RPG that is not defined by annoying replayability.

Hell, I don't even know if that's a word.

"Replayability". Sounds like it is. Shakespeare invented words, I'll give it a whirl.

(You'll have to excuse my hostility, I recently received a customer survey commenting that I had poor product (i.e. gaming) knowledge)

Hey dbag who took the time to comment on that about me....

Logitech's accessory that Sony claimed to be their own? "The ___toy"

In Final Fantasy Tactics what does the kid get hit with in the opening scene?

Famous Zero Wing quote "All ____ base are belong to us"

Who dies early in GTA:SA?


Hilariously you probably know none of these. However, if you're a true gamer, you'll know. Put the answers together in a sentence, and well... you'll find a hilariously clever joke.



Alright alright. Had to get that out of the way. I've been playing a lot of Alpha Protocol. I didn't play it a ton when it came out, but I go through gaming trends and fads.

I love the idea that a game is adapting to how you play, and how you interact with characters. I however hate the idea of playing through it multiple times. For those not in the know, here's what you kneed to know.

Alpha Protocol has a ton of dialogue/ conversation moments, some are huge. The dialogue choices you make can and do impact the entire game. Mass Effect had it too, although it was a bit more "good vs evil", Dragon Age had an attempt at it, although most of that game consisted of trying to nail the goth chick.

However, in Alpha Protocol, everything seems more detailed. As the conversation progresses, you can see if you are impressing or pissing off your conversation buddy. Sometimes you need to frustrate someone, and get them to attack you, sometimes you need to get them to believe you're their friend before you haul off and attack them. I think that's a neat idea.... but here's the problem.

The gameplay is the same.

Now the gameplay is great, don't get me wrong. Lots of fast shooting, good cover game, customizable weapons and gadgets. But once I play through a level, I don't want to have to fight through that same place again. (Mass Effect I'm lookin at you). Alpha Protocol seems like it's encouraging people to play through multiple times, each with a different approach to a conversation. Problem is, at the end of the day you're still fighting the same guys in the same space. Mass Effect you're just as guilty.

Did I play any of these games more than once? Nope. Of course nowadays it's difficult to find a game that you can play more than once, most of the time it's directly onto the next game.

I applaud Obsidian and Sega's attempts at making a game that you'll want to play time and time again, but ultimately the first time I play through, I'll be making some serious character choices, and sticking to them. Usually the guy ends up being a cocky sarcastic dbag. Same thing as in Mass Effect and Dragon Age, but you know what? That's what we like to see! Uncharted, GTA, MGS, hell even Kratos is a cocky jerk. So naturally when I'm playing a spy thriller I want to see a few specific things.

Guy pisses off superiors. Guy gets girl. Guy is awesome doing it.

I skipped more than a few of the "professional" conversation dialogue trees, because my guy wasn't like that. It makes me wonder what it'd be like to play through and be a straight-edge type of agent. Makes me wonder, not makes me try. Big difference.

So is an RPG a game you can play through multiple times? I dunno....
Are Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and Alpha Protocol RPGs? Hmm... still... not sure.

Do I feel any desire to play through them multiple times? Not really. That's not to say that it's not worth it. I just enjoy the playthrough once, and I trust my choices that time. I'll be disappointed when I finally finish Alpha Protocol, but I won't see the need to play through it again. Mass Effect I actually felt released from the planet mining prison I was stuck in.

I guess what I'm driving at is that I like the idea of branching storylines, but I'd much rather just find out how they could play out, not sit through it.

Achievement Unlocked: A blog about a gaming convention I'm not a fan of. Mostly however, I'm also letting you all know it's ok to only play through once.

You want to impress someone about your replayability skills?

Demon's Souls, all classes, completely through. Then.... then I'll be impressed.