![]() ![]() All of that is reflected in my character sheet, my relationships, even my appearance. I put just as much thought into my CRPG characters, but there are few opportunities to actually express that in-game. I don't want to play some guy who's just good with swords. In the vast majority of tabletop RPGs I've played, it's my character's motivations, eccentricities and personality that I've really cared about developing. I mentioned it being like having a DM watching over you earlier, and tabletop roleplaying has very much been on my mind while I've been playing CK3, just as it was when I was playing Disco Elysium. It was our 2019 Game of the Year and it's one of the best RPGs ever made, so maybe it's got some good ideas? It also makes skills and traits more defining features, using them to shape the detective's personality and vices. It models stress differently from CK3, but it still uses it to add more personal risk to your choices. You can die from a heart attack by failing a conversation with yourself. ![]() They also impact other decisions, like drunkards being able to reduce stress when they're at a feast, so they end up just being another facet of your personality.ĭisco Elysium, of course, is just drowning in introspection. When you have a breakdown you can choose how to deal with it, giving you passive bonuses and penalties, as well as letting you go out and shed a chunk of stress by indulging in your debilitating new vice. The coping mechanisms you develop might introduce some other problems, but they do give you back more control. It's something that's meant to be managed. Importantly, it doesn't feel like a punishment any more than the intrigue system, which has killed off plenty of my rulers. When you know what kind of character you're playing and you're compelled to actually roleplay, it becomes so much easier to focus. Stress doesn't make any of that vanish, but it does act like a guide. You've got your council to sort out, maybe a spouse to find, vassals to get to know, rivals gunning for you, so many possible schemes-it's a lot. One of the series' biggest obstacles is that it's pretty hard to know where to begin. Stress is also a great way to motivate players to get stuck into different parts of the game. There's a logic, albeit often a strange one, to everything, like you've got a DM ensuring everything makes sense and keeping you on track, or at least suggesting that there's a track you might want to follow. ![]() Your personality and traits are both the roots and end results of all of these actions, informing them and then developing because of them. You can chart the decisions you make and the mark they leave on you and your dynasty and everything just links up. In CK3, you get all the benefits of a sandbox, so you're free to go off in wild directions and take your ruler on some very unusual journeys, but you've got to actually think about the kind of person you're roleplaying, creating this cohesive narrative even when things are at their weirdest. Geralt and Hawke's traits are more firmly etched into them. There are some exceptions, including predefined characters like Geralt who have set personalities, and to a lesser degree Dragon Age 2, which learns from your choices and then tries to capture your personality even when you aren't picking dialogue options. If you can sculpt a character over 100 hours and then ditch their personality in an instant, it threatens to shatter the illusion that growth and choice actually matter. Everything will just be tallied up and averaged out. You can make whatever choice you want, and the results will usually be the same whether you've spent the rest of the game as a virtuous knight or an unrepentant villain. ![]() RPGs don't normally bat an eyelid if you do something radically out of character. ![]()
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