Look at Vice City or KOTOR, both were developed with the console in mind but both made the top 5 of almost everyones top PC game list in 2003
Vice City can get away with being a true console game because its a basic third person shooter and hardly complex in its outer appearance.
KOTOR is different, I know it's very popular and got great reviews but I still think that it could have been MUCH better if it was exclusively PC:
For starters, Bioware deliberately tried to hide their use of D&D in the game because of fears it might damage console users' support. The result was very confused, with the occasional saving throw and base critical threat appearing, but no real explaination as to how they worked.
The interface was also shoddy in some respects. It took MUCH too long to pick a skill or force power to use, being force to cycle was very console-esq. Whatever happened to the NWN skill flowers which were much easier to navigate once you got the hang of it? Another problem I found annoying was being in a 3rd person perspective. I personally thought this was very lazy and not nearly as good as Bioware could have made it. I don't mind the camera fixed on the player as such, but being forced to stay at a fixed distance and elevation (yes, you could zoom and stuff but it was hardly worthwhile). You navigated with the keyboard, why not the mouse? Simply point and click. You might have had the OPTION of using your keyboard but it should not be compulsory.
Thirdly, the enormous dumbing down of skills. For those poor X-Box games who have to navigate with a couple of sticks and a few buttons, it was only fair that they get a simple skill and force interface. Proficient -> Expert -> Master. Not exactly though-provoking. At best, you're torn between upgrading a a skill or finding a new one. With the aid of a mouse, a player could have chosen from a reasonable list of feats which enhance his or her character in original and fascinating ways. Perhaps the scoundrel could have been a little more imaginative than Luck, Sneak Attack and Dodge. With some imagination and common sense, the possibilities are not endless, but very interesting.
Finally, the inclusion of mini-games seems to have been some kind of appeasement for console users. "Hmm, let's put random shooting intermissions in an RPG", hopefully Bioware didn't think of it at that, but that was the impression I got. Mercifully, you're allowed to use a mouse in them, but PC users should not be subjected to them all the same. Some RPG players aren't very good at FPS, making this part of the game a nightmare and ruining the entire experience for them. Console users would not suffer from this, as the majority of X-Box games are shooting and the like so players would get little grief from them and only see them as a minor annoyance. The only minigame which was properly and fairly integrated was the swoop racing - there is only one compulsory one and that is very easy.
Whew, glad I got that out of my system
EDIT: Post v1.1 has grammar
EDIT: Post v1.2 has better grammar
I'm not evil, just morally challenged
Edited by - The Evil Thing on 4/9/2004 2:54:08 AM
Thu Apr 08, 2004 8:19 pm 
). KOTOR was bloody great, and of course it would have been better if it had been solely for the PC crowd, but the more markets you cater to, the more people will buy the game, and the more money you make. It's too bad we can't go back to the good old days when games were developed for fun and not profit... oh right, that never happended 
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