After hearing about a plethora of upcoming RPGs (many of which are sequels) over the summer, I was just thinking about what seems to be a trend in RPGs lately: Firstly, the KOTOR series surprised a few people by making SW not only an RPG, but a good one too. It was a good single-player experience in terms of the characters and the storyline. KOTOR 2 ended up being not quite so good as the first, due to the developers having to rush the game to meet deadlines to get it out for the holidays (however, fans have put together all the content that was cut in their own 'KOTOR 2 Restoration Project'). After that, another entry was announced, but not exactly in the form that KOTOR fans were expecting. They had announced SW:The Old Republic in the form of an MMORPG. A lot of fans had a shared opinion in the Elder Scrolls series, in that Oblivion also felt like a 'dumbed-down' version of Morrowind (albeit, IMO, with a much improved combat system) in terms of the general world and lore and stuff. A lot of old-school Fallout fans seemed to have the same issue with FO3 from FO2. Dragon Age was a largely anticipated RPG, even dubbed the 'spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate 2' (I'm not sure if it was the devs who said this or the fans). While it was an excellent RPG, it didn't seem to have the scope or depth of the Baldur's Gate series. I recall that Bioware had said that they will never make a game as big as the Baldur's Gate games. Dragon Age 2 has been announced, and several hands-on previews have made sure to note that the game is a lot more action-orientated, with different sword attacks being mapped to different buttons, and they have taken a few things away, such as the strategic birds eye camera mode. Mass Effect was an excellent RPG/shooter, an epic sci-fi RPG which a large, deep universe and storyline. Mass Effect 2 seemingly split the fanbase, many of which said it was much better, with much smoother, free-flowing combat, while others really didn't like how they took out the RPG-ness from the first. A new Neverwinter Nights has also just been announced, however it looks like they are also going the MMORPG route, saying that 'Players will choose from one of five different classic D&D classes, teaming up with friends online or join up with computer-controlled teammates, taking on adventures in a persistent online world.' Note that there are five classes in this one, compared to the 15+ classes in previous installments. While I'm talking about WRPGs here, JRPGs aren't exactly immune to this (e.g. Final Fantasy XIII), but many of them have stuck to their own formula. There are probably a lot of other possible examples, but I really can't be bothered to type any more. I've tried to avoid giving judgements on this just yet, I wanna see what you guys think .
There haven't been any good RPGs since the days of the Playstation and Baldur's Gate/Icewind Dale/Fallout 1 + 2. Everything since is just a pale shade or imitation of those games. I haven't played a game with a truly good, engrossing story for awhile now. There are a few exceptions, but even those don't stack up to the classics. Maybe I just have nostalgia goggles on, but there really are a lot of poor games and RPGs now.
Baldur's Gate i had this back in the 90s.. i forget how many cds it was but man that was a hell of a rpg.. and not even a rpg kind of guy but i did enjoy that experience. chris.
My complaint with RPG's is not how they're being dumbed down (although that is somewhat annoying), but how they seem to all be turning into Action RPG's. On older consoles like the Super Nintendo, there were quite a few RPG's, most of them being some of the greatest RPG's out there. Then came the PS1, which brought with it a ton of great RPG's like Final Fantasy VII-IX, the Wild ARMs series (which I havn't had a chance to play yet), and plenty more. The PS2 also had quite a few turn-based RPG's, but many action RPG's were starting to pop up, like Final Fantasy XII, Rogue Planet, and more. Now on the 360, everything's become an action RPG, even the Final Fantasy series taking a complete turn to ARPG with Final Fantasy XIII. In fact, the only turn-based RPG I know of is Lost Odyssey, which turned out to be a really cool game. So my big concern rather than the dumbing down of RPG's is the conversion to Action RPG's.
I thought the combat system in FF XIII was amazing. It was technically turn based in a way, just a lot more fast paced, which destroys the essence of turn-base play, but it was refreshing. It kind of took the ATB (active time battle) to a whole new level, and I loved the introduction of ATB in FF IV. Though I was all in all disappointed with FF XIII. It wasn't necessarily that it was too linear, vs the fact that you had to wait for like 25-30 hours just to get to good grinding, and that's what I love to do in RPG games... GRIND GRIND GRIND. But I will say that RPG's are being dumbed down to the core. I miss old RPG games though that are just turn based. Those were always fun, but the recent upbrinigng of more and more ARPG are also fun. I enjoy RPG's of all types, but they are not as hard as they used to be. Then when you do turn the settings to the hardest, most of the time they are freaking rediculous. Take Dragon Age: Origins for instance. Hard was decent... I was able to get through the game with only a few problems that just took tactical recalibration, but Nightmare was a f*ckin... well nightmare. There was a huge gap between the 2. I see that all to often in games now a days.
Demon souls?? Anyone?? Also dragon age is a fairly challenging game aswell. Some sections can be very tricky. Plus a lot goes into building the right party and character.
Demon Souls is one of the most awesome games ever, but may not qualify as an RPG. Then again, what do I know?
I consider it an RPG, though I don't talk about that game. That game is the definition of HARD. lmao It's a tricky one but dear god it's rewarding... once you get passed the first 2 innitial levels hahaha if you can!
I think it's just the natural progression given the advancement of technology. Lots of RPGs have been based around action, only the action wasn't implemented in any detail since combining different game designs like that would have been a complicated thing to do on older systems. Now they can practically mix in anything they want, throw a load of different gameplay types together and bring their stories to life the way they imagine it. There will always be those who just want a pure RPG experience from the perspective of a gamer, but the birth of RPGs was really about the desire for storytelling on a level that wasn't possible in computer games. These days you can still have the deep story as well as a ton of action.
