The Sims was a great idea in a sandbox. I honestly hoped it would lead to other games having more intelligent/immersive NPCs.
I want my silver-spooned Sir Charles to cry at the sight of blood and be beheaded by Gazza, the self made, born-of-the-streets gang boss who has an arrangement with Prince Harry, the younger brother.
I then want to be able to challenge Gazza, take his criminal gang and rule the underworld of "Fantasy Kingdom XYZ". Perhaps "come to an understanding" with King Harry, maybe work my way up to spymaster and orchestrate neighbouring kingdoms to go to war with each other via a series of covert operations leaving selective evidence - say like the Princess Bride story but the bad guys(me!) win. Or maybe I don't win because I create a nemesis or fail to keep King Harry in check, get my gang wiped out, and have to seek a new way to the top.
I don't want the Sims obviously. But I want something... more than what we have now. Like the Sims mixed with Dwarf fortress but I get to be part of the story and influence it in outsized ways.
Edit: snipped to keep to a point, I did mention that most every game quest is based on violence.
I once forced my D&D group to solve all encounters without violence. Something about blood temple needing sacrifice to reawaken scared them into performing prestidigitations for 12 hours.
I’m with you. The vast majority of the spend on games is in the art and marketing and pennies spent on the story, arcs, quests, and it almost never coincides with the gameplay.
Take The Witcher 3. Dialog heavy, good story, but surely there are other witchers across the lands. Do you have to save everyone, all the time?
The MMO quests are the fucking worst. “Oh noes, boars in the woods” (1,000 boars are spawned just 100vft away) - Quest: Kill 10 boars. Reality: 240 noobs killing boars like it’s the boarpocolypse.
I want my silver-spooned Sir Charles to cry at the sight of blood and be beheaded by Gazza, the self made, born-of-the-streets gang boss who has an arrangement with Prince Harry, the younger brother.
I then want to be able to challenge Gazza, take his criminal gang and rule the underworld of "Fantasy Kingdom XYZ". Perhaps "come to an understanding" with King Harry, maybe work my way up to spymaster and orchestrate neighbouring kingdoms to go to war with each other via a series of covert operations leaving selective evidence - say like the Princess Bride story but the bad guys(me!) win. Or maybe I don't win because I create a nemesis or fail to keep King Harry in check, get my gang wiped out, and have to seek a new way to the top.
I don't want the Sims obviously. But I want something... more than what we have now. Like the Sims mixed with Dwarf fortress but I get to be part of the story and influence it in outsized ways.
Edit: snipped to keep to a point, I did mention that most every game quest is based on violence.