One of the main selling-points of this (PC & xbox2) RPG is that it gives the player a lot of "freedom."
The player does not have to follow the main plot-line, which involves safeguarding the last remaining heir to the Empire and is connected with closing the gates to Oblivion (an Otherworld populated with demons who practice necromancy). The hope is that so long as the imperial bloodline is preserved, the gates to Oblivion will be closed off.
The promised "freedom" is indeed there, but the plot design puts a great deal of psychological pressure on the player to preserve the empire and to regard the demonic invaders as evil. So one almost feels guilty going off in search of treasure when the world is on the brink of collapse.
The artwork and cultural detail is highly refined, if limited to a cliche Tolkein-esque fantasyworld. Indeed the graphics are likely the most beautiful ever seen in video games.
However, I have two problems with the game. One, is that it doesn't offer an alternative "evil" plotline (or maybe it does and I just haven't triggered it; and I do realize how much extra effort that would require in a game that already took about 5 years to develop).
My other problem is that I would like to see a historically accurate RPG, one that is set in middle ages Europe and not a whimsical reinterpretation thereof. Or any historical period (it's just that most RPGs seem to draw from medieval Europe for some reason, probably the influence of Tolkien). Ah, but this might seem all too educational -- INTELLECTUAL even -- and here in the US of A we like to be distracted, not educated, and ESPECIALLY not educated in dogmatic Catholicism.... For example, there are many books in the game with short texts about the "elder scrolls universe" and it's mythology and history. I wonder if any major game developer will ever have the courage to make a RPG set not in a fake "universe" franchise but in actual history. There are strategy games like Civilization that do this, but they set they player at a safe distance from the culture itself and do not force him/her to create a character who makes existential decisions.
But perhaps the game will lead people (as indeed such games and books have led me) to learn more about the real middle ages and the real Church.
The player does not have to follow the main plot-line, which involves safeguarding the last remaining heir to the Empire and is connected with closing the gates to Oblivion (an Otherworld populated with demons who practice necromancy). The hope is that so long as the imperial bloodline is preserved, the gates to Oblivion will be closed off.
The promised "freedom" is indeed there, but the plot design puts a great deal of psychological pressure on the player to preserve the empire and to regard the demonic invaders as evil. So one almost feels guilty going off in search of treasure when the world is on the brink of collapse.
The artwork and cultural detail is highly refined, if limited to a cliche Tolkein-esque fantasyworld. Indeed the graphics are likely the most beautiful ever seen in video games.
However, I have two problems with the game. One, is that it doesn't offer an alternative "evil" plotline (or maybe it does and I just haven't triggered it; and I do realize how much extra effort that would require in a game that already took about 5 years to develop).
My other problem is that I would like to see a historically accurate RPG, one that is set in middle ages Europe and not a whimsical reinterpretation thereof. Or any historical period (it's just that most RPGs seem to draw from medieval Europe for some reason, probably the influence of Tolkien). Ah, but this might seem all too educational -- INTELLECTUAL even -- and here in the US of A we like to be distracted, not educated, and ESPECIALLY not educated in dogmatic Catholicism.... For example, there are many books in the game with short texts about the "elder scrolls universe" and it's mythology and history. I wonder if any major game developer will ever have the courage to make a RPG set not in a fake "universe" franchise but in actual history. There are strategy games like Civilization that do this, but they set they player at a safe distance from the culture itself and do not force him/her to create a character who makes existential decisions.
But perhaps the game will lead people (as indeed such games and books have led me) to learn more about the real middle ages and the real Church.
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apparently this might happen
Wed, February 7, 2007 - 2:08 AMAn Edward Castronova has received a MacArthur genius grant to create a MMORPG based, somehow, on Shakespeare.
news.com.com/Shakespeare...6127294.html
