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Are RPGs becoming action dependent?


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#1 TheDR

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Posted 22 November 2009 - 11:41

I was just thinking that most RPGs are all action dependent these days.
This could be because of many reasons, but i believe its because the market for RPGs have changed, they have become a more mainstream and more aimed at the First/Third person shooter players.

Look at something like Fallout 3 for example, no doubt thats its a good game, but the problem i have with it is that its not a classic RPG, as in story comes before gameplay/graphics. Maybe games like this need to be put into the Action RPG box (I know that already exists, but not enough games are placed into the category).

But i guess some games are very close to making a breakthrough in terms of graphics, gameplay and story, all combined to make an excellent game. An example i can think of is Mass Effect, that game combines all the elements to create something that other developers have been struggling with for years. I guess the same could be said about Dragon Age: Origins, as its a Bioware game, but i haven't played that yet so i don't really have an opinion on it.

What do you feel on this topic, do you believe that RPGs just ain't RPGs these days?
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#2 General

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Posted 22 November 2009 - 12:12

As a person addicted to ' good ' RPG games I can say there is few RPG I like and they are truly RPG, whatever action oriented or not, Mass Effect has the best storytelling I've seen in a RPG, and Final Fantasy XII was cool aswell, Borderlands is moderate and Dragon Age is good aswell ( <--- still need to complete it to decide fully )
It personally doesn't matter what you do in gameplay, use vehicles or nuke the hell out of the map, what I care in a RPG is : storytelling, most RPG games lack that good storytelling but still we have a few worthy to spend time on.

#3 Ion Cannon!

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Posted 22 November 2009 - 12:28

There have always been action dependant RPG's ; take Diablo 2 for instance, thats non stop, hack slash throughout. In fact I can't think of any modern RPG which comes close to Diablo 2's mental hack and slash. On the other hand we have Dragon Age, which is an RPG in the traditional sense, masses of dialogue, 1-2 complex puzzles and with a focus on character interaction more so than combat.

I do think your point has merit though, alot of gamers don't want to pause combat all the time, they want to play in real time, in an almost FPS like environment, games such as Borderlands and Fallout 3 achieve this.
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#4 BeefJeRKy

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Posted 23 November 2009 - 00:40

Borderlands is defined as a Role-Playing Shooter anyway. I don't mind that element tbh. Fallout 3 had a lot of lore potential I'd say, but it was still an enjoyable game. After playing both Mass Effect and Dragon Age, I can clearly say that RPGs are a definitive favorite genre of mine because I don't mind the lengthy involvement of it. Obviously other gamers prefer more instant action, but still want the character growth and item collection elements. The classic RPGs aren't dying out, but they are getting reduced in number.
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#5 Stalker

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Posted 23 November 2009 - 07:40

I don't really play any RPG's these days.

What I like about a good RPG is the story. I want a story that fascinates me.
But a lot of games that have an awesome story have a boring combat system, wherer I'm actually trying to avoid any combat just to see how the story continues.
On the other hand a lot of games that have a fast paced, action-oriented combat system have a lack of story. I'm thinking of Diablo 2 and Dark Messiah here. Diablo 2 is an awesome game, but the story certainly isn't. And Dark Messiah, which has a very cool combat system, doesn't really have that much RPG elements, and its story sucks.
I haven't really played Oblivion, Fallout 3 or Risen (just to name a few), but I watched my brother playing. I'm going to try Fallout 3 one time, but Oblivion and Risen are too boring imho.

The problem I have with classic RPGs is that you (mostly) don't beat your opponent with skill, but with stats. So if you're too weak, you have to train.
In Diablo this works because of the combat system and the steady flow of new items.
But if the combat system feels more like pain in the *** than fun, this just doesn't work for me.

I guess classic RPGs are not my cup of tea
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#6 Ion Cannon!

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Posted 23 November 2009 - 14:24

View PostStalker, on 23 Nov 2009, 7:40, said:

I don't really play any RPG's these days.

What I like about a good RPG is the story. I want a story that fascinates me.
But a lot of games that have an awesome story have a boring combat system, wherer I'm actually trying to avoid any combat just to see how the story continues.
On the other hand a lot of games that have a fast paced, action-oriented combat system have a lack of story. I'm thinking of Diablo 2 and Dark Messiah here. Diablo 2 is an awesome game, but the story certainly isn't. And Dark Messiah, which has a very cool combat system, doesn't really have that much RPG elements, and its story sucks.
I haven't really played Oblivion, Fallout 3 or Risen (just to name a few), but I watched my brother playing. I'm going to try Fallout 3 one time, but Oblivion and Risen are too boring imho.

The problem I have with classic RPGs is that you (mostly) don't beat your opponent with skill, but with stats. So if you're too weak, you have to train.
In Diablo this works because of the combat system and the steady flow of new items.
But if the combat system feels more like pain in the *** than fun, this just doesn't work for me.

I guess classic RPGs are not my cup of tea


For Diablo, yes, training was often neccessary, but for other classic RPG's its all about perfecting your strategy. I can remember spending an hour or so trying the same encounter / fight on IWD to finally pull it off, damn that was satisfying.

Unless you play on hard / nightmare no fights in DA require that amount of time / retries, and even then I think nightmare DA is easier than IWD normal, although i've not played it in ages, so I may just be being overly nostalgic.
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#7 BeefJeRKy

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Posted 23 November 2009 - 14:33

May be that you've just improved a it since then :D
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#8 Dr. Strangelove

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Posted 24 November 2009 - 03:53

I agree, I think we need more story-focused RPGs like Planescape: Torment.
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#9 Kalo

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Posted 03 December 2009 - 07:37

Without proper action you will NOT attract the masses. so yes of course. but some do lack story in a severe way.
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