Finished Kingmaker
I finished Kingmaker (the first of the Premium Neverwinter Nights modules I talked about last post) last night. Not quite as impressive at the end as it was in the beginning. But it was still a pretty good adventure, and well worth the money. The first two-thirds of the game contains a story of intrigue and deal-making as you attempt to win hearts and minds through effort and blackmail to win an election to become the Lord of a castle that you saved. But once the election has happened, all the current storylines and quests are dropped like a hot potato, and you have a very traditional dungeon romp awaiting you.

Not that this is a bad thing - I love a good old-fashioned dungeon romp as much as the next guy. I just wish I could have seen some more of the effects of my actions. One of my biggest complaints with computer RPGs in general --- and probably the hardest to fix in any game --- the NPCs have these wonderful scripts that make you willingly suspend disbelief and enjoy the game as a drama as much as you'd enjoy reading a book. Then, once they are no longer key to the plot, they become cardboard posters that repeat the same thing endlessly, even though what they are saying no longer makes sense in the current context. As an example, in Kingmaker, you have characters wishing you the best of luck in an election you've already won. This was true all the way back to the days when Lord British would say, "Greetings, welcome to my castle! How goes your quest?" when your characters were all dying of poison and starvation in front of his throne.

Not that I think I have a solution to that problem. It's tough enough for a skilled writer to make a character "come alive" on a page when he has full control of the presentation. It's ridiculous to expect the computer to do better. But I'll keep wishing.

Labels: Mainstream Games, Roleplaying Games

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 3:41 PM (Permalink)