The return to the eternal gaming rant/whinge

[winneganfake]

Legends of Zork, it was nice knowing you. After leveling up my character to level 42, I'm just plain realizing that it's not worth it anymore. It's grind, grind, and nothing but grind, with gleeful teases of story to it that culminate in nothing. Throw in the repetitive as shit graphics, the lack of well...anything other than the simple ease of click-click-click to play... and yeah. I'm trying to figure out why I spent this long with it. I mean seriously, is it really so hard for there to be an actual online game I'd fucking like? Is it so bad to want immersive storytelling? Characters with depth? Actual adventure instead of grinding my way through nothing but onslaughts of lemmingbeasts? This should not be tough, people. Hell, I'd love a browser-based experience that delivered. In fact, I'd willingly thank anyone who could recommend me a game that satisfies the following:

1. Doesn't require a video card. I has not one. Hell the graphics don't have to be much, just interesting.

2. STORY. I want a nice thick level of backstory, plot, subplots, world detail, all of it.

3. Characters- I want to interact. Better yet, I want to ACT. I want my character's actions in the world to actually mean something in the world of the game at large. Or at least to mean more than just ganking yet another brogmoid in the swamps for XP to level up again for NO REASON WHATSOEVER.

Is that really too much to fucking ask? Do I really just need to hide in my hole with my PSX emulation and a bunch of old adventure titles, and mourn the death of storyline in gaming?

Comments

[allandaros.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you could use some Dwarf Fortress?

Wiki also yields Twilight Heroes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twilight_Heroes), which might be good? I don't know.

[allandaros.livejournal.com]

As for non-browserbased, there's Dwarf Fortress as I mentioned above; I have heard lots of awesome things about Spiderweb Software's RPG titles; I couldn't get into them myself, but they've got the vast stories of old-school cRPGs.

[luchog.livejournal.com]

I'm a huge fan of Spiderweb Software's Geneforge series. One of the most amazingly designed games I've ever encountered. Graphics are primitive; but the complex storyline and gameplay more than make up for it. I've heard good things about the Avernum series, although I've never played it myself.

[wire-mother.livejournal.com]

DF is full of awesome.

[franktheavenger.livejournal.com]

You won't find deep stories in online gaming, no; most people don't care about the story, they just want to hit things. RP servers are only people that don't want to deal with masses of characters called xxXSep1r0thXxx. There's no roleplaying.

Sorry, but you're offline or nothing.

[wakko.livejournal.com]

Yes, it really is a lot o ask.

You either get...

A big story with few player choices. You have to hit specific points or do specific actions to move the story forward. However, the things you do in between frequently don't make sense in the context of the story. (e.g. how do you explain the several hours wandering around doing side-quests after an NPC has tasked you with something super-urgent sounding?)

Or, a sparse story with more player choice because it requires the player to fill in the gaps in the story with their own actions and narrative.


The next problem with developing a complex story is repetition. Take the classic hero story. In an MMO context, that typically means *everyone* is The Chosen One, and experiences story in terms of being The One. This frequently doesn't make any sense.

[lilibat.livejournal.com]

If you want something funny and free which won't let you spend too much time a day try kingdom of loathing (http://kingdomofloathing.com) It's goofy but I have played it on and off for years.

[luchog.livejournal.com]

Me too, although more off than on. At 5 years on my sauceror, and I still haven't done an ascension.

[lilibat.livejournal.com]

Yeah my pastamancer has never ascended either.