Games That Would Be So Much Better Without the RPG Elements

[sageoftruth]

Just to clarify, this isn't a rant against RPG elements, just games that shouldn't have had them.

My roommate started playing Ratchet and Clank, the original a few weeks back, and after watching him for a few days, I picked it up and tried it myself. The certainly was lacking polish in areas, like the finicky lock-on system, but I still had fun playing it, especially with the game's challenge compared to its future released.

As soon as I beat it, I progressed to "Going Commando" and the weapon leveling system really hampered my enjoyment. Ratchet and Clank strongly emphasizes picking the best weapon for the job, and that seriously butted heads with the level system, especially when I'd already finished leveling the best weapon for the job. Also, I could never use my wrench without feeling like I was missing out on leveling my weapons.

Anyway, you get the idea. That's my input. What games have you played that you'd enjoy a lot more with fewer or zero RPG elements?

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Bioshock I think. Not the plasmids RPG, but the hollow Little Sisters morality part and the weapon upgrades. By the end of the game my old 60s Jazzy tommygun is now a steampunk laser gun with fire-bullets, and my shotgun fires lightning and my grenade launcher has Tomahawk missiles!
The last few levels are an absolute breeze! You barely need plasmids, and killing Bid Daddies is the work of seconds, even on hard mode.

 

[Squilookle]

Any multiplayer first person shooter ever made, especially Battlefield.

It seems insane to me that I'd be sent off to war in an F/A-18 hornet that didn't have missiles because I 'hadn't got enough kills yet.' Dammit man if we're fighting a war here you give your soldiers every chance they can get to overcome the enemy. This is one of the main reasons Battlefield 1942 remains the best of the series: all the vehicles, all the guns, unlocked from the start. There's your loadout, there's the enemy bases. Now have at it. And people are still playing that game 15 years after release so don't give me that 'progression extends game lifespan' bullshit.

Aside from that, I think GTA: San Andreas would have been better if it just ditched the whole skills and stats stuff. It still has massive balls for attempting it all though.

 

[Dalisclock]

I've been playing the Metal Gear Series and I don't really see the point of the upgrade/promotion system. It's a game about sneaking around and most of the enemies go down in one or few hits if you do fight them. But the game insists you start out each game with a small life bar and the ability to carry a small amount of ammo(despite carrying a bunch of weapons). Each upgrade/promotion earns you the ability to carry more and a longer health bar.

In MG2 and MGS, you upgraded each time you beat a boss, but in MG1, you had to rescue hostages to gain promotions. The kicker is, killing a hostage(accidently or otherwise) loses you a rank instantly and thus reduces your carrying capacity.

This is kind of a problem considering you literally have to be at the top rank in MG to beat the game, because otherwise you literally cannot carry enough ammo to beat the final boss(The Metal Gear). And the kicker? The boss before him surrounds himself with hostages, and it's very easy to accidentally kill one.

Not to mention from a story perspective it doens't work, because you're supposed to be part of a "Top Tier" Special Forces unit(you know, before FOXHOUND was changed to be full of wierdos in MGS), so you should already be a badass. And in each game, Snake has to repeat the same process to upgrade again because videogames.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

Borderlands - Guns are outdated constantly. Even if you liked a particular gun and it's an effective gun, you'll have to replace it sometime and you can't use just any other gun even if you like it because if they're not rare, they suck ass in stats.

Destiny - See above.

Tom Clancy's The Division - See above. Also, the fact that we're supposed to be in a semi-realistic setting yet we're playing Diablo with the freaking guns. So it doesn't matter if you got one or even 5 headshots on the plain ol' normal human boss. They're still gonna brush it off because they're so damn fucking spongey. And why does this game have this crap? BECAUSE WE GOTTA GET DEM LOOT BOXES IN THAR.

Fortnite - Stuff shouldn't be leveled. Stupid unnecessary card system.

Call of Duty - Every game since 4 has made you progress and unlock weapons and gadgets in MP instead of just getting them all instantly and earning, say, skins instead perhaps.

Guild Wars 2 - Specifically, leveling should just be pulled out entirely and gear should no longer play ANY sort of major role in your stats. Instead you should be able to assign and reassign a set amount of points to whatever stat you want.

Pretty much any game that uses the old piece of shit Diablo loot system - Stahp. For the love of everything, stahp.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Bloodborne

Not so much its RPG elements, which it barely has, but its RPG controls. This game would've benefitted greatly from being a dedicated action game. In stead we have an action game that controls like a Souls game, without the corresponding options i.e. a Devil May Cry/Onimusha game that controls like you're walking through tar.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

Borderlands - Guns are outdated constantly. Even if you liked a particular gun and it's an effective gun, you'll have to replace it sometime and you can't use just any other gun even if you like it because if they're not rare, they suck ass in stats.

Totally, I don't get the point of looting prior to end-game honestly. I can understand finding something awesome that will permanently improve your character but everything before end-game is useless in an hour or so. Just about every RPG does this from Divinity to Witcher like how master witcher Geralt can't use a level 2 sword at the beginning. The amount of time the average RPG wastes your time in inventory management is hours per game, it's ridiculous.

TIE DAMAGE INCREASE TO CHARACTER LEVELING NOT WEAPONS!!!

 

[Trunkage]

Borderlands - Guns are outdated constantly. Even if you liked a particular gun and it's an effective gun, you'll have to replace it sometime and you can't use just any other gun even if you like it because if they're not rare, they suck ass in stats.

Totally, I don't get the point of looting prior to end-game honestly. I can understand finding something awesome that will permanently improve your character but everything before end-game is useless in an hour or so. Just about every RPG does this from Divinity to Witcher like how master witcher Geralt can't use a level 2 sword at the beginning. The amount of time the average RPG wastes your time in inventory management is hours per game, it's ridiculous.

TIE DAMAGE INCREASE TO CHARACTER LEVELING NOT WEAPONS!!!

Yeah but you cant balance a game otherwise!


EDIT: Matching weapons to levels is just designers imposing fake barriers to progress
Dark Souls disappointed me quite a lot in this regard. I messed up my build and found everything hard. Once I fixed it, everything became too easy. This was a game that was meant to be about player skill not how many strength points you have

 

[sageoftruth]

Borderlands - Guns are outdated constantly. Even if you liked a particular gun and it's an effective gun, you'll have to replace it sometime and you can't use just any other gun even if you like it because if they're not rare, they suck ass in stats.

Totally, I don't get the point of looting prior to end-game honestly. I can understand finding something awesome that will permanently improve your character but everything before end-game is useless in an hour or so. Just about every RPG does this from Divinity to Witcher like how master witcher Geralt can't use a level 2 sword at the beginning. The amount of time the average RPG wastes your time in inventory management is hours per game, it's ridiculous.

TIE DAMAGE INCREASE TO CHARACTER LEVELING NOT WEAPONS!!!

Yeah but you cant balance a game otherwise!


EDIT: Matching weapons to levels is just designers imposing fake barriers to progress
Dark Souls disappointed me quite a lot in this regard. I messed up my build and found everything hard. Once I fixed it, everything became too easy. This was a game that was meant to be about player skill not how many strength points you have

I got puzzled here. Which RPG element in Dark Souls are you upset about? The weapon scaling, the weapon stat requirements, or the existence of stats period?

 

[sageoftruth]

I think I'll also gripe about the leveling system in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. I'm okay with the random drops, the health and heart items, etc. Every RPG element is fine by me except the leveling system. It never felt balance for me. Either I'd walk into a new area and get one-shotted by a high-level enemy, or I'd be over-leveled in the second half of the game and find myself taking 1 hp damage from a boss's attack. There was a lot to like about the game, but once Alucard was over-leveled, all the challenge was gone. Furthermore, I got all this exp through simple exploration. I never stopped to grind.

Perhaps if the game had managed to balance it better this wouldn't be a problem, but really, what did levels add to this game?

 

[Trunkage]

Borderlands - Guns are outdated constantly. Even if you liked a particular gun and it's an effective gun, you'll have to replace it sometime and you can't use just any other gun even if you like it because if they're not rare, they suck ass in stats.

Totally, I don't get the point of looting prior to end-game honestly. I can understand finding something awesome that will permanently improve your character but everything before end-game is useless in an hour or so. Just about every RPG does this from Divinity to Witcher like how master witcher Geralt can't use a level 2 sword at the beginning. The amount of time the average RPG wastes your time in inventory management is hours per game, it's ridiculous.

TIE DAMAGE INCREASE TO CHARACTER LEVELING NOT WEAPONS!!!

Yeah but you cant balance a game otherwise!


EDIT: Matching weapons to levels is just designers imposing fake barriers to progress
Dark Souls disappointed me quite a lot in this regard. I messed up my build and found everything hard. Once I fixed it, everything became too easy. This was a game that was meant to be about player skill not how many strength points you have

I got puzzled here. Which RPG element in Dark Souls are you upset about? The weapon scaling, the weapon stat requirements, or the existence of stats period?

Not upset. Cant blame it all on stats, but I ended up hate playing DS1 (and I've never gone back)

I was originally told that Dark Souls should be done blind to get the best experience. By the time Orstein and Smough were defeated, I still didn't know you could improve armour or weapons or that you could use humanity or even co-op. So a lot of this is my fault for listening to that suggestion. (I also never knew what the Depths were or why a yellow wall stopped me from progressing. The fight towards the demon ruins after Quelaag was pretty bad.)

Come around to DS3. Nameless King was defeated solo on the second try. And it mainly came down to I chose the right stats to make that fight easier.

I also think about the graveyard in DS1. I hear it makes people bounce of the game. What if everything was the same level so you could actually choose which way to go. But most of this can be attributed to DS not giving enough info for me to engage in the game. I had to research on Youtube

 

[BarkBarker]

Borderlands, I feel it's gameplay is fun but the cycling out of guns you like to keep up with some of the enemies is rather saddening as well as tying my accuracy to a gun can have many a frustration.

 

[Hawki]

Doom 2016

 

[PapaGreg096]

Doom 2016

Doom is more perk based than RPG, its not like you level up the Doom Guy

 

[Prime_Hunter_H01]

Does anyone else think the sentence for mutiny being life in prison is ridiculous? I thought the future was supposed to be more civilized.

Edit: Crap, wrong thread. Wrong BOARD.

HHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

I needed some unexpected comedy in my day, thank you. Its like the forum version of getting a text from your friend which is clearly meant for their girlfriend.

OT: Since I did decide to comment, Shadow Warrior 2. While I personally do enjoy loot shooters, Shadow Warrior 2 did it wrong and it would have been better as an improvement of the initial Reboot.

 

[DeffoNotAnAltAccount]

Alpha Protocol. It certainly would've functioned better and would have been received better if there was no skill tree. It doesn't quite fit anyways because its not an open RPG where you can grind - your options to roleplay as a character in a game where its story is its best strength is severely limited by what you choose.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

Borderlands - Guns are outdated constantly. Even if you liked a particular gun and it's an effective gun, you'll have to replace it sometime and you can't use just any other gun even if you like it because if they're not rare, they suck ass in stats.

Totally, I don't get the point of looting prior to end-game honestly. I can understand finding something awesome that will permanently improve your character but everything before end-game is useless in an hour or so. Just about every RPG does this from Divinity to Witcher like how master witcher Geralt can't use a level 2 sword at the beginning. The amount of time the average RPG wastes your time in inventory management is hours per game, it's ridiculous.

TIE DAMAGE INCREASE TO CHARACTER LEVELING NOT WEAPONS!!!

Yeah but you cant balance a game otherwise!


EDIT: Matching weapons to levels is just designers imposing fake barriers to progress
Dark Souls disappointed me quite a lot in this regard. I messed up my build and found everything hard. Once I fixed it, everything became too easy. This was a game that was meant to be about player skill not how many strength points you have

DnD and Pathfinder say otherwise. A rogue's DPS goes up because the amount of die you roll on sneak attacks go up not because he got better daggers.

I don't get why the Souls games don't have a respec option. I do get why because you can just keep leveling forever as there's no level limit. But I'd rather respec to fix a mistake or even respec just to try a different playstyle/weapon than grind for hours to do that.

 

[Trunkage]

Alpha Protocol. It certainly would've functioned better and would have been received better if there was no skill tree. It doesn't quite fit anyways because its not an open RPG where you can grind - your options to roleplay as a character in a game where its story is its best strength is severely limited by what you choose.

I only just replayed it. I put it on super hard because I was being cocky but then didn't take enough pistol points to get me through the boss fights easily. I messed up the alternative endings because I didn't remember properly. So they were a slog.

DnD and Pathfinder say otherwise. A rogue's DPS goes up because the amount of die you roll on sneak attacks go up not because he got better daggers.

I don't get why the Souls games don't have a respec option. I do get why because you can just keep leveling forever as there's no level limit. But I'd rather respec to fix a mistake or even respec just to try a different playstyle/weapon than grind for hours to do that.

I know you were going for an analogy but that's not the one you want. Sneak is a mode anyone can go into. But a rogue will obviously get more use out of it. And it will only be effective if the person moving the character knows how to use it effectively.

Sorry that wasn't well explained. I don't know how you got to daggers. And if that was the part that was analogous to my skill. I thought my skills would be how to use the rogue not the quality of daggers.

Respecing in DS1 would have been awesome. But once I learnt the system I didn't need to use the respecs available in DS2 and 3