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      <h5><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">//<a href="../../../index.html"><font color="#7C420E">loonygames</font></a>://<a href="../index.html"><font color="#7C420E">issue 
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                      <p><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000FF"><i><a href="../../2.1/uc/index.html"><font color="#904C10" size="3">Beaker's 
                        Bent <br>
                        Yet more on the Future of RPGs</font></a></i></font></b><br>
                      
                      <div align="right"> <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1">By 

                        Rich &quot;<a href="mailto:rich@loonygames.com">Beaker</a>&quot; 
                        Wyckoff</font></div>
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                    <h5 align="right"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#00025E">Vol. 
                      2, Issue 5&nbsp; <br>
                      December 8, 1999&nbsp; </font></b></h5>
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            <loonystart> 
            <h5 align="right">&nbsp; </h5>
            <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Certain 
              RPG purists don't understand that RPGs on computers have little 
              relation beyond underlying mechanics to RPGs that are played with 
              pencil and paper, and they argue that computer RPGs have to allow 
              you to &quot;role-play a character.&quot; This, frankly, is immaterial. 
              True role-playing requires intelligent, adaptable feedback to the 
              player's decisions that right now can only be provided by a human 
              game master. Having a conversation tree like in <b>Fallout</b> that 
              has different options depending on whether you are &quot;good&quot; 
              or &quot;bad&quot; does not constitute role-playing. If anything, 
              games like <b>Fallout</b> that try to simulate the tabletop role-playing 
              experience just bore casual players with too much only-subtly-different 
              and often buggy conversation trees, distracting them from the core 
              gameplay of exploring and fighting and building up their characters' 
              powers.</font></p>
            <p align="left"></p>
            <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The reason 
              that I feel <b>U9</b> is such an important example for RPGs is a 
              simple one: in real-time 3D, the <b>Zelda 64 </b>gameplay paradigm 
              they have borrowed works far better than the archaic &quot;hit points/numerical 
              attributes/turn-based combat&quot; gameplay of older, less technologically 
              advanced titles. This may hard to swallow for certain hardcore computer 
              RPG players, and there's good reason beyond just the <b>AD&amp;D</b> 
              license for why the practically retro design of <b>Baldur's Gate</b> 
              has done well. However, even <b>BG</b> struggles with its basically 
              realtime nature, and its combats usually feel out of the player's 
              control in a way that older RPGs never did. What is the practical 
              difference between a 16 and a 17 dex? You can see it when you watch 
              each to-hit roll, but in a furious real-time battle, it just doesn't 
              matter. The more that RPG engines move into the technological future, 
              the less applicable these old-school RPG designs are going to be. 
              In 3D, you can't get away with having only two in a stack of twenty 
              crates openable. They all have to open/be smashable or they all 
              have to be indestructible, otherwise the world will seem arbitrary 
              and inconsistent. <b>U9</b> at its heart takes many steps in that 
              direction. It is merely the poor implementation of their basic ideas, 
              which keeps <b>U9</b> from being the best RPG ever.</font></p>
            <p align="left"></p>
            <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">New RPGs 
              cannot hope to implement the same tired old designs on top of modern 
              engines. It would be feasible to use a real-time 3D engine to implement 
              a completely turn-based old-school RPG, and some developers will 
              no doubt attempt this, but this really is a waste of advanced technology 
              and doesn't really bring the general design of computer games forward 
              in any way. <b>Ultima IX</b> is a faltering step towards the future 
              of RPGs, and as much as I can barely endure playing it, I can&#146;t 
              help but get excited about games in the future that will follow 
              in its footsteps.</font></p>
            <p align="left"></p>
            <p align="left"></p>
            <p align="left">&nbsp;</p>
            <p align="right"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><i>- Richard 
              &#147;Beaker&#148; Wyckoff is a game designer, not a level designer, 
              damnit!</i></font></p>
            <p align="left">
            </loonystart> 
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<p><i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2">Credits: Illustration 
  &copy; 1999 Dan Zalkus. Beaker's Bent is &copy; 1999 Rich Wyckoff. All other 
  content is &copy; 1999 loonyboi productions. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited, 
  so don't do it or we'll sick our lawyers on you. Muhahahahahahahah. ph3ar our 
  m@d l3gal sk1lz y0.</font></i></p>
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