What can change the nature of Role-Playing Games?

[ResonanceSD]

A new Deus Ex would be epic.

They're set to release Deus Ex 3 this year. However they're using the aesthetics from Invisible War and have replaced RPG combat with rainbow six combat. Yeah I raged a lot.

:S But that would be terrible! And by terrible, I mean, It would be precisely how bad Deus Ex 2 was. Can't they just do a reskinning of the original? I would buy that game, with a kidney.

I loved Yahtzee's Deus Ex song at the end of the Guitar Hero review =D

 

[Akisa]

I want a rpg that improves upon "choice playing" and get it closer to role-playing. I'll award bonus points for that company that removes all leveling and skill based and still call it a RPG because it has Role-playing.

 

[Tarkand]

Not that big of a fan of all the FPS-RPG being sent our way lately. I still loved Mass Effect and liked Fallout 3... but for my money Fallout 1 & 2 were damn near perfect engines. They could be improved and made better of course, but that's the groundwork there.

I really like rpg to be slower paced (or even turn based) and be more about tactic and strategy than quick thinking and reaction time. Now if you look at my profile (xbox gamer tag), I play plenty of action based games, but that's not what I'm usually looking for when I play an rpg.

I guess more Dragon Age-ish stuff, less Mass Effect.

 

[Axolotl]

First Person = immersion.

And that's what RPGs are all about.

I disagree. First Person can certainly help with immersion it's only on a fairly superficial level, you have to then back it up with stuff like an interesting settig, good dialogue and characters you can care about. This is why I found Fallout 1+2 more immersive than 3, they managed to make me care about the characters and the setting whilst 3 made me avoid any contact with humans because whenever they were around something utterly stupid was always just around the corner.

:S But that would be terrible! And by terrible, I mean, It would be precisely how bad Deus Ex 2 was. Can't they just do a reskinning of the original? I would buy that game, with a kidney.

I think you mean that WILL be terrible, it's already been confirmed.

 

[Jenova65]

And why do people want to take RPG elements away from RPGs? That's daft, if you don't like it don't play it, there are plenty of us who do like it, and if you don't stop trying to spoil our fun maybe we start looking at your games and implying that they need stats to make them better....
OK? OK!

The problem with "RPG elements" is nowadays instead of meaning "a story driven by the choices of the player and their character" it means "getting experience and leveling up".

Also I hope Alpha Protocol does well and ushers in a golden age of RPGs that have settings other than fantasy or sci-fi. You know what I want? An RPG where you play as an Indiana Jones-style adventuring treasure hunter and his band of talented misfits as you go to exotic locales all over the world searching for a treasure of unspeakable power.

But I like gaining experience and levelling up, that is why I play RPGs and not wrestling games or FPS or any of the other genres you might care to mention.
There are enough games and enough genres to keep us all happy, why do non RPG'ers have to constantly point out the futility of experience and skills? Iygwim?

Yet if another system is able to provide much the same gameplay, much the same ways of thinking with regards to character construction, development, focus etcetera - but lacking such drawbacks as the inevitable grinding, the "out-of-character" missionrunning and all that - can it not be beneficial?

Naturally, this is a subjective opinion and if stats and grinding (yes, I state them as if they are inexorably mixed) is what one is looking for in a game, then that's fine. Personally, however, I'm more interested in using the technology and capacities available today, the lack of which stats and skill points were compensating. Ultimately, there may be different interpretations of what makes an RPG, as made very obvious in previous threads on the subject - to me, it's Baldurs Gate, PS:T, Mass Effect; all with a focus on dialogue, moral choices and so on. Stats, levels, and attributes were certainly also a common denominator, but I just think it doesn't have to be.

But again you are assuming that no one likes level grinding....
For those who don't like grinding, don't play JRPGs, stick to WRPGs, simple!

 

[Jenova65]

But Bioware (as a perfect example) give you all that, my ONLY issue with Bioware is they are very fond of either level capping or making it so that there might as well be a level cap, they taunt you with skills you will never get.
I understand what you are saying, but when RPGs moved to the consoles from the notepad, gaining experience and skills and the whole levelling up concept has been a staple for the average Roleplayer!

Pfft. Bioware games don't have role-playing, they have choice-playing.

Meh, semantics!

 

[Jenova65]

What I definitely DON'T want is FPS/RPG hybrid! I suck at FP perspective and it bears no relevance to the genre, there is no reason for it, so less crazy talk, thanks! ;-)
Keep first person simply for shooters!

Ever play Thief?

First Person = immersion.

And that's what RPGs are all about. Unfortunately, I've yet to play an RPG that immersed me as much as Thief did. Though I've only played a few older ones, played Arx Fatalis and playing now through Morrowind. But the latter has too much walking and too much talking. You can ask everyone a gazillion questions and they all tell you a whole novel and I find myself skimming over most of it because it hasn't gotten me to care.

No, I haven't. Why haven't I? Cos as I said ''I suck at FP perspective'' Plus not everyone needs FP perspective to get immersed, I have no problems getting immersed in RPGs or I wouldn't spend hundreds of hours playing them.
If you think a game has too much walking and too much talking then RPG is maybe not the best genre for you to be playing :-S

 

[More Fun To Compute]

I would love to see tactical combat, with the ability to enter a nations military or a rebellion (perhaps as a side quest line like the Dark Brotherhood was in Oblivion, not necessarily the main quest) and rise through the ranks to order troupes into battle. Something like what modders implemented in Enclave Commander for Fallout 3 but done by professionals as an originally implemented aspect of the gameplay.

All within an RPG guideline of course.

This is Jagged Alliance 2, except Jagged Alliance 2 is probably better than what you are thinking of.

 

[Namewithheld]

Planescape Torment with Dragon Age's engine. Same exact fucking writing, don't change a WORD. Just get the same voice actors for your main party - as they are all still alive, I believe - and get a bunch of awesome voice actors for everyone else. Animate things that were once described. Use Dragon Age's amazing combat system to fix the one weakness of Torment (the game part of the game).

That would be the best RPG ever.

I'M WAITING, BIOWARE! GET TO FUCKING WORK!

 

[Nomanslander]

RPGs are a means of telling a story that the player is to experience in detail while developing his/her character.

Most RPGs right now just seem to be going through the motions of go do this quest, gain XP, collect that reward.

What's missing is a thrilling sense involved where I feel I'm part of a ever changing world created in the game where I'm being challenged by it instead of me challenging it.

Another words, RPGs are all about the story, and when the story starts to sound cliched that's when I lose interest.

For instance if the story in the game is to have a plot twist, if I predict it before it happens....than the story just isn't good in my opinion.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

Planescape Torment with Dragon Age's engine.

Did you play KotOR 2 and Mask of the Betrayer? We have had 2 spiritual successors to Planescape: Torment with more modern engines. PS:T is still the best looking and sounding and the combat sucks in all of them, although Mask of the Betrayer is perhaps the best there.

And Bioware working on PS:T? No way, no how have those hacks earned the right to work on that game. You know they would take out all of the interesting stuff and replace Morte with a romanceable Carth character with puppy dog eyes.

 

[Nomanslander]

What I definitely DON'T want is FPS/RPG hybrid! I suck at FP perspective and it bears no relevance to the genre, there is no reason for it, so less crazy talk, thanks! ;-)
Keep first person simply for shooters!

If you don't like it don't play it, and definitely do not demand there be lesser to none of these hybrids because now you're going against what I and many others would be looking forward to...0o

 

[Namewithheld]

Planescape Torment with Dragon Age's engine.

Did you play KotOR 2 and Mask of the Betrayer? We have had 2 spiritual successors to Planescape: Torment with more modern engines. PS:T is still the best looking and sounding and the combat sucks in all of them, although Mask of the Betrayer is perhaps the best there.

And Bioware working on PS:T? No way, no how have those hacks earned the right to work on that game. You know they would take out all of the interesting stuff and replace Morte with a romanceable Carth character with puppy dog eyes.

I avoid NWN2 and anything related to it like the plague. The plague that eats flesh. That plague.

And there is a reason why I said we don't change any of the writing. Just adapt it, 1 for 1 translation. Changing the gameplay isn't going to change the story or dialogue.

Also, Kotor2 was good...but it wasn't NEARLY as good as PS:T...

 

[More Fun To Compute]

Planescape Torment with Dragon Age's engine.

Did you play KotOR 2 and Mask of the Betrayer? We have had 2 spiritual successors to Planescape: Torment with more modern engines. PS:T is still the best looking and sounding and the combat sucks in all of them, although Mask of the Betrayer is perhaps the best there.

And Bioware working on PS:T? No way, no how have those hacks earned the right to work on that game. You know they would take out all of the interesting stuff and replace Morte with a romanceable Carth character with puppy dog eyes.

I avoid NWN2 and anything related to it like the plague. The plague that eats flesh. That plague.

It's not my problem if you cut off your own nose to spite your face.

 

[Jenova65]

What I definitely DON'T want is FPS/RPG hybrid! I suck at FP perspective and it bears no relevance to the genre, there is no reason for it, so less crazy talk, thanks! ;-)
Keep first person simply for shooters!

If you don't like it don't play it, and definitely do not demand there be lesser to none of these hybrids because now you're going against what I and many others would be looking forward to...0o

My point kind of was that if you don't like don't play it :-(
I avoid FPS/RPGs I don't ***** about it and don't ask that it be changed I stick to the games I enjoy, my comment was about the bigger picture that some people think that everything about RPGs suck in their current formats. Which they don't, I even state there are games for us all and I just don't play the games I don't like. Imagine if all games designers decided that based on forum opinions ALL RPGs need to be FP to be immersive, it simply isn't true. The OP wants to know what would change the nature of the RPG, well why does it's nature require change there are RPGs for everyone, my argument (if you look beyond a knee jerk reaction) is that I don't want there to be one formula that all must abide by and that many RPG'ers like the way RPGs are now and that's why they play!
EDIT - and by the way I am not the chairmen of a games company you know! I have no actual power in the games industry ''because now you're going against what I and many others would be looking forward to...0o'', I just passed an opinion, that is all! PMSL!

 

[Namewithheld]

My nose was asking for it!

 

[More Fun To Compute]

Did you play KotOR 2 and Mask of the Betrayer? We have had 2 spiritual successors to Planescape: Torment with more modern engines.

Hahahaha

Not even near "spiritual successors". Good tries, but not even near it.

At the end of the day, what i'd like to see is more story-driven games. Doesn't matter if they're FPS/RPGs, action/RPGs or just RPGs.

But all RPGs are story driven, pretty much all FPS and Adventure games are as well.

 

[veloper]

Regret. Regret can change the nature of RPGs. That is devs and publishers regretting putting stuff on the market nobody buys.

The nature of rpgs then is bound to get worse, because there's so many gamers with poor taste in rpgs. Gamers don't deserve all the blame here; there's not enough variety in rpgs these days anymore, so voting with your wallet has little effect.

Bioware might get the impression that DAO is the perfect formula, when it's just the best wrpg from a disappointing year.

 

[Nomanslander]

What I definitely DON'T want is FPS/RPG hybrid! I suck at FP perspective and it bears no relevance to the genre, there is no reason for it, so less crazy talk, thanks! ;-)
Keep first person simply for shooters!

If you don't like it don't play it, and definitely do not demand there be lesser to none of these hybrids because now you're going against what I and many others would be looking forward to...0o

My point kind of was that if you don't like don't play it :-(
I avoid FPS/RPGs I don't ***** about it and don't ask that it be changed I stick to the games I enjoy, my comment was about the bigger picture that some people think that everything about RPGs suck in their current formats. Which they don't, I even state there are games for us all and I just don't play the games I don't like. Imagine if all games designers decided that based on forum opinions ALL RPGs need to be FP to be immersive, it simply isn't true. The OP wants to know what would change the nature of the RPG, well why does it's nature require change there are RPGs for everyone, my argument (if you look beyond a knee jerk reaction) is that I don't want there to be one formula that all must abide by and that many RPG'ers like the way RPGs are now and that's why they play!
EDIT - and by the way I am not the chairmen of a games company you know! I have no actual power in the games industry ''because now you're going against what I and many others would be looking forward to...0o'', I just passed an opinion, that is all! PMSL!

Oh ok then..lol