The Ruined World

[Frozen_Feet]

So, I was reminescing on Exile 3 by Spiderweb Software. Even to this day, it's the CRPG I've played the most, and it was pivotal in triggering and maintaining my interest towards tabletop RPGs.

But as I did, I realized it had one innovation I haven't really seen much in other CRPGs - the fact that, as per the title, the world got ruined if you loitered for too long.

A lot of CRPGs have the world change as well, but it's usually tightly scripted and directly relates to something the player does. Exile 3 was different in that the world changed even if the player didn't do anything. Star Control 2 is the only game with a similar mechanic I can recall from the top of my head.

This element is something I realized I'd like to see more in CRPGs, and it got me wondering if there are other similar games?

[Cogwheel]

So, I was reminescing on Exile 3 by Spiderweb Software. Even to this day, it's the CRPG I've played the most, and it was pivotal in triggering and maintaining my interest towards tabletop RPGs.

But as I did, I realized it had one innovation I haven't really seen much in other CRPGs - the fact that, as per the title, the world got ruined if you loitered for too long.

A lot of CRPGs have the world change as well, but it's usually tightly scripted and directly relates to something the player does. Exile 3 was different in that the world changed even if the player didn't do anything. Star Control 2 is the only game with a similar mechanic I can recall from the top of my head.

This element is something I realized I'd like to see more in CRPGs, and it got me wondering if there are other similar games?

The remake, Avernum 3.

Other than that... not a whole lot, to my knowledge.

[Frozen_Feet]

Pfft, they're the same game. It'll always be Exile to me. :smalltongue: Plus, played it already.

[Mx.Silver]

In the original Fallout you could flat-out lose the game if you took too long completing either the first or second objective (I believe the latter may have been altered in a patch though). One of the locations would also get overrun by super-mutants after a certain amount of time had passed, which could also be a problem since the first plot-critical macguffin was located there.


The main reason why this mechanic doesn't show-up very often though is because it can potentially punish the player for trying to explore the game-world too much - which is often something of an attraction for CRPGs. Even if players are ok with it though, I'd imagine a fair few developers probably don't appreciate having things they worked hard on being repeatedly ignored and so might well be reluctant to implement it. It's a bit of a difficult balancing act to pull-off, especially if the consequences are meant to be big.

[Reynard]

Space Rangers 1&2. If you dithered about too long, the whole galaxy could and would be taken over by the robotic foe.

Hell, on the hard difficulties, it's a game about preparing for a single strategic ship-assassination while trying to avoid getting curb-stomped by the robotic hordes swarming over the galaxy map.

[Kizor]

Apparently, super mutants were meant to gradually spread across the entire map. When this was cut, the game was left with no warning of its second time limit. Oh well.

I'd dearly like to see some more crumbling worlds myself, but might just change my mind if I did: not only do they seem to go against some of CRPGS' core attractions, as Mr. Silver said, but failing a CRPG's time limit seems like it could invalidate everything the player has accomplished, and turn a replay into a grind-fest to rival Dragon Warrior I as all the cutscenes would be repeats, all the tension pre-resolved and all the abilities already familiar.

That said:
- Starflight, StarCon 2's precursor from 1987. Starflight's a wonderful game, even though you have to jump through hoops to hang on to your save games.
- MegaTraveller 2: Quest for the Ancients. "An Ancient site on Rhylanor starts spewing out slime that threatens to cover the entire planet. Each time you return to the planet the slime has spread further on the map. The game's main mission is to neutralize the slime and save Rhylanor."
- Four Crystals of Trazere, 1992, has good and evil armies moving on the map. The manual says that the player can't enter any evil-occupied locations, and that keeps will start to run out of soldiers and should be given donations. I don't know if it goes any farther than that. Its sequel has something similar.

I know of a few ruined worlds in other genres, if you want 'em.

[factotum]

The problem with mechanics like this is that they're basically time limits in another form. Can't stand games with time limits myself--I like to play at my own pace without having to rush ahead to meet some arbitrarily imposed deadline; it's the main reason I dislike co-operative multiplayer.

The time limit in Fallout wasn't so much of an issue because it was almost absurdly generous--you had to really struggle to fail at that one!