The Deepest Games, My Lord's Commendation

[Lord Feloric's Ambassador]

The depth of games is a perplexing issue. Logically one would assume that as technology improved so would the depth of games, yet we find that to be untrue with each new release. But what gives a game depth? Better graphics? More missions? Well my Lord believes a truly deep game gives the player the opportunity to constantly entertain themselves during and between missions with a nice coat of polish.

If you viewed the above video then you already know which game my Lord wants to commend for being a truly deep game.

Bully - released by Rockstar Vancouver in 2006 for the Playstation 2 (and re-released in 2008 for the Wii, Xbox 360, and PC) features a boy named Jimmy Hopkins who is put in Bullworth Academy by his feline of a mom and her cat-loving boyfriend. Now most likely you have played or at least heard of this game, but my Lord would still like to commend Bully for not only being very well polished with a good variety of missions, but for being a very deep game.



This poor quality video sufficiently shows off the multitude of ways the player can interact with the NPC's. Along with the main story and the side missions, the player has dozens of ways to pick on, talk to, or kiss other people in the town of Bullworth. The player has the ability to go into the school, break open a locker, throw a kid into a trash can, play a few missions, and go to town and cause havoc. The reason why Bully is such a deep game is because of this interaction with the environment. While lots of games offer a larger world with lots of missions, only a few games truly gives the player a playground like Bully does.

Bully, My Lord tips his crown to you for delivering a truly deep experiance.
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There is one game my Lord would like to reprimand.



The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - released by Bethesda Softworks in 2006 highlights a hero who must help the Emperor's last heir stop the Oblivion invasion. Right off the bat the game appears to be a deep game set in a large world with numorous missions and side missions. There are hours of gameplay to be found in this game. However, Oblivion is the Lake Erie of the video game world- it is quite big, but deceptively shallow.

After playing through the first few missions and completing a couple of guilds, the player will realize that this game that seemed overwhelming is actually riddled with poor design descions, glitches, poor animations, boring dungeons, and beginner level enemies and missions. The game tells the player what to do and where to go and it doesn't offer anything to do inbetween missions. It's a pond pretending to be an ocean.

My Lord did enjoy playing Oblivion, but he still must reprimand it for failing to be a truly deep game.

Thank you

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Why would I post these here you ask? Yes, why indeed...

[roy34543]

While depth would logically equal the number of things you are able to do at any point in a game (and enjoy doing) i think that its very subjective really.
Obviously some people like story driven linear games , Some like linear games with lots of sidquests (and believe that is deep) and some people think extensive customization is what makes a game deep, even if it lacks content.
I think its a bit difficult to say what games do it best. I would say that the only games that truly manage to be deep are a few RPG's here and there that have an epic scope in customization and immerse you enough with any tasks that appear
But i think its truly a matter of opinion. Not really that many games manage to break the illusion of you being unable to do something in them.
I do hope you werent implying mount and blade was deep though. It was a hack and slash fest about 70% of the time, and you can decimate most enemies with a slow horse and wooden staff.

[Icewolf]

Medal of Honor: Allied Assault.

[Musthavename]

the player will realize that this game that seemed overwhelming is actually riddled with poor design descions, glitches,

Use of the console let me avoid most of those glitches and bugs that console players suffered.

My Lord did enjoy playing Oblivion, but he still must reprimand it for failing to be a truly deep game.

Mods are your answer.

[jnecros]

Bully was very good and deep, it was a fresh approach to the Grand Theft engine maybe or at least the mechanics of the series.

I agree Oblivion is overrated for its depth, but it by no means sucked. Sure seems like it sold more copies than the other Elder Scrolls, not sure if that is the work of marketing or that the game was made more marketable to a larger group of players than the other elder scrolls. In either case, it is possible that the next in the series will be even less 'in depth', but more story driven, maybe more linear, because the game world of Elder Scrolls has been shrinking, but getting more refined with each new release.

Yeah depth is subjective, I personally think that a game with a living world is what makes a deep game, where the character is just another person doing stuff and not the savior/destroyer of the world..but others surely look at game depth as being something all together different. More games like Oblivion are a good thing, I would much rather see RPGs, even shallow ones being churned out over more racing and fighting games (no offense to any who like them).

[Lord Feloric's Ambassador]

I agree Oblivion is overrated for its depth, but it by no means sucked. Sure seems like it sold more copies than the other Elder Scrolls, not sure if that is the work of marketing or that the game was made more marketable to a larger group of players than the other elder scrolls. In either case, it is possible that the next in the series will be even less 'in depth', but more story driven, maybe more linear, because the game world of Elder Scrolls has been shrinking, but getting more refined with each new release.

My Lord enjoys linear games just as much as he enjoys deep games, but he does not enjoy it when a linear game presents itself as a deep game. The Elder Scrolls series needs to pick a path and stay on it.

[Confederate Jeb]

I haven't played either of these games, so I wouldn't know. Though I've heard of both games, of course.

[Danny_K_1]

I loved bully.

Awesome game.

And Oblivion, well I don't need to say anything about that do I?

[Giorgos]

You want depth? Planescape Torment. Just keep an open mind.

[Kanaric]

I wouldn't call Oblivion a "deep" game. A bunch of scripted events and little to no dialogue interaction is not a deep RPG.

Play something like Fallout 2 or Planescape if you want a deep rpg. Comparing oblivion to those is laughable.

[SonOfCrusader76]

Speaking of Bully, has it been patched to an acceptable level on PC yet?

[Renegen]

Fallout 3 is better than Oblivion.

[Lith]

Fallout 3 is better than Oblivion.

And Morrowind's better than them both. All is well.

[Danny_K_1]

Fallout 3 is better than Oblivion.

Nah I gotta disagree with that.

Both are very good games though.

[Lord Feloric's Ambassador]

I wouldn't call Oblivion a "deep" game. A bunch of scripted events and little to no dialogue interaction is not a deep RPG.

Play something like Fallout 2 or Planescape if you want a deep rpg. Comparing oblivion to those is laughable.

I've heard quite a lot about this Planescape game. Perhaps I should pass this information along to my Lord.

Speaking of Bully, has it been patched to an acceptable level on PC yet?

My Lord acquired the Playstation 2 version of the game. If the PC version is having that much trouble than maybe you should consider purchasing the Playstation 2 version.

[Jaketh]

The game tells the player what to do and where to go and it doesn't offer anything to do inbetween missions. It's a pond pretending to be an ocean.

you must have played a different game then, there are 8 million side quests to do inbetween the main quest missions and after you beat the game, and there 50 billion places to discover on the map so your never bored just wandering around Cyrodiil, you might want to edit your post

[Lord Feloric's Ambassador]

you must have played a different game then, there are 8 million side quests to do inbetween the main quest missions and after you beat the game, and there 50 billion places to discover on the map so your never bored just wandering around Cyrodiil, you might want to edit your post

My Lord has considered your request, briefly, and decided to deny it.

[HMD Temeraire]

I would recommend Mass Effect and KOTOR. Those are some of the best deep, story driven games out there.

[Battletoads]

Who ever is going to buy bully remember that the game is extremely short (3 days if you are bad). Not worth £30, more around £10.

[Lord Feloric's Ambassador]

Who ever is going to buy bully remember that the game is extremely short (3 days if you are bad). Not worth £30, more around £10.

My Lord acquired the game at a relatively cheap price. I'm sure it's even cheaper by now.