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THE GAME OF PESSIMISM
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UPRC
5516
UPRC
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CloseHas there ever been an RPG made around here where the game's goal is to make the player feel doubtful and uncomfortable in their actions and decisions? Where just about anything the player does will result in the game trying to make them believe that they may not be doing a good thing?
Example, you've got a wealth of party members to choose from. I'm talking Craze-esque character selection, and you have to make a party. When you make one and you go to leave the room, the main character says randomized lines similar to the following REGARDLESS of who you picked. "Hmm... are we sure about this group? I'm not sure if we're up to the challenge with this set-up." Even with a party full of characters who look practically unstoppable on paper.
Or NPCs will downplay everything they sell, even items that are suspected to be VERY good. Quest givers and major allies would frequently insist that the party members are not ready for what is ahead, that they are walking to their deaths... even in the most basic dungeons.
Basically, the game is pessimistic at every chance it can get. Spell descriptions make every single one sound meager at best, every battle is viewed as an eternal struggle, and everyone around the party believes that they'll wind up dead.
So, has anyone ever been cruel enough to make such a game?
Example, you've got a wealth of party members to choose from. I'm talking Craze-esque character selection, and you have to make a party. When you make one and you go to leave the room, the main character says randomized lines similar to the following REGARDLESS of who you picked. "Hmm... are we sure about this group? I'm not sure if we're up to the challenge with this set-up." Even with a party full of characters who look practically unstoppable on paper.
Or NPCs will downplay everything they sell, even items that are suspected to be VERY good. Quest givers and major allies would frequently insist that the party members are not ready for what is ahead, that they are walking to their deaths... even in the most basic dungeons.
Basically, the game is pessimistic at every chance it can get. Spell descriptions make every single one sound meager at best, every battle is viewed as an eternal struggle, and everyone around the party believes that they'll wind up dead.
So, has anyone ever been cruel enough to make such a game?
nurvuss
958
I've actually been writing some scattered notes here and there revolving around making a game in which absolutely everything gives a vague sense of unease and unplaceable negativity, but my idea was more abstract and William Burroughs inspired.
I really like your idea, and I say go for it.
I really like your idea, and I say go for it.
That pretty much describes the game I'm working on now. In fact, the opening of the game promises that everything you set out to do will go down in flames, and then it challenges you to do it anyway.
RyaReisender
200
Bioshock? Okay it's not an RPG.
I guess some western RPGs are like that, though. In particular you always need to do bad things to get any money and then you feel bad about it afterwards.
I guess some western RPGs are like that, though. In particular you always need to do bad things to get any money and then you feel bad about it afterwards.
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
IMO, if you're going to make a game about pessimism, the pessimism should be completely justified and everything you do in the entire game should fail, up through and including the ending.
Final Fantasy 13 was sort of like this, except not at all in a comical way. The overarching theme of FF13 was one of predestination - you are being forced into performing horrible acts against humanity against your will, and if you stop you'll turn into a shambling stone monster forced to relive your greatest moment of regret over and over for all eternity, and even if you kill yourself someone else will just be chosen to do it instead. There's no escape. But you spend the game fighting to find one anyway. If you did something like this with an ending that actually made sense, it could be an excellent game.
Final Fantasy 13 was sort of like this, except not at all in a comical way. The overarching theme of FF13 was one of predestination - you are being forced into performing horrible acts against humanity against your will, and if you stop you'll turn into a shambling stone monster forced to relive your greatest moment of regret over and over for all eternity, and even if you kill yourself someone else will just be chosen to do it instead. There's no escape. But you spend the game fighting to find one anyway. If you did something like this with an ending that actually made sense, it could be an excellent game.
Corpse Party was a little like this...I guess? Whatever you do, some of the characters wind up dead and you can do nothing to stop that. Everybody forgets about them with the exception of the survivors. Even when a few of the characters survive you are still feeling depressed because there's no real happy end. But the game isn't entirely depressive. At many times it actually tries to be rather funny. Mhm.
I'm working on a project right now that will feature a story full of depression. At first everything is fine and dandy, until something really sad happens and your main character has to face depression over and over again, unable to understand what happened. To show the player the depression that fills him the world will lose more and more colors. The concept of the game is rather bizarre at times, but I try to make a mix of a RPG and puzzle game that features the mind of a small child, thrown together with the cruelty of reality.
That being said, "Growing Down" won't make the player feel bad because you have to do bad things - it will make you feel bad because there is nothing you can do to make the main character understand the situation he is in and go on.
I'm working on a project right now that will feature a story full of depression. At first everything is fine and dandy, until something really sad happens and your main character has to face depression over and over again, unable to understand what happened. To show the player the depression that fills him the world will lose more and more colors. The concept of the game is rather bizarre at times, but I try to make a mix of a RPG and puzzle game that features the mind of a small child, thrown together with the cruelty of reality.
That being said, "Growing Down" won't make the player feel bad because you have to do bad things - it will make you feel bad because there is nothing you can do to make the main character understand the situation he is in and go on.
Avee
5794
author=UPRC
Well damn, maybe now I'll have to do a short side project.
And here comes a new event that would be the perfect opportunity :)
http://rpgmaker.net/events/arv/
Desertopa
775
author=LockeZ
IMO, if you're going to make a game about pessimism, the pessimism should be completely justified and everything you do in the entire game should fail, up through and including the ending.
Final Fantasy 13 was sort of like this, except not at all in a comical way. The overarching theme of FF13 was one of predestination - you are being forced into performing horrible acts against humanity against your will, and if you stop you'll turn into a shambling stone monster forced to relive your greatest moment of regret over and over for all eternity, and even if you kill yourself someone else will just be chosen to do it instead. There's no escape. But you spend the game fighting to find one anyway. If you did something like this with an ending that actually made sense, it could be an excellent game.
I'd be careful about what sort of things you subject the player to though, even if it does fit the theme of the game. Thematically coherent doesn't necessarily equal fun.
Aside from that though, it's not as if failure is a necessary consequence of pessimism. If you're doomed to fail no matter what, then a lack of hope isn't pessimism, but realism. Real pessimism is about having more doubts and anxieties than are justified by reality. Real hopelessness would be another theme entirely.
A hopelessness themed game would probably be more depressing, whereas a pessimism themed game would be more frustrating, because you'd spend so much time second-guessing yourself.
In terms of actually compelling thematic pessimissm and hopelessness, Mass Effect 3 has all of it beat.
author=Feldschlacht IV
In terms of actually compelling thematic pessimissm and hopelessness, Mass Effect 3 has all of it beat.
I dunno, man. Have you played MGS4?
Crystalgate
694
I have a hard time imagine that working. To me it just looks like the game gives inaccurate information, meaning I'll just ignore it.
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