News Peter Molyneux says RPG games are rubbish

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2007/08/08/peter_molyneux_says_rpg_games_are_rubbish/1

In a typical case of ‘Molyneux syndrome’, Lionhead's head honcho slags off Oblivion and the RPG genre, claiming Fable 2’s one-button combat system is the way forwards.

 

Well that gave me a laugh, the creator of Fable, one of my least enjoyed RPG, saying RPG's are rubbish, and then apparently turning Fable 2 in to dragon's lair, well it will be nostalgia trip I suppose

 

The combat system is actually more to do with the music and the environment,

 

The combat system in Oblivion was excellent, I found it quite intuitive.

I laugh at puny Fable. Fable, the "Morrowind killer". Has he called this one the "Oblivion killer" yet?

 

Them's fightin' words, boyo.

But, ah, aren't blanket statements wonderful things?

I will admit that there are a lot of RPGs out there that have... decidedly non-intuitive combat systems, but there are some out there that have truly inspired ways of managing something that is so complex in reality that distilling it down into keyboard and mouse or controller manipulation is a feat in and of itself.

 

100% agree

 

Wasn't the combat system in Oblivion essentially one button? The Left Mouse one. If done well, the one button approach could work very well, but people have been attempting to do it well for years, and no-one's ever managed.

I think Molyneux should give up now and go make Dungeon Keeper 3.

 

Nope, Oblivion was two button with directional variants and power-moves, all of which upgraded as your character leveled. Essentially that means you could block and you could do special moves and you do different types of attacks by moving as you attacked. Fable 2 isn't that. It's *just* one button. All character movement in combat is done for you, whilst all blocking and attacking is done on the X button.

I personally didn't think Oblivion was that great. It was ok, but not really fantastic. Then again, I'm biased as all I needed to do was run backwards whilst shooting arrows. Archer Cheesecake!

Fable 1 had good combat. Why they are changing it is beyond me.

 

Well, Molyneux's absolutely right - Oblivion is easily one of the best RPGs out there, but the combat is diabolical - it's completely weightless, and never really exciting - especially when compared to something like Dark Messiah that, although arguably an average game (or not an RPG at all), it does offer something new in melee combat: at most it's exciting, at least it's visually satisfying.

I'm a huge fan of both Oblivion and Fable, but Molyneux's the one with something to prove not the other way round (cheeky chap does like to embellish a lot ).

 

The reason fable is better is that you get dog that reacts to waht is happening. It will like you or hate you. You could go ride someone, have a kid, and you have to feed them or eb ansty and sit in front of them and laugh while you stuff your face and they dont get any food. The fact that the combat is going to rule, if you have saw the video you would understand better than just his statement, shows what he means completely and how anyone can pick up and play.

 

And what was the last successful game he made?

 

Well, in terms of successful sales and in terms of making a successful game probably Fable in both cases.

 

Molyneux made loads of essential games - Theme Park, Dungeon Keeper 1 and 2, Black and White 1 and 2, Fable, Theme Hospital etc.

@Fwalm - I've seen the video. The gameplay looked great and the combat was exciting. And then you realise that somebody is doing that by just tapping the same button over and over without really thinking or knowing the outcome for sure. Seemed kind of pointless to me.

And yes, Dark Messiah had awesome combat. It relied a lot on set-pieces and physics traps, but it was awesome combat nonetheless.

 

FTL Dungeon Master.

That was the best rpg ever

 

CARDJOE- I understand what you mean however it can require skill if you want it to or it can be a button bashing. That is the point of it being a single button.

 

No, it was better than Morrowind's, but it still wasn't great, if you want to see a good first person melee combat system, look at Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, that blows Oblivion out of the water.

Yep, that's why he's saying it's for hardcore and casual gamers, a casual gamer can just button mash, whereas a hardcore gamer will learn when pressing the attack button at a certain time will cause a certain action. I think this combat system could be incredibly awesome and lead to some cool looking fights, or it could just end up a bit meh, I'm hoping it's going to be awesome and it looks like it will be.

 

QFT - we'll end up with great looking fights which don't involve the player at all. Press the X button now. Press the X button now. Press the X button now. Press the...

I think if they are going to tackle it in this manner, they'd be better suited to doing it like Fahrenheit - use all four buttons and try to match the on-screen prompts. But slow it down. Each missed button would give the opponent a chance to get a hit in, each sequence completed would mean the player gets a hit off. Would be frentic enough for the hardcore (and involving) whilst casual gamers would find it fun (Dance, Dance revolution style). In fact, it's just the current style but expanded for all four buttons.

 

thx for the hint.. ordered it

 

i want some of what that molineaux dude is smoking, ya know just so i can be pretentious, arogant, holier-than-thou, *****. That'd be sweet. +1 for the brown-nosers!

Obviously, he hasn't played the fallout series if he thinks RPGs are dead, obviously he hasn't seen the games installed on my computer (70% rpgs)


...isometric view ftwin

 

i cant really be bothered to say much else other than "publicity stunt"