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txiabxyooj
Fox Spirit
Joined: 06 Dec 2001
Posts: 971
Location: here, there & everywhere |
i am wondering what people think makes an RPG--what counts & what doesn't. i have heard people claim that gothic is an adventure game, yet it has a great story line & character development. this for me is a big part of an rpg. also, why are dues ex & system shock 2 not rpgs? yet, diablo 2 is? diablo kind-of has character creation but no story line to speak of. i don't get it. what makes one game count and another not count? what are the criteria for an rpg? let's do a little meta-rpg thought and see what people come up with. personally i think rpg's are all about character development in interesting & lively environments. there has to be a plot line & the ability to adventure is nice. what other thoughts do people have? (i am bringing this up partly because of dungeon siege & Nox. they just don't seem to be rpgs to me. yet, they are both clearly labeled as such.)
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"The origin of things, if things have an origin, cannot be revealed to me, if revealed at all, until I have travelled very far from it, and many revolutions of the sun must precede my first dawn. The light as it appears hides the candle." --Santayana
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Mon Jul 08, 2002 6:20 pm |
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Rawis
Gorthaur
Joined: 01 Apr 2002
Posts: 1861
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Umm, does it matter if its a RPG game or an Adventure/Action game with RPG elements?
But i think the most important thing for an RPG game is the character development. 
I would call games like Dungeon Siege Action RPG Games, or Hack 'n Slash. Becouse the game have a lot of action, but there is also RPG elements... |
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Mon Jul 08, 2002 7:06 pm |
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mDrop
High Emperor
Joined: 06 May 2002
Posts: 479
Location: Under the desk |
This topic was discussed a while ago in this thread
To summarize my posts from that thread; there are a number of things that make a CRPG, in addition to the character developement, these are:
- Interaction with the world
- The possibility to play your character, ie. solve problems the way that suits your characters profession/class and his/her views and opinions.
- Non-linearity and open-endedness, you should be able to take different paths in the game and solve things in the order you want. A good RPG also keeps track of the player's actions and makes the game and NPCs act differently and/or has multiple endings, based on the decisions you made during the game
Deus Ex and System Shock 2 are considered CRPGs by many players, at least I count them as CRPGs. I think the main reason is that at that point, not many CRPGs had that 1st person view and shooter controls like they did. Atleast I remember Deus Ex being classified as an FPS/RPG. And I think Diablo 2 is not a CRPG. Neither are Dungeon Siege or Nox. Maybe you could call them action CRPGs or something similar, but that doesn't make the fact that they are just hack'n'slash and lack most of the elements go away.
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Mon Jul 08, 2002 7:47 pm |
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Beo
Space Defender
Joined: 06 May 2002
Posts: 542
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Are you talking CRPG? I think you do.  Moved to CRPG... |
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Mon Jul 08, 2002 7:52 pm |
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Ekim
Eagle's Shadow
Joined: 27 May 2002
Posts: 2365
Location: Montreal, Canada |
The fine line that seperates CRPGs from... every other type of games out there is getting more and more blurred. It seems that most games these days try to incorporate some element of RPGs in their game designs. While I don't consider that bad, it's true that it makes it harder to truly identify what is a true RPG and what isn't. There are good arguments both ways.
For example, Diablo. Diablo is a glorified action game desguised as an RPG because of the dialogues and character advancement. It's a good combination because it allows the designers to make you always want to go further so you can gain new, more powerful equipment, gain the next level so you can beat the tougher opponents, and so on. Imagine Diablo without character advancement, and you're left with an action game that loses its appeal very quickly. But does that make it an RPG? Not really. Your actions are always driven by a singular goal, and there is no way to get around it. You're never really face with choices.
Dungeon Siege is more similar to Diablo than an RPG, although it's aprty based. There's a story here too, but you could easily do without. The goal of the game is to go forward and kill everything in your path. Again, take away the character advancement here and you're left with a pure action game which would still be playeble, but would lose its appeal very quickly.
Deus Ex was a bit different. You could deal with situations in many different manners. Your character evolved throughout the game. And in many cases this character advancement could be personalised, meaning that you and i could get to the end by adding very different implants to our hero, and hence have two very completely different characters. Deus Ex is much closer to an RPG than many other action/RPGs out there. The same goes for System Shock.
As for Gothic, I personally haven't played the game. But by all accounts, and from what I've heard/read about the game, it sure sounds like an RPG and not an adventure game, at least not if games like "King's Quest" are what you consider as adventure games. But I'm not the best person to answer that one.
So I guess what makes an RPG, in my opinion (tm), is a combination of the following ingredients to different extents: A good story, an interactive world (which not only includes being able to use objects, but also how you interact with it and its inhabitants, how the game lets you play according to your role), character advancement, and a good dose of imagination 
I agree with all of what mDrop has said, except for one thing: Non-linearity and open endedness. To me, non-linearity is NOT what makes a CRPG. Some old (and very good) CRPGs were very linear, and did not let you go out of the beaten path for too long. It does, however, define some of the greatest CRPGs from the more ordinary ones. It makes for an even truer RPG experience, but it doesn't define if you're in a CRPG or not.
Anyway, this is all very much debatable But those are my 2 gp.
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Mon Jul 08, 2002 9:43 pm |
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