Why is it that most game genres continue to build upon themselves, fixing the sections that don’t work, while RPGs continue in the same pitfalls that started the genre? It’s ridiculous and RPGs are hurting because of it. RPGs used to hold a special place in my heart because they were one of the few game genres that actually had a story to care about. Now most games need this to draw the player in. RPGs, instead of acknowledging that times, they are a changing, have continued with their tired stories of when RPGs first came out, simply repackaged.
I want to go over several rules or guidelines that RPGs should take into deep consideration before creating another mindless clone.
* * * RPG KEYSTONES * * *
1. No More Amnesia: The list for RPGs (and games in general) that use this tired excuse for bringing the player in is beyond overdone. It’s tiresome, weak, and pretty boring. If you’re a halfway decent writer I’m sure you can come up with something way better.
2. No Turn based combat: While I’m sure there are a fair amount of die hard fans that would argue against this, the fact remains that most players want a game that flows, hence why action and first person shooters are so popular. As the player we want to be in control of our party and character. Why the hell wouldn’t my character move out of the way of some terrible beam the boss is about to shoot at me? Random numbers determining whether I hit the boss is lame. My ability should be measured on my skill, not mathematics. Take a page from Bioshock, Fable, Fable II, the Tales series (though they aren’t much better), and the various Kingdom Hearts games. Turn based gameplay is, like the dinosaurs, dead and gone. Stop living in the past like John Hammond and move on!
3. No Mindless Grinding: When we play games, we more often than not play them as escapism, to leave the world we live behind and be someone else for awhile. What we don’t want is what we get in real life. There’s a reason they call work the daily grind. So why on earth would I want to grind levels in a game I’m playing?!?! It’s absolute madness. Does it make the game longer? Oh sure, by a lot. Is that time being well spent? Goodness no! If you want the player to grind so they can beat some uber dragon who is more powerful than the end boss and who is hidden unless you find the four glowing fruit baskets scattered throughout the world…you know what, go for it. Because the people likely to play that optional boss who has no storyline purpose are the same people that will probably grind. But for the rest of us…the majority…don’t force us to grind. The game should level up just fine as you progress. Some notable examples being Fable, Kingdom Hearts, and Super Mario RPG. Never when playing these games did I feel I needed to fight endless monsters so I could beat the next boss. This causes interruptions for the story and for the gamer, retracting them from their immersion…a big “no no” in games.
4. No More Cliche: Sweet molasses, if there is a series who founds itself completely on cliches, it’s RPGs. Why? I suppose those in power don’t want to put in the time to try something else, fearing it might not do well. Why must our main character almost always be this youth with undying hope and determination? Why must our last boss have more than three forms, each progressive one adding more wings?
Just to show a few...
There are enough character types out there to make more interesting characters (I’m looking at you especially JRPGs).
5. No More Forced Exposition: While story is one of the reason I play RPGs, that doesn’t mean everybody wants it. There should always…ALWAYS, be a skip the dialogue button. Especially…ESPECIALLY when we have to sit through it multiple times. Example, I was recently playing through Tales of Vesperia. I kept fighting this boss and losing, which is fine, but forcing me to go through the same cutscenes and dialogues just before the battle…inexcusable! Here are some super easy fixes. 1) Have a button to skip all the exposition we’ve already heard. 2) Let the game have multiple saves (one before the battle), that way if I want to just fight again, I can. If I feel I need to change things around I can go to the other save. Making a player sit through the same cutscenes when being continuously beaten is just adding salt to the wound.
We know, we know. Now stfu and let us fight the boss.
6. No More Random Battles: This lends itself to grinding and adds nothing to the story. Worst of all it is absolutely frustrating when trying to get somewhere. The very least you can do is make the monster visible when we’re trying to travel along the map. Oh and lvl 2 creatures shouldn’t even bother fighting us at level 75. Its just a waste of time. Doing random battles is like if our current medicine bled people like they did in the medieval times (doing more harm than good).
* * * That’s it for now. If I think of more I’ll add them * * *
