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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

  • 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.

  • Bloodstorm - December 15, 2012 8:38 a.m.

    That depends on your definition of RPG. Role playing is just that, playing a role. Whether that role is a predefined character, or one you craft yourself, it is still about playing that role. ME and Fallout both are about playing and crafting your role and character, just because they contain shooting element for combat, doesn't diminish their status as a role playing game. It all depends on if you thing a role playing game is a turn based game where you select moves from a list, or if it is about crafting a character and story to your own preferences. Fallout even more so than ME, as your skills and their levels make a much more significant difference in the fray than the weapon you have chosen, or you skill at shooters. Doesn't matter how good you are, if you didn't skill properly to use say energy weapons for example, then you are going to be screwed if all you ever use is a laser rifle. If you don't level your sneak skill, then you aren't going to have any luck going undetected. Fallout is much more an RPG with scifi shooter elements, than a scifi shooter with RPG elements. The later of the 2 ME games, on the other hand, can easily be debated either way.

  • Bloodstorm - December 15, 2012 8:42 a.m.

    And by later of the 2 ME games, I meant the later 2 of the ME games

  • TheInvincibleDragon - December 14, 2012 10:26 p.m.

    In my opinion, the "pure" RPG is not dead. Even with the watered-down versions of the last Final Fantasy games, it is still pretty much alive. Why just next year, we will get our hands on Ni No Kuni, Tales of Xilia, and others like those. I do miss when the PlayStation 2 seemed to have an RPG out every month, even if they were bad. That, to me, was like a "golden age" for RPGs. I wish those days would come back, but it's highly doubtful.

  • shawksta - December 14, 2012 9:24 p.m.

    interesting article but traditional RPG's will still be around, especially when Japan is concerned and a game is just slapped a system

  • ZuzuPachulia - December 14, 2012 7:48 p.m.

    Sticking RPG elements into random games is just the standard now-a-days. People just get huge boners of leveling up and stuff so they just keep playing.

  • oshunanat - December 14, 2012 7:48 p.m.

    I hadn't thought of that - and it's an excellent point! That said, I still like older-school turn-based RPG games (I especially miss the Shadow Hearts series) and wouldn't mind seeing more of them.

  • taokaka - December 14, 2012 5:48 p.m.

    "In fact, some of the best true RPGs to come out this year are actually remakes or localizations from years past." You speak as if localizing a game with more words than humanly conceivable is an easy, quick and cheap task that will allow a JRPG to be released worldwide simultaneously. Anyway at the rate things are going I don't expect traditional rpgs to stop anytime soon.

  • Redeater - December 14, 2012 5:10 p.m.

    ....every single RPG on android and IOS.

  • profile0000 - December 17, 2012 12:08 p.m.

    ...oh my god. Yes.

  • ObliqueZombie - December 14, 2012 5:07 p.m.

    Wow. I never thought of that, actually. Maybe that's why I can't play turn-based RPGs ("turn-based" in this case meaning Final Fantasy), because I'm already getting my RPG on in every damn game I play. Great article, Cooper. Awesome stuff.

  • hestar - December 14, 2012 4:59 p.m.

    As long as games like Xenoblade,Persona 4,final fantasy (yes I liked 13 and 13-2 :P) tales keep coming out,I think traditional rpgs will be still be around :)

  • knightnettie - December 14, 2012 5:45 p.m.

    Amen to that.

  • IRIsH - December 14, 2012 4:35 p.m.

    IGN said the same thing like 2 days ago

  • Cyberninja - December 14, 2012 4:24 p.m.

    No the pure RPG will never die, just think of next year we are already getting Ni no Kuni, FE:A, and LR:FF13, and that's just the stuff outside of Japan, which just got Bravely Default(which I want in U.S.). So the pure RPG is in no danger even if everything uses it as an inspiration.

  • gopikmin - December 14, 2012 5:52 p.m.

    There is also Denpa Men 2, Etrian Odyssey 4, Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory, Kingdom Hearts 1.5, Dark Souls 2, Dragon's Crown, Elder Scroll Online, Unchained Blades, South Park: Stick of Truth, Tales of Xillia, Wasteland 2, Dead State, Dead Island: Riptide. Plus Crimson Shroud just came out for US. There are plenty of true RPGs though they have shifted more to handhelds and downloads

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