Roleplaying....in RPGs

[JWRosser]

Do you do it?
Someone at work today seemed confused when - talking about Skyrim - he asked me if I had done a particular quest, and I said no because my character wouldn't do that. He said that he just went through doing any quest that seemed good.

For me, I enjoy getting into a character that I have created. Thinking about games such as Fallout or Skyrim or even, to a lesser extent, Mass Effect - I tend to think from the beginning "right, I want my character to be a do gooder", for example.

At the risk of turning this into ANOTHER Skyrim thread, I'm just going to use it as an example:

My current character is a dual wielding female Redguard. She is all about justice. Money is not a concern - if you do wrong, you'll pay. As such, I don't bother with magical quests or quests in which I have to steal something (unless I'm stealing it back Robin Hood style). On my next playthrough, I think I'm going to be a dickish mage who just does whatever he can to benefit himself. My friend is playing as a thief, and as such doesn't kill anyone who doesn't deserve it, but will sneakily rob them and only do quests which benefit him with a reward at the end.

I remember my first playthrough of Fallout 3 I was an angry daddy's-boy....if anyone bad mouthed him, I'd blow their head off.

So, do you roleplay in RPGs (or, indeed, other games), or do you just do whatever quests you please?

 

[The Unworthy Gentleman]

I usually have a general playthrough where I blast through every quest and get a feel for most of the styles I can play with. After that I'll just mess around with a couple extra saves where I do RP. I feel like I get the most out of it, best of both worlds and shit.

 

[taciturnCandid]

I roleplay in skyrim. Right now my character is the protector of nature. He is a High elf that hunts the hunters. I happened to save a deer and a fox with the character so far. I also found a shout that has animals rush to my aid.

I haven't done a single quest or anything in 10 hours and i'm still entertained

 

[Handbag1992]

I want to experience everything in the game, after that I'll start with the roleplaying. A Khajit thief who will only kill in self-defence, or a Nord who isn't the smartest man lined up for the chopping block, but knows his anvil like no-one else.

 

[ireskimo]

I do to a lesser extent. I always decide before hand which type of character i want to be. Although I do the odd quest that isn't in my character's personality and I just use the excuse "Everyone makes mistake" but I usually stick to a thin outline for my character

 

[LiberalSquirrel]

My character always gets their own personality, goals, motivations... and I have 'em stay in character no matter what. If I really, really want to do a quest that my character wouldn't do, I keep that quest in mind for a second playthrough. Actually roleplaying a character lends a lot of replayability to RPGs.

Of course, being a writer probably is probably part of the reason I'm so obsessed with making actual characters in any RPG I play.

 

[shrekfan246]

Do you do it?
Someone at work today seemed confused when - talking about Skyrim - he asked me if I had done a particular quest, and I said no because my character wouldn't do that. He said that he just went through doing any quest that seemed good.

For me, I enjoy getting into a character that I have created. Thinking about games such as Fallout or Skyrim or even, to a lesser extent, Mass Effect - I tend to think from the beginning "right, I want my character to be a do gooder", for example.

At the risk of turning this into ANOTHER Skyrim thread, I'm just going to use it as an example:

My current character is a dual wielding female Redguard. She is all about justice. Money is not a concern - if you do wrong, you'll pay. As such, I don't bother with magical quests or quests in which I have to steal something (unless I'm stealing it back Robin Hood style). On my next playthrough, I think I'm going to be a dickish mage who just does whatever he can to benefit himself. My friend is playing as a thief, and as such doesn't kill anyone who doesn't deserve it, but will sneakily rob them and only do quests which benefit him with a reward at the end.

I remember my first playthrough of Fallout 3 I was an angry daddy's-boy....if anyone bad mouthed him, I'd blow their head off.

So, do you roleplay in RPGs (or, indeed, other games), or do you just do whatever quests you please?

If the game is immersive enough, I'll roleplay. My Breton in Skyrim is a morally ambiguous warrior-mage who has a yearning for more power that has led her to acquiring Daedric artifacts, and she is currently unable to decide whether the Imperials or the Stormcloak are right or wrong in their fight.

I just started a Dunmer Conjuration-Mage who is going to help the Imperials in the hopes that he'll be able to stop the Thalmor (after all, the Empire will have a Player-Character on their team, and there's no more powerful a character in an RPG!) and return Skyrim to its former glory, having been exiled from Morrowind after setting a few too many things on fire.

Mass Effect is a bit easier to do (read: Less roleplaying) because everything is so black and white. It's ridiculously easy to either go full paragon or full renegade (or if you're weird, neutral), so I've made four separate Shepards (two male, two female) to go through each way. However, I do find it difficult to choose "Renegade" options (or equivalent) when I'm simply going through a game the first time because I don't tend to want my character to be a ponce.

What takes me out of roleplaying in a game is when the game takes control away from the player to do something either out of character or ridiculously stupid that I could easily prevent if I still had control. That annoys me more than anything else in a role-playing game. Actually, that's what annoys me the most about any game that does it. I hate it when the entire game has played up my character basically being a god, then a cut-scene comes along and he's clumsier than a drunken baby.

 

[plugav]

In games like Fallout or Dragon Age, I act according to my character's... er, character, but in Oblivion, I'd do all the quests, because there were no consequences. No one would ever question why the Arch-Mage wanted to join the Thieves Guild, or even why he smoldered in the sun.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

Do you do it?
So, do you roleplay in RPGs (or, indeed, other games), or do you just do whatever quests you please?

Yes, always. What's the point of having freedom if you don't use it to RP?

I actually have a small collection of go-to characters when I play an WRPG - usually characters from my Table-Top gaming.

 

[Optiluiz]

I always roleplay in RPG's, and sometimes I don't reload my saves because I f***ed up a quest, just to keep a sense of consequences for my character's actions. I recently finished Fallout: NV, and played a self-righteous dude with his own moral code. He might even enjoy the killing, but he only kills people who deserve it.

 

[dogenzakaminion]

More or less. The character I roleplay tends to be the same in all games. A survivalist silent type who doesn't take shit, but is still a decent guy. A bit naive, but he knows no matter what happens, his experience and skills will get through in the end. This also lends itself usefully to not locking myself out of quests, because the character is curious and helpful, always looking for new adventures.

 

[MasterOfWorlds]

I actually have a small collection of go-to characters when I play an WRPG - usually characters from my Table-Top gaming.

I do the same thing. Although, since I'm generally the GM in my group, I tend to play NPCs that I liked.

I have two characters going, one, Valrik High-Eye is a Nord wizard who primarily uses Destruction and Restoration magic, but has a knack for Smithing and Alchemy, but dabbles in Conjuration and Alteration when the mood strikes him, he's also going to side with the Stormcloaks.

My second character is a female Imperial who I've named Demon Eye Eva, one of my more recent NPCs. She uses Heavy Armor, a Shield, smiths, and uses Restoration magic. She also just helped wipe out the Stormcloak rebellion. She is about justice according to the law, and will punish any criminal she sees, and take back wht was stolen.

I like playing different characters in different ways. It makes the game seem more interesting.

 

[SuperSuperSuperGuy]

Not really. I play it just as I would play any other game: take what I want, kill whoever, etc. In a sense, I guess I do a bit of role-playing as a chaotic-neutral character with no regard for justice or other people's lives/belongings. I just do whatever I feel like doing at the time.

 

[the.gill123]

Well, since I usually RP as a psychopathic nut case, I often do all quests, but usually end up killing nearly everyone around me. I have quite a few playthroughs of Fallout 3/NV and Oblivion where there are ghost town, where I have been bored, murdered everyone in the town, but forgot to save beforehand so have continued on regardless. But I have never been that much into a character, to not do quests, because that's not who my current character is, I do quests I can be bothered to do.

Although, at the moment, I'm role playing as The Emperor from Star Wars, who has been sent back in time, to bring peace and order to the land, as if he doesn't, he will never get the chance to rise to power in the future, basically, I'm running around in a dark cloak using lightning on everything that moves, and killing anyone who looks at me wrong. Unfortunately, I'm playing it on a mates Xbox so I haven't got very far on this quest for peace yet.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

My role-playing goes only as far as my combat style, usually.

So, I'll do the daedric quests on any character. Even a goody two-shoes non-assassin warrior.

 

[BreakfastMan]

I typically do all the quests available to my character, so they can grow as powerful as possible. Does that mean I am not roleplaying? Nope, I am just roleplaying as myself. And since I would try to get as powerful as possible in the games, well...

 

[Joey245]

I always do what my character would do. That generally ends up with the character doing the right thing.

Beyond that, I try to do little things to enhance the RP experience. I remember one time I made a character in Mass Effect 2 that was a total alcoholic. It basically amounted to going to Kasumi's room after every mission, mixing the red and blue drinks, and getting stone drunk. It was fun, and especially gratifying after Horizon.