I've been playing an awful lot of Dungeons & Dragons Tactics on the PSP of late. I find my self amused because I've never been especially fond of the D&D ruleset in any incarnation. My disdain transcends versions of D&D and implimentations (pen and paper to electronic). It stems from a number of issues I have with the design of the game, from the rigidness of classes to the how magic is handled. Even the use of the d20 in the game is, in my humble opinion, far too random.

And yet... something about D&D always keeps me coming back for more. I eat the game up. I love a good dungeon crawl as much as the next D&D nerd. I've spend many a sleepless night exploring the nooks and crannies of Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, and Eye of the Beholder. I think Planescape: Torment was a masterpiece. I find myself getting into the stories and even the Monty Haul aspects even as I start to self-loathe for doing so. I love the infinite possibilites the character generation system allows me the explore, despite the limiting aspects of a class-based system. There's always that voice in the back of my head that tells me to play for just a little longer, so I can get that next level and get to open up further cans of whup ass on my foes.

I have played through D&DT over 5 times now, trying out different classes and just enjoying the combat system. I play JRPG style games too, but I have never felt the urge to play therough them again and again just to try out a different character build. Of course, this is because many times that depth just isn't there at all. For example, I played Brave Story recently. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It had a charming story and looked magnificent. But the combat was the same "Thou shalt have three characters in combat at any given time. Period." that all JRPGs seem to fall into these days. The positional combat of a D&D game is so much more satisfying to me. I will go to the ends of the earth for a flanking bonus! The player is rewarded in so many ways for not only how they equip and build their PC, but also for how they employ sounds tactics on the battlefield. I don't get that same immersive feel in a "let's line up in opposite lines and discretely attack eachother" type of combat system. I love the FF series dearly, but never once have I felt I was truly 'in the moment'.

I would LOVE to see an electronic version of the GURPS ruleset in a game. That would truly let me explore countless possibilities in multiple replays of a game. Fallout and Fallout 2 are probably the closest games to this ideal we've seen, but I don't think most people are ready for the sheer deadliess of such a system in their fantasy games just yet. Imagine the deadliness of playing a 1st to 2nd level character in D&D - all the time. You don't want to get hit in GURPS - it hurts. But man, the tactical options and character build possibilities are a wonder to behold. You'd have to talk your way out of a lot of situations rather than fight it out. GURPS would have been a great fight for Planescape: Torment for that reason.

Even so, there are times I just wanna cut a swath of destruction through a horde of critters, and boy does D&D let me do that. So D&D, while I may deride you and complain about your shortcomings, I will always come back to your loving embrace. Now if you could jsut get rid of your Vancian magic trappings...