Why are there so few quality RPGs?

[ChupathingyX]

In short: Black Isle is dead. They were the company to prove video games can be a mature medium that combines the best of all media and goes beyond the model of instant gratification but also offers an experience and a overarching message.

Black isle is not necessarily dead, they still kinda live on through Obsidian. However, as long as Bethesda own the rights to Fallout I doubt we'll ever see another good Fallout game ever again, New Vegas was great but it was bogged down by the Gamebryo engine, small development time and smaller budget. If Obsidian can just create a good, solid engine and be given another chace by Bethesda to make another Fallout (or be givent he righgts...HA!) game I have faith it will be great.

Eh... Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Risen 2, Skyrim, Dead State are in the making and set to release 2011/2012

I still have massive doubts about Skyrim.

It could end up being a good RPG, but looking at Oblivion and Fallout 3, it could end up like...them.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

Really? I didn't notice. Games about to be released this year:
Disgaea 4
Deus Ex 3
Persona 2: Innocent Sin
Skyrim
Devil Survivor: Overclocked
The genre seems to be doing fine to me.

 

[Woodsey]

Because making games is so expensive they can't afford to make things with true complexity and depth.

Pretty much this. It would just be so expensive to make an RPG with that kind of freedom with the production values of modern games. Any RPG's like that would have be indie, and frankly, there are very few indie developers who have seemed to taken to this particular niche.

Actually, there's CD Projekt Red with The Witcher series. Probably the best we're going to get, anyway.

Human Revolution too.

OT: Because game designers like to pretend they're actually working in films, and its much easier to script the shit out of every footstep then it is to give freedom to the player.

 

[Atmos Duality]

It's rather sad when the first two RPGs provided as key examples are overrated, shiny, buggy Bethesda games, and the last one is "Generic RPG With Dragon Marketing Theme".

But the point is still valid: the last good RPG I played was...(ignoring Terraria, which doesn't really qualify) Infinite Space, and the combat in that game was way, way too repetitive.

 

[spartan231490]

...Because shooters sell better. I thought we all knew that by now.

I'd also say that RPGs are a harder genre to nail. They have a lot going on that all has to be interesting and balanced and they are expected to be story driven at least to some degree. There are a lot more characters so you need more voice actors and better writing. I mean it's so much more complicated than a shooter IMO, it's no surprise there are fewer good ones. It's also a smaller fan base so fewer are made, just like ^this guy said.

 

[GonzoGamer]

Quality RPG's have hell of alot more content, and that takes hell of alot more time to make, time that publishers do not want to spend on something that wont make Halo/CoD piles of cash.

That's what I was going to say. A game like Fallout 3 takes a really long time to make. Not just to create the world, characters, and stories but to test it out and make sure all of it works. If you played New Vegas within 6 months after the launch you can see how badly things can go when the game isn't tested thoroughly.
FPSs don't have the real estate to deal with and are much more simple overall. Besides that, when they are churned out every year like COD, the devs tend to use most of the same resources.

 

[Robert Ewing]

In a nutshell, all the ideas are gone. They've done basic Western medieval fantasy, western sci-fi fantasy, eastern medieval fantasy, eastern sci-fi fantasy. All of the other scenes that an RPG inhabits. Where do you take it from there? It's widely believed that all the ideas combined to make all these separate genre's have been used. It's not easy for a games company to reuse those ideas and make them better. Because 1, they can't copy ideas. And two, they often turn out to be worse.

You don't always need a new setting, you know. You can still make an original and memorable high fantasy RPG (for example). Just make it your own type of high fantasy world.

Look at Radiant Historia: It's high fantasy alright. Magic, Mana flow, some guns and steampunk, but still mostly swords spells and kingdoms. But it still feels fresh and original.

Plus, there is a setting we have not explored much: The Modern day "urban" RPG. You know, Like Earthbound, and TWEWY? I'm surprised we haven't seen more of those.

There is still plenty of originality to be found. We've just become conditioned to shrug off the more typical stuff like "Join rebels, overthrow evil empire" and "chosen one who must save world from impending Lovecraftian horror by gathering 3 magic muffins".

I'm not saying all the ideas are gone totally. A lot of games bring new ideas to the table all the time. But I don't think you can call Radiant Historia a mainstream game that appeals to millions can you? I don't know any friend that has ever heard of it. Creativity seems to be a bit of a niche market.

 

[Jerubbaal]

Aside from the elder scrolls, fallout, dragon age, and a handful of others, there's really nothing out there for RPG fans. Yet for the adrenaline junkie there are SO MANY shooters and mindless action romps!

Deus Ex? I sitll play the original to this day, and the prequel is looking to be awesome.

 

[ckam]

It's the same answer as why there are so few first-person shooters, or sports games, or strategy games, etc. etc.

It's gotten popular and trashy rip-offs are on a quest to do as well as the original quality ones.

 

[Veylon]

Old-School RPG solutions to get knickknack from King Bob:

1) Sneak or scam your way into prison and free Nancy, claim the knickknack.
2) Murder your way into prison and free Nancy, claim the knickknack.
3) Swipe the knickknack outright.
4) Kill King Bob, then take the knickknack.
5) Get Nancy killed (or kill her yourself) and then end up having to obtain the knickknack some other way.
6) Kill Bob, take the knickknack, but later rescue Nancy anyway.
7) Kill Bob, take the knickknack, enter prison, kill Nancy.
8) Free Nancy on your own, then meet Bob for the first time and get the knickknack.
9) Bribe Bob for the knickknack with a huge sum of money.

New-School RPG solutions to get knickknack from Bob:

1) Sneak into prison and free Nancy, claim the knickknack.
2) Murder your way into prison, free Nancy, claim the knickknack.

And one of the new school ways would probably have a good/evil shtick attached to it.

This. A thousand times this. How can it be that new RPGs trust the player to make decisions so little that they must pare them down to two (if that) and then tell them which one was right? I cannot believe the level of hand-holding that goes on these days.

Back in the old days, you'd be dropped off near a town with maybe a key or note and left to your own devices. Sometimes, you wouldn't even be told where you were or what you were supposed to be doing. It was baptism by total immersion, for you immersive types.

 

[Miggiwoo]

Not to appear argumentative, but I think there are quality RPGs coming out all the time. The definition of RPG is less straightforward these days, but would you not agree that Dungeon Siege 3 and Hunted were both pretty traditional, and pretty good.

 

[GrizzlerBorno]

this year is actually a pretty good year for RPGs.

Witcher 2, Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, SW:TOR, Guild Wars 2, Mass Effect 3, Duex Ex: Human Revolution, Diablo III, Torchlight 2, Pokemon Black and White & Dragon Age II

what ? did the wideness of my accepted definition of an RPG make you feel uncomfortable ?
well its still a decent year.

Why not let in that Hunted: The Demon's Forge into that list if you are accepting Dungeon crawlers with slightly less actual "RPG" elements then Call of Duty (looks at Diablo3 and Torchlight). But then again what is an RPG? Such a stupid situation the genre has fallen into.