Opustus wrote:It was just a "matter of perspective" comment, not really trying to argue any point. I felt the n00b/casual view was underrepresented and maybe underappreciated; I am feeling the full breadth of the game in a different way than you because of your massive time investment and respectively because of my minimal time investment. No contradiction indeed. When I've seen everything, I probably give up my badge and retire.
Cortex, this is exactly my point. Area and mechanical exploration gets boring when everything has been learned, but for me (in this discussion clearly a "casual") it is a huge deal.
My underlying point (it's also somewhat biased from my own experience with other games in that I haven't played on other NWN servers) is that the social, RP-centric, interactive, plot-building side of Arelith is what makes it relatively
unique in the ocean of video game options that's out there today. Sure, there's an exploration side to the game, but hundreds of other games have that as well, and many do it better than Arelith in my personal opinion. There's the character progression side as well, the 'dopamine drip', and the 'gear treadmill'. But again, many, many other games do this - some better in some ways and some worse in some ways.
But name another game where you can encounter other intelligent players who add to the world's lore and play realistic and deep characters for you to interact with. A world with close oversight from DMs to ensure that your immersion into that world is not broken. A world with detailed mechanics created for the sole purpose of enhancing that roleplaying experience and which allow you to make a real, tangible impact on the world around you. Wow. That's something pretty unique in gaming today. And so that's what I think of as Arelith's key differentiator.
But on the flip side of that, if you (and thus your character) are not able to be present in that world as it grows in real time, you are missing out. Your overall experience is lessened relative to the amount of time you are absent from it. That's what I'm getting at.