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

[Darkhill]

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.

 

[Antari]

Your going to be screaming from the top of this soap box for many many years. Thanks for joining the club though.

 

[voetballeeuw]

I'd definitely play a contemporary RPG, but I like running around being a knight beating the crap out of goblins. I think one of the key reasons we play fantasy RPGs is to escape the monotony of every day life. We like seeing things that we've heard about in stories. It's enjoying to explore settings that we'd never actually see.

 

[Freechoice]

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.

I think this is what Deus Ex 3 is going to try to be (minus the magic.) However, I have no faith in anything Squenix publishes or produces.

 

[kael013]

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

 

[ultrachicken]

There are some of contemporary RPGs, or did you not hear about Alpha Protocol.

Yeah, but that game was broken if you wanted to play a stealth character. Taking out goons silently is fun until you get to the boss battle. If you play as a more run and gun character, it becomes a very shitty third person shooter. But this isn't a review of Alpha Protocol, so I'll move on...

I think that it's a good idea, mostly because I wish more games would include degrading and customizable guns.

 

[bat_trapper]

Shadowrun did this excellently.

 

[Reaper195]

Dues Ex was pretty mean, and the new one looks abysmal...namely on the grounds it comes out in NZ on the date I will have no money for two weeks!

 

[Kevonovitch]

There are some of contemporary RPGs, or did you not hear about Alpha Protocol.

.....eeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww....... _>

if they make a non-shitty modern setting rpg, it's an rpg, so i'd atleast look into it

 

[anaphysik]

As for JRPGs, how about Persona 4? (Can't speak for the others but they may be in the same boat.)
Seriously, you have to go to school and have classes in that game; daily life is an important gameplay element (juxtaposed with the fantastical 'dungeons'). It's also oddly a ton of fun.

 

[Nexoram]

Oooooh...Cyberpunk/Steampunk would be nice but i think i would prefer something more similar to today's society. FFVII still has a sense of "old" about it.

 

[Nomanslander]

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

 

[Canid117]

Obsidion tried with that one Spy Rpg that had the really annoying ads. That's one hell of a market failure if that is what I remember most. What was it? Alpha Protocol I think? Too lazy and tired to Google it.

 

[PurePareidolia]

I'd definitely play a contemporary RPG, but I like running around being a knight beating the crap out of goblins. I think one of the key reasons we play fantasy RPGs is to escape the monotony of every day life. We like seeing things that we've heard about in stories. It's enjoying to explore settings that we'd never actually see.

I wouldn't mind running around killing goblins who are busy robbing a bank or something - transplanting high fantasy to modern day could be pretty cool

 

[thedoclc]

Did we miss Bloodlines, Fallout, Mass Effect, Borderlands, Shadowrun, Deus Ex, KotOR, and others?

While wishing more games were set when you wanted them to be is fine, why the hell would you want a rule (whose rule? Enforced how?) dictating what else could be published, rather than allowing the market to determine what should be made? I'd love to see a gritty, no magic, historically accurate RPG set around 165 aD in Rome, a CRPG adaptation of Mage: the Ascension, and God help me, Black Isle reformed to make a follow-on to Torment, but I would certainly not want my views forced on others. I also recognize my opinions are not those of all others and I'm not the only one whose voice should be heard.

WRPGs have been made in dozens of settings and timelines besides medieval fantasy. Nor do most such games use the typical "bad Ren Faire" music, as most use a contemporary classical music set, barring the nigh obligatory tavern scene. Dragon Age was an obvious example; the entire score is pretty much standard contemporary classical, appropriate for nearly any adventure movie regardless of genre with a similar dark and gritty tone.

Come to think of it, dark and edgy stories are quite common in fantasy RPGs, including PlaneScape: Torment, Dragon Age, the old BG series, etc, etc. Pulpy stories are less common, mostly because RPGs of all stripes avoid going for a pulp feel, preferring to (adeptly or no) try to play up the tone of an epic.

I'm really not sure what you mean by this, since there are plenty of WRPGs set in later periods, the music is not commonly as you described it, the art of the middle ages has little to do with how fantasy is portrayed, and so on. One may have preferences, but having them and expecting everyone else to share them are two very different things.

 

[Freechoice]

You want a...realistic modern RPG. Hmm, pretty sure you're playing one every day of your life.

Nah, the graphics are shit.

 

[Jackpot524]

You want a...realistic modern RPG. Hmm, pretty sure you're playing one every day of your life.

Nah, the graphics are shit.

They have a patch for that now... it's called 'glasses'