Pacabol Fortuente

Dungeons and Desktops

July 2nd, 2008

I just found this review at Slashdot by Aeonite of the book Dungeons and Desktops by Matt Barton, editor and writer for Armchairarcade.com.

Looks like I missed this book as it has been out for about a month now, but this review gives an excellent overview of its strengths and weaknesses.

The main thing that caught my eye in the review is apparently Barton considers Baldur’s Gate I and II the greatest CRPGs of all time. That is enough to get me to buy the book as I enthusiastically share this opinion. Yes, I weidu.

I would also think the era from 1996 to 2001 to have produced the best CRPGs to date. From Infinity Engine games (Baldur’s Gate, Planescape: Torment and Icewind Dale) to the Fallout titles and Arcanum among others (does Jagged Alliance count?), it can’t be denied that time period bore sweet fruit for CRPG fans.

Having not read the book, I do not want to go on about Barton’s opinions, but I would address one thing that Aeonite seems to take issue with: Barton’s apparent loathing of the Diablo series.

While both games receive more or less equal time, it is a bit hard to swallow Barton’s dislike for Diablo in the context of a historical overview; nowhere else does he editorialize quite so much, or so vividly. While at first he simply declares that Diablo’s consideration as a CRPG “remains a divisive subject,” he quickly moves on to less thinly-veiled potshots. At one point, he refers to “hordes of badly behaved teenagers (and middle-aged men, no doubt) scampering to Battle.net, ‘pwning’ each other and seeking out the latest cheats and hacks to gain an unfair advantage.” Later, Barton expresses a “pang of regret over the overwhelming triumph of (the Diablo) series, since it seems to have come at the expense of the older, more sophisticated CRPGs of past eras.”

Certainly Barton has considered the sub-designations of Diablo and Baldur’s Gate as Action RPG and Strategic (or Tactical) RPG, respectively. I suppose this statement is contentious in itself, since some might not consider any ARPG a real CRPG and others may not consider a title like Baldur’s Gate or Arcanum a SRPG. I also find it a bit disconcerting that Barton doesn’t seem to separate the actions and memes of a game’s community from the game itself. I suppose I will see when the book arrives.

Diablo was (and I would wager still is) rife with the shenanigans he writes of, but that really has little bearing on the game itself. I doubt the more serious of us would judge the merits and quality of World of Warcraft based on Barrens chat, the official forums or the Glider community. Diablo, as an ARPG, has still to be topped in quality of gameplay despite numerous clones. Though I have to admit Titan Quest was pretty fun before the old carpel tunnel set me packing.

To me also, comparing Diablo to Baldur’s Gate is like comparing apples to oranges - sure they are both fruit, but that is where their similarities end. And personally I do not think that the ARPG genre has hurt the SRPG genre nearly as much as it has been hurt by MMORPGs, which in their turn have also hurt traditional ARPGs like Diablo, or say, TitanQuest. And SRPGs have been also been hurt by games like Neverwinter Nights 1, Elder Scrolls and Vampire: Bloodlines, which are arguably more strict CRPGs as they take out the strategic element of managing an entire party of adventurers. (I was personally thrilled when I found out NWN2 allowed for party management taking the title more into SRPG territory.)

Or perhaps, genre-wise, it’s all relative. How would one class Guild Wars or Dungeon Runners? They have their roots planted firmly in the ARPG genre, yet you could also argue that they are MMORPGs. It is not at all uncommon to hear people refer to Guild Wars as an MMORPG.

Though you could say the SRPG genre is suffering (in North America and Europe, apparently not at all in Asia) for whatever reason, it can’t be overlooked that some of the biggest recent CRPG titles - namely Bioware’s KOTOR and Jade Empire - could also be considered SRPGs. What I am really waiting for is a more strict SRPG like the Infinity Engine games translated into the MMO experience - being able to control entire parties would certainly take PVP to a whole new level.

Regardless of anything, I am looking forward to reading this book. If you want to get started on this book while you’re waiting for it to arrive, you can read a sample chapter at Gamasutra.