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The Oblivion of Western RPGs
1up has a piece looking at how Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion may just be what the western RPG genre needs to spring back from the brink of nonexistence. From the article: "Western RPGs focus on the characters, and the world around them is a tool to let the player-as-character do and see more. Eastern RPGs focus on the events unfolding around the characters, and how the characters affect the world around them. Western RPGs are based on the experience of tabletop role-playing games, limited only by the imaginations of the players and the game master, where Eastern RPGs are more re-creations of traditional storytelling. Oblivion has taken huge strides toward meeting fans of MMOs halfway by building A.I. that really lives alongside the player and ensuring that the actual missions are easily pursued."
i was kinda confused when i started out reading the second page of the article.
try this.
What's this crap about Western RPGs being on the brink of nonexistance? I guess all those games by Bethesda, Bioware, etc. don't exist?
Because, when you come down to it, using your gun to make big holes in people in buildings is what I play Western RPGs for.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Eastern RPGs are just a book written as a video game.... a story is told, with no major twists to what the end is...
Western RPGs is where YOU make the story, and how you want to do it.
I find it interesting that they talk about how character development is the big thing for Western RPGs. I never realized that RPGs were ever really that commonly created in the Western Hemisphere. I would have to say that the change to having the primary focus on character development is more a general revolution in RPGs. All of the table top RPGs and such were extremely story oriented as well. No one wanted to play a game of D&D where the master was a bad story teller.
Also, the fact that technology has increased so much is the only reason that the character development can take place. Eastern RPGs seem to be a continuation of the classics, which took place when they could only have so much and the best thing they could do was tell a story.
"Don't meddle in the affairs of a patent dragon, for thou art tasty and good with ketchup." ~ohcrapitssteve
I can identify with the player mentioned in teh article who dislikes playing with other people. I have been quite bored with the glut of MMO & RTS games that have come to dominate the swords and spells genre of gaming. I have been playing Oblivion for about a week and it is so wonderfully full of single player greatness I can barely stand to go to work and wait 10 hours before my next hour of exploration. Every character I meet in the game is absolutely in-character and free of the slightest hint of l337speak of griefing behaviour that permiates the online worlds. I can come and go from the game at will and know the world has waited for me to return to it as if I hadn't gone to my job all day. Best yet, the NPCs aren't just manequins anymore- they are completely entertaining to watch as they attempt to live their lives and deal with each other. The first time I saw a pickpocket get attacked and killed by city gaurds- I was delighted. He was someone I had met and talked to and now, due to his unscripted actions, he is dead and gone from the game. The actions of the NPCs impact the world permenantly. I imagine that, just like in GTA, after my initial wonder of exploring the world starts to wane- there is an abundance of non-save-game fun to be had by simply messing with the locals to see how the game's AI reacts.
I would honestly change 'Eastern' to 'Console' and 'Western' to 'Computer'. After all, the great 'eastern' RPG series' are all primarily developed for consoles, and sometimes the best of the best ported to PC. the 'western' RPG of character development and creating your role originated with and continues to be the domain of the personal computer, from the early Ultimas, Questrons, Phantasies and Alternate Reality: the City and The Dungeon on the Apple and Atari 8-bits and Commodore 64 to the more modern Elder Scrolls, NWN, Fallouts etc all on modern PCs with some portage to consoles. Its only with the simultanious launches of TES III and IV to the Xbox as well as the PC that the 'western' RPG has been developed at all with consoles in mind. SO I say it's Console RPG vs Computer RPG, and many an arguement about which is best will be waged, but in the end, it all comes down to taste. When I want to be fed a good story i'll play the latest Final Fantasy. When I want to MAKE the story, i'll play Oblivion.
Devil bunnies! I snort the nose! Lucifer! Banana! Banana!
And I thought this was about nobody making a good RPG settled in a Western environment. You know, like with six-shooters, silly hats and indians.
:)
Yee-haw, that would be fun
Not really, WoW is in a completely different genre. And even if we were talking about MMORPG's, there really wasn't anything for WoW to bring back. It's not like we had a lack of good MMORPG's to play. There is no denying that WoW was hugely successful, but that was mostly because it caters to the non-mmo crowd, the casual gamer. It requires minimal time/investment to make significant progress in the game.
Anyways, the thread is about traditional PC RPG's (single player games).
Okay list them.
In case you haven't noticed, the "single slayer, PC RPG" genre has been all but dead for years. They morphed into something that is found mostly in its current MMOG form (think World of Warcraft) or something more "hybrid" (for instance RTS games with RPG elements).
So here is an excirse: go to the store to pick up a brand new copy of Oblivion but also look around to see what other single player RPGs are current on the self. Chances are there is Morrowind. There will also probably be Knights of the Old Republic 2 which is a pale shadow of its predicessor and not to mention a very shollow RPG. If you want to count things like Grand Theft Auto I suppose these could be RPGs and even closer to "a sandbox" that is found in Oblivion but again it is a very shallow if not an outright adventure game (Zelda is an action/adventure game even thought it has many themes common to RPGs).
So where are all of these Bethesda and Bioware games? Compared to the stuff online, compared to the sports games, compared to the movie franchise games, the fact that producers buckled down for Oblivion is a miracle. Just like Myst style "hot spot adventure games" went out of style so is the "single player RPG". On the console, there may still be refuge there for the "single player RPG" but who knows how long that will last as consoles gravitate to look more like PCs....
For the near future, I see Neverwinter Nights 2 and Gothic 3 and I suspect one of them wants to desperately have some sort of online play feature....
WoW is *not* an RPG. MMORPGs have only the barest of elements in common with traditional RPGs. In MMORPGs, you're not really a hero, just another person. You don't impact the world in a meaningful way. There is no real progressing story that you contribute to. There almost no real sense of immersion when you have people running around spamming "WTB [Wang] x3!"
MMORPGs are a completely different genre and can't be placed in the same category as games like Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, Fallout, Neverwinter Nights, Morrorwind or Oblivion.
When people talk about CRPGs, they're generally not talking WoW or EQ or anything like those, they mean the singleplayer games that are closer to pen and paper RPGs.
While adventure games have been considered a "dead genre" for years, there are actually MORE of them being released to the mainstream currently than there are single-player RPGs!
:)
It's a shift in the market. As the adventure fans come to recognise that they are no longer considered a hot property, they also become more willing to accept ANY adventure game that comes along, and thus it becomes easier for extremely small studios on a low-budget to make an adventure game and get it published for retail. These adventure games don't get the huge marketing push of the 'hot' genres, but they are out there. Check Gamespot - you'll find several reviews of recent adventure games. Every single review will include the phrase "Adventures are a dead genre". Despite the fact that, y'know, the game is right there and they are playing it.
So yes. There is a lack of single-player RPG goodness on the shelves. If it persists, expect the independents to eventually pick it up, just as they have with adventure games. *Especially* as better rpg toolkits become available. RPG Maker XP has already produced at least one English PC game on sale...
I've gotcher 'Women In Gaming' RIGHT HERE!
Morrowind & Oblivion aren't this already?
Jaysyn
There is a war going on for your mind.
yes and no, the world is full of riches, and if you're an alchemist walking through the woods transforms into a game of "find the material" as you run from bush to bush trying to harvest some plan or a shroom while being coursed by a troll that found you before you found him.
There are also quite a lot of stuff hidden in any area (caves, houses, shrines, bandit outposts, ...), so there isn't much truly empty space. Much less than in Morrowind. Even if you don't use Fast Travel.
On the other hand, the last 2 items are part of an RPG experience, an RPG can't be action-packed without dialogs or exploration, that's not an RPG anymore.
What you're suggesting is a 3D Diablo.
Repeat after me: Diablo is NOT an RPG
"The way we can tell it's C# instead of Haskell is because it's nine lines instead of two." -- wadler
I've randomly stumbled into info about a game in production which sounds close to what you describe. It's called Hellgate: London.
It's pretty much a diablo-like FPS set in a demon filled london. It has levels and equipment, but the controls are like FPSes. Also the levels, monster placement and items are randomly generated (like Diablo). The weapons include guns and melee weapons, which can then be upgraded with items. Also there are stats and skill trees.
Dunno about the plot or anything more tho it seems pretty interesting.
^_^
In Polar RPGs, from countries like Russia, Canada, Norway, and the like, oh and Australia and South Africa, you get richer art content, more humor, and insane pop songs that richochet in your head.
Oh, and igloos and caribou.
Plus penguins. You can never have enough penguins.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
The problem with both is that they each only have one or the other essential components of a real RPG- character development and self-determination.
Console (eastern is a stupid, overinclusive category) RPGs generally have a lot of the former- characters are vivid, plots are involved and very party-driven. Problems evolve with this because there's little self determination ("Whee! I get to chase sephiroth to YET ANOTHER RANDOM LOCATION!"), character development is often superficial due to the maturity of the audience ("I'm, like, totally not caring about this village I'm risking myself to save") and general lack of choices. There are some advantages! SO3 makes fantastic use of facial expressions and voice acting, for instance, because the game knows generally people's relationships, etc. SO2 lets you simply NOT TAKE annoying people along (Precis!!!).
PC RPGs (again, Western is a stupid descriptor) we get "sandboxes." The advantages are that the player has more control over his characters, more options in interaction, and more opportunity to change outcomes. The downfall is that these sorts of abstractions lead to anemic central plotlines and shallow characters.
However, these two styles are not incompatable! There is a fantastic middle ground that no one has discovered. In order to fuse the two, the game must have a large cast of characters, a strong central plot (but not be on rails), and a crapload of so-called "mini-quests," mostly character-based. When the player cannot control every aspect of his main character, at least give him the option of adding that "aspect" of that character by adding party members that conform. To facilitate this, a huge cast of optional party members allows the right level of customization. This large cast can still be used in general "main plot" development, however, by separating characters into groups (mage, scientist, cleric, etc), and write flexible (or modular) dialogue so that for purposes of the main plot, characters are interchangeable.
Next, character development/sandbox. By putting in very character-specific, optional subplots/subquests, you allow these characters to grow without hindering the main plot with too much generalization. This also streamlines the game by omitting character development for characters not used by the player, or if they just don't feel like developing that character in that direction.
All this allows you to separate characters from the central plot. Stories are generally about internal development of the cast (the modern novel concept), but often (Ulysses, for instance) the plot of the story is secondary to character development completely unrelated, on the surface, to the main action. In this way, you can have a strong but not entirely character-driven plot.
All these allow the player to go through with as much or little freedom and character development as they choose, while maintaining the "epic" story required to make the story itself fulfilling. It's a good system, and I wish people in the industry were trying to explore this area rather than simply throwing their lots in with either the entirely linear or entirely nonlinear camp.
*puts on tin-foil hat*
If forums teach us anything, it is that logic and critical thinking should be required courses in the public schools.
That word brought to mind images of a massive MMORPG filled with horses, pistols, and saloons. Imagine moving up the ranks by being a better outlaw or lawman. Having your skills at drawing your gun improve accuracy and speed as you gain experience. And after a hard day of fighting bandits, you kick it in the local tavern and hook up with some bar maids... ah yeah.. good times...
Hexy - a strategy game for iPhone/iPod Touch
This was probably the biggest disappointment for me about WoW. I love traditional RPGs. I started WoW as a paladin. I prefer to play a character that's bound to do the right thing, and even more so if the right thing is valued higher than the lawful thing (something like Hero's Quest as opposed to NWN where they're the same). When I started doing quests as a paladin I quickly realized that there was only one way to finish the quest. There was no right way, or evil way, or clever way, or any other way. Just get the thing and bring it back, or some variation thereof, over and over and over again.
There are plenty of things to like about WoW but roleplaying isn't one of them.
"Seek first to understand." - Socrates
"No kidding. There IS no such thing as an "Eastern RPG" - they're NOT RPGs! The best description of them I heard was "rail-playing game". They're cliched stories which are viewed by repeatedly hitting the "Action" button."
Let me remind you what table-top role-playing used to mean, at least with a good group and GM. It used to mean just that: playing a role, as in a theatre play. The whole point was taking part in an interactive fiction exercise, sorta like being co-autor in a theatre play. The stats were _not_ the whole point of the game, and in fact they were just props in that interactive fiction. What made one a fun guy to play with was _not_ accumulating the most loot or levels ("woot! my char is level 60 and PvP rank 14 before yours!"), but coming up with interesting lines for your character and/or interesting ways to solve a situation. Even if that character was level 1.
So making a game that's all about the props (stats, levels, whatever) is _not_ an RPG. And that pretty much sums up most of the Western games that some marketroid called "RPG" in the last years: some action game (be it arcade-like, action/adventure, or FPS) with some stats strapped on. You'd be surprised what got called an RPG. Let's just say even Daikatana claimed to have "RPG elements.
And turning it all into a fast-paced action game where all you ever have time for is mashing the attack button, and occasionally blocking, is _not_ what makes an RPG. _The_ thing that made table-top RP fun was having the time to come up with some smart and innovative solution. Having just enough time to reload and aim for a headshot before the enemy finishes charging you in real time is not exactly making that possible, even if the game actually gave you the possibilities. Most don't.
So basically there never was much RP in either Eastern or Western games. All they could offer was a good story, with some (different) ways of pretending that you're a part of it. Actually, in the Western most games didn't even offer that, as they focused mainly on having an action game with some stats thrown in. (You can feel free to point at Bethesda and Bioware games, but they're not the majority by any kind of counting.) So basically if you want to define RPG as "If you don't play a role in the story, it's not a role-playing game", then most western games didn't even _have_ much of a story to play a role in.
And even those exercises in storytelling, on both the eastern and the western sides of the map, are on a path to extinction, as more and more companies turn their games into MMOs (even Bioware announced one) and the afore-mentioned action-games-with stats. Presumably to catter to the large mass of CS kids who don't actually have the attention span for a story ("Auugh! It says 'press START to continue'! If I wanted to read that much text, I'd get a book!") or the interest for anything that doesn't involve willy-waving ("I managed to head-shot you, so you suck and are gay too! Oh, and your mom is a fat whore!") Though the western ones seem to have a head-start there.
"If anything, Eastern "RPGs" are going out of favor. Japan may love FFXII, but other than that recent fan-boy "defence of FFXII" article on Slashdot, I've yet to hear ANYONE in the US who's at all interested in that game. Oblivion, on the other hand, had/has people saving up money to purchase. Can't wait until I can afford a new computer..."
It might also be worth noting, that the western RPG that you so seem to cherish also is a pretty recent invention. Having much of a story in a RPG didn't even exist in the West until the mid or late 90's. Before Bethesda's "TES: Arena" and Interplay's acquiring the rights to D&D, there was no such thing as a western RPG with enough of a story to play a part in, or any freedom in playing that part. E.g., SSI's D&D exercises swung between being some kind of squad-based tactics game with D&D rules in the beginning, and some kind of dumb square-based proto-FPS in later games like the "Eye Of The Behold
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
Hands up if you ever seen a game claimed to have "rpg" elements when the only thing the game has is that units can gain "level up"?
For some reason some people have come to believe that levelling up == RPG. It of course does not. Many games level up. Being allowed to fly bigger aircraft in an aircraft sim is a form of levelling up. Getting a bigger gun in Doom is.
Take away the levelling up from games like FF and you will see that they play very much like the adventure games of old. In fact the old "Indiana Jones: Fate of Atlantis" also had fights in it.
Adventures however are not RPG's most notably because you do not choose a role to play but rather follow the lead character through a pre-determined story. Adventures are as much about roleplaying as a FPS. Sure, you can roleplay in Doom. Just as long as you roleplay a guntoting silent marine who shoots everything on sight.
FF does not give you a role to play.
So where does this leave oblivion? Well in limbo. The thing that is missing from the elder scrolls is choices. You can join any guild you want even if they seem mutually exclusive. Only a hand full of quests even have a choice in them as to how you complete them. Usually either giving an item to the cops or the criminals. You can very easily however complete both quests for the dark brotherhood (evil assasins) as for some noble band of knights.
The old taking a side in a quest is not part of the Elder Scrolls and I miss it.
Oblivion ain't a bad game, just that it is RPG light compared to the real stuff like baldur gate, KOTOR, planescape torment etc.
Oblivion is free as those games but the individual quests are pretty much on rails. I would have loved to have been able to choose a side in the whole dark brotherhood deal. Not in this game.
To some this makes Obilion a union of the worst elements of eastern and western RPG's. The "feeling lost" of western RPG's and the "on rails" of eastern adventure+levellingup games.
It almost reminds me of Doom3. Nice engine. Now can a real game company make a proper game with it? For me Oblivion is only acceptable because there the lovers of western RPG are not exactly swamped with choice. When is the next company going to revive the genre like Baldur's gate did?
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
I've played RPGs all my life. Pen & paper, computer RPGs back since the old SSI/Ultima and the early Final Fantasies games. I like 'both genres'. And I see so many closed minds when people discuss them.
Face it, there's not such a huge difference between Oblivion, Baldur's Gate and Final Fantasy. There's a big focus on character development and their stories in the Final Fantasy games. So was there in Ultima 7. But the core of the gameplay is the same. You have a quest that takes you from A to B. Along the way you can take time of to do sidequests X, Y and Z.
There's more sidequests in Oblivion, that is true. They're also tightly scripted and though you have some leeway in what you do it's far from the free choice people pretend is there.
You can assault people, empty their pockets and rob their stores. That is freedom. But what do you gain from it? Either you pay the guards/thieves' guild to erase the record and it's as if it never happened, or you keep running from the law who somehow know your face on sight - unable to continue with the main story that is there.
It's not really an opportuniy to change the story, it's just a pastime. It's far from anything revolutionary either, and it has about as much ultimate effect as if you set your characters in FF to attack eachother.
They're just games. And the AI in Oblivion sucks immensely. It's still a good game. Overhyped, which was fuelled a lot by Bethesda's bullshit (they're good at propaganda, I'll grant them that) but still a good game. Mind you, I enjoyed BG2 more and I will definitely remember BG2 longer.
Did you know Torment, one of the most critically acclaimed western made RPGs ever and using BioWare's famous engine, included a thank you note to Squaresoft for Final Fantasy in the credits?
Oblivion is not all that special and definitely not very innovative - and in places horribly designed. It's a good fun RPG though. And so are Final Fantasy, Fallout, Pools of Radiance, World of Warcraft and countless others.
This is a sig. There are many others like it, but this one is mine.
I've played this a total of about 25 hours now, and I must say the answer is NO, it has not. The AI is horrible makes amateurish mistakes and isn't a stride towards anything good. I've seen countless enemies stand there and do nothing while I spend 2 minutes shooting fireballs at them. I've seen them ignore comrades being attacked from range, and get caught on crazy terrain features like stairs.
Xbox360 AI developer comments
read up on this and you can see how the xbox360 gimped the AI, and since this game is a port with no real improvements being made on the PC its quite telling about how the game was put together. The AI isn't even the worse part of the game. The level-scaling is attrocious and completely removes the feeling of immersion since every enemy you face is either leveled or replaced with a more powerful version. You only get ahead of meta-gaming and power-leveling.
Is the game enjoyable? Yes it is.
Is the game everything it was reported to be and should be? No, not by a long shot.
Thief had better AI awareness 8 or so years ago. Enemies reacted appropriately to things happening around them. They only react now if you're in range. You can stand there outside their response range, which is not outside your sight range and rain holy fire down around them. Unless you hit them, they don't care. You can do the same thing in a town.
No, you're just being as elitest and oblivious as the next guy, and well, it looks like I'm the next guy, so I'm definitely not excluded from this catagory.
You do realize that one of the defining characteristics of sheep is that they think that everyone else is a sheep except them. The international coorperate machine has made millions off of making people feel like they're being individuals.
Me? I'm a total sheep, I realize that there's really no way of escaping it, and get on with my life. The more you try to fight back, the worse it gets, really. You just end up playing into the hands of a different coorperately manufactured demographic. I love my iPod because it makes me feel like I'm supporting a movement of aesthetics and innovation, I drive a Toyota because it makes me happy to give a big "fuck you" to the redneck american auto industry. I'm sophisticated and elitest, and I'm playing right into the hands of a lot of major companies. And ya know what? The best I can do, most of the time, is acknowledge that I'm doing it, and move on. And yes, I'm feeling quite "holier than thow" right now for having said this, but whatever.
So don't go around spouting about shills like you aren't one yourself. It's fairly obvious, from your list of examples, that you're trying to use your arguement to put down those things you don't like (namely console gamers), which is petty and shortsighted. Both sides are equally at fault for deluding themselves into following whatever the latest trend is. Unbelievable.
Multiplayer Gaming (defined): Sitting around, discussing single-player games with my friends, at the bar.
Morrowind, of course, had entirely static quests and dungeons, and once you cleared them out, they stayed empty. While this made for more of a believable world, I found it detracted from the uniqueness of the encounters. We were all basically stuck in the same cookie cutter world, and while we might use different spells and equipment to accomplish it, we all basically ended up in the same place. Not to mention I found the main story line in Morrowind to be teh complete suck, and the 'ending' was even worse.
How does Oblivion stack up in terms of random quests?
A steaming cup of soykaf would be real wiz right now.
WoW is not an RPG because you do not play a role, which is the point of a role playing game. You play a character that is only distinct in the skills which it has. The world offers no element of roleplaying. The closest thing that comes to role playing in WoW is on the role playing servers, and that is only if the people get into it. If you want to see roleplaying in an online game, go play a few MUDs (achea, etc). You are forced to role play or else you will be kicked from the server. As for single player role playing games (at least the so called Western ones), most are usually valid because the manner in which you must act is not determined by your class. You can do anything you like as a certain class, you just may not be very good at it. For instance, in Oblivion, if you have a thiefish character, you can still wield broad swords and do both the fighters guild and mages guild quests, they just may be much more difficult. Or you can just sell flowers all day long. In WoW one is bound to their class. My thief in Oblivion can learn destruction magic (or other types), he, again, just may not be good at it. In WoW, no rogue will ever cast a spell...period. Additionally, in WoW end-game all you do is perpetually raid and wait for an expansion. In Oblivion end-game (meaning the end of the main story line) there are still guild quests, misc quests, daedra quests, vampire quests, or you can create your own drama by shooting a guard and becoming a fugitive for the next 10 play hours until you get caught or pay your bounty. The possibilites, while not limitless, are much greater than the almost linear possibilities of MMORPGs. You can keep playing even after you finish all the quests. I think the first RPG to do this was Secret of Mana on NES (though I may be wrong, possibly Ultima).
Being able to do what you're "not supposed to do". Ever since the first TES game, Arena, I've loved this aspect and looked for it in other games.. If I wanted to, I could kill a guard and the game actually planned for that sort of thing.. I didn't instantly lose, the guard didn't kill me by looking at him, I was able to loot his body and the towns affection for me dropped... If I talked to a quest giver and realized that the quest was a sham (he was a guilty thief and was trying to frame someone else get me to kill them or something like that) I could kill him on the spot and achieve the goal without having to go through the story.. likewise I could kill a legitimate quest giver and never be able to recieve the award. I've often looked for that kind of aspect in all the games I play. I'll go to do something "I'm not supposed to" just because it seems like it would be fun, only to find that the developers had taken the extra step and planned for that sort of reaction and gave you a result you wern't expecting. Eastern RPGS don't have any room for that sort of open gameplay... you follow the story and if you don't then you're staring at a brick wall.
An FPS with oldschool-style RPG plot, levelling, and equipment would be quite interesting.
Not to sound snide, but what rock have you been hiding under since about 2000? That's when the rather brilliant original "Deus Ex" came out for PC (it has since been released for the Mac and for the PS2). It's generally considered an RPG, and has a tremendous emphasis on both character development and story (the story of which is branching in many ways; for example, if you know later that you're going to have to kill what is now a friendly character, you can often kill that character beforehand. Not that your allies won't freak out about this...)
Okay, so it isn't "oldskool RPG plot" in that I suppose traditionally RPG plot is set in a world of sword and sorcery, but hey, many of the best games are exceptions (Fallout, anyone?). I have met many people who have played Deus Ex, and introduced many more to it personally, and none of them failed to be tremendously enthusiastic about the game afterwards. And eventually the devs even released an SDK, and as UnrealEd is one of the easiest-but-powerful game editors out the IMHO, there's a lot of rather good third-party content out there (they even held an official contest, and you can be sure that the winners are worth checking out). Hell, last LAN party I was at we even took advantage of the later-released (about the time of the SDK) multiplayer part and just hacked up some of the single player levels to deathmatch in; it was a lot of fun, due in no small part to the fact that even to this day the level of detail and interactivity of the levels and the game in general have precious few competitors in the realm of FPS games.
The Wikipedia article has more info if you're curious. Really, if you're looking for a FPS with RPG style plot (and the ability to interact and converse with NPCs in Deus Ex beats out even most other RPGs), levelling and equipment, then honestly, try out Deus Ex! You won't be disappointed!
(A word of caution, though . . . please don't mistake this game for the sequel, "Deus Ex: Invisible War". Opinion on the quality of that one is a bit more . . . shall we say . . . divided?)
I remember sigs. Oh, a simpler time!
I dont see any evidence of your viewpoint that WoW is not an MMORPG. I'd love to hear why you think that. I contend WoW is definitely an RPG. I contend Oblivion/Planescape/Nethack etc are not RPGs.
Because you are insane.
MMORPGs usually include a number of competitive ladders. This is native to the current genre. The fact that you can completely fill a bar (reach top level, get the best item, etc) is an indicator of a true RPG... The ladder teaches mechanics, but it ends. Once you reach the top of a ladder you are FORCED to role play. You have to explore and define what is fun for you and how you prefer to relate to other people.
No you don't. You stop playing because there is nothing left to do, or you create another character. Less than 1% of the population has the maximum setup in any MMO anyhow, because the highest level items are generally very, very difficult to get. When I hit 60 with my rogue, I stopped playing because I was not interesting in raiding MC with 50 other people allthefuckingtime. The treadmill doesn't usually stop, it just gets steeper and steeper until only the 24/7 no-job morlocks have the time and motivation to climb it.
In a single player game, there is no redefinition outside of the game mechanics.
This means nothing. You are insane.
Reaching the end of storyline content is a variation of Dungeon Siege.
This also means nothing. You are still insane.
If you run around your house in a cape and hat, you aren't role playing with your dog, you are crazy. Roleplaying is acting, emulating, and relating to other people.
No, roleplaying is playing a role. If a nerd speaketh in ye olde tongue alone in the forest (LIGHTNING BOLT!), he is still roleplaying. You are insane.
If fun is watching a bar fill, you probably dont like RPGs. If fun is ONLY discovering how a mob fight works, you probably dont like RPGs. If you can create a personality that exists outside of your character's hairstyle and armor color...(or that's part of it), you are an RP gamer.
So, if you play a role, you are roleplaying? Wow!
TES is a great example for that- what the hell is the story in [...] Morrowind?
Long ago on the island of Vvardenfell: The Dwemer (TES' equivalent to dwarves) gained access to tools of incredible might, which their lead scientist Kagrenac used to do evil, as lead scientists are wont to do. This resulted in a war between the Dwemer and the Chimer, at the end of which the Dwemer vanished without a trace. Yes, the tools were involved into that, as well. Dagoth Ur was sent to destroy the tools, but his friend and ally Nerevar Indoril stopped him (the fact that Nerevar was the Chimers' war chief might have been a factor, too). However, Dagoth Ur soon was corrupted by the tools and turned into some sort of mad god. Nerevar recognized the danger that the tools posed and defeated Dagoth Ur and his minions, but unbeknownst to him they survived, merely "sleeping". After the battle Nerevar was killed by his three advisors Vivex, Almalexia and Sotha Sil, who then proceeded to use the tools to turn themselves into gods and forcefully establish a cult centered around themselves ("the Tribunal") as the dominant religion on Vvardenfell. Azura (a real goddess and somewhat on Nerevar's side) was quite pissed and cursed the Chimer (turning them into the black-skinned Dunmer). She also announced that Nerevar would return and reestablish the old ways.
Fast forward to Morrowind (the game, not the region): The emperor Uriel Septim VII (having limited prophetic abilities) has sent a prisoner matching the Nerevarine's description to Vvardenfell where he should establish that he was in fact the reborn Nerevar (the "Nerevarine") while really being a member of the Blades, the Empire's elite spies, as an act of religious manipulation in order to further his influence in Vvardenfell. As it turns out this man is the Nerevarine and with a tiny bit of support from Azura he swiftly proceeds to defeat Dagoth Ur and the Tribunal.
(I do know that some details are missing.)
Yes, it's not easy to find out everything about the story, but it's certainly there and it's not quite bad. In fact, Morrowind has a pretty immersive world - just take the time and read the books you encounter. You learn a lot about the game's world, the people and their culture. I think it's quite impressive to which lengths the developers have gone creating their world.
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
Am I the only person who thought "So why are games about gunslingers inherently focused on the character in a way all other RPGs aren't?" before clicking through to the article?
But then again I'm currently playing <i>Curse of Monkey Island</i> for the first time. I don't keep up with the cutting edge of gaming any more.
Yknow, an RPG set in the Old West could be kinda fun. (Or the Future West. Wait, wasn't that the much-loved <i>Wasteland?</i>)
egypt urnash minimal art.
Actually I think the horse problem you are talking about is because you got on the wrong horse. You have to get on the white horse behind the black one. Otherwise you are just nicking Martin's horse.
You know, sometimes I feel like advertisers have gone way too far, violating basic trusts -- violating even basic humanity. Hiring people to be pretend community members will eventually cause discussions to atrophe. I wish there was legal recourse.
However, whenever I'm feeling blue, I just reach for a cool, crisp, refreshing Pepsi One(tm). That's Pepsi One(tm) -- the cola whose mere existance breaks the fourth wall of reality, and allows one to look upon the face of their creator.
It's been a long time.