RPG in a 4X type world......

AN ADVANCED, MODERN ROGUE-LIKE

There has been ZERO freeform dynamic RPGs with a polished interface and gameplay since I guess Darklands, and even that has flaws. Star Rangers 2 does it a bit as an space sim but has a lot of room for growth. Fallout has done the best in execution on a limited scale, and nothing has come close since 1996.

Get Darklands for free here: Link.

Rogue-likes are still popular but are limited in interface, gameplay and obviously ASCI graphics.

Instead of managing the morale and income of an empire, manage such with a group of adventurers. Instead of commanding armies, take jobs for hire by different fractions and effect the world. Instead of ordering an assassination, take an assassination job and command your party to sneak in and kill a leader of a country.

Have 4X AI fight in out and let the player play it from the ground level as a privateer and mercenry. A type of mobile 4X game based on small groups instead of cities. Like an advanced Jagged Alliance 2, it would be a Godsend.

JA2 is still moded and has a popular fanbase, but the supposed sequels coming out removed the strategic layer and just has linear missions instead of exploration and free movement.

Like a modern Roadwars. The elements of 4X but with nomad tribes instead of standing armies, and looting and trade instead of research and production.

Try Roadwars 2000 here: http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?id=1360

I had to decide between the non-mmo rpg and the fantasy based strategy game. The strategy won, but I'd love to see a game similar to the baldur's gates. It's just that we haven't seen a good fantasy turnbased strategy for a while, like a decade. I'm a fan of fantasy and especially certain fantasy games such as the FF series, the master of magic and everything bioware does. For me it doesn't take more than read "bioware" or "final fantasy" somewhere and I'm in. It's on my buy/follow list of potential games though I won't buy every single game such game. Stardock is kind of on that same list nowadays.

I would be very interested if stardock would start making a new game. The only thing in the design that I don't like is how conventional things are. Nothing very surprising or imaginative. The galciv series is well designed, has plenty of content, great mechanics, a lot of heart and soul, but still the only things that really surprised me was the tech describtions. Which was kind of silly since they're not quite consistent with the rest of the game, but I kind of like them now. Perhaps the game would have been too serious without them. A bit boring. A game that isn't polished too much and has these 'amateurish' rough edges also feels more like it's been made by real persons. That's a good thing per se. Like it's not just an industrial product that no one cares about.

Perhaps the reason I didn't vote for the RPG game was that I was afraid of something predictable. Solid, but predictable. I consider the FF7 and 9 one of the best games ever made. Their strong points from design point of view are consistancy while staying non-predictable. You sort of know that to expect but never know what exactly. The game surprises its players again and again, but not by doing something that's not consistent with the whole game. Somehow I don't trust that stardock could match this or even the baldur's gate series. Sorry :/ Perhaps you should prove me wrong.

RPG in a 4X type world...... AN ADVANCED, MODERN ROGUE-LIKE

Dear God NO! Why not ask them to send out boxes of heroin and have done with it?

Have pity on a recovering Angband addict...

If StarDock were to begin developing an RPG now, would that drop them head to head with Bioware's Dragon Age? What about Fallout 3?

I love RPGs, especially stuff like Baldurs Gate and Torment. Thing is, while a lot of Gal Civ 2's diplomacy and technology descriptions are quite witty, the main campaign story is...well...maybe its just rushed. Just bear in mind that you need some people capable of churning out really good written language on demand. You'll know if you've got them I guess.

I didn't vote, but I guess I'd go for the 4x fantasy in the end. Stardock have proven they can make a 4x game with well balanced and interesting mechanics, plenty of stuff to do, and excellent AI. However, I'm actually quite taken with partially real-time games (a la total war), or even fully real-time pausable single-player ones like Europa Universalis. Looks like Supreme Commander's just stolen my thunder somewhat, but imagine...steal from the temple idea in Black & White (call it wizard's fortress) so that's your main 4x interface, you can preset it to pause in intervals ('turns') or you can hit space bar to pause it whenever. In your wizard's fortress is a magic pool through which you view the world, except you can zoom into it so far you can actually join a battle in progress and start commanding it. If a battle starts maybe a quick little 'zoom to' and 'we're winning/losing' notification drops down your screen and can stay there till its done or you dismiss/relocate it.

Idea number 2: Black & White's (original) gesture system done better. When they were advertising it they were talking about being able to drag the fireball in a line to create a wall of fire where you dragged it etc. This wasn't in at the end, but imagine...fly spell: click a unit to make it fly (enemy unit raises into the air and tumbles around, blown by the wind, or maybe that's just levitate and you get to control where it moves when affected by fly spell), drag around many units to affect them all, or do the same to parts of the landscape (tear up an island and transport your units on it - or maybe dig some tunnels and transport them in it), or your cities (flying fortress spell). Mana cost scales accordingly. Deformable landscape and maybe some sort of physics.

God its too easy to go on and on and on with stuff like this isn't it? Over-ambitious with today's hardware?

AN ADVANCED, MODERN ROGUE-LIKE

Doesn't that describe Diablo and others similar games?

"AN ADVANCED, MODERN ROGUE-LIKE

Doesn't that describe Diablo and others similar games?"

Maybe Diablo 1 could be a weak Rogue-like/Action game for its use of random maps and items. But it has twitch combat, and limited character builds or effects. You couldn't play a diplomat for example. The world was also low on interaction, the dungeon didn't have dark holes that needed rope or climbing, or water that needs swimming, or any other numerous design features. Rogue-likes even have deformable terrain to give you an idea, but despite their features they are mired in poor interface, polish, and execution.

RPGs can be made based on characters, interaction, setting, and gameplay over a linear story. A linear story with RPG combat (which is really an extension of wargaming) becomes more akin to a mission-based war game in gameplay, skip all cutscenes and see how the game plays. The element of interaction in RPGs has been severely under-served, Arcanum was the last to do it 5 years ago, and even then didn't top Fallout from 10 years ago.

Stardock likes Strategy, apply strategy on a different scale with tactics and you get games like Jagged Alliance (like a modern dungeon crawler in a dynamic world) that have people absolutely loving it but getting zero games like it since.

I have to admit that we'd like to do an RPG. A Baldur's Gate / Planetscape Torment style RPG but with a 3D engine.

I change my vote to:RPG

Something that would be interesting as a concept.

A MMRPG where you collect an army- and do tactical battles. Kinda like a fantasy cross between Shattered Galaxy and Granado Espada.

I would love to see a Fantasy 4x game, particularly one that focussed on Castle design and sieges etc. In my opinion there hasn't been a game that's depicted castle sieges very well since the game "Siege" and that was released ages ago. Medieval Total War didn't do a very good job of it since you couldn't design castles and the options were limited, and Stronghold was too much RTS like for my liking. A great opportunity for Stardock at the very least to bring the 4X formula to a fantasy setting.

There's always the fantasy in space genre. That's had an amazing lack of development. Personally, I would love the chance to enslave multiple worlds of elves before duking it out for weeks with orcs while using space ships. But I'd like to see a new, and original, take on it.

I would like to see Might and Magic sequel or a game with similar style. I simply loved the series.

Turn-based tactical combat was not a gaming option in your poll, but I'd love to see that. Perhaps a game where you have a single spaceship or squadron, like out of GalCiv, but you control its crew and tactics - something akin to Star Trek Fleet Command or Bridge Commander, or even Mech Commander. Maybe something where you control a Starship Troopers-style battlecruiser so that you can have land and space battles with space cannons and mobile infantry.

I am hoping for something with the detail and depth of Harpoon. Basically turn based Harpoon in the GalCiv universe.

RPG

I too would like to see an RPG, but one where 1) the player's choices affect the world about him in a dramatic way and 2) encounters are unpredictable and change from game to game.

Example of 1:

Player is asked to Perform Task X. If the quest is not completed by Date XX/XX/XX they find the village of XXXXX is reduced to ruins, and many of its inhabitants slain while the Big Boss Creature is now armed with the YYYY taken from the village. Thus - complete the quest and the forces of evil are weakened, fail to complete the quest and they are strengthened. Simarily, complete Quest 1 and you see a castle, with new NPCs and shops appear on the map. Fail to complete the quest and the castle does not appear in the game.

Example of 2:

75% per Game that the Baron is Evil and hated by the populace, 25% per Game that the Baron is Good. Thus - with each game you play you can never be sure if this Baron NPC is good or evil without gathering information. Imagine - You played two games where the Baron is Evil, you play a third game and promptly slay the Baron, expecting to be rewarded, only to find out that the Baron was good and beloved by his people. Simarily, you meet a woman begging for coins in the square. There is a 25% that she is a thief and a 75% that she is truely a woman in need. Ignore the pleas of the woman in need you may become fallen, help the disguised thief and you may find your pockets picked.

FANTASY 4X
A fantasy, based 4X game would be cool too. With the options to research dark and white magic, to give armies orders on the tactics they should use and players actions affecting the willingness of neutral nations to enter the war on or against your side coupled with an unpredictable AI, the building of towns, and the appearance of a unexpected force of ultimate evil dedicated to conquering all. Imagine, your side obtains a crystal ball by researching divination. It allows you to see a section of the map for 5 seconds - you believe the area to be empty. However, the evil Elves have used Mirage Magic to make it seem empty, in reality the lands you believe to be undefended are guarded by a powerful dragon, allied to the evil Elves. Surprise!

(MIRAGE MAGIC - MAKES ONE SECTOR of X Tiles appear to be empty or populated when viewed by a crystal ball.)
(ILLUSION MAGIC - Creates an Illusionary creature that vanishes when another unit/hero/army enters its tile)
(UNDEAD Trap - An enemy unit resting on a tile subject to this spell must fight an army of undead army in the darkness - it assumes that while they are resting Undead rise from the ground to attack.)
(CONSECRATED Land - Undead units attacking in Consecrated land suffer a penalty to their attack)

Likewise, in such an 4X game imagine the effect of spies and counter spies. Is the information your spy telling you accurate or not? Does it correlate with what you have heard from traders and ambassadors from other lands.

And in such a 4X game, your diplomatic choices, aka GalCiv will greatly affect the game and your relations with other nations and races, along with the completion of quests. Example - A popup tells you that the Men of Croc are threatened by Lizard Men. If you send an army to defeat the lizard men, the Men of Croc may join you. Of course, how large an army will you send. Too small and it may be defeated, too large and victory is assured but you weaken your borders. Of course, if you had hired an experienced sage he may be able to give you information on the lizard men and the strength of their forces, if your opponent has not sent an assasin to slay him.

I'm a big fan of RPGs. I devote more attention to RPGs then TBS games, it's just that GalCiv2 is one of the strategy games I got. I also agree that the single player RPG has been neglected recently and there is probably room for more.

My comments.

1. I hate combining technology and fantasy and avoid such games. I'll play hard core sci-fi (like GalCiv) and I'll play fantasy, but I don't like them mixed.

2. For an RPG, why not a sci-fi one set in the GalCiv universe? People could play one of the 10 races (perhaps just a subset at first). They could also own a starship which they could design themselves. Perhaps borrow heavily from the GalCiv starship designer. It would really rock if there were crossover between the two -- perhaps you could take a GalCiv save game, or perhaps have a GalCiv campaign which is the same universe the RPG works in. Something to consider anyway.

3. For a fantasy game, I'd just like to put in my 2 coppers for dragons. They're cool and wasted as NPC monsters. I always play the Drakonians in AoW II.

Meh. The main issue with dragons is that they are, in most lore, very powerful creatures. In some myths, they created everything.

I never suggested combining technology and magic. You can create a pure-fantasy setting that takes place in space. The issue is doing this in a way that feels new and not a rehash of other styles.

Oh, and for combining technology and magic, remember this: Any sufficiency advanced science is indistinguishable from magic.

He could make a turnbased strategy RPG with tactical combat. It would be a Tacitcal turn based game... I would LOVE to see Paradox make a game like Temple of Elemental Evil or Fallout Tactics but done right. BG2 is the progression of that, its tacitcal but real time though you can set pauses so its like a turn based game. Tactical rpgs are BY FAR my favorite genre. If you like tactical combat i'd suggest playing them.

I've tried both Baldurs Gate II and Icewind Dale II but I never understood them. I went into a combat and it's over in 2 secs. Sometime my warrior died and sometimes he didn't....Don't understand how to use the pause function too I'm prepared to give it another shot but then I want to know what I'm doing. (Maybe I took a too hard difficulty).

if they make a fantasy-based TBS, they should call it "Fantastic Civilization"

Stupid MOM fans dominated this poll!

I'd like to see a remake (or an original game very similar to) Interplay's M.A.X. / M.A.X. 2 ... even just incorporating some of its ideas into, say, GalCiv III. What I really like about M.A.X. was its approach to supply. I think its conduit system could be simulated as internal trade routes in a game like GalCiv.

I also liked its approach to research and unit upgrades ... there were several ways to upgrade units, among them general research into things like weapon range or armor strength that would slowly, gradually allow you to upgrade (with appropriate facilities adequately supplied) not only your existing units, but your infrastructure as well (buildings, turrets, even the supply conduits).

I think its a travesty the game was so badly overlooked. I think it would have survived longer, were it not for the fact that (I believe) it doesn't run on Win2k, WinXP or later. I never actually even got to play the sequel, but the original was fantastic ... it had bugs, mind you, but even with its occaisionally serious bugs, I found it as replay-worthy as Civilization (and believe me, that's saying something!) The basic premise was a TBS of colonizing a new planet.

I'd like to see some kind of internal simulation of resource -> tools -> output flow, where resources are worked by tools (which could be factories, shipyards, etc.) to create product (and, unfortunately, waste). The resource would be what is consumed in the process, the tools being what are re-used, the output being everything produced by the process flow. This could work for every aspect of the game ... build buildings, build starship components, assemble starships, even conduct research (researcher-man-hours and computer-processing-hours as resources, tools being research facilities and personnel, output being science and technology advancement). Complex strings and chains could interrelate things ... for instance, build mining facilities, which produce raw ore (consuming energy and man-hours in the process), which in turn are used in making starship engines or other components, which in turn are assembled in a shipyard to produce starships. I dunno, I just think its a neat idea to have a game engine process most everything with a basic idea of resource -> process -> product.

And for a concept that's rarely tried (and probably no one else would care for, but on the off chance some might like it), how about some sort of animal group game ... you could, say, control a fledgeling pack of wolves, herd of horses or deer, pod of dolphins, etc. and guide them to improve hunting (or for herbivores, make them faster and more adept at evading the predators). I dunno, might be a bit too kiddy of a concept for most players. Maxis dabbled a bit with SimAnt (which was just ants, with humans and spiders and such as NPCs), and I heard of a game called Wolf (about playing a wolf pack) that I never played from back in the days of MS-DOS. Sid Meier shelved a Dinosaurs game project (that I imagine might have been a TBS, but not sure).

What I'd like to see is Stardock taking a crack at a genre sorely under-represented on the PC. The party-based tactical RPG. Huge in Japan on the consoles, and recently blooming in popularity in the west thanks to devs like Nippon Ichi (who seem to have the market pretty much sewn up now). Disgaea, Tactics Ogre, Final Fantasy Tactics... three bona-fide classics from that genre. I'd really like to see a Western spin on it. I love those games but I am more drawn towards the Western approach in fantasy. Less 'cute' for want of a better word.

Take a group of characters through a compelling story, advancing in abilities as they go. Able to recruit and train new members, while in the background having a more general research and development going on. Kind of like a fusion of Civilization, Total War and Tactics Ogre. Do the overworld management and progression but have the fights up close, personal and turn-based.

It eliminates the things I like least about a couple of genres: aimless wandering in RPGs and manic mouse clicking in RTS games (I'm rubbish at RTS, I just go into panic mode when things get really hectic and I pump out units with little thought of strategy at all. I much prefer the turn-based approach because then I can actually think about my plans).

I'd like a 4x fantasy strategy game, that's what I voted for. And then instead of a badass ship builder like GC2, you could have some kind of castle builder so people could make massive custom castles (and you could spend points on hardened walls, turrets, moats, gates, etc)

RE: 4X Fantasy Strategy Game Wish List

1. Strategy with Drill Down to Tactical Level Combat for both Army and Dungeon Combat.

Example:

Army enters Combat with another army and/or hero unit and the map switches to a tactical level display of the battlefield.

Hero enters a small randomly generated dungeon to find an artifact and perhaps slay the guardian creatue.

2. Politics - in all the books I have read, the hero's and villans always strive to convince other nations to join them at the point of a sword, or diplomacy or by completing a quest.

3. Unpredictable Evil Threat - the key aspect of all novels is the unexpected evil threat, sometimes its someone who you don't expect and other times its an evil horde that comes across the mountains or rises from the sea.

Perhaps, have one of 4 randomly selected big boss evil races make an appearance. Example: Game 1 - While battling the other Kingdoms, a horde of undead makes their appearance, conquering one kingdom and then another, in Game 2 - an army of lizard like creatures invade the Kingdoms from the sea, in Game 3 - an evil wizard and his army of Orcs and Goblins makes an appearance, in Game 4 - A horde of evil Dragons launch their attack upon the Kingdoms aided by Human servants.

The key is that when playing the game you don't know what big boss evil threat may arise to threaten your plans. In GalCiv, you always knew what you were facing. Here, the enemy changes from game to game and each Big Boss Army is totally different, requiring a different strategy to beat.

4. Heroes of Different Classes with different abilities, strengths and weaknesses that can advance in level or skill points with each success and accompany armies or travel the world alone.

5. A great story line that makes the world around you come alive. News of a princess being kidnapped, the ambassador of the swamp king asking for your assistance or declaring war on your kingdom and a cut scene of a greatful princess or an evil witch offering her services to the player.

Imagine, you are building a kingdom when an ambassador makes an appearance and requests the help of your kingdom in rescuing the the daughter of his king. You dispatch a hero to perform the task and are rewarded by a cut scene of the king and the princess offering you an alliance if you rescued her. If during the rescue she was slain the ambassador informs you that a state of war exists with his kingdom.

Imagine, if in another case the human princess of a Kingdom is offered to marriage to a human King that can perform a single quest (randomly selected). Succeed and you see a cut scene of a royal marriage ceremony where your Kingdom gains a valuable ally and new enemies. What might this quest be - perhaps a journey to a cave atop a mountain or perhaps combat against another hero character or combat in the arena against a monster (its a fantasy game afterall). Naturally, if a human player declines to compete one of the AI players may gain the hand of the princess and access to the resources of her father's kingdom.

Naturally, if you are playing an evil race, perhaps you receive a message from your head priest to raze a specific town that dishonored your deity. Complete the quest and you are blessed, disregard the quest and your lands are cursed.

Perhaps, you receive news of a plague that is sweeping a land, send a unit into this land and they may carry the plague with them to any town that they visit, perhaps even bringing the plague back to your own kingdomw, unless you have a priest that can cure the diseased unit.

There would also be simpler events, as in GalCiv, where the player would choose among three options - such as Do we offer Refuge to escaped slaves from the Kingdom of Yee? Do so and the King of Yee will be angered while the decision increases the population growth of your kingdom, now known as a refuge for escaped slaves.

Amen to post #71, about what I was thinking. Besides,you could do the art semi-cheaply, since generally that genre PREFERS 2d art.

The game would have to be MP though- that would really fill a niche- the only game I've seen even similar to that is Vantage Master 2- which was not that good a game.

I would like a full in depth Gundam Stratagy Game that would be so cool.