Spazmo said:
However, a game like Baldur's Gate does need multiple player-controlled PCs, simply because the D&D ruleset is geared towards a party mechanic. You need a rogue to be stealthy, you need a mage to sling spells, you need a fighter to soak up damage and you need a cleric to patch him up. However, when done like Baldur's Gate did, it's purely nonsense since you effectively take control of a character who is not yours. Nobody is forcing you to play that character the way the designers intended. The only way they can force that is with particularly intelligently written AI scripts, something where an order to attack a good creature would cause a good party member to complain or even refuse, player frustration be damned, or to simply have a heap or scripted events occur that give the NPC a wealth of opportunities to remind the player that he's the dwarf who hates goblins because they ate his favorite hat.
I still disagree with this argument. Just because all D&D CRPGs are party based, doesn't mean they have to be from here to eternity.
For one thing, other classes can be stealthy. Depending on level, wizards have invis spells. Druids/Rangers can shapeshift and talk to animals, which would allow them to either become an animal for camoflauge or use an animal to scout for him. I believe all classes are capable of disguising themselves with the right skill points allocated, so that would allow some stealth in certain situations, depending on how they build their character.
On the other hand, some classes don't
need to be stealthy. Fighters and Barbarians are basically tank characters. They don't have to sneak, they can just knock heads.
Healing might be an issue, but that's based on how the game is balanced. If the majority of the game can be done diplomatically, then you just work on your speech skills and you don't have to kill everyone. Less combat is less healing required. Even if there is a lot of combat, then maybe there are a good deal of health potions or other healing devices available. Even how resting is handled in the game can affect this.
Most D&D CRPGs don't have much in the way of the spells that aren't about killing and buffing, like illusion spells, so it's arguable that you need a mage to fling spells. A fighter can make things just as dead as a fireball, it just might take longer.
The big consideration, of course, would be how the mechanics of the game would be handled. If there's options for most ways to handle a situation, then certainly, you wouldn't need a party. If you had to get a gem from some kobolds, you could just kill them and take it, or perhaps sneak in and take it, or even buy it from them. There might even be a way to trick them in to handing it over by bluffing them.
As long as you don't design things poorly, like IWD2 did with sneaking thieves triggering events as if you just waltzed right up and said, "HI! HOW ARE YOU GUYS?" or NWN by filling every nook and cranny with locked heavy doors and chests, a single character can do things his way - without a party.
