On the forums, Mike H posted the link to an interesting article written by a professional game designer (Jeff Vogel of Spiderweb Software, the creators of my personal favorite offline non-BYOND game, Exile III: Ruined World). In the article, he discusses the reasons as to why he dislikes the type of games he makes (Fantasy RPGs), listing the main reasons that he hates them being:
I find this interesting, because it is accurate in most of the RPGs that I can recall playing, but that's why I kept playing them. Now, I want to hear from you guys. What are your feelings about the article? Why do you play RPGs? | |
I play RPG's FOR those reasons.
I am a huge powergamer, I enjoy walking up to some person my level and owning them because I worked for the gear. | |
I guess its the fact that you have more control over your character than other genres. In Mario/Sonic games, your character is always the same hp and stats with the only difference being abilities gained by forms/suits. In rpgs, you have weapons, shields, armor (ranging from a simple 2 pieces to cover you to a complex set of 10+ pieces in some games). Every so often in games of those genre, you get to pick either your new skills and/or new stats when you 'level up'. Basically in rpgs, you can custom tailor your character to a far greater degree than most other genres, you personalize the experience!
Also rpgs generally have much more dialogue and character growth than most other game genres. They're a graphically animated novel in that way. My own personal experiences with games shows the effect rpg's had on me. For years the type of games I played were mainly Mario/Sonic Platformers with some sports games mixed in. My very first rpg was Final Fantasy Legacy 3 for the Game Boy. I was floored by the immense new challenge that I had never faced in my video games before (My first play through, I ended up rushing through and got stuck supremely under leveled in this area, I eventually had to restart.) There were a multitude of equipment, there were character advancements (levels), there were stats, there were npc companions who helped you, there were lots of dialogue....it utterly floored me! Within the next couple years after that game, I dived head first into rpgs and was playing much of the final fantasy series. | |
I like the advancement in RPGs because of the new abilities you gain. A huge reason why I loved DDO, because you have the whole Pen and Paper dungeon crawling experience, except MUCH faster paced and fluent. No stopping to check things like skill bonuses or weapon damage.
Advancing another level and putting more ranks into skills and unlocking new feats was only half of it though. It's far more fun when you can apply the abilities to the game effectively. I also loved my Full Plate +5 and my Sonic Warhammer +3. :D | |
The story. But I refuse to play most non-Japanese RPGs, since just about every other kind has the same story and always has to take place in middle earth. I hate those RPGs. I mean, seriously, look at FF compared to an RPG like Diablo. I never got into Diablo becuase everyone was the setting was middle earth-esque, and they all looked it too. In FF, atleast if it has a middle-earth setting, I get Robots, Airships and other things that are really fantasy other than a Doom monster that found it's way into an RPG and a dragon. Same goes with Dragon Warrior/Quest series and Star Ocean. They think outside of the box when it comes to fantasy, unlike other things of the such.
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A large majority of the Japanese RPGs are linear, which is a no-no in my philosophy of game design. I dislike when the player is led along with a carrot and a stick. Games like Oblivion get the player to decide what to do, and make the game's world feel more alive. There are few Japanese RPGs that do that.
Plus it has a good story (well, stories), to boot. | |
usually its the frustration that would make me give up a rpg. Paper Mario thousand year door: not strong enough to beat a boss and cant train or go back. gave it up
If i find something that really hard to do, or pointlessly hard, and theres no way to make it easier, ill try maybe 3 times, look up several guides, and if i still cant beat it, I give up and never play the game again. EVER. I dont think i've ever finished an rpg. I guess i dont care enough to buy some haxxoring stuff just so i can get to the next stupid thing i have to do. I dont know about the latest final fantasys, I just never got into the whole "I GOTS ME A SWORD AND I CAN KILL THAT GUY THAT GOTS A HUGE ROBOT" they shouldnt mix technological periods. I'd rather play rouge than newer rpgs simply because rouge has a thing called replay value. | |
Thousand Year door was pretty much the most amazing RPG I have ever played.
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Blades of Exile was always one of my favorites. Geneforge comes in next...
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I liked Geneforge and Avernum. NEver liked any of the Exile games. :P
Isometric ftw. | |
In an RPG, I look for the story hands-down. To me, the most well-developed plot that I have ever seen was present in FFVII (you have the Cloud-vs.-enemies, Shinra and the inherents, Cloud's past, the pasts of other characters (Aerith + Zack), drama (Zack dies saving Cloud, Aerith dies in Cloud's face, Red XIII's dramas, etc.), and so on). I think a large part of a good RPG is that it should have elements that not every player will see, at least on their first time through. Something to draw interest as one plays several times over adds a whole level of enjoyability and play-time.
To be honest, Final Fantasy makes up a large part of the only RPGs that I get interested in. I've tried Dragon Quest, and I lose interest quickly. Most RPGs that didn't come from Japan seem to lack in my interests, as well. | |
Rky_nick wrote:
usually its the frustration that would make me give up a rpg. Paper Mario thousand year door: not strong enough to beat a boss and cant train or go back. gave it up As I'm looking through the comments to this post, I find it interesting that you say this. I, personally, would take a step back and go train some more if I faced a problem that I could not overcome. This was my way of dealing with problems. You are more like my brother, and some of the other people that have responded to this post. Whenever my brother faced a problem, he'd instantly get on the computer and look up some cheats to help him get stronger, or something to aide him in his quest. I guess this just goes to show you that there are several different methods people use to play RPGs. This is just one of the many, as are the two others that I mentioned. I'd rather play rouge than newer rpgs simply because rouge has a thing called replay value. This sort of goes along with what Hiead said later on up above in the comments. To quote him: "I think a large part of a good RPG is that it should have elements that not every player will see, at least on their first time through." That, in my opinion, is another aspect of replay value, if not the only. It's sort of like Maniac Mansion. It's an old game that I played long ago, back when we still had Windows 3.1. It was a game with a good 7 characters, each one with a different story behind it. You picked three characters to use, then you played. Each unique combination created a different story in the end, but with each combination your mission was to do the same, exact thing: Save the girlfriend of the leader. I played this game many times over, just because of the different combinations of characters that I could use. | |
o.o... I like rpgs..
I like getting really really strong... I usually work to the top ten list... But games like WoW I get bored fast because I cant get at the top of the list... >_> Im very power hungry... | |
I tried to like FF7; I really did... But in the end, I couldn't bring myself to like it. They took FF6's crappy esper/magic system and managed to somehow make it even worse. Everyone can use any spell regardless of class, just pop a materia into your weapon? Give me a break... I got all the way to disc 3, decided it sucked, and stopped playing. I thought it was funny that the graphics whores loved it, but all of my friends who had played RPGs on SNES and especially NES didn't think much of it. It was the equivalent of Magic the Gathering players listening to people talk about how cool Duel Monsters is (assuming there really is such a card game).
I play single-player RPGs #1 for a feeling of accomplishment which would be similar to "climbing a mountain just because it's there" and #2 for the story. I don't care at all about graphics; in fact I think graphics can make a game worse simply because it stifles the imagination. It's hard to put yourself into the hero's shoes when the hero isn't what you imagine him to be (e.g. - a fruity-looking blonde kid with spiky hair). This is one reason that I'm a big fan of MUDs. I can customize my character and actually play a role as opposed to having the role played for me. | |
Torla2217 wrote:
o.o... I like rpgs.. That's cause you're not good :D | |
Good singleplayer RPGs used to be the only place you could consistently find plot. Games like the Wizardry series, Might and Magic, Bard's Tale, Ultima, etc. focused on storytelling. Console RPGs continued the trend, but often not to the same degree. Nonetheless, Square/Enix produced some very nice games.
Multiplayer RPGs are a bit different. I started with MUDs largely for the social value- I played with friends. Same for semi-RPGs like Diablo (which is more like a pretty Nethhack). With MUDs, I loved the custom experience, original worlds, and dynamic content. Bad MUDs are just multiplayer Hack-n-Slash. Pretty bad MUDs are Everquest, WoW, etc. No real interactivity (the "amusement park"), no real change or impact, combat centric, etc. Not that people can't enjoy them, mind you. I just think the success of the games has more to do with what people want to see than with what is actually there. | |
What a bizarre article. I felt like he had a point in there somewhere but couldn't quite wrap his own head around it in order to make it.
I love the advancement aspect of RPGs. If it's too boring, I won't play it. Some games are more interesting than others. My favorite part, though, is feeling like I'm in another world. It's the same thing I get from reading a book. I look up at the end and I'm genuinely surprised to find I'm at a desk with pencils and post-it flags and such. | |
RABBLE ROUSER, I play RPG's because they make you change! They give you an edge on creativity so in a sense they inspire you to think like a game maker and thus open you up to the world of game creation. Plus games are cool like that, they kill time for me when I have nothing better to do :D
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I like Rpg's mostly because your character changes a lot action games are great but at most you gain some new guns thats about it
also its cool seeing the armors and weapons in a game i love old school rpgs from snes and nes *chrono trigger and super mario rpg ftw* but i also love great graphic rpgs where my guys have awsome looking weapons its why in rpgs i need to get all equipment just to see how it looks also rpgs have a more community to them im talking about games in general not just byond its fun watching your cahr start from a stick and shirt/underpants to blazing armor and a huge sword that can cleave most things in two and you make the commment we have to do the same tasks over and over again isnt that how most games go action games you just shoot a bunch of guys and run through a place guys change guns change but still shoot run die... sport games are worse but all in all its just having a character grow drastically and the more conumity based gameplaqy i prefer a party then soloing | |
Anyway, on topic...
Fantasy RPGs usually have advancement like this because it provides one of the main goals, it sets the pacing to however quickly the player wants to play, and it's less of a hassle to go with it instead of making up your own system of advancement.
Boring and repetitive tasks are generally the plague of poor RPGs, like Runescape. I personally plan to make the process of earning advancement in Terra ex Machina fun (Entertaining quests/missions)