Does anyone else agree RPGs should move into the modern era?

[estoria-etnia]

._. Asking JRPGs to be more 'western' in their outlook is like asking a cynic to be more idealistic in their outlook. And as someone who plays primarily RPGs, there is a large selection of them out there. OP doesn't seem to understand exactly what they're talking about. :/

 

[God's Clown]

Why would we need Modern day RPG's? We live in Modern day, and our lives pretty much play out like RPG's. We make decisions, those decision either effect nothing, or a lot of things. We get sicknesses, we get better, we make money, we spend it. Essentially your life is the most realistic modern day RPG you will ever play, and it's first person to boot!

 

[Arehexes]

Dues ex

 

[joebthegreat]

I think the point behind the OP is very true.

Why is it always Medieval? Why is it always Standard Fantasy Setting?

Can't we see some stone age stuff? (Xenoclash was great, lets get some more games that go back to fantastical stone age settings).

Can't we see some tribal games where your group is small and surrounded by a terrifying world of the unknown?

Can't we see some Renaissance games? With a more refined style to it than the standard? (We've seen a few, let's see some more...)

Can't we see some Victorian era? Some Industrial Age? Some Modern Era 1900s style?

The excuse "Well I want to play games to escape" doesn't cut it when you're always going back to the same setting. And a fantastical setting meshed with contemporary society would be AMAZING and much more original than the Standard Fantasy Setting.

 

[Korolev]

Some are. In fact, most JRPGs are set in the future or in some techno-punk realm outside of any conventional historical setting. FFVII and FFVIII took place in a land with heaps of technology - cars, airplanes, guns, missiles, etc. In fact, the last PURELY fantasy FF game was IX, although XII was mostly fantasy with a bit of steam punk. Persona and Devil Summoner take place in Modern day Japan.

As for western RPGs - well, Deux Ex, which had heaps of RPG elements in it, was set in the future with nano-tech and cyborgs. Mass Effect 1 and 2 take place in the future.

The thing is, it's difficult to have RPGs set in modern times. I mean, I don't want to level up my accountant to Charter grade or anything like that. Plus, a huge element of RPGs is with special abilities. And you can't really apply that sort of stuff to modern combat - I mean, you can't have Lv 6 Flashbangs or Lv 30 Bullet-firing skill. Mass Effect got away with that with a lot of handwaving whilst simultaneously shouting "TECHNOLOGY DOES IT" (don't get me wrong, I love the ME series to death, but their "TECHNOLOGY" excuse is very similar to the old "MAGIC" excuse, or "A WIZARD DID IT!"). But we don't have shields and special powers in modern day, so any modern setting would either need a healthy dose of "magic realm" (Like P4's TV land) or "Magic stuff" for it to work.

I just don't see myself Levelling up my Spetnaz so he can learn the Helicopter spell.

 

[omega 616]

We use video games to play out fantasy and for escapism.

Modern times are not your average person's idea of 'something different'.

Agreed.

You know we're not exactly living in interesting times either. The recession we're going though has got nothing on The Great Depression. The war on terrorism is such a dodgy war that the US ended up invading a country that had nothing to do with 9/11.

Not even the culture today is interesting. Everyone is so absorbed with hand held technology and escapism that you can say we're living in an age of anti-culture. The 50s all the way up to the 90s was a much interesting time to live in, and 2010 still looks like it's going to be another repeat of the last 10 years.

Any other time period was at least 10x more fascinated then the world we're living in today. We're living in a very boring, boring, boring, boring, age, so what pro would be there making an RPG based on todays world?

lol

Agreed aswell.

If you were to make an RPG in todays times it would be wake up, have a power shower, sit eat breakfast, room mate comes in and sits, down tells you, you start work today in such and such a place, you get to work, after typing 60 words a minute for 9 hours, you trot off to the pub, down 5 beers, stumble home and sit infront of the box, order pizza, nom nom nom, till midnight then go to bed. (first bit was based on the start of Morrowind)

Yippie! Doing that for 70 hours would be boring as hell.

The thing about oldy times is things were happening, shit went down! I am playing dragon age at them moment, I am killing dragons! They could do a mafia one with the prohibition but that would be Mafia, with a skill thing tacked on. Isn't Fallout:NV based around that time though? Although it does need a bit of a clean up.

What would you be doing in todays sociaty? Killing bacteria with Dettol "kills 99.9% of germs, DEAD!"? Or protest by walking with a bunch of people chanting stuff? If your going to be a meanie, you can start to riot? It is just a very boring time to live in, everything is sorted out by politics, rather than killing a guy.

 

[Bloodstain]

I'd love to see Bethesda move the Elder Scrolls to a circa 2020 setting one day, using their experience with Fallout 3 to give us guns, cars AND magic.

Wait...The Elder Scrolls? Set in modern day? What is this heresy?!
Regarding what you said about the music: Umm...I will only speak for TES now, and both Morrowind and Oblivion had music that was more classical than anything else, with string instruments and a choir, everything composed by Jeremy Soule.

I really would enjoy a modern day RPG...but I wouldn't try to enforce a rule about that, especially since there are absolutely great RPGs with a medieval setting.
Besides, there already are several RPGs set in modern time, you just have to look out for them.

 

[kael013]

Mass Effect, also, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
You are WAY behind the times.

Technically, Star Wars was set "In a time long, long ago" so that would hardly be modern.

OT: I don't think so. I prefer it to be either in the distant past or the distant future. I've kind of gotten used to the present just by living in it. Besides, there already are a few modern RPGs that you seem to be forgetting...

Yeah, I know, but to me it sounded like the OP just wanted a non-medieval RPG so I thought I'd mention all the ones I knew.

 

[Darkhill]

I never said half the stuff you guys have put in my mouth. Also, Mass Effect, Fallout, etc- great games, but they're sci-fi, not contempary. I knew there were some games out there that match my description, I just haven't found them yet. I was just having a gripe that there's too many Tolkeinian games being made, and the formula should be mixed up.

 

[Poopster]

Killing humongous dragons or puny imps in a forest is more fun than killing some musclebound grunt with guns in a skyscraper!

 

[Darkhill]

To RAK, thanks but I've never heard of GURPS. To poopster, you're thinking about all too common unimaginative tropes in current games. We have still have forests and villages and catacombs today, and I never said you couldn't have dragons and imps (I'm not here to lay out rules). You can have dragons and imps, and a rocket launcher to open them up with like meaty pinatas.

Also, ever read any survivalist books by Ragnar Benson? The man is certainly crazy, but his books illuminate just how muich fun you can have raising hell in your own backyard. He said an interesting thing when he wrote "On a modern battlefield, sniper targets don't neccisarily have to be human." He was talking about destroying munitions dumps, blinding tanks by taking out sighting devices, detonating claymores, etc. Then there's those pesky Hellfire missle wielding UAVs and all manner of 21st century warfare to evade...

 

[Daedalus1942]

It's my humble assertion that modern RPGs would benefit in much the same way as Call of Duty did by going over to more contempary settings. JRPGs really started doing this after FFVII, mixing sci-fi elements in alongside the fantasy, though I'm yet to see something truly contempary besides Earthbound (though that game wasn't exactly realistic). I'd like to see the western mature RPGs ditch the middle ages in favour of the modern mega societies of today, edgy stories more inspired by films like Pulp Fiction (or anything Tarantino really) or No Country for Old Men.

I'd love to see Bethesda move the Elder Scrolls to a circa 2020 setting one day, using their experience with Fallout 3 to give us guns, cars AND magic. My main problem with the middle ages is the godawful flute and string music. And basically all the arts and aesthetics sucked before the renaissance revitalized European societies. Really, I'd be happy with a simple 'renaissance onward only' rule.

Secret of Evermore was set in present day, as was Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines. there are a few, but there's not many.
-Tabs<3-

 

[Daedalus1942]

I'd love to see something like Hellgate London (but you know...good) where a contemporary setting is twisted. I was watching that Torchwood episode with the fairies and honestly I can see that being a killer setting. Milton Keynes shopping centre or the middle of Oxford overrun with demons would be incredible.

If you want something like Hellgate London with decent online multiplayer, try Global Agenda. It's no longer pay to play and it's pretty awesome. PvP is CRAZY fun.
-Tabs<3-

 

[Withall]

I'd actually also like a contemporary RPG, with emphasis on keeping the peace. Alpha Protocol -did- try, but fell short. I'm a bit tired of most RPGs (keyword -most-) are based on the notion "the is in danger- you (and almost always, in the end only you) need to make something about it!".

To make a wish-list for any RPG developers out there who might be listening:

- Mundane-ish setting (contemporary . Gotta work with what you know, after all)

- Realistic movement and limitation (less infinite le parkour ability and actually bodily needs, to mention two things)

- Believable characters (can't give any examples)

As I'm writing this, I realize that Bioware have repeatedly proven themselves able to break the moulds and tropes of most RPGs, but we need move a bit further.

I'd actually be content with a game about actual police-work or the like in a Bioware-RPG. Not that it'd sell, but it'd be interesting to see how they'd make that game.

 

[Netrigan]

I think an RPG needs a great or iconic visual hook and an excuse to why everyone seems to have super powers.

Fantasy envirnments are easy fodder because of magic, but no reason why we haven't seen steampunk with Or without a mystical bent. Victorian fiction and Western folklore are both iconic setting. Something like Wild Wild West could make a great RPG. Fallout has proved retro-futurism works marrying iconic 50s imagry with radioactive mutants. Deus Ex took a more Blade Runner approach with nanobots taking the place of magic. Something like The Matrix would work perfectly, as would super-hero fiction.

But the whole D&D/Arthurian/Tolkein setting is the most familar and has an established fanbase, so there's never going to be a shortage of that.

 

[CharrHearted]

I hope they don't move into the modern era. I like my rpgs to have a mix of mythical races like dragons and beast races, not to mention the roles you could play. If an rpg was set into the modern era what kind of classes could there be apart from using a GUN? I'm not saying they shouldn't abandon the idea all together but A mix of both would be joyful.