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The RPG is dead! Long live the RPG!

Game design always finds a way

Words: on December 14, 2012
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36 comments

  • vbsnowsurf - December 19, 2012 7:01 p.m.

    Developers have traded great story telling for beautiful graphics. This trade-off has hurt the RPG the most. It doesn't have to look great to be a great game, story goes such a long-way and developers have lost that pulse on the market...

  • jackxxx123456789 - December 18, 2012 1:55 p.m.

    The problem is entirely on the side of the developers who have failed to develop anything worthy in the past ten years. The last good single player campaign fantasy RPG was Neverwinter Nights and Hordes of the Underdark developed by Bioware. If someone could create a solid fantasy single player campaign world and epic story like that using the modern technology available today they would have something. The most important quality I look for in a game? REPLAYABILITY!!! Replayability means you want to go through the same story again and again using a different class and race because you like the story and find it fun to try to do it a little differently over and over again. Very very rare to find such a thing anymore.

  • TheDudeFromNowhere - December 17, 2012 12:44 a.m.

    The last "RPG" I played was Lost Odyssey. RPG to me has always been about turned based game and its lovable characters and engaging story. Everything else seems to be a "hybrid" of RPG and other genres. Not that its a bad thing. I just miss the feeling of playing an epic turn based game.

  • ultimatepunchrod - December 16, 2012 11:35 a.m.

    It started way back in DMC With that HALF DE-MON DANTE! That was my pathetic attempt to mimic the Beastie Boys' "Paul Revere". Anyway, I really like RPG elements, and people like to give Diablo 3 a lot of crap, but for me, it made the case that more traditional RPGs can still be awesome.

  • jackthemenace - December 16, 2012 9:11 a.m.

    I'm fairly happy with the inclusion of RPG elements in modern games, but to an extent- that is, if they do it, I want them to do it right. Like with Dishonoured, for instance; I get that there was levelling up, but it was minimal- one additional level for each power? Bleh. And I know that there were only so many Runes, but still, you'd think if they were gonna include it, they'd do it WELL. That said, I do still like the traditional old-style RPG. It's just a shame that Final Fantasy, the last real bastion besides Pokemon, is straying so far from it's roots in attempts at modernisation and evolution, and that Pokemon's only good for so long; they aren't exactly long, and there are only so many times one can replay the same region before it gets dull. I'd be seriously happy if a developer did, just once- for kicks or nostalgia, whichever- make a proper turn based RPG. In fact, I'd love to play one made my Double Fine, with their unique brand of humour.

  • kezins - December 16, 2012 7:43 a.m.

    There have been some really good RPGs this generation, but it's definitely a dying genre. I think the American fascination with first person shooters is to blame. I don't think RPGs will go away anytime soon, but it will become rarer to find good ones.

  • MetroidPrimeRib - December 15, 2012 5:31 p.m.

    The worst thing about this gen is EVERY GAME NEEDING RPG ELEMENTS HOLY SHIT STOP IT

  • jivecom - December 15, 2012 10:12 p.m.

    I agree with this. I don't need to level up my crafting stat in a game about driving commercial trucks. Either commit to making an rpg, or commit to the fact that your game is not an rpg. If you idiots really want to pull this shit, then just make the things you want to be "skills" difficult things to do (or don't even bother), and magically, behind the scenes I as a player will get better at doing those things without needing one goddamn menu because people get better at stuff through practice whether it's a tracked stat or not

  • MetroidPrimeRib - December 16, 2012 12:15 p.m.

    The games that most people think of as games that require skill (CSS, Street Fighter, StarCraft, Quake) don't even have RPG elements besides maybe rank ups and stat tracking.

  • RonnyLive19881 - December 15, 2012 9:07 a.m.

    DS is full of great RPG's and the 3DS will follow the same tradition! I hope developers will see the genius behind the Wii U's game pad and turn it into a damn good RPG machine too!

  • RonnyLive19881 - December 15, 2012 9:10 a.m.

    I'd love to see the FFX HD port make it to the Wii U! Think... using to screen to manage the Sphere grid or switch characters mid battle with out shifting. Heck changing weapons and armor would be cool too, never having to pause, main game going on the TV and messing with the menu on the fly with out interruption if you like.

  • RonnyLive19881 - December 15, 2012 9:11 a.m.

    I now really want to see an Xenoblade and FFXII port to the system after thinking about it...

  • Clovin64 - December 15, 2012 5:25 a.m.

    While I appreciate the RPG elements included in different genres, I still hope we will continue to see pure RPGs. Seems like many RPGs I've played this gen felt more like action games with dialogue trees and lite RPG elements (I'm looking at you Mass Effect 3!).

  • nintendo365 - December 15, 2012 3:44 a.m.

    I think that JRPGs can make a comeback, but first they need to change up the formula. I dont mean to become an FPS, but swap some story elements around. Im tired of havin my village destroyed or have my wife killed, or friend kidnapped. Lets get some realisim in there and see what happens. But even after that, they need to focus on more than the battle system. That was FFXIII and XIII-2s problem. They thought people wanted a new coombat system and that would cover the shitty platforming and repetitive long ass CG cutscenes. Seriously, 60% of cutscenes were Snow crying over or remembering Serah, 30% was Hope being a wuss 5% Lightning being a badass and 5% other stuff. But I digress, If JRPGs can make a change and become more than an RPG, I think the glory of the 90s can be restored. If Jean Jackets can make a comeback, so can JRPGs

  • 2weekrental - December 14, 2012 11:19 p.m.

    So many fond memories for the PSX RPG era. A golden time in my youth.

  • lancevance821 - December 14, 2012 10:31 p.m.

    I feel that every game is putting rpg elements in it just to keep people playing. So trophy whores can reach level 100. I feel that xenoblade chronicles and the last story are my hope that rpgs will never die. With ni no kuni coming out lets hope so. and by the way fallout and mass efect are NOT rpgs. Those are scifi shooters with rpg elements.

  • Eternalenki - December 15, 2012 4:17 a.m.

    I think fallout is more of an RPG than a shooter. It does more than just add levels and a skill tree, it has all the necessary elements for a real time RPG and pulls it off in a similar way. While it does have what typical shooters have to emulate RPGs, loot, perks, and guns, It also adds more RPG exclusive elements like free-roaming maps and the ability to master skill attributes. The only truly shooter elements happen to be the V.A.T.S. and the weaponry from what I can see.

  • GoldenEagle1476 - December 15, 2012 8:04 a.m.

    Fallout is definitly an rpg. Even the first Mass Effect was an rpg. The second Mass Effect was kind of pushing it, and then 3 broke entirely with the genre and turned into a shooter.

  • Bloodstorm - December 15, 2012 8:28 a.m.

    ME3 had more RPG element in it than 2 did. 2 had a severly gimped skill tree. As long as you didn't play ME3 in the theatrical mode or whatever they called it, that made all the decisions for you like a cut scene, ME3 had a better and more satisfying level progression system and skill tree, while also making the shooting aspects of it way more satisfying.

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