Why do a huge portion of WRPGs take place in a medieval fantasy setting?

[G-Force]

I love a good WRPG, I really do. I love how they offer character creation and have the player somewhat affect the central narrative and the freedom they bring. However with the Witcher 2 out and Skirim over the horizon I JUST noticed something.

How come a HUGE majority of games of the genre still use a medieval fantasy setting. Am I saying that Baulder's Gate is the same as Dragon Age Origins? Of course not but I'm starting to have a tricky time explaining the difference of each game universe when they involve elves, halflings and run the same array of black and white magic in each title. Why are people still fascinated with this time period when there's a huge wealth of Western settings and time periods that could be used. Alpha Protocal made a WRPG take place in present times and outside of Vampire Masqurade I can't think of any other games that fit this period. I'm not denying the existence of non medieval WRPGS cause we have titles like Fallout and Planescape. It's just that the high profile WRPGs being made recently (Fable, Elder Scrolls, Dragon Age and Wticher) still draw from the realm of high fantasy. I mean we could have a WRPG take place in Steampunk Victorian England, or the Wild West or even a 1950s-ish alien invasion with a MIB vibe, vikings or something based on Greek/Roman mythology. Hell I'll take a Lovecraft WRPG, just something different from swords and sorcery.

Even if you're not a huge fan of JRPGS, you could at least give them kudos to their unique looking worlds and styles. Ok sure, even someone like me is going to feel a bit tired toward the whole "spiky haired kid with huge sword saves world" bit but at least. World Ends With You had a graffiti art style and mixed in pop music, dance and fashion with it's monster slaying. Meanwhile the Shin Megami series blended monster and religious lore in a modern setting where characters used swords, fists and shotguns to save the world. Hell you get insane variety with the Mario RPGs which ranged from going around the worlds of Mario to fighting INSIDE Bowser.

 

[Azure-Supernova]

I guess it's just because its been proved popular and moving out of comfort zones is a big decision for a developer.

 

[thenamelessloser]

Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and Dungeon & Dragons are the two main inspirations for WRPGs usually. I mean, all RPGs in the West and East were originally inspired by D&D I think. The better question is why Japanese RPGs use the medieval fantasy setting less. (which wasn't always the case. How many NES RPGS werent' medieval fantasy?) I"m guessing cause Japan's differrent cultural heritage gives them some separation from the European medieval fantasy and that a lot of the inspiration for Japanese RPGs seems to be anime which can have some very strange settings and stories indeed.


The new Deus Ex game looks very RPG like in some ways especially if is anything like the first Deus Ex which takes place in the near future with technological augmentations to humans such as metal arms and legs. Dealing with issues in an exaggerated way sometimes talk about in articles about what it means to be human and if we should pursue using technology to improve ourselves. There is a PC WRPG that takes place in an Tolkienesque setting that is going through an industrial revolution called Arcanum which is really quite good and similar gameplay wise to the first two Fallouts. Also, there was a Greek mythological action RPG that wasn't that good called Rise of the Argonauts....

On a side note, I think JRPG companies are missing the point often of why Western RPGs are doing so well now compared to JRPGS. (maybe I'm wrong with this, just remembering things I read/skimmed online scattered in my head.) It has nothing to do with the medieval setting I think but with the fact that Western RPGs offer at least some superficial choice of how the story develops. And let's face it, a lot of RPGS combat isn't that great, and the main focus of the games are things like stories, puzzles and exploration. For instance, look at the Dragon's Dogma game coming out and how FF12 had a more WRPG style combat (but did add the gambit system which then Dragon Age copied I think.)I think those games miss the point of why WRPGS are successful.

 

[Manji187]

A general aversion to take risks....possibly coupled with a lack of imagination.

 

[kidigus]

Because Lord of The Rings was so good.

 

[G-Force]

A general aversion to take risks....possibly coupled with a lack of imagination.

Now that's quiet the ironic comment. I always pegged the RPG genre to require the most imagination.

 

[mireko]

WRPG (NA): BioWare, Obsidian, Bethesda (for the sake of the argument).

WRPG (EU): CDPR, Piranha Bytes, Lionhead (again, for the sake of the argument) a bunch of indie devs and people I've never heard about.

BioWare intended the Dragon Age series as a spiritual successor to their Baldur's Gate series. They've also made RPGs in the Star Wars setting (KOTOR, TOR), a Chinese wuxia setting (Jade Empire), their own space opera setting (ME) and quite a few others.

Obsidian started off making sequels to BioWare's games, but some of their most recognized work is Neverwinter Nights 2, Alpha Protocol and Fallout: New Vegas. That's one fantasy RPG for two non-fantasy RPGs.

Bethesda has been making the same game for years. Fallout 3 switched things up a little, I guess.

As for European RPGs.. ask someone else. I'm not too fond of them and can't fairly judge them. My point is that there are a lot of other settings involved. Using a Tolkienesque medieval fantasy setting is probably just the dev being lazy.

 

[Blunderboy]

Because the established fan base for your traditional fantasy world is much bigger then anything else you listed.
Bigger existing fan bases, mean less risk and more money for developers.

 

[Wolfram23]

You just noticed that?

Well, anyway, a lot of it stems from the Dungeons and Dragons conversion to PC games, which spawned the RPG game genre, which proved successful. After that many devs stuck with it, and I wouldn't be surprised to find out that a lot of them were D&D gamers back in the day.

As for why they don't move on, finally? Well I really don't know. JRPGs are definitely into the futuristic stuff but WRPGs seem to want to hold onto the fantasy roots. I mean Fantasy (in the medieval sense) is it's own genre in novels and a big one at that.

I guess it really boils down to two things. First, it's proven that people like the setting. And two, it's risky to do something different, and unfortunately both these things are afflicting basically all genres of gaming.

 

[Kahunaburger]

Yeah, I think a lot of reasons mentioned above - fan preference, D&D roots, and pure inertia. Same reason FPS games tend to (with a few notable exceptions) feature players shooting firearms and not laser guns, spells, arrows, or ninja stars.

 

[Scabadus]

A lot of people have a romantic view of Medevil times that these games connect to. It scores quite a few easy plus points with a large amount of the audience, it's partly just marketing.

That and since they're all too similar, they're easy to get into. You don't have to think "right, what are the rules of this entire universe?" you only have to think, "right, in which two or three ways does this game differ from LoTR?" Not that that's a bad thing; if it's the right two or three things in a well built game is can seem very unique while still being incredibly intuitive.

 

[Lazy Kitty]

It's because medieval times were awesome! And chaotic.
It would be nice if they made some in Roman times though...

 

[darth.pixie]

It's a comfortable setting. You have the sword and bow and magic would be easier to explain then by "it's magic" without involving cops, government and what not. Think of the World of Darkness and the means that ensure normal folk don't remember vampires or mages or wraith.

There is a certain lack of rules or means by which you can establish your own that the modern world would lack.

 

[Fayathon]

I mean we could have a WRPG take place in Steampunk Victorian England

Shut up and take my money, all of it!

OT: It's the same reason that developers are cranking out cover-based, regenerating health, two weapon shooters, it's a safe bet, and a (somewhat) guaranteed sale.

 

[Ketsuban]

Because Lord of The Rings was so good.

Funnily enough, I tend to regard Tolkien ripoffs as making Lord of the Rings better by making it not boring. I tried to read the book and found it dull as ditchwater. I tried to watch the movies and couldn't get through the first one.

Tolkien's languages are excellent, and I'm sure his worldbuilding is fine, but his narrative stinks.

 

[Random Argument Man]

A lot of the source material for WRPG are medieval or sci-fi epics from the western world. There's nothing wrong with that, Most of the western audiance can relate to those settings. Granted, they could explore more settings like Western, the greek or roman times or the Victorian Era.

The japanese settings have more imagination, but they come out as being too different. Some people don't like it. I still think that FF9 has the best setting. It reminds me of a Mizaki movie for some reasons.

Note* Using Mizaki settings and tone with WRPG influences would be a great game in my opinion.

2nd note for OP* Have you tried Jade Empire by any chances?

 

[PettingZOOPONY]

Plenty of non medieval themed western RPGs. And all of them have nice unique worlds.

 

[Kizi]

I love these kinds of games, but I agree with you.
A Lovecraft RPG actually sounds pretty damn cool.

 

[Keava]

That's how the genre was shaped back in the days, moslty because plenty of people who created cRPGs were DnD players, and DnD is heavily built around medieval-fantasy worlds (some are more magi-tech or steampunk).

It's just what people know well. StarWars for me is still medieval fantasy, just with laser guns and space ships, everything else is exactly like a medieval fantasy. Queens, knights, villain in black armour, sword fights - the core is exactly the same.

Speaking of sword fights, there is also the fact that sci-fi/modern settings in a way invalidate melee combat. Why would you have to run up to people to hit them if you can shoot them? Sadly shooting mechanics in RPGs are still not really at the level we would like to see.
In older, isometric, cRPGs they were just boring, in modern ones you want twitch based shooting and thus doom yourself to ever persistent cries of outrage "because it's not RPG enough".

Simply put medieval setting is the easiest to make and easiest to sell to people, it's familiar, allows loads of freedom and whenever you have explain some part of the of the lore you can always use the "wizard di it" excuse.

 

[dyre]

I agree that Tolkien-ish settings get dull eventually. There needs to be moar steampunk, cyberpunk/other sci-fi, and just some ridiculous stuff like Planescape Torment. I think Medieval settings take a lot less creativity though, since a lot of it is generic orcs/elves/etc. Sci-fi settings need to be much more unique.

I mean we could have a WRPG take place in Steampunk Victorian England

Shut up and take my money, all of it!

OT: It's the same reason that developers are cranking out cover-based, regenerating health, two weapon shooters, it's a safe bet, and a (somewhat) guaranteed sale.

I'm sure you'll be glad to hear there IS a WRPG that takes place in steampunk Victorian England.

It's called Arcanum. Pretty old game, like 2000 or 2001, and the combat engine's not great, but the setting, story, and characters are all incredibly well-done. I'd say it's almost as good as Baldur's Gate 2.