it. New game play mechanics are risky, not every developer is willing to bet there 20-50 million budget on a risk, but to go with what works. Valve and Blizzard and possible Bioware are an exception since money is no issue.
But that’s the problem, RPG's weren't given the time to evolve and are stuck in a cycle. But this is also great news for us and the indie scene to produce some brilliant gameplay mechanics. Just look at Portal, though Narbackular (forgot how to spell it) Drop wasn't the first game with portals, Prey was, the original Prey (kind of looks like the first HalfLife) which not many people know about nor have played since it came out very long ago.
My RPG in the making hope to tackle some of these issues. Lots of RPG's have really annoyed me with the lack of innovation when it comes to combat or the setting, why does everything have tokenized feel. Games like Oblivion and Gothic where you can see the enemy a mile off and then it suddenly runs over to you oblivious to the arrow you have aimed at its head, where did this mechanic come from.
This is an Event that happens in my game, but there alot of work still to be done, good read though.
One thing I trying to do is a completely new style of combat with a mix of old stuff. For example, picture a small town, moonlight gazing over, and winter chill in the air. You hear a rumor that a Shadow Walker (SW) is in the area, a SW is a mist creature that attacks people from shadows and pulls them into it to be devoured. It could also be a thief with the ability to moving in the shadows. First things first, do some research, go to the local bar and ask around for info on the SW. They tell you that a number of people have gone missing, so that rules out the thief. Then you need to look at a way of tracking down the SW, so you consult you books to find and article about SW's being blind but are attracted to old folk for the minds. I have a couple of option now, kill an old guy, drag his body into the shadows and wait, or get someone drunk enough to sway them to follow you and telling them to wait in the shadow.
So now comes the question of killing it or capturing it or sealing it, mist entities are hard to come by and are worth alot. You can learn this buy asking priests to show you how to capture or seal them, or guy talking to knights or crusaders that would have come across one. Stuff it, why not just jump in and find out. You sit on top of a near by house, speed burst skill at the ready (make you jump forward very fast). The ground starts to ripple round the dead body I had fun throwing against the wall, and then he gets pulled in to shadow. Now's my chance, I jump straight towards the shadow and swing with my sword only to fall through the shadow. Maybe this wasn't a great idea, still alive though. You now find yourself in a mirror image of the town you where in, light has changed to dark and dark to light, hmm... now what am I going to do?
Sorry if I rambled on abit, but what do you think? That’s one of many events that happen in my game and the same creature might fight differently or might be an ally to you.
A dream is a fantasy, if you achieve that fantasy it was never a dream to begin with.
