r/gaming • u/Asianboiforwhitedad • 10h ago

Kingdom Come Deliverance studio co-founder says a lot of RPGs are 'still games for teenagers,' and that he's 'tired of all the RPGs where you are this chosen one'

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/kingdom-come-deliverance-studio-co-founder-says-a-lot-of-rpgs-are-still-games-for-teenagers-and-that-hes-tired-of-all-the-rpgs-where-you-are-this-chosen-one/
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u/alezul 9h ago

However, even in games like KCD 1&2 where it is explicitly and repeatedly made clear that you're a nothing and nobody

Reminds of witcher, where you're constantly told you're an ugly freak while looking like a model with a sexy scar that can take on anything, including kinda the devil himself.

Not really sure how to balance the "just a regular guy" ethos

I'm sure there might be others but the only one i can think of right now is the walkin sim Road 96.

There you play as some random teenager trying to escape your country. The trick is that you're not "the chosen one" because once you reach the border, the game ends and you have a roguelike element where you can start a new run with a new kid to experience other adventures along the way.

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u/Gregregious 8h ago

Reminds of witcher, where you're constantly told you're an ugly freak while looking like a model with a sexy scar that can take on anything, including kinda the devil himself.

Witcher is really corny like this, there's a lot of complexity in the worldbuilding but you're still a sexy hypermasculine badass with a harem of supernaturally hot women who wanna fuck you. A lot of games think that the protagonist being gruff and stoic makes it more gritty but it's really just the easiest cipher for a certain power fantasy.

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u/Sugarbombs 5h ago

In the books Geralt and witchers are described as incredibly ugly which is partly why they are despised along with all the magic usage and monster hunting stuff. I get why they made him hot in the game but it really annoyed me that they still wrote dialogue suggesting he was some hideous freak. It was also why the Yennifer relationship was so interesting, because they are both ugly outcasts who grew up isolated and while Yennifer can change her appearance now she still loves that ugly little witchy boi, but no fuck her best friend because god forbid a female character is on screen and you can’t see boobs.

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u/xueloz 5h ago

Can you find a quote of Geralt being described as incredibly ugly in the books?

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u/Sugarbombs 4h ago

There’s not really a part where someone directly calls him ‘ugly’, he’s generally described as more intimidating/scary. A lot of the mentions of him being ugly come from Geralt himself but that can be attributed to self consciousness. Maybe I shouldn’t say ugly, I guess I mean more scary/off putting to your average villager. I guess ugliness is up to interpretation with the books

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u/MassiveRatKing 3h ago

He's also moody, sometimes whiny and unpleasant (not in a bad way, he's very human and relatable). And broke, because monsters are nearly extinct in this world and humanity has evolved enough to be able to deal with most threats by themselves.

I'm not sure if that setting could really be translated into a fun RPG.

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u/Huttj509 3h ago

Genuinely I bounced hard off the first game round when it came out, because the setup felt so forced I've played literal porn games that felt less contrived. Literally in the intro "You are completely immune to disease, on the downside, you cannot have children." Then you save a farmgirl from some bandits, she rewards you with sex, and gives you a picturecard to commemorate it. Collect them all!

And hey, that disease immunity sure comes in handy since I'm not sure they had penicillin in Rivia.

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u/TheVog 5h ago

the protagonist being gruff and stoic makes it more gritty but it's really just the easiest cipher for a certain power fantasy

See: Strife, Cloud

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u/BokaPoochie 5h ago

People can be racist to sexy people and can also fear strong people. A lot of the commentary to Geralt comes from other males, and not the women that want to fuck him.

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u/LateStageBBQ 9h ago

lol. I’d never really thought of that before and you’re 1000% right.

Geralt: I am a hideous freak Witcher, despised and feared.

(All panties fly off)

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u/Successful-Return-78 8h ago edited 8h ago

It makes sense in the books. He is desired only by sorceresses because all of them have perfect faces and he is an interesting freak.

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u/Tezoth 8h ago

he's also a magical being and magical objects feel like they're vibrating to sorceresses.

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u/urixl 8h ago

Vibrating... mmmkay :)

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u/delahunt 7h ago

The man knew what he was doing when writing the books. And CDPR knew what they were doing when translating them to games.

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u/LateStageBBQ 8h ago

Also a fair point

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u/Fellhuhn 8h ago

... and he is barren.

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u/coolRedditUser 7h ago

Why would that factor into their preferences? So are they. Even if they weren't, I'm sure there are magical solutions to that if it's an issue.

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u/Unicorn_Colombo 6h ago

There you play as some random teenager trying to escape your country. The trick is that you're not "the chosen one" because once you reach the border, the game ends and you have a roguelike element where you can start a new run with a new kid to experience other adventures along the way.

That would be interesting game. Very interesting themed indie RPG.

The very anime premise: Hero party going to slay a demon king. Except player is not the Hero.

  1. You start as a bunch of villager-tier adventurers, even the Hero.
  2. You exp along the way, but sometimes you must sacrifice yourself for Hero to survive (e.g., too strong enemy and you reached the demons too soon), meaning you have to re-roll new character.
  3. As you progress through game, you unlock more experienced adventurers, classes etc., meaning as you increase in fame, more experienced people want to join you, so when you re-roll your character, you can chose from them.
  4. Some interesting retrospection on how many people died to reach and defeat the Demon King.

Maybe with some cyclical doadoo, where the surviving hero party will become characters of some importance for the next hero.