Seven Things About Old School CRPGs That Really Annoy Me - Except When They Don't
So here we go with another article wherein the Rampant Coyote bellyaches about stuff other players consider sacred!

I've spent a bit of time this year engaging in some glorious retro-gaming of older computer (and console) RPGs. We'll call it, uh, research. For Frayed Knights. Yeah, research, that's the ticket. Some of these games I've played before, but others are new to me (except for hearing and reading about them for years, now).

I don't know how hard it would be for someone who never grew up with and experienced these kinds of older-vintage games to appreciate them. As for me - I remember when these games were of sufficiently modern technology (very few RPGs actually pushed the ol' tech envelope) that they didn't seem in any way lacking. But even for me, going back takes a bit of getting used to. The first hour or two is always a little bit painful. And then, after growing comfortable with the rules and interface (almost always a challenge, especially with RPGs), my imagination starts filling in where the graphics and sound might be missing - as it always did. I then find myself transported to a fictional world, and actually having fun and enjoying myself.

I love these games. Still. There's a lot to like. And I've talked about what made 'em awesome in other articles.

But there are a few things about these old-school games that I never really appreciated back in the day, and absence has not made my heart grow fonder. I don't miss 'em. Usually. Except when I do.

1. Mandatory Food (or other daily maintenance costs)
Ah, food - the great money sink. While it might be somewhat challenging at lower level when money is scarce, it's merely an annoyance at higher levels. And it grows to be a big annoyance over time. Let's just assume that --- like having to excrete wastes as well --- eating is just something that happens "behind the scenes," okay? Unless it's something special - like having a feast with the king or eating an enchanted apple - I don't want to worry about it. I don't want to pay a tax on staying alive.

I shouldn't have to say this, but I will anyway - non-mandatory food (where, for example, an apple gives you a slight health boost) is fine.

Exceptions: If it's a "survival fantasy" kind of game - like Ultima Underworld or Arx Fatalis, where food is not something taken for granted by anyone - then the above doesn't apply. I actually enjoy the verisimilitude. It's no longer an annoyance, but a key part of the narrative. (Hah! I caught a fish!)

Strangely, the cost of staying at an inn (which is functionally equivalent) usually doesn't bug me - especially if there is a "free" alternative somewhere in the game that I can return to if I'm feeling particularly skinflint-y.

2. Time Limits to Failure
One can easily gripe (and I have, too, at times) about how unbelievable it is that the entire world - including the evil overlord's plans - are put on hold to match the player's schedule. But efforts to address this issue are, generally, way more annoying than the problem. The stress of worrying about the passage of time in my explorations, and second-guess when I might have taken too long, isn't much fun. And having characters age and grow weaker in their career? No, thanks - it always felt like an arbitrary rule to make another arbitrary rule more frustrating. Fortunately, games featuring this particular problem have always been rare.

Exceptions: Although I didn't actually enjoy it, Fallout handled the time limit for the main quest quite well, by putting it very much front-and-center throughout the game. So at least you never had to second-guess the problem. That made it considerably less annoying, and it seemed - well, okay. And different. So it gets a pass.

One place where I really liked the time limit problem was in Depths of Peril - but the entire quest system was pretty organic and you knew (at least after the first play-through) that the gameworld events and quests were going to evolve. It behaved predictably, and thus became enjoyable.

3. Mazes
I have already ranted about these. And no, I was never talking about old fake 3D tile-based games, which were inherently maze-like (though most games at least tried to minimize the maze-like feel where technology allowed - except in maze-like areas...).

Exceptions: While mazes are generally 20% cool to 80% suck, I believe that ratio is manageable - as I stated in the linked article. And I've played some games where the mazes weren't too bad. They just don't come to mind right now. Instead I feel this ancient hatred towards Final Fantasy X's temple / maze puzzles, particularly in the late game, though I barely remember them now...

4. Paying a Big Chunk of Cash To Level Up
This one annoyed me in pen-and-paper AD&D, and we always ignored that rule. It's just another one of those money-sink, paying-tax-on-staying alive things. I guess it's because I always felt like I was paying extra to obtain something I'd already earned. I didn't like seeing that rule carried over to my CRPGs (where I couldn't ignore it), either.

Exceptions: Paying money to gain new individual skills never really bugged me. And paying money to increase skills above and beyond the gains entitled to me by leveling up was never an issue. It's just the leveling-up maintenance fees that annoy me.

5. Running Into Level Caps Well Before Running Out of Game
I totally understand level caps. I don't have a problem with them - they are a necessary evil. In some of the older games, though, it was really easy to have a maxed-out character with more-or-less the best equipment available pretty early in the game. While there were undoubtedly good reasons for this, it makes the player feel penalized for taking the time out to explore and sub-quest and battle through every nook and cranny. Though it's not a competitive game, I still don't want the Harrison Bergeroned to the level of a guy who beelined it with a walkthrough in the final encounter.

Exceptions: This assumes "reasonable" play. If somebody chooses to spend most of the game grinding in random encounter areas to max out their level practically before concluding the tutorial, that's their own call.

6. Tiny Character Name Limits
Limiting a character name to four, six, or eight characters was pretty uncalled for even in the 8-bit days (particularly on the PC). Why did a character name have to be the same as a saved-game name, anyway? Sheesh.

Exceptions: There are no exceptions, says Ninglaetori the Mysterious.

7. Encumbrance
Okay, this never really bugged me a lot, but it was a minor irritation at times that I don't really miss. I mean, yeah, I know how much a suit of plate mail weighs (having worn some in real life), and I fully recognize that a normal human really isn't going anywhere with six suits of plate mail stuffed down his pack. Assuming it was even physically possible to stuff seven suits of plate mail into a pack, which boggles my imagination.

But in dice-and-paper games, the rules were really just there to prevent abuses or outright silliness (Gary Gygax himself admitted that he only used the encumbrance rules as a threat, not something they actually kept track of). It was also used as a challenge - such as trying to figure out how you are actually going to cart that dragon's horde out of its lair before dying of old age or having it all stolen before you were done. And where would you store it all?

But in the pen-and-paper games, you had a ton of options that didn't exist in CRPGs - such as obtaining a cart and / or mule, hirelings, burying or hiding some of the treasure, or even being able to drop said treasure without it instantly vanishing. Plus, the pen-and-paper games (particularly D&D) generally provided plentiful magical items aimed squarely at circumventing those restrictions (like Bags of Holding and Portable Holes) that didn't make their way into CRPGs. So you got some concrete limitations on something that felt like it was only an abstraction.

Plus, micro-managing weight-loads between party members was never that much fun.

So while it has never been a big deal, I'll generally chalk encumbrance in the negative (or at least neutral) column of features.

Exceptions: Again, survival-fantasy RPGs get a pass, here. Foraging, discarding, and generally making do is kind of the whole point. Similar games where you play a solo character, the "micromanagement" aspect can be part of the fun. If the game really does allow some reasonable level of non-abstract encumbrance mitigation and inventory management offered in a dice-and-paper RPG, then yeah - it can be interesting. But in general - hey, let's just assume I hire some porters, okay?

Summary

I think in all these cases, the exceptions are what is noteworthy. None of these elements are necessarily bad, or need to be annoying or grouse-worthy. Except the tiny name thing. Mmm-probably. But in many cases, these elements were dropped in for some reason ("to make it more realistic!", or "because that's how D&D does it" are the most likely reasons) other than really improving the game.

But it's not hard to envision a game where these same game elements are both important and fun. It's been done. They may still have a place in modern games. So game designers should be careful that they don't throw babies out with bathwater.

But when retro-gaming, I just have to learn to put up with 'em.

(UPDATE: Added "Summary" heading, elaborated a little bit on the Time-limit and encumbrance exceptions. I can't believe I missed my favorite indie RPG as a big ol' exception to the time-limit rant....)

Labels: retro, Roleplaying Games

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 8:44 AM (Permalink)