Copy/Pasted from this thread:
LinkUm... since I made this post, it's been done--sort of. It's called Mount and Blade and Mount and Blade Warband.-----------
Let me try and put this into words...
I envision a game world that could be here on Earth or another universe, it doesn't matter.
The game mostly takes place on the fringes between empires. You are just an ordinary person, but events unfold around you that propel you into a position of great importance.
It would have a system of play similar to Oblivion or Morrowind, and I want that kind of feel in the game. 1st person, with the option to play 3rd person.
It would be an RPG, but also an adventure game. It would have multiple aspects of gameplay.
You'd be able to do just about anything, join any number of factions and do anything with them. If you join the military, you would fight in battles---real battles with real tactics, not unorganized melees with a half dozen dudes like the "battle" in Oblivion--but like RTW size battles. You may control them if you're in that position but if not, you're a pawn and you have to act like a pawn. Stay in formation--break the shield wall and you'll die. If you become a thief, you'd do thief stuff. A merchant does merchant stuff.
Technology would be a mix of Medieval and Victorian, with even some anachronistic stuff from the early-20th Century thrown in. It will require a singular character. Not steampunk in artistic style, but as if steampunk were actually real.
There won't be "magic" magic, but instead there would be a form of technology which would unlock latent mental powers. Like Psi powers in System Shock 2. Magic sans "magic".
But it wouldn't just occur in the hinterland between empires, but within the centers of those empires as well.
If you choose a course which takes you into the imperial households, adventure aspects will come into play. You won't be able to solve your problems by hacking someone to death, you'll need to use logic and manipulation.
Extremely good AI will be required as there will need to be thousands of ways to go about a task. It must be completely open to be worth a damn.
All paths will have to eventually take you through an imperial household, but it will always be different.
Each city will have to be utterly unique. Each empire so different from the other that it would be night and day.
All items and clothing would be completely customizable so unique things will be constantly being created. There would need to be an in-game editor to make new items from scratch or from a collection of attributes.
This could very well work as a multi-player game, but it will be nothing like Warcraft. There will be no guilds or parties doing quests--unless you happen to be ordered to work together by your superior in whatever organization you belong to--you could be side by side with human players in a battle and never know it. But when you ascend to a certain point of progress in the game, it would have to become single-player.
I haven't fully worked out a plausible story, but it would be variable depending on your actions. Perhaps your overall goal will be to conquer the other imperial capital, or perhaps it will be a palace coup in your own. Or switching sides or leading a lost heir to his throne. It will depend on your choices.
On the other hand, if you don't want a main quest, you would be free to not pursue it. The game wouldn't be any less fun if you like to make chairs and sell them. Those looking for an MMO experience would no doubt find this advantageous.
The depth of play would also be variable. If you want to be simplified, that's fine. If you want it so in depth that you have to physically have your character use the bathroom and sleep for 8 real hours a night, that's fine too.
It won't be an rpg or an action game or an adventure game so much as an experience of a complete alternate universe.
It also is practically impossible, but that's OK.
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