Poll: RPG Storylines: Better, Worse, or Same? Character Development in RPGs.

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

hmm well...mass effect 2....and dragons age...both came out this past year, loved em both and beat em a good 3-4 times already, so....disagreed. although i have yet to have a story keep bringin me back as much as kotor, god damn the first time i played that that game had me by the ballsack for days on end playing that godlike game

 

[ghostinthenight]

One of the recent RPGs I've played is Dragon Age: Origins, personally that had an unbelievably awesome story, I loved each personal quest, the story line itself was, in my opinion, incredibly enthralling and immersive.

 

[DefunctTheory]

Overall, it seems to have gotten much, much worse. But when a good RPG shows up these days (Mass Effect), its god damn glorious.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Heh, then I was probably cheating with that first one. An RPG at least still has gameplay to fall back on. What does a visual novel have if its story sucks? Artwork and music, I suppose, but that's what youtube's for.

But yeah, I've been far more impressed with the Tales series so far than I was with Final Fantasy...says the man who's only played two FF games so far. I will get to FFX one of these days, since I own it, but I'm going through a backlog of stuff...

Seriously, don't bother with FFX unless you're bored and can't afford vodka. It's about an emo ganguro being a hypocrite. The end.

Considering the good things I've heard about it, I'm willing to bet money I'll have a different opinion.

 

[Veilside]

Xenogears is the bar I set for all JRPG storylines so needless to say my expectations are pretty high and never matched. The newer FF's, DQ8 and Lost Odyssey though enjoyable just don't match up. Every new RPG I play strengthens my belief that no story will match the complexity and epicness of Xenogears.

As far as WRPG's go, Dragon Age was lacking storywise but Mass Effect was pretty damn good and I'm looking forward to playing the 2nd one.

Mass effect 1+2 was the best gamign experience I've had.

Also Xenogears did have some faults. Like that 3 hours at the beginning of disc 2. I'd have rather played it out (obliviously). However I could step on people in my giant robot death machines. was pretty badass

Ya, but thats just because the game was unfortunately rushed and unfinished. I admit that it is a fault in the game, but didn't effect the over all storyline which combined with the battle system is what I praise it for.

 

[Siegreich]

Three words: Shin Megami Tensei.

My thoughts exactly.

 

[imPacT31]

In the archetypal hero's journey (See Joseph Campbell's Monomyth), the characters begin as cowardly and inept, struggling with their own petty quarrels and robbed of the capacity for affirmative action by the monotony of society, much like we all are here right now. It's through their struggles in which they build themselves up to become heroes, gaining the strength to face their enemies and the courage to deal with their own inner demons.

FFXIII does this in the COMPLETELY OPPOSITE ORDER. Most of the characters, most notably Lightning, start off as collected, skilled, and focused; but then degenerate into self-piteous whining machines, often LITERALLY breaking down in the middle of the street for no fucking reason whatsoever. Towards the middle, it feels like if you actually did relate to any of these people, you should stop playing the game before they start cutting their wrists and crying about how no one understands them. The only one who ever shows a vague amount of improvement is Hope and his initial appearance set his bar pretty fucking low.

And I'm not even gonna comment on FFXII because that game was so fucking horrible I couldn't even finish playing it.

Are you saying that experiencing the "death" of your sister/bride to be/mother*, then learning that you'll turn into a zombie unless you carry out a terrorist attack on your home city wouldn't have a significant effect on a character's psyche?

Final Fantasy 13's characters do appear to start from a pretty solid base but many of them are already running from their past before the game begins. I still haven't finished the game myself, I'm at the start of the final level, and I'd have to say that all the characters have changed and become stronger people, although some less notably than others.

"In Final Fantasy 13, the characters begin determined and hopeful yet struggling with their troubled pasts and robbed of the capacity for affirmative action by their moustache-twirling pseudo-religious government, much like we all were when the inquisition was a force to be reckoned with. It's through their struggles that they build themselves up to become heroes, gaining the strength to face higher level enemies and the courage to deal with their own inner demons (and other literal demons).

*These do not all apply to the same character

 

[imaloony]

Better. Where's my evidence, you ask?

Bioware. They have some of the best character development in gaming. Of all time. Period. End of Discussion. Fin. Done. Totally. In America.

 

[cj_iwakura]

Funny, everything I've seen about Mass Effect seems to paint Bioware as the 'creepy sex scene' RPG company.

 

[The Madman]

Dunno about Final Fantasy, seeing as the last one of those I played was 8 (Completely turned me off the series, however let's not go there!), but as far as I've seen the quality of rpg story seems pretty consistent to me.

Even tossing aside the super-obvious Bioware answers, there's Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer which had an incredibly well done plot. Best use of the Forgotten Realms setting since Baldur's Gate 2 I'd say! Hell, the plot was the best thing that game had going for it. Then we've got The Witcher. Story starts off slow, but by the end of the game it gets damn good, and the way your every action seems to have consequences later in the plot makes it feel all the more personal and involving.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines was also insanely good. Like really, really good! Gameplay was flawed and there were more bugs on release than, well, something with lots of bugs. But the story, the characters, the dialogue and the writing was some of the best in the industry. If you've never played it you seriously should. Mind you the game was released in 2004 so I might've already gone a bit too far back, but still; insanely good!

And of course there's Bioware. Gotta love Bioware!