What can change the nature of Role-Playing Games?

[Axolotl]

Well I don't NEED talking. Just that if and when I do talk, I like the NPCs to have some more character to them beyond their name and appearance. Anyway maybe I'll check it out. I hear Deus Ex is very good as well, think that's an RPG . . .

I reccomend them both, Bloodlines has pretty great characterisation. Deus Ex isn't very dialog heavy it's more FPSRPG but it allows unparalled freedom of approach.

EDIT - oh Vampire Masquered Bloodlines. Based on the LARP thing? hahahaha. Might be decent.

It captures the Vampire feel in the right way though, it's not full of emo wangst at least. Although I warn you the game gets a bit rubbish about halfway through.

 

[Dr. Octogonapus]

While on the topic of love in RPGs, I'd have to belive that it won't be appearing much in them, and even if they do feature it it isn't going to be that well developed or engaging (I have not played Dragon Age: Origins, so I wouldn't know anything about the level of NPC interaction in the game) because there is not really much of a demand for it. Right now gamers want to see more blood splatter than romantic chemistry in gameplay.
And to address the rest of the large white box hovering over my typed characters: combat is moving away from turn-based fighting.....unless you include FF games which will never truly abandon it's turn-based roots. Moral decisions are an area that I'd rather not get into because while they seem interesting, I'd rather not think about whether I should shoot the random dog or give him a treat (Dogmeat has alot of health)

It's there in DA:O, and it does open up a few more doors than just selecting what "sexy cutscene" you'll see, but it's still not a very full implementation. It is, however, done better and more thoroughly than anything else I can recall playing recently. You're probably right though in saying it's probably pretty low on the priority list of most devs... which is a shame seeing all of the doors it could open.

I'll give you that and depending on the way choosing love interests is set up, it could make the story change from what would happen if you chose another person or no one at all. Though I'm sure a game has done this before (other than dating-sims) and would up the replay value for any good RPG. Other then a major deviance from the main storyline, I cannot see a reason to add love to RPGs.

 

[Jekken6]

I can play most RPGs, except turn-based. I fucking hate turn-based. As long as the overall game has a well told story and intuitive gameplay, i'm all for it. The Witcher's combat system is one i enjoy very much.