How genre-defying was it? (by your standards)

paganinio on 6/11/2009 at 06:08

How genre-defying was the original System Shock? You can assign a rating from 1 to 5.

I'm asking this because there seems to be many hardcore and indie gamers on the forum. They must have played a large number of "weird" and "innovative" titles. I don't think they would consider System Shock as being very genre-defying. It's just a combination of two very popular genres -- FPS and RPG.

You're welcome to give us some truly genre-defying examples. I nominate (http://download.cnet.com/Guns-Girls-Lawyers-Spies/3000-7496_4-10529616.html) Guns Girls Lawyers Spies (text simulation, turn-based strategy, although it is also buggy and raw) and (http://www.mobygames.com/game/blast-corps) Blast Corps (driving, real-time strategy, action, puzzle).

I also don't wanna hear about any of the following four titles anymore. Please, they are the antithesis of genre-defying: Braid, World of Goo, Plants vs Zombies, Portal. :eww:

Briareos H on 6/11/2009 at 07:17

SS1 was Ultima Underworld in space with tighter story and beefier combat. It wasn't genre-defining as a FPS/RPG hybrid, but as an atmospheric, story-driven (plus: audio logs), cyberpunk PC-only interaction fest, it was pretty much the first in its category. And it hasn't been topped since.

icemann on 6/11/2009 at 17:25

Firstly Plants vs Zombies and Portal kickass. Anyways onto the topic. For me I think that looking at SS1 from a purely fps perspective that the game was very different to the fps games of the time which had at best game manual / occasional intermission screen style storylines. SS1 on the other hand had an immersive story from start to finish that played out as you played through the game.

Heres some other parts of SS1 that were against the norm of the time:
(looking at the game purely from a fps view)

* Selectable HUD in the game. All other fps of that time period just had HUDs for displaying player stats
* Respawning enemies - More the norm in rpgs
* Features puzzles that were not physical objects based (eg find the switch or key)
* Audio logs and emails encountered throughout the game that fill in more of the story and of what occurred prior to the player waking up

Now with all of that said, when I think of SS1 I never think of it as a purely fps game. To me the game is clearly a fps / rpg hybrid.

Sulphur on 6/11/2009 at 17:55

SS1 wasn't genre-defining, but it was the most advanced FPS for its time. It set a lot of precedents: engine tech, presenting a seamless narrative, and genre mechanics (it's probably one of the first FPSes to introduce leaning). And of course, the overall quality bar was ridiculously high when it came to each of these.

It also managed to have the most ridiculously complicated controls in the history of FPS gaming. Which is no small feat, but it did this at the cost of accessibility and mainstream appeal. It's part of the reason why Doom creamed it in terms of sales.

ZylonBane on 6/11/2009 at 20:31

"Genre-defying" and "genre-defining" don't mean the same thing. Which subject is this thread supposed to be about?

Kolya on 7/11/2009 at 00:05

Quote Posted by paganinio

How genre-defying was it? (by your standards)

I don't know, it wasn't earth-shaking or anything. Maybe next time take off the socks.

Sulphur on 7/11/2009 at 17:29

What the heck does 'genre-defying' mean, anyway? :confused:

rachel on 7/11/2009 at 19:47

Quote Posted by Kolya

I don't know, it wasn't earth-shaking or anything.

Well, it actually was, if you ever fired the laser without activating the shields first. :p

ba-duum tshshsh

And as far as I'm concerned, Portal was the most innovative FPS I played in ages, and it managed that without necessitating a humongous hardware upgrade, or even a plot.

Pardoner on 8/11/2009 at 03:04

Quote Posted by Sulphur

What the heck does 'genre-defying' mean, anyway? :confused:

Well, paganino has given us a couple of example links in his post, namely Guns Girls Lawyers Spies, and Blast Corps. Let's take a closer look at one of these.

Quote Posted by Blast Corps

Get out of the way! A nuclear missile carrier is out of control on a one way-set path, and unless that path is cleared, it will explode as soon as it makes contact with anything, destroying the world. It is up to you to clear the path so that nothing gets in the way of the Carrier.

I wish we had not taken a closer look.:(

Briareos H on 8/11/2009 at 08:26

and i really think he just meant "defining"