[url="http://www.gamebanshee.com/forums/showthread.php?t=69473"]In another post[/url], Centurion led me to consider an interesting point. There are some who do not put in the effort to overcome a tough battle, or want to fly through the game with maxxed out stats and all the best equipment.
Would I like to wear Deathlord Armour? Sure. Without a penalty? Of course!
Would I like a a 35 rating in dual wield medium weapons? Actually, I don't know... I haven't played dual wield just yet. But you get the idea.
There are good reasons for some of the restrictions on what you can and cannot do.
Clearly, if all classes had the same skills and abilities, there'd be no point in having the classes. Hell, they wouldn't be classes to begin with! You'd end up with an open development character along the line of Morrowind or Arcanum, where you can play the game a number of times, and play it in a completely different fashion each time.
Granted, not all people like this open progression; many prefer stylised, character archetypes. They reflect playing methods and styles. Melee characters squeal when they get the dual weapons skill, complementing their super-duper power armor rating. Magi rejoice at discovering another arcane spell to blast the hell out oncoming goblin hordes. Rogues get that warm and fuzzy feeling from sneaking up behind someone for that backstab damage multiplier.
But this schematicised system, if you think about it, serves the exact same purpose as implementing an open development character progression system, i.e., to give the game its replay value.
I can hear some of you protesting, "But if I've already beat the game, why should I do it over with a different character? After all, it's the same game, with the same boss battles and same end sequence. Maybe a new side quest, or two, might be undertaken. Chances are that a room which I couldn't enter in town opens up, because it's a specific character / quest related flag. That's marginal!"
I agree. Partly. That argument is based on an irrefutable logic. But the fact of the matter is, we have all watched our favourite film 2, 3, or 47 times. I've read the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy more times than I can recall, yet it gives me a great laugh each time. But in essence, we're delving into the hearts of men, trying to extrapolate the answer to the mystery of passions. Why do we do what we do? I won't get into that discussion here. Instead, I might recommend reading some Existentialist thoughts by Jean-Paul Sartre.
Put simply, we play it over again because we like it. And in our aberrant psyche, that marginal difference, whether in new skills or playing methods, or new side quest, justifies undertaking the whole mess all over again. Even if we already know what to expect. Yes, we're strange people. And we love it!
Having gotten all that preface out of the way, let's get back to the main theme of this thread.
There are legitimate reasons for using a hex / char editor, and whimsical ones.
Some reasons I don't agree with are:
- I WANT that Deathlord Armour! So what if I'm a mage?
- I can slay Fire Drakes in one hack, with my 7000 Strength!
- I'm too lazy to fight for my gold. I want stuff, and I want it now!
- I can't be bothered looking for that bloody switch / lever! It's a huge dungeon!
Fire Drakes? Well, a good fight will make me say, "Phew, that was a b**ch! But I got the dragon's bollocks, now!". You deserve what you earn, and you earn what you deserve, mates. That's a rule in life. But now, you can sell the expensive dragon's bollocks, and you'll have the money for your greedy little paws to buy your equipment.
Don't have the money? Fight battles! You'll get the money and level up, working toward that massive, overkill 7000 strength attribute!
Ok, so I may be slightly drammatic and extreme in my view. But as far as I am personally concerned, the bottom line is two-fold. Firstly, I do not condone the use of hex / char editors to compensate for one's laziness, or greed. Secondly, the use of hex / char editors to become the uber-character with all skills, greatly takes away from the replay value of going through the game again with a different character class.
Before I am pelted with eggs, let me say that there are numerous occasions on which it is legitimate to use hex / char editors.
- Buggy programming. And DL is full of it, patches notwithstanding
- Puzzles that are just plain unfair in difficulty, and recognised as being such (and require a roundabout back-tracking, "fight the world" pilgrimage just to get back to the puzzle when you mess up, such as when you fall through a trapdoor)
- You've beat the game, but want to keep a specific relic / artefact for your next game
- Utter, complete, honest, "I truly have tried it all" situations wherein you're hopelessly stuck, and that might compromise your game altogether
However, if you are going to start out the game with the skills, stats, and equipment of a level twenty-something champion, why even bother playing the game? You've just wasted your money buying it. You will not garner any pleasure from completing a quest, attaining a bonus, progressing to a higher class, etc. On the flip side, someone who's put in hours of play will cherish and appreciate every bit of his success.