I have a hard time making Cataclysm feel like a role play. I cant do it with most games, like Fallout or Skyrim. It usually just ends up feeling like “okay, time to choose the character setup i always do, randomly generate a name, talk to the NPC for goods, go raid houses for food, then get sick of being chased by 40 zombies and stop playing”. Not fun.
Whats the best way to get yourself immersed in a game that has no graphics?
Get a tiles version.
[spoiler]Alternatively, smoke some weed. I mean real weed. Not virtual videogame weed.
Don’t forget to drink a cup of tea, or take some vitamin pills if you smoke some weed. For your health, ya dingus.[/spoiler]
I cant actually play TILES versions. My computer tries to open it, and it does for like a half second, then it just closes.
Man, if I had weed a totally would.
Don’t do that.
Don’t do that.[/quote]Perhaps the best way you could get into the character instead of just ‘playing a game’ or whatever is to take a randomly generated character. Will they be optimal? Not even close. Will they stand a chance at surviving? Almost Certainly! Will they die in some horrible fashion? Likely! But, go ahead and take a minute to see what you got for traits, stats, and profession. I’m not sure how exactly the random character thing works, so you might get some truly odd combinations like an MD or something that can’t read, but don’t let seeming contradictions like that toss things right away. Sometimes they just mean there is a really good story there (Perhaps there was some mixup at the hospital and a patient’s friend/relative got mistaken for a newly arrived doctor.)
Anyway, once you have the random character and have come up with a bit of a story for their life and how they got there, then go do what they might do, not necessarily what is optimal for survival. Is the first thing you’d do bash down a locker to make a crowbar to fight off undead? Maybe don’t even do anything special until your character actually sees undead to realize they’re a problem. Oh, and don’t grind. Sounds weird, I know, but it doesn’t exactly make a ton of sense to go ‘Okay, I’m going to make a big stack of pointy sticks so that I can learn to make a bow’ or whatever. Let skills come naturally. Bonus points for not butchering/smashing zombies till you see them reanimate or read it from somewhere in game.
This sort of thing is likely to get alot of characters killed, but I think in the end you’ll end up having alot more fun with a character that dies in their first couple days that you really have a connection with than a perfectly tweeked super soldier who’s every move is simply ‘mechanically, this is the best thing to do’.
I have characters from other stories and games I’ve done. I enjoy adapting them to fit CATA’s universe, and often give them a new twist to help them fit. Not everybody can draw their own characters, but I do find myself enjoying playing the ones that already have faces.
This may be a little weird, but sometimes I pretend I’m the character and talk to myself about the current situation. Having ambient music of your own choice (I like to use this kind of stuff) also helps you get more immersed in a game that’s a bunch of tiles.
Also to keep interest, I have many wacky presets ready so I can roleplay my heart out. Meet Mac, the crazy strong guy who can’t read, or Blink, the hyperactive caffiene addict with a hammer, or my personal favourite, Jakers! Who is basically just me but with ‘rs’ on the end (my real name is Jake) and a hell of a lot more gentlemanly class.
But yeah, I’d recommend MOOSIK. As for talking to yourself in character, I live alone with my dog so I don’t look entirely crazy. I find Blink a challenge though, my voice hurts like a BITCH afterwards.
Oh, the sad things I do to keep myself entertained.
I talk to myself for lack of any ability to keep thoughts organized in my head. Handy and fun! Text works best. You can see where my lack of succinctness comes from excepting posts like this one.
TALK LOTS WIN AT ROLEPLAY
So you’re all saying that chefvordivask goes mentally mad then he will be able to have more fun at the game? Oooookay then.
YES GO INSANE IT’S FUN!
Go get the tiles version again, run it once, let it close, and then find the config folder that was created when it tried to run. Go into it and change Software Rendering from false to true.
I think the random character option is the best for getting into character, being plonked in a world without choosing your traits.
I think you just explained how video let’s plays started.
Oddly enough, I have done this since I was a kid. Even in single player games, I look at it through the character’s eyes and react accordingly. It has helped me to define many a virtual life, some of which are permanently ingrained on my subconscious. There is no limit to the bounds of human imagination and with practice, you can really lose yourself in a character.
I recall once being personally upset out in reality for a few days after one of my characters in Dark Age of Camelot had some issues with a troublemaker at a guild party. I played the character with the innocence and wide-eyed optimism of a 5 year old, and someone really stomped on his feelings and what he was trying to do. I was hurt for several days afterward, out here behind the screen 
Just set a goal for your character. The game doesn´t give you one you have to do it yourself.
The Goal is apparently within the lines of a supercharacter who, after buffing/equipping him/herself silly OWNS the playground called CataDDA-world. The primary objective is contributing to the community in order to help this RL become better, with the secondary one being sharing your gameplay stories, videos and screenshots through internet services and on this message board.
With me not doing it, the harshest thing morally is to regret no one else doesn’t.
More mild necro from me, but I’ve actually been struggling with this kind of thing in my latest playthrough. It’s a different character than my usual–a punk rock girl who I aimed at guns (specialty in Dexterity and Perception, Flimsy, Far-Sighted, etc.) but ended up using more archery than guns because no gun stores in my starting town and archery is just so great–but even though I’ve found a refugee centre full of NPCs and gotten well-established and fixed up some vehicles and set up some basic facilities in a new evac shelter with progress being made towards setting up electrical facilities, I’m not sure I’m really feeling the character, like, as a character.
It kind of irks me, because I was totally able to get invested in the bratling I played before even though she had a lot of gameplay stuff that annoyed the shit out of me, like poor Strength and associated difficulties, and poor reading speed, and Disorganised, and Sleepy, and a hatred of vegetables which always leaves me wondering what to do for dinner since meat and fruit don’t mix nearly as well as meat and veggies, and yada yada.
I have never really got into character, and yet I find it fun. Possibly because I have a manager-y mind and like the thought of commanding minions from on high.
YES GO INSANE IT’S FUN![/quote]
Insanity is the first step to enlightenment!
This.
Except less “minions” and more “virtual beings I’m helping to win”.
Setting goals before your game definitely helps.
Personally, I always start out with the goal of inhabiting an island with an army of NPCs. Hasn’t happened yet, but I’m sure trying to reach that goal.
Also, if you find yourself late-game and you really hate your character, you can change some of their traits by using the debug menu to manipulate their traits and mutations.
Obviously this would be a mild form of cheating for those players who are totally legit, but as long as you don’t go crazy with the debug menu, it can help you modify your character and situation slightly to make it more enjoyable. At the end of the day, it’s a game and it’s meant for entertainment, and if you aren’t having fun then there’s no point to playing it.
I will warn you though that the fastest way to make the game feel stupid is to abuse the debug menu, but that’s up to you to find out if you haven’t yet.
If you are really trying to play legit and you want to change your traits, you can raid some science labs and try to get mutations that will remove your initial traits. I’ve done this before and it’s a good way to cash in the extra points in your endgame that you get from selecting negative traits at the beginning of the game.