Friendshipandmagic said:
You got it backwards. Mass Effect for instance was an action game with good writing, very little "actual role playing" to be found there. The newest dragon age game is the same way. You pick paragon or renegade and get what boils down to one of 2 outcomes. Its a sad direction, but thats how it looks. It doesn't feel like your role playing in a western RPG, it feels like you are playing one of 2 different versions of the developers character, sometimes 3.
Honestly, I have yet to see any western game come close to the level of role playing in any of the Persona games. You had to build friendships up over time, got to really get to know a good number of characters who behaved like actual human beings, had to make real choices that could really impact gameplay.
I mean you could screw up and say or do the wrong thing to make someone mad at you even though you had the best of intentions at the time they just took it the wrong way, you know like human relationships are? In dragon age 2 the correct option for flirting with NPCs HAD HEART LABELS ON THEM. That isn't role playing, thats just wrong.
Okay, I knew this was going to be brought up, so I'll say it now: If this debate is to exist, you need to exclude the Persona franchise. The recent additions are beautiful games, but in the grand scheme of JRPGs, they are the only ones of their kind. The Final Fantasy, Tales of, Xeno, Star Ocean, Kingdom Hearts, and other commonly known JRPGs thrive off of cutscenes, a forced narrative, and over-dramatized character developments. These games rarely have any role playing outside of stats. And in FF you don't even have control over that anymore. Don't get me wrong, I fucking love JRPGs, even FFXIII.
Be it made, I did say the
sense of role-playing. That means, even if my chocies really amount to diddly, it feels like I have choices. I can be a jerk if someone is pissing me off, I can be pleasant if I feel like killing them with kindness, I can pull a gun on them if I will it.
And that's only Mass Effect. In Fallout, you can control so much with just little choices. I can use one of the earliest moments as a great example:
You're on the lamb in your own home. After being forced out of bed by the girl next-door due to her dad wanting you dead for unknown reasons, you walk by an open door. Through the space, you see the girl you grew up with being interrogated by the man who wants you dead. You can A. Walk past. It's still her father and she'd never forgive you. B. Kill him. He's become corrupt and you pray she'll understand.
That's just the premise and neither of those choices are really morally wrong. On one side, you feel you freed everyone you know at that time, but you took justice into your own hands. On the other side, you let your friend be beaten, but you didn't kill anyone and let everything play out as intended in hopes things are fixed and no one has to die. Both of these choices are offered in the best way: Not in a dialogue menu.
There is one more example I have, and I'll keep it brief: The Witcher 2. I admit, I haven't played it, so bear with me if I'm incorrect. From what I've read in review, the choices in the first act can drastically alter everything in the second and a little of the third acts. From characters, to set pieces. If that doesn't set up a sense of feeling as if you are truly playing the role in the world, I do not know what does. Wait, I got it, they instilled permanent death in the
insane difficulty. Tremendous.
