What do you look for in an RPG?

[Sanguinans Sabulum]

Above everything for me, Character customization and evolution. I'm willing to forgive a whole lot in a game if it allows me to:
A) Customize the characters looks (weapons, armor, and physical traits if it's non-linear)
B) Allows me to choose what my party is made up of, from a diverse group
C) Gives me more when I level up than "congratulations! you gained +2 strength!"

Beyond that, other people have pretty much nailed what I want in an rpg, which suggests that it really shouldnt be that hard for game developers >_<

Without further adieu, and not listed in any order:
-Good storyline (duh). Someone mentioned this, but please no more "TEHRE IS EVILE ABUOT!!!1". I want to figure out the villain is violently killing important figures because they're oppressing commoners. Also, give us a reason why we're killing enough henchmen to depopulate a small country
-Character interaction
-3d Character personalities. Just because you have 10+ characters in the game doesn't excuse the fact that they're all 1 dimensional
-Gameplay (broad enough?)
-Romance. I don't just mean the ridiculous pseudo-flirting that most games want to offer you that culminates at the very end of the game with some inspiring flavor text, I mean I want a game that causes you to lose a female character because you chose the "you're a *****" chat option because the developers made her get annoying to test your commitment
-LARGE AREAS TO EXPLORE. Also, I don't want to walk around in "generic desert/forest area"


Above all, I want to be able to create an Ork so stupid but strong that the chat options are limited to "kill" and "rape" and who can't actually complete the main quest's requirement of talking to the NPC who shows you around in the beginning of the game without eating him.

 

[Dragonmaw]

There's a lot of really good replies in this thread, so I'm not going to try and say what has already been said. Rather, I just want to say that I really enjoy RPGs that are very freeform and natural, especially RPGs where the dungeon is randomized.

Rogue-likes, such as nethack and ADOM, have held my interest far more than any other RPG to date. They have an incredible variety of options, equipment, monsters, situations, etc. And most of it is randomized. And just about every possibility is covered.

And if gameplay is excellent, I can forgive a bad story or non-existant one. The one thing I don't forgive is a bad story with MANDATORY CUTSCENES.

 

[XAnthonyX]

"Square-Enix".
And, briefly:
- Interesting designs (heroes, monsters, worlds etc)
- Customization: I can play that game how I want to play it. This can mean things like changing the party, changing my characters outfit + equipment and having a flexible battle system.
- Good graphics, I prefer RPGs that try to make things look realistic, as opposed to cel-shaded. This doesn't mean I'd like a PS3 game over a Wii game.. I think as long as the developer makes full use of the hardwares capabilities, that'd be good.
- Different difficulty levels: I often get stuck in games, and then give up for awhile.. Having different difficulty levels can help
- New Game+ features: These can really make the game a whole lot longer
- Good characterization: I don't feel like I care for the character unless they have an identifiable personality.. This can be done through things like voice-overs and maybe outfits etc
- A good plot, that makes me want to play

I guess that's most of it.. ^^

 

[Pyrrian]

I really wanted to post my thoughts on this topic, but then something hit me...

"Of all the Ultima games, I like Ultima VIII: Pagan the most."

...yeah, I'd better just keep my mouth shut. ;-)

Frankly, I have to admit I'm with you there. You see, I've always placed an immense value on interactivity in RPGs, which unfortunately doesn't seem to be a key industry goal. And, while I think a lot of people would agree with me when I assert that Ultima VII is the better game, Ultima VIII seemed to give me a lot more freedom to do what I want.

I like the little touches like being able to pick up just about anything and run off with it - or at least move it about. On its face, that really doesn't seem like much. However, it makes it a lot easier for me to get into a game. When I can go further, and stockpile various entertaining resources in such a game (like explosives, booze, mushrooms and reagents), then organize them about the dwelling space I've chosen as my home base, I think it gives me a sense that I'm building my own part in the world - as opposed to just being the hero's input selector who gets to watch as the only sign of his passing through the world is a pre-scripted cutscene.

Maybe I'm in the tiny, enduring minority here, but I've always placed more value on the story that I create than the story as dictated to me by some script writer trying to put in his eight to ten. So, as overall linear connectedness of an RPG goes, I'm not so concerned as long as there's plenty to see, do, and play with. Of course, my one stipulation here is that you take the aforementioned script writer and make him spend his now-vacant story-writing hours to develop some well-written dialogue for characters in the game.

Which brings me again to why I like Ultima VIII so much. You can run, jump, climb, build, hoard, explode, throw, and throw up. Real-time combat has always been a big enjoyment to me, because it allows me to interact and use the environment in ways you simply can't in a turn-based system. It's probably one of the most interactive games to this day, which makes me a bit sad, really. Granted, I still miss the party members from previous Ultima games, and there are a few potentially annoying bugs, but outside that, I love it. It's probably my favorite game to date - which is funny, because I don't have any illusions about it being the best.

 

[sms_117b]

RPG's are my favorite games, so I have a laot of opinions, some may clash, which, yes is weird, but, anyway

A good RPG needs a good mixture between its story and roam time, and on this roam time like Godamnzilla said keep the side quests ultimate goal oriented, yet believable, having a random character that makes you get him/her a loaf of bread and giving you a incredibly valuable item for your troubles is silly (I'm thinking of you Elder Scrolls), a good example of this on the most part is Final Fantasy 7 (up on its pedestal).

On note of the story, I've always preferred the game to be character driven, with a lead character I can relate to (as cheesy as it sounds), personality wise I am squall from Final Fantasy 8, which coincidently, is both my favorite RPG ever and one of the most character centered, hey I like to see my character grow.

The game doesn't need to be insanely customizable, especially if it means sacrificing other elements of the game, character/item/weapon customization are more for icing on the cake, you need a good cake first though, (Once again i point over to Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion)

Difficulty curve, one thing that reallllllly annoys me is when I can't beat a boss because simply I'm far to weak, but saying that I'm way to strong for the surrounding enemies, I know tactics are involved, but the best boss/monster/difficulty curve aspect is one where enemies take your average level or a couple of levels higher, (FF8 and Oblivion being ones to look positively one and FF12 to shun over to the corner and glare at occasionally).

monsters don't have money, Final Fantasy 12 solved this problem by being able to find skin/fur/something else and sell it on.

More important than anything else the game has to be fun, its a game, not as zero punctuation pointed out a second job, a game, fun times, like when you were 6-10 with maybe a mega drive.

theres probably more I just can't think right now its half one am here, i need to get up for uni in 7 hours :/ hope that helped

 

[kirite]

Considering I haven't played a good RPG in eons, this probably won't help much but...

I think a good RPG is one that let's you chose what you want to get out of it.

If you're interested in the romance, go chase after your main sqeeze.

If you're interested in beating the snot out of everything, just beat the snot out of everything.

If you're interested in the back story there should be a way to find the back story, etc...

See the thing is, I don't want a game that forces me to sit through long explanations/cut scenes of things I don't give a drat about. If I really want to know the back story of the world of ____ then let me read it myself from a in game library or something.

Note: I'm thinking of Chrono Trigger when I say this.

 

[Katana314]

I know this philosophy is directly competitive to what many people say, but...

I am COMPLETELY against the idea of a branching story.

They just don't work. For one thing, they require about 5 times the content to be made in the game to allow for all the various choices. If a game were to have as much branching as people want them to, the game would be about half an hour long.

For another thing, stories are meant to flow a certain way. Having a branching story going where the player wants is a bit like a really retarded editor hovering over the game's writer and saying "Ooh, why don't those two have sex at some point?"
"What? No! They're brother and sister! You find that out later!"
"THAT MAKES IT MORE EXCITING!"
The fact is, a perfect story is told a perfect way. Even if every scene happens at a certain point, just their order can have a profound effect.

So what I DO look for in an RPG: A more basic combat system. It seems every new RPG must come up with a million ways of reinventing the combat system in more and more complicated ways and more number divisions and factoring matrices.

For another thing...have a female character that doesn't dress like a stripper, and can actually relate to. With all the millions of female characters in RPGs, there's only one video game character I actually believed. ALYX VANCE. And heck; she doesn't even show skin on her HANDS.

And stop calling games like BioShock and Legend of Zelda RPGs.

 

[Repo Man]

Character Customization.

Just something to personalize my experience a bit. Could be as simple as Dragon Quest VIII's system or as complicated as Dragon Quest VII's. As long as there's something.

Totally agree, for me personally character customization is a pretty big deal and the more there is room for customization right at the start the better. Ofcourse its possible to go wrong with this by making a technically flawed character generator like in Oblivion where no matter how hard you try your characters kinda always end up looking like some sort of mutant beavers.

Tutorial is something that is easy to mess up too. Most games get it right with giving you small pop-ups here and there that tell you about the controls, game mechanics or gently nudge you in the right direction but again this can be messed up bigtime. The worst types of tutorials are the ones that pause the game and make you read through an almost endless amount of text and this is bad especially when its been paced poorly. for example i was playing a demo of Bladestorm or something yesterday on the PS3 and it had these types of tutorial text screens that paused the game, the first few screens were alright and i read through them but then they just kept coming and they just went on and on and ON! and it got to a point where i was just tapping X and yelling at the game: OH DEAR GOD JUST LET ME PLAY FFS!

Blizzard got it right with World of Warcraft, you had a couple of tutorial pop-ups right at the beginning when you entered the world for the very first time but after that they usually only appeared when you clicked a new button or something happened to you. WoW's tutorial didnt make you learn an overwhelming amount of info right at the beginning and then throw you in the deep end. EVE-Online on the other hand is the exact opposite, you get a massive flood of info to take in right at the start wich has earned the tutorial a well deserved nick name of "noob-filter".

Difficulty setting in a game is something that just tells to me that the devs were too lazy to balance and fine tune the game. i usually choose the easiest difficulty because im often more interested in the story of the game and seeing it through but choosing easy as your difficulty almost always causes the game to make you feel like an inferior gamer in some way... gee thanks! The best games ive played have had either no difficulty setting thanks to a well tuned game or then the game has had one of those adaptive difficulty levels wich makes the game easier or harder depending on your success. If you really have to have multiple levels of difficulty, then atleast do it like Kojima & co did it in MGS2. In MGS2 if you upped the difficulty you didnt really get the increased amount of bad guys with unnaturally large health pools, instead the game tried to outsmart you in many places and the enemies acted in a more realistic manner like they spotted you from further distance and were more unpredictable.

 

[Katana314]

Yeah, I hate tutorials. You know what game had the BEST game manual? Half-Life 2.
Yes, it's just a two-sided little card. It was best because that's all you NEED. If the game teaches you how to play better than the manual, the developers did their job.

 

[DarkKaz]

I personally don't really like Japanese RPGs any more. The storylines and characters (especially characters) really all blur together to me, and they're all pretty bland and anime-like, even the "realistic"-looking ones. Also, just because a character or clothing design is "original", doesn't mean it's not a "hideous-looking pile of shit". I'm looking at you, every Square-Enix game.

Something I like in a lot of the non-Japanese RPGs I've played is a sense of realism, or at least consistency, in the character's actions and abilities. For example, in Knights of the Old Republic, none of your combat abilities were over-the-top or involved your character shooting meteors at people. Unlike Japanese RPGs, where I'm often forced to ask "why are we standing here in a Power Rangers team pose yelling after the retreating bad guy when I can supposedly trap him in a pillar of ice and shatter him?" (of course it's really because he has much more of some arbitrary "power" than I do, which means he can decimate me with a single blow regardless of my skill, tactics, or equipment. Duh.) Usually, if the enemy was capable of physically restraining you, or using the force to prevent you from attacking him, he would, and if you wanted to initiate combat when you were physically able, you could. It makes the whole experience a lot more believable for me and prevents me from feeling like the characters I have to play as are a bunch of overdramatic simpleminded dicks trying to undermine my hard work. I also like storylines that don't revolve around mystical plot device artifacts, or if there has to be one, one that actually has some sense and purpose and isn't just some stone laying around somewhere that grants the wielder an incredible amount of, again, some arbitrary, general "power".

I also like character customization.

 

[Easykill]

I hate repetition. Im ok with training, unless theres too much of it, but needing to go in some generic dungeon to get some random thing for someone, then another thing somewhere else in a place thats basically a clone of the last dungeon seems stupid to me. Even if its just the scenery, mix it up a bit!
Also, the story is important, but having a terrible Ending is the game killer for me.

 

[mazaru]

Good characters are vital. Characters you can identify with, who develop through the story. Customisation helps, particularly given that that's pretty much the only way you get to play a female lead, but well-presented, believable characters with flaws as well as good points can make up for that. People the player can identify with, if that's why they play, and genuinely be interested in and care about. The physical design of the characters is just as important as their storylines - in FFXII, Freya might be an awesome character, but the way she's designed put me off her permanently.

Good story is important. A strong build-up of dramatic tension. Low repetition, and ideally no banal 'Go here, get this, now go here, get this, go there, get the other, combine' quests as part of the main plotline. Branching storylines are great if you have the budget or the potential to do that, but if not, players mostly like to feel that their actions influence the game world in some way. Part of the problem with FF games is that they mostly feel like extended movies. KOTOR got it right.

Balance. Virtually everyone hates grinding. Balance the game properly, in terms of financial reward and level.

Combat. Don't make it last forever in real time, and don't put in too much in the way of repetitive visual/audio effects. (FFVII-X, for example: between the 'Now you have a random battle!' screen, battle startup, battle end animations and item accept screen, combat got bloody annoying regardless of the gameplay. FFXII got it about right.) If it's eternally repetitive or too complex, it gets in the way of the story. Action RPGs tend to be better at combat IME, but it's still worth considering whether players will just be pressing the same buttons over and over, or whether there's a little more strategy going into battles (even if it's just needing to conserve mana or whatever for a boss battle).

 

[Halfdrowned]

Above all, I want to be able to create an Ork so stupid but strong that the chat options are limited to "kill" and "rape" and who can't actually complete the main quest's requirement of talking to the NPC who shows you around in the beginning of the game without eating him.

I completely agree, character customization is a big thing in my books. But it is true that Oblivion does go to far. I'm not looking to make my 'hero' look exactly like myself or anyone else for that matter, I do however want some say in what abilities he/she develops and what areas are their strengths.

Now when I really think about what I want in an RPG, its well thought out and developed characters and story line. I like to immerse myself in the games 'world' and it really gets to me when characters do things for no real reason, or when I HAVE to do some random side quest just so I can continue to the next area.

 

[Pots]

The opposite of Fallout 3.

 

[hooliganyouth]

What I like in RPGs:

1) Exploration. Complete and total freedom to explore, hunt, and wander. This is what draws me back to RPGs and what I love about sandbox games. If I see a ruin off in the distance I want to be able to get there, figure out how to get in, and then loot the place.

2) Character customization. I like tinkering with how my character looks and what gear they wear.

3) When enemies present a challenge even if I'm a high level combat monster or if I've travelled back to the beginning of the game. If I'm a level 30 master monster masher then there's no reason I should be drawn into combat with a level 2 blue slime.

4) When warfare on an epic scale is involved - i.e. "Suikoden 3".

5) Large amounts of tactics and strategic combat - "Final Fantasy Tactics".

6) Games that shake up the norm. I was amazed at how not only fun but how fresh "Kingdom Hearts" was to play. C'mon Disney? Seriously? Can I arch my eyebrow any higher?

7) Cyberpunk. I can't help it, I love it. I loved "Deus Ex".

8) Consequences for failing or completing a quest. Who survives? What happens if the player can't stop the enemy from breaching the city walls?


What I don't like:

1) Japanese psuedo Miyazaki mumbo jumbo eco-storylines - i.e. A band of misfits must restore the balance and heal the spirit of the life blood of the planet who has been turned into a monster/demon spirit by the evil corporate military-industrial complex that has angered the earth spirit/demon/lifeforce by tapping into the lifeforce/spirit energy and is causing a rift and our band of misfits must heal the wound in the spirit/lifeforce in order to stop the angered demon spirit from destroying everyone and everything and sending all that we hold dear into a spiralling spiral of forgetful sadness. Oh yeah and one or more of the characters are plucky, sassy, and/or are some kind of anthropomorphic girl.

2) Fantasy RPGs are boring. I've been playing them for over twenty years and eventually I get bored. In the last quarter of the game I just get bored to the point that I go read a book or go outside or - god forbid - see what's on TV.

3) Grinding for EXP. I liked the fact that I could train in "Elder Scrolls: Oblivion". Mindless, repetitive combat is not my idea of a good time.

4) Idiotic dialogue. You all know what I mean.

5) Dungeon crawling. I've crawled through miles and miles and miles and miles of dungeons, caverns, swamps, forests, ruins, temples, and sewers. Enough. Finis. Unless you are willing to spice it up with intelligent puzzles, challenging traps, and monsters - thank you "Overlord" xoxo - don't bother.

6) Step and fetch quests. How many of you remember:
You need a key to enter the Dungeon of Stone. Speak to the gatekeeper in his hut outside the Dungeon of Stone. He is bored and needs something to read, perhaps a book. Where do I get a book? He doesn't know but perhaps the Gatekeeper at the City of Air can tell you. Where is the City of Air? The Gatekeeper of Stone used to know but it has been so long that he has forgotten. Perhaps the Witch in the Forest of Gloom south of the Dungeon of Stone knows how to get to the City of Air. After wandering through the Forest of Gloom you find the Witch's House. Where's the Witch? Why is she not home? WTF! Break and steal everything not nailed down inside and outside the Witch's home. Decide to spend the night in her house. During the night you are awakened by the Witch's pet Ghost. The Ghost says that the Witch was kidnapped by the Shades of the Swamp of Mist. You can follow the Ghost through the Forest of Gloom to the edge of Swamp of Mist but can't show you through the Swamp of Mist because *cue flashback* the Ghost is tied to the Forest of Gloom. The Ghost warns that it is easy to get lost in the Swamp of Mist and mentions that if you had a light you could find you way much easier.

Screw this I'm gonna go get some fresh air.


I'm sure I have more but I have to eat my lunch now. Ranting really builds an appetite.