From RPG Shortcomings To A RPG Renaissance?

Thanks to GameSpot for their 'GameSpotting' guest editorial, focusing on the alleged inferiority of the RPG genre, and the 'hybrid' games which use these RPG elements to great effect. The writer suggest: "Unlike most games, there is almost no skill required in RPGs - no hand-eye coordination, no button-timing", and while calling RPGs "inferior to other kinds of games", still finds addiction and praise in the "sense of power and accomplishment that comes from seeing your puny character grow from a weakling into an ass-kicking machine." But he finds hybrid titles, such as "first-person shooters [that] are starting to incorporate upgradable skills and character classes", to be examples of a "RPG renaissance", suggesting: "Game developers are starting to realize that almost every game can include and would benefit from RPG elements."

Comments

mhm

[Anonymous Coward]

Casey is the gamespot resident troll, don't get worked up too much about what he says.

Re:the dumbing-down of the rpg

[Anonymous Coward]

> The biggest problem with rpgs, really, is the advancement of the action-rpg (Zelda being the primary example of this)

Except that Zelda is an Action/Adventure and not an Action/RPG

(Action/)RPGs are character(-skill) based and Action-Adventures player(-skill) based. In other words you could beat every enemy in Zelda with lower than possible stats (which it actually doesn't have, it has unattachable equipment [heart containers]) if you've good reflexes, but you wouldn't be able to beat any Action/RPG without high stats.

Re:Stupid article.

[Torgo's Pizza]

You're not being a troll when you're speaking the truth. Mr. Wills is himself a contradiction. He rails against RPG games while in his list of games he enjoys most he lists System Shock 2 and Freedom Force, both Hybrid-RPGs. He's writing about something he obviously knows nothing about. Show me an action game that has a rich storyline like Fallout, Baldur's Gate or heck, even Ultima. Planescape: Torment has a plot that brings most games to their knees. He wants strategy? Deciding which areas to level up in is the whole point of the game. What fun is it if it really doesn't matter where I build up my character? RPG games force the player to make choices, hard ones with consequences to your character. What requires more thought: choosing between the shotgun or rocket launcher; or giving your last bit of money to a beggar on the street (as seen in Ultima IV). He really speaks out of his butt with his statement "the [puzzle] game designers had more time to spend on creating devious and clever puzzles, which no RPG can compete with." A great RPG can compete on every level an adventure game and can add more twists. What Casey forgets is that an RPG can uses stats to it's advantage and allow more than one solution to a problem. To solve a problem the player can rely on intelligence and solve the problem, charisma and talk your way out of a situation, brute force and fight your way out, or take the adventure game route and use your inventory to find the right item for the right job. If designed properly, an RPG can offer a myriad of solutions to a problem and is only limited by the imagination of the player. But the one thing that shows what an arsehole Casey Wills really and truly is can be seen in this statement: "In most RPGs, a character that is lost in a battle is lost for good." Where has he been in the last ten or fiveteen years? Most RPG games have a state between alive and death called unconsciousness. If your characters do die it's because something catastrophic happend like decapitation. There's other states between death like petrify, poison, etc that add variety and fun to the experience. It's an article in frustration. Argh. I know Greg Kasavin, and I think I'll drop him a line to see if this kind of content can be brought back up to par.

are you kidding?

[deus_X_machina]

"For a good story, you are usually better off reading a book or watching a movie. Some RPGs have great storylines, but few can compete with the best that the silver screen has to offer, and most RPGs are downright tedious and redundant compared to film"

Are you kidding me? Hello! Final Fantasy (you ALL freaked when Aries died)! Xenogears! Tactics Ogre! FF Tactics! Xenosaga! Compared to the tripe out in the movies?! I find that 99% of the time, video games plots are better and have more developed characters than most of the crap in the theater. Plus, since you develop your characters and watch them grow, you feel closer to them than some lame actor.

If you want an intense half hour of strategic combat, any number of current real-time strategy games will deliver a better fix

Uhh, some of the most 'intense' battles I've ever played through were in Final Fantasy 2 and 3. Utilizing all your techniques, casting spells like "reflect" on your enemies and then reflecting "heal" spells on yourself, there is a ton of strategy required in text based RPGs.

The best examples of RPG improvements are seen in Freedom Force and Star Wars: KOTOR. In both of these games, if one of your party members reaches zero health, he is just knocked out of the fight, not killed outright.

I think the ONLY game I've ever played where characters die outright was "Tactics Ogre". Your characaters usually affect the story too much to "die" for good. so if they do its usually built into the story, and not from melee combat.
Frankly, I think it was awesome that in Tactics Ogre characters could die outright because it would affect the storyline. Has this idiot ever played an RPG? Can Tidus "die" in FFX?

Hybrid RPGs are popping up everywhere. Game developers are starting to realize that almost every game can include and would benefit from RPG elements. Maybe Grand Theft Auto IV will give you the choice between improving your outlaw's shooting skills or his driving skills. It's just a matter of time.

I think it's more that people enjoy RPGs, particularly the element that you can start with a weak character and develop him/her. They give you much more of a sense of accomplishment than running around and shooting stuff. Don't get me wrong, FPSs can be fun, but there's no genre that gives you more satisfaction than an RPG. You start with a weak group of adventurers and develop them into something awesome. On top of that, MMORPGs are taking RPG gaming to the next, quite possibly most intense level ever. Hell, they even put disclaimers on them saying they're "extremely addictive"! Has anyone ever committed suicide over an FPS or a RTS? RPGs can be REALLY intense.

RPGs are so satisfying and such an effective genre that other genre's are starting to borrow from them, not the other way around.

This author has obviously never played an RPG...