Re: MMORPGs that require first-person view?

Thus spake "Matt v3.2" <ask.for.my.address@xxxxxxxxx>, Mon, 25 Feb 2008
00:38:19 +1300, Anno Domini:

Nostromo typed on Sun 24 Feb 2008 6:48 PM:
Thus spake "Matt v3.2"
Yeah, why is no-one making tactical/squad/party-based RPGs? I've
played the likes of Ghost Recon etc, where you control 6 guys in
first-person view, and jump in and out of the shoes of each guy
when you need 'em (sniper guy, bazooka guy, etc) I've often thought
it'd be so cool to have an RPG with that kind of control -
tactically place the swordsmen here, wizard there, sneak the thief
around the back, proceed to ambush the monsters. ;) The AI would
have to be up to the task of course.

With OpFlash:CWC there was no jumping around, like most squad-based
combat games - you were always the same person from start to finish
in each mission/level & I personally feel that helps immersion,
whereas the other method breaks it for me.

Not so much for me, I loved Ghost Recon, Hidden & Dangerous. I was all
6 guys at once. ;) Though I still had some disconnection, on account of
not having really "created" a character as I would with an RPG.

Operation Flashpoint I have not played, on my list though- I think there
was an expansion, too?

There was, but I never played it (forget the name).

Still, the overall idea of having squad-mates in a fps/rpg would be
cool, depending on how it was implemented. As it stands, in most/all
party-based crpgs, you're just a disembodied pair of eyes with some
static paper dolls & portraits - bleh!

Precisely - bleh, because typically (M&M series) you cannot see your other
characters, you just get one unified FPS-type perspective. But imagine if
each character had an independent body (such that you could see them in
the game world carrying whatever armor/weapons), each with ability to roam
the map/world both indoors and out, any of which you could take control at
any time (AI control the rest) - I think that could be awesome! (It would
certainly help with the "disembodied" problem ;D)

Actually, I just thought of some more rpgs that kinda have achieved this:
Darkstone, Dungeon Siege & Summoner. However, they're all really 3rd-person
& with Summoner at least you're meant to mainly play the protagonist, though
you can switch to the other chars if you need to.

The only one I'm aware of that
allowed for fp perspective team-mate(s) is the likes of Oblivion, though
that was really just a sidekick & even then you needed a user mod to have
them, double-bleh.

Yah, basically I'm thinking Morrowind (yet to play Oblivion) but with party
of 4-6 characters. Not sidekicks or henchmen, but player characters. Give
them all unique abilities and skill sets (as in Baldurs Gate) and work them
together in a *tactical-RPG*. :D (New genre!)

And design the game system from the ground up to encompass a real-time fps
hybrid...I guess you could end up with a kind of mmorpg with coordinated
group dynamics (I know, big call ;).

Eh, really the AI would have to be something out of this world, to not get
the party killed constantly or by friendly fireballs. ;) Probably too much
for any one dev team to take on, I guess. (But then, Ghost Recon etc did it
pretty well, just not in a fantasy setting)

Have you tried GW:Nightfall with the Hero system? It almost captures this
feel as you always play your main char but can give instructions to your
party of heroes & henchies as needed.

I can't think for the life of me if there ever has been a fps crpg
with team-mates from start to finish...anyone? I guess there's more
mmos with pets that achieve this than offline crpgs. Perhaps DMoMM
has some mods? GW certainly has heroes/henchies, though it's not
generally played in FP view (except by some diehards here :). HGL has
pets, Jade Empire is over-the-shoulder 3rd-person...hmmm...maybe fp
view just doesn't lend itself well the party-based crpgs?

Or maybe we just need a (European?) dev team to take the risk and do it
right? ;)

Yup, a party-based Stalker or VTMB - oh the heaven that would be! ;)

But imagine it, a fusion of the likes of Baldurs Gate with Ghost
Recon perspective, how cool would that be? (Or maybe they have
already done something like that and I've missed it?- I have huge
backlog of games)

Perhaps it may only work as a curiosity. The limited FoV may add
something to the atmosphere, but you'd need a 3D world of course,
which for the likes of BG would change the entire game view, make it
more like NWN1/2 perhaps.

"limited FoV" - thats why they invented widescreen. ;) But could always
throw in an option for third-person perspective ...

True. Games like a lot of mmos out there are more immersive in fp view,
though it certainly helps to be able to pan left/right/up/down or look
behind yourself ala GW while in either 1st or 3rd person mode, widescreen or
not.

--
Nostromo
.

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