Terry PenrodGrand Inquisitor
Posts : 6693
Joined: 16 OCT 2004
Location: US, Texas
Status : Offline | .
I loved the Thief series and agree that the basic story, setting and characters could easily be converted to a pure AG or at least to a very well-balanced Action-Adventure. So too could System Shock 1 & 2 and Deus Ex - both first person, sci-fi RPG-FPS hybrids with great stories, lots of dramatic tension and loads of atmosphere. Problem is that all those games have intricately integrated action elements throughout. So they would have to be completely redesigned and recoded.
Of course almost every good RPG could serve as the basis for an AG or a whole AG series. But again, the integrated gameplay components could not simply be ripped out. They too would have to be rebuilt almost from scratch.
However, the dialog, journal, map, item, inventory and other basic mechanical elements could stay almost entirely intact plus most if not all the maps and character models could be reused. It just wouldn't be that hard to convert whole sections of an RPG to eliminate the typical stat screens and replace the mandatory combat with additional puzzles, expanded dialog trees, extra clue-finding quests and less action-oriented missions. In some cases you could also keep most or all the pre-rendered / scripted cut-scenes as they are usually used to tell the back story, overarching in-game story and grand finale, which I assume would remain the same in any true conversion.
As I've said many times, AGs and classic-style RPGs are close cousins as it is. They share many similar if not identical parts and both rely on strong writing with good plots, interesting dialog and indelible characters. Many look similar too and they share many of the same themes. That's why they are often referred to as RPG adventures.
Cheers, Terry
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