For the past few years I've had the feeling that RPGs in general are going downhill, I don't know if this is just me but I feel it's dipping into a low point. The main focus of an RPG is the story, at least thats what I think, and it seems like everyone is running out of ideas and ripping eachother off or borrowing from this big drawer in a desk labeled "Cliches" (can't make that little accent mark). Here are some examples of when RPG gaming was fresh.
FF7 - Cloud the main character is cold, somewhat distant and tries his damndest to look like a badass. Cloud however is very conflicted, it turns out he has amnisia, jumbled up memories, and other problems. He eventually comes to terms with the problems thanks to his friends which ends up becoming a ragtag group of adventurers who end up being the only ones who can save the world.
FF8 - Now, I've never actually completed FF8 but I've gotten really close and I've probably forgotten some of the key points so bear with me. Squall is a very detatched, cold and distant person, tries his damndest to look like a badass. It turns out Squall has some problems of his own too, trust issues and I don't remember the rest. Eventually his group of friends help him overcome most of his problems it seems and they become a ragtag group that has to save the world...do I see a pattern?
I'll be honest, FF7 is one my very favorite RPGs. I liked FF8 pretty well too but these are considered good and original story wise by most people when in fact there are borrowed story elements in both. Chrono Trigger was definatley a very different game but I never played much of it. Of course there are some more modern examples of good RPGs.
KOTOR comes to mind but the dreaded amnisia comes around but at least it had good explination.
FFX was very good in my opinion and there was actually reasoning behind why the group of ragtag adventurers were the only ones who could save the world, so this is fine.
Post FFX and Kotor I've been very apathetic towards the RPG genre. It seems like the story is mainly the same crap over and over, a general architype but with little tweaks here and there, I've not heard of a very original story for an RPG for a very log time now. The protaganist is always young usually in the teens to very early twenties and it almost always a guy, the guy has problems or a dark past or is just very brash and reckless. Of course I can see why things are stuck like this, Japanese gamers are kind of choosey about characters, a good example of this is like why Hideo Kojima introduced Raiden in MGS2, to attract more gamers and win more fans in Japan because people didn't like Snake over there because apparently he was "too old" or something. So, I guess Japanese gamers like younger characters.
There isn't one RPG I can think of where the main character is an older person or something else, not brash, arrogant, rude, or clueless. The only exceptions to these rules are American made RPGs or RPGs from anywhere else it seems. This storyline borrowing and repeating has really made my outlook bleak on most modern RPGs and it isn't changing too much, I only see a glimmer of hope with FF13 only because there are apparently two main characters and one of them is female.
I'm sorry if this rant was too long or something and if you lost the point the point is this.
Point: Where is the storyline innovation? Are RPGs Video Game's Hollywood?
RPGs in general going downhill?
To me, every big budget jRPG since 1998 is just a mashup of plot points from other RPGs before it. Gameplay wise, the vast majority are rip-offs from either FF, Tales, or Tactics Ogre. The one original aspect that most of these jRPGs are built around are the ability system. Each jRPG strives to have it's own unique method of acquiring abilities. It seems like once that idea is finalized, the rest of the game is constructed with no thought whatsoever.
It's not much better on the English front either. The vast majority simply use the D&D system, incorporate dialog choices, decide on either a medieval or futuristic setting, and from then on, it's just a mashup of dry plot points.
The most we can ever expect nowadays is entertaining filler dialog, often ripe with present-time pop-culture references.
It's not much better on the English front either. The vast majority simply use the D&D system, incorporate dialog choices, decide on either a medieval or futuristic setting, and from then on, it's just a mashup of dry plot points.
The most we can ever expect nowadays is entertaining filler dialog, often ripe with present-time pop-culture references.
Note spoilers kinda follow...
Another thing about ff8, it was a love story. A very good one IMO. Squall doesn't fully realize his love for Rinoa was around almost at the very instant he dances with her (of course, he dances against his will, but that's beside the point.) His feelings go fully out at around the third disc.(at the space station. he realizes he can't live without her, and jumps into space to save her, mind you, with a limited oxygen source.) He from that point never doubted his feeling for her, even when she could be a threat to ultimately the entire world. I just thought I might add this onto your ff8 section, seeing as how it was a very important part of the story.(btw, ff8 is my favorite game, and one of my favorite stories)
Another thing about ff8, it was a love story. A very good one IMO. Squall doesn't fully realize his love for Rinoa was around almost at the very instant he dances with her (of course, he dances against his will, but that's beside the point.) His feelings go fully out at around the third disc.(at the space station. he realizes he can't live without her, and jumps into space to save her, mind you, with a limited oxygen source.) He from that point never doubted his feeling for her, even when she could be a threat to ultimately the entire world. I just thought I might add this onto your ff8 section, seeing as how it was a very important part of the story.(btw, ff8 is my favorite game, and one of my favorite stories)
Zalphier wrote:Note spoilers kinda follow...
Another thing about ff8, it was a love story. A very good one IMO. Squall doesn't fully realize his love for Rinoa was around almost at the very instant he dances with her (of course, he dances against his will, but that's beside the point.) His feelings go fully out at around the third disc.(at the space station. he realizes he can't live without her, and jumps into space to save her, mind you, with a limited oxygen source.) He from that point never doubted his feeling for her, even when she could be a threat to ultimately the entire world. I just thought I might add this onto your ff8 section, seeing as how it was a very important part of the story.(btw, ff8 is my favorite game, and one of my favorite stories)
Ahh yes, I forgot about that...I did give fair warning though. So I guess FF8 was a bit better. I guess I have to also mention the games based on Comics by like Raven Studios or whoever makes them, you know X-Men Legends, Marvel Alliance and that Justice League game. Those are pretty cool for a while but the gameplay got old after Act 1 in the game and there was a lot of forced respecing at least in my game. I have heard that Marvel Ultimate Alliance eased off of the button mashing and is a bit more complex or it breaks up the monotony but I'd rather not spend the high price for it after playing X-Men Legends II which was supposed to be better than the first one and ended up disappointed after beating the game.
i myself loved FF7. beat it. played FF8 half way and got bored, stopped playing. every other FF after that, ive never played until FF12. its quite nice, its kinda like a PSO meets FF. im loving every bit of it so far. there was couple other games i liked too, dragon quest 8, shining force neo and all the wild arms games. ive beaten a couple of the newer games too but i didnt like them overall. *points to grandia 3*
Well my favorite RPGs are like Chrono Trigger, FF7, FFT (Which is apparently a Fire Emblem Clone so I guess that means I like FE too), FFX, KOTOR 1, Parasite Eve 1 and 2 and I think thats it. Now that I think about it Parasite Eve was actually very different, I guess it contributed to my liking of it.
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metaleggman
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I actually enjoy RPGs with little storyline. See, the point of an RPG is to Play a role, hence it being called a Role playing game. Now, if you have some super deep game where you learn all about the main characters and all that shizz, are you really playing a role or are you merely watching a role? I'm not saying the characters should be totally generic, I'm just saying you should feel like your the character, not like your watching a movie. Once Cutscenes began becoming standard in RPG fare, I really believe company's forgot that. For now, the better RPGs have really been on the GameBoy advance. I also detest voices in a RPG, except with adventure games like day of the tentacle. I guess it's a bit different considering you choose what you say, so you still have control over it. My favorite RPG by far is Final Fantasy one. reason, it's just simple action. There is no gushy love story, no amnesia. You basically know nothing of yourself from the story, because you are playing yourself and if you are playing yourself, you don't need to be told who you are. I believe this is why there has been such a massive appeal for MMORPGs lately. You play yourself, just in a different world. I can stomach some later games like Chrono trigger, mainly because they pull you in enough to make you feel like you are Chrono, not some other worldly god creature controlling Chrono through some godforsaken device. This is really the reason why I don't like voices. Voices from other characters are alright, but when you have a voice, it detracts from the experiance as you don't sound like that. Anyone agree with me; disagree with me? I just want to make sure that even made sense 
Zork wrote:Well my favorite RPGs are like Chrono Trigger, FF7, FFT (Which is apparently a Fire Emblem Clone so I guess that means I like FE too), FFX, KOTOR 1, Parasite Eve 1 and 2 and I think thats it. Now that I think about it Parasite Eve was actually very different, I guess it contributed to my liking of it.
Well, at the time FFT was more of a Tactics Ogre clone. I think Fire Emblem has less in common with it.
Anyways, Parasite Eve 1 and 2 were indeed fantastic games. Most people either love one or the other, but I truly love both.
I'd throw my opinion in on FF8, but the internet already has 5 billion forum threads regarding FF7 vs FF8, and I'd love to keep this one from becoming #5,000,000,001.
Mozgus wrote:Zork wrote:Well my favorite RPGs are like Chrono Trigger, FF7, FFT (Which is apparently a Fire Emblem Clone so I guess that means I like FE too), FFX, KOTOR 1, Parasite Eve 1 and 2 and I think thats it. Now that I think about it Parasite Eve was actually very different, I guess it contributed to my liking of it.
Well, at the time FFT was more of a Tactics Ogre clone. I think Fire Emblem has less in common with it.
Anyways, Parasite Eve 1 and 2 were indeed fantastic games. Most people either love one or the other, but I truly love both.
I'd throw my opinion in on FF8, but the internet already has 5 billion forum threads regarding FF7 vs FF8, and I'd love to keep this one from becoming #5,000,000,001.
Ya I hear ya. You know I've never actually played Tactics Ogre...I probably should
