RhapsodyOfFire

Necrochild wrote: »

The support staff they can afford is a reflection of the playerbase that pays for it.

And the playerbase is the reflection of their endeavour...

MrGatto wrote: »

Wish I could go back in time and be a kid again and have no problems and just play my fav game after school

We still could play UT2k4. : P It has many fun servers. I played on a Czech fun server (TechCom) but it seems to have closed in 2015.


And the main theme of one of the most beautiful games ever made:

Rezi wrote: »

To add to that point, one reason that players are looking less for T2W is that more and more of them are becoming filthy casuals. It's not as if players have less time to play games anymore (most MMO players started playing about 10 years ago, and were kids then, so they were still occupied with schoolwork). It's just that there's so many games now, and the pacing for games has gotten more casual - RPG grind turned into quick FPS matches, non-linear grindfest MMOs became straightlaced P2W mobile games.

Players appreciate a game that will capture their attention, but they don't want to spend 3 hours on a single task anymore. It's as you said - going straight into PvP or dungeons is what they want; hopefully Mabi mobile will somewhat accomplish that, but I doubt a Vindi remake will get there, and Rise is a terrible way to speed up entry (what was even the point of limiting PvP to max level if someone can just max in a day?).

No game is for filthy casuals, because it's not something in which everyone can always win. That never should be a goal for any game developer i think. What would be the purpose of board games for example if everyone won? The filthy casuals will lose interest in the game the soonest. The people who love the game including the normal casuals will keep playing. As for me i play Vindi very rarely even though i'm not interested in the game anymore. For me Vindi is just a game for occasions when i want to have some fun with or without friends.

You are right about not having time. It's not because people don't have free time for games, it's because they don't want to spend that time on a game that no longer feeds their interest. Personally i like playing games that inspire me. And i could dedicate some of my free time to them when i'm looking for inspiration. So there are different reasons for why people play a game and it's not always for simply having fun. (however you can call it fun because it's part of it)

And i noticed that nowadays what people consider quality in a game includes the followings:
- graphics (the key is often the choice of colors and shaders not the texture resolutions or the polycount of the characters)
- music (it should fit the mood of that part of the game and contain references to the story and the visuals)
- sound effects (some basic effects are enough if they don't sound like an 8-bit Atari 2600)
- animations (not necessarily motion captured, could be hand-made too if the moves at least look more human and not like C3P0's moves)
- story (it's best if there are mysteries in it that are left to the player's interpretation)
- mechanics (the most important part but it's not a standalone thing, it can't exist without the minimal requirements of the other parts)

Rezi wrote: »

Just to put the nail in the coffin, KP actually focuses more on action that Vindi does. There are no levels, an extremely low dependence on stats, absolutely no P2W or Time 2 Win, it's balanced around PvP although there is non-linear PvE content across the entire world map, combat is based on reaction time and accuracy of controls, and enhancement/enchantment gimmicks are also nonexistent. In other words, it's a game that entirely allows the player to get right into the game and own everyone if they're skilled in action combat, while the players that rely on stats and equipment and refuse to learn how to play will never rank.

Nice to see when game developers focus more on the playability and the quality side of a game rather than on the monetary side. If the game is fair and playable, they could sell it for anything. Like at the time of S1 in Vindi. The playerbase was at its peak at that time, that's the clear proof that this kind of attitude isn't so bad or risky. This is the only way if they want to attract diverse crowds.

On the personal side, i lose motivation in a game when i have to spend months just to get a better gear without spending real money or otherwise i contribute nearly nothing to the party or i can spend 25 minutes on soloing a raid that repeats 3-4 moves most of the times. That's why the classic MMO approach will never attract all varieties of players. I think a lot of action games start like this. At the first time all kinds of players try them out, then they quit when they realize it's gonna be time consuming or unfair. Terms like "action", "fast-paced", "needs good reflexes" and bs like that are always attractive until you meet the reality and you realize that "annoying combat with poor strategic choices" (where do i need those god damn reflexes when there is only the typical way to do it?), "unequal" and "unnecessarily time consuming" would describe the game better.

It would still be possible for them to make an excessive amount of profit from costumes, decorations and things that don't affect the progress in the game.

Tales of Evening - Rímekben élsz (You live with/in rhymes)