Poll: Favorite Type of WRPG from this gen

[GonzoGamer]

So I've noticed that this gen kind of brought video game RPGs closer to the traditional pen & paper RPGs. The choices I put down here stand out in my mind as doing things that pull those worlds together a bit more. I realize these games are also kind of shooters but I think that's just a testament to this generation's trends.

Fallout/Elder Scrolls games give you more of the sense that you're playing with a GM savant who will fill in the world in some interesting way no matter which way you turn.

Borderlands 1/2 has the endless types of weapons & equipment. RPGs usually had a relatively small array of equipment and very specific ways of obtaining them.

Mass Effect/Dragon Age reminds me of a very structured game of D&D with a very prepared DM who has the whole setup, knows the rules, and has plenty of adventure manuals.

These are just ones that I've played. I haven't played a new JRPG in ages but feel free to bring up any that you think brought more to the table so to speak. The closest thing to a JRPG I played this gen was Valkyria Chronicles but I thought that did more to revolutionize the strategy genre.

 

[veloper]

Closer to pen&paper? A P&P game can be anything from a gamist dungeon crawl to a narrativist improv session. The only thing that remains the same across all the GMS is that the game is either turn based or phase based.

That means that JRPGs are closer to the P&P experience than the popamole RPGs on your list.

 

[Frission]

KOTOR 1 and 2 are no longer part of this generation? That makes me sad.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Dragon Age: Origins style, party based RTS like combat with remnants of D&D (sadly to few for my taste).
The party just gives such great opportunity for extra dialog and narrative coming from a natural setting rather then some stilted cut-scenes and walls of text.

Not to mention things can get nice and tactical with a wide variety of skill in the party, I would much rather play other non tactical games such as TES, Fallout, ME and DA2 with that RTS-ish style.

 

[ScrabbitRabbit]

Closer to PnP? But... older WRPGs often adapted actual PnP games, what with all the DnD, Vampire The Masquerade, etc games. And Elder Scrolls: Daggerfall felt a lot like it was an adaptation of DnD, much more so than any of it's successors.

If anything, I think modern WRPGs have moved away from the tabletop-style though, as was pointed out above, a real PnP RPG can be almost any kind of experience, even a more linear JRPG-ish one.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

Mass Effect/Dragon Age always felt the closest to what I try to do when I'm GMing my own tabletop games/what I want to play when I play tabletop RPG's.

Yeah the ability to go anywhere/do anything that occurs in the Elder Scrolls games is good and all... but I prefer being able to play a character and have a world that reacts to the dialogue and personality of that character more. For me at least that's the real essence of good Tabletop Roleplaying... the fun of having a world that REACTS to you and most sandbox RPG's lose a lot of that by being so open ended nothing you do actually has any consequence.

 

[Tom_green_day]

I love Bethesda. Fallout 3 and Skyrim are my #1 and #3 games respectively, so obviously I am going to vote for them.
Pre-this gen, I can't think of any proper open world games. I don't mean sandbox, I mean games that were set in a world that you could explore, that really felt alive. Morrowind maybe, but until Skyrim I can't say the worlds felt really alive. Just there.
Actually, these are the only games that I'd define as open-world, although Far Cry 3 came close. They are worlds where every cave and river has a secret to find. Games like Red Dead, Assassin's Creed and Far Cry 2... sure, they were set in an open environment, but it didn't feel like a world.

 

[Toxic Sniper]

I chose "you overlooked a jrpg that was actually the best"; specifically, Demon's Souls and Dark Souls. I find most JRPGs boring, but Demon's Souls and Dark Souls weren't most JRPGs. I guess those wouldn't be the closest to pen&paper (Although they're one of the few games that can get a similar sense of teamwork), but they're definitely the best.

I also grew to like pen&paper RPGs (Well, just pathfinder; I'm still learning the rules for other systems). They can offer a wide range of experiences, allow for a sort of teamwork not present in video game RPGs, and it's fun being able to customize a character with that much freedom.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

I like the Bethesda WRPGs.

I haven't played many other WRPGs though. Mass Effect was not for me, haven't tried Dragon Age, refuse to play Dragon's Dogma until it comes to PC, Amular didn't interest me, Witcher didn't seem like I had much control.

 

[Jandau]

I'm sorry, but why would you want to bring CRPGs closer to the "tabletop experience"? Don't get me wrong, tabletop is great, but the mediums are so vastly different that the two are hardly comparable. I don't think that the goal for CRPGs should be to ape tabletop...

 

[shrekfan246]

KOTOR 1 and 2 are no longer part of this generation? That makes me sad.

If you're going by console generations (as people tend to do), they've not been part of "this generation" since 2005. Granted, it was still called "next-gen" back then, but yeah. OG Xbox, last gen.

OT: I'll have to echo the people saying that it feels like they're moving further away from the "tabletop" experience (if you're specifically referring to the way Dungeons & Dragons does it). 1999-2006 adapted tabletop games pretty faithfully to video games, and since then we've been moving further away with loose interpretations of the original D&D-esque rules; Something I'm quite fine with if I'm honest. I like Knights of the Old Republic, but they're the only games that use anything based off of D&D rules that I've actually been able to play longer than half an hour, until you get into the whole "loose interpretation" of Dragon Age. Maybe Tides of Numenera, Divinity: Original Sin, and Project Eternity will have loose enough interpretations that I'll be able to actually enjoy them.

 

[Toxic Sniper]

I'm sorry, but why would you want to bring CRPGs closer to the "tabletop experience"? Don't get me wrong, tabletop is great, but the mediums are so vastly different that the two are hardly comparable. I don't think that the goal for CRPGs should be to ape tabletop...

I feel the same way. The tabletop experience cannot be replicated by a single-player video game any more than it could be replicated by a movie. You know the time you put into a character creation sheet? I still haven't seen a video game that gave me the same experience, and that includes "classics" like Fallout and Torment (Which are still really good games, regardless).

 

[lRookiel]

Dark souls is the best RPG I've played since Baldur's gate.

So yeah, my vote goes to Dark souls :3

 

[The Madman]

Meh. Honestly in my mind these past few years haven't really been all that great for rpgs, or at least not the type I tend to prefer. Last rpg that came out I'd call truly 'great' has still got to be Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines and that's nearly ten years old now.

Still of those I likes me my Mass Effects and Dragon Age's so I'll go with those. Never really saw the appeal much in Bethesda style open world games just because even if it's open world there's very little of the 'role playing' aspect involved. New Vegas was alright in that respect but even there I never could really get into the game and ultimately if I want a fallout experience I'd rather go play 1 or 2 again for the billionth time.

Future on the other hand is looking amazing. Shadowrun, Banner Saga, Project Eternity, Wasteland 2, Chaos Chronicles, Torment Tides of Numera... mmmm... I'm getting chills.

Oh, and Witcher 2. I actually really liked that one.

 

[Doom972]

While not a true RPG, Mass Effect is the first game that came to mind. Deus Ex: Human Revolution, The Witcher and Skyrim were also very good. Each of them was superb in its own different way.

Closer to PnP? Previous game generations had much more P&P like games. Games like Fallout 1&2, Planescape: Toremnt, and Baldur's Gate 1&2 were much closer to PnP than anything this generation has to offer.

 

[DoPo]

1999-2006 adapted tabletop games pretty faithfully to video games

Games from even before that did it - Pool of Radiance and so on.

and since then we've been moving further away with loose interpretations of the original D&D-esque rules; Something I'm quite fine with if I'm honest. I like Knights of the Old Republic, but they're the only games that use anything based off of D&D rules that I've actually been able to play longer than half an hour

Eh, I don't blame you - the D&D rules are rather horrid, to be honest. They are designed with PnP in mind, not a video game and even then, they often fail at being convenient for humans. Or sane in some respects. KOTOR has a lot looser take on the rules which is ultimately beneficial. While NWN is a lot closer and there is some appeal in its interpretation of the rules (i.e., rather literal) it's not really "video game-y". Even VtM: Redemption which was sort of Vampire's analogue to NWN (that is to say - a toolbox with which to play a tabletop-like rendition of the PnP game) did a better job of being a video game because it wasn't a straight copy.

 

[joshthor]

dragon age is hands down the best WRPG.

 

[zerragonoss]

I would actually have to go with TOR playing the group dungeons with friends with the way the conversation worked felt most like table top to me. Than again to me table top gaming is never about the mechanics but way more about the people you are playing with and the story your telling

 

[shrekfan246]

1999-2006 adapted tabletop games pretty faithfully to video games

Games from even before that did it - Pool of Radiance and so on.

I was just going with the more famous Baldur's Gate era.

and since then we've been moving further away with loose interpretations of the original D&D-esque rules; Something I'm quite fine with if I'm honest. I like Knights of the Old Republic, but they're the only games that use anything based off of D&D rules that I've actually been able to play longer than half an hour

Eh, I don't blame you - the D&D rules are rather horrid, to be honest. They are designed with PnP in mind, not a video game and even then, they often fail at being convenient for humans. Or sane in some respects. KOTOR has a lot looser take on the rules which is ultimately beneficial. While NWN is a lot closer and there is some appeal in its interpretation of the rules (i.e., rather literal) it's not really "video game-y". Even VtM: Redemption which was sort of Vampire's analogue to NWN (that is to say - a toolbox with which to play a tabletop-like rendition of the PnP game) did a better job of being a video game because it wasn't a straight copy.

Yeah, I want to like all of those D&D CRPGs... but I just can't. Everything about them is too stilted and awkward, and feels poorly implemented for a video game. Writing only carries a game so far with me.