Proposal: An ARPG/RPG With A Twist

[Alphidius]

This is nothing really groundbreaking... While most RTS games have different factions and opposing campaigns against each other, this is rarely seen in RPGs and ARPGs. I'm not talking like Tech vs Magik in Arcanum or Silverfall or the different races starting from with different locations and quests in Sacred.

What I'm talking about is playing as the opposing faction, something like GDI and NOD in C&C series, only in RPing terms. The factions in WoW while are extremely clearcut (Horde and Alliance), quests does not involve in meddling with each others' key RPing characters or quests (though there are people who kill that Major in Stormwind for whatever reasons ).

An example could be like a quest that involves "killing" a character on one side and maybe finding a herb to save that same character who is now critically wounded on the other side. Something like you're working against yourself if you know what I mean. Where's the fun in this? I think it would do well to spice up the plot and possibly the gameplay.

Plot-wise, the story and quests will probably affect how a player plays the game on one side and on the other. Some optional quests could be like retrieve the family sword for a warrior or help guide a group of soldiers back to camp, which would give the player experience points and reward items. But say after completing the game and saving it (which would record what quests were completed and what not), the player could start out from the other faction and those quests whom the player had completed on the first play might work against the player in this time round as he/she is in the opposing team. Like the family sword quest example, perhaps the player will have to do battle with this warrior (which could be optional or not) but being equipped with his family sword, he fights better and is tougher to defeat, same with the group of soldiers being led back to camp that could work against the player this time round.

Pointless and utterly stupid you say? Why is this guy even thinking of something so lame?
Reason is simple. Many RPGs say that with each quest taken and completed in a choosen way, good, neutral or evil, NPCs will react differently to your character's path and alignment. Your character will "impact" the game world. But the thing is, other than looking at visuals, sounds or NPC reactions, there is really nothing much to "impact" the player himself/herself directly. Such games is still really static regardless of the good, neutral or evil path taken and alignment and deeds become redundant after all.

So the point here is simple, make the player make a choice in the game, that will affect the player indirectly later on when he/she replays the game again. Of course this would be insane in the amount of scripting needed to cater for such a game and probably will take up plenty of space too.

And besides, how cool is it when you get to play the "bad" guy?
I mean what I'd give to play beastman archer 101! Ngaahhh!!!!!!

[Cironir]

I think you'd probably really like a game called "Ghost Master". That was a wonderfully original, completely different game by a studio named "Sick Puppies". Unfortunately it was a sleeper, and not many people got to play it. I think it was three or four years ago when I played it. Dungeon Keeper by Bullfrog also picked up on your idea, but I think it's been at least ten years since that came out, so probably looks dated now.

But anyway, it's a great idea and I'd enjoy that type of game as well.

[Paradox]

Dungeon Keeper... ahh the good old days

[Alphidius]

I'm thinking if there were a "companion game" (yeah I know... it's a ripoff concept from Eastwoods' companion movies, "Flags of Our Fathers" & "Letters from Iwo Jima") for TQ, that would be amazing.

One of the quests could involve beastman hero going around finding ingredients for a powerful potion for a monster none other than Toxeus!!
That was why Toxeus is almost invincible in our games...

[Armatus]

Originally Posted by Cironir

I think you'd probably really like a game called "Ghost Master". That was a wonderfully original, completely different game by a studio named "Sick Puppies". Unfortunately it was a sleeper, and not many people got to play it. I think it was three or four years ago when I played it. Dungeon Keeper by Bullfrog also picked up on your idea, but I think it's been at least ten years since that came out, so probably looks dated now.

But anyway, it's a great idea and I'd enjoy that type of game as well.

How about this one? It's not for PC though

OverLord
Next-generation gaming in a twisted fantasy world where players have the choice to be evil... or really evil.

[Alphidius]

Yeah, Overlord sounds like good ol' Dungeon Keeper days.
Are you sure it's not on the PC? I heard it would come out for the PC too.

Anyway, the suggestion made here isn't one of those "you can choose to be good or evil" kind of games where you play the character in the same situations and choosing good or bad intentions and get the two different outcomes respectively.

What I'm saying here is, playing Hero A for the Beastmen side and based on what Hero A did, it will affect how Hero B, who is on the Humans side play the quests. Of course there must be good scripting too for all this to happen.

Example:
Beastman Hero A is a scout for the vanguard of the army. He stumbles across a Human village which is completely unguarded and there are lots of civilians in there that are unarmed. He could:
a) Kill them (Ethical for Beastman so this is a "good" choice)
b) Warn them (Unethical for Beastman so this is an "evil" choice)
c) Walk away (Neutral, the army will come and still slaughter them though)

And perhaps based on the choices above, more choices are available for the player like:

Choosing (a):
Player gets tagged as a "cold, heartless murderer (Beastman)" and has a bounty put on his head by the Humans. Random Human heroes and soldiers will attack the player every now and then, making the game much harder for the player.

Choosing (b):
Player gets a chance to (b1) "go over" to the Human side which nets him more "evil" points but gets a chance to (b2) double cross the Humans later and if does so gets insanely high "good" points and tagged "Beastmen mole", bringing him back to the good graces of the Beastmen. Otherwise, he gets tagged as "Beastman traitor " and would get attacked from most Beastmen and few Humans.

Choosing (c):
Neutral choice that ignores this script to most extent.

But wait, most RPG have these type of scripting. What would be different here would be that after the player has completed this game, he/she could start with another Hero on the other faction, the Humans.
So Human Hero B might be faced with the following based on the choices of Beastman Hero A...

Choice (a):
Gets a chance to go after Beastman Hero A for head bounty. Controlled by the AI, the player gets a chance to "face-off" with his previous creation and depending on which part of the map Human Hero B meets Beastman Hero A, the level would vary.

Choice (b1):
Human Hero B has easier quests as Beastman Hero A is working on the same side. Certain quests might allow Beastman Hero A to tag along as an ally.

Choice (b2):
Human Hero B might find himself ambushed while doing certain quests. Some quests would be much tougher to complete. Allows "Find the mole" quest where he might get to square off with Beastman Hero A later.

Choice (c):
Nothing much happens that affects Human Hero B.

Note that b1 & b2 might not be mutually exclusive as Beastman Hero A might be "Beastman traitor " for a period of time before gaining the trusts of the Humans and later become "Beastmen mole". Either way, once the script is triggered, it will affect Human Hero B one way or another.

While you may say this is pretty stupid as the player would already know the plot and outcome. Now let's say the game has 3 or 4 Acts to complete and each Act takes about 5 - 8 hours playtime to complete, I doubt that by the end of the game you would remember all the choices for all the quests that you've taken.
Or somewhere along those lines.... I think....

My 25973648 cents

[Yusuke]

Something you might like, i dunno though, is
Fable: The Lost Chapters for PC
Everything you do in the game (whether it be good or evil) affects how you look, how people react to you, what quests you can get and more. I know it's not TQ, but i think it's a really cool game and sounds somewhat like what your wanting. Choosing to be good or evil for one quest (or the whole game even) will have an affect on other aspects/characters of the game and other quests (like which ones you can get or how they play out).

[tim]

Originally Posted by Paradox

Dungeon Keeper... ahh the good old days

Possibly one of the best games ever made. I wish someone would pick that franchise back up and come out with DK3, possibly the same guys that did Black and White 2.

[Darkarbiter]

Originally Posted by Yusuke

Something you might like, i dunno though, is
Fable: The Lost Chapters for PC
Everything you do in the game (whether it be good or evil) affects how you look, how people react to you, what quests you can get and more. I know it's not TQ, but i think it's a really cool game and sounds somewhat like what your wanting. Choosing to be good or evil for one quest (or the whole game even) will have an affect on other aspects/characters of the game and other quests (like which ones you can get or how they play out).

The game lasts for about 10 hours and the entire good and evil thing is a gimick. You can choose between "rescueing" or "stealing from" the farmers and a few other quests like that. Apart from that its just looks and whether the chicks dig you or not. Most importantly though the games too short. BTW theres nothing thats stopping you from making a multiple factions map in TQ for yourself.

[El_Comandante]

More in the style of S.T.A.L.K.E.R, i should think.