RPGs - the most addicitve games of all?

[marcus]

The majority of RPGs developed these days are huge, epic affairs. With vast, elaborate storylines intersperced with endless enemy encounters and ever increasingly impressive cut-scene sequences, finding yourself spending 50+ hours on one title is quite normal.

The thing is, I find I get totally wrapped up in these games, its like reading a really good book with the added attraction of being able to actually influence its participants. No matter how late in the day it is I always feel drawn to just push the story along a bit further, and putting the pad down is sometimes near impossible to do. I rarely find myself doing this with other games, I think its a lot to do with the story and the relationship you build up with the characters that makes them so addictive. Thoughts?

[saif]

I'm playing through final fantasy 7 again at the moment and it is so brilliant. If the story was not so compelling (which it is) then the materia growth system hooks me anyway. "One more fight and i'll level up my All materia" etc.
They can be incredibly addictive - more so than other games as I find that they (when good) feel less repetitive.

[Tom Salter]

Yes, I agree. Here's where I stick a big two fingers up the the people who dismiss Square's epics as "interactive movies". Just because it's a very plot heavy game, does that neccessarily mean that it's not fun? It depends on the plot, as this is what most RPG's stand on.

Example - Morrowind's plot was very scarce on the ground, and relied on the played to build up the story with whatever guild he joined etc. In theory, this sounds fantastic. However, in practice, it was just plain dull. I would rather be wrapped up in a fantasy tale than wandering landscapes performing jobs ad infinitum.

And on the other hand, Final Fantasy X had a fairly linear structure, yet I prefer this approach. Why? Because it's more entertaining. You simply cannot create any kind of true atmosphere with these "open ended" rpg's, like you can with a beautifully structured and carefully constructed plot and story.


This is what keeps me addicted til the early hours of the morning anyway

[Tom Salter]

Likewise, I recently played through FF7 again.

Its not just the plot, its the whole system. It's a love it or hate it thing, the whole levelling up affair. Playing through it a second time meant I could take my time exploring, getting the cool weapons, and I had twice as much fun because my party could cut a swathe through anything the Shinra could throw at me!

[Chief H]

I would tend to agree. Any game that demands 50+ hours of play from the player (as most RPGs do) HAS to be gripping and enthralling throughout. I find the best RPGs are those with the tightest directing though. It's all too easy to throw in certain scenes that are only a few minutes long but have less relevance to the main drive of the game simply because it makes such a small percentage of the main plot, but directors still really need to cut out the crap. That's the problem I ahd with Xenogears. Half the stuff that was said was very loosely tied to the central plot and many of the game's core sequences felt more like sidetracks from the central plotline.

This is where games like FFVII excel with its tight scripting. The characters are presented wonderfully - what makes VII still better than its successors i show much of the thought and assumption concerning the characters was left to the player. They were constructed 80-85% and by then each individual player would fill in the gaps. It's elements like these that keep the game ticking over in your head, even when the pad is put down and the power switched off. Just another reason why FFVII is such a masterpiece.

[djtickle]

Theres not one FF game i dont like!

[Chadruharazzeb]

Although I've put in 70-odd hours on FFX, I must say that nothing keeps me busier than a good footy game. Sadly it's been so long since I've owned one (the last being ISS64) that I've had to spend time with other genre's like RPG's!

[Sidez]

It depends, most RPGs bore the hell out of me with their crap battle systems. Squaresoft seem incapable of producing an RPG with one that is enjoyable. Sega and Camelot do the best ones by far. I really wanted to enjoy Xenogears and Vagrant Story for example but they were way too tedious to play whilst with Shining Force 3 I would replay the battles over and over.

[JRMacumber]

I'm not a big console RPG player, but I can certainly agree with you when it comes to my PC RPGs. I think for the entire Baldur's Gate series (two main games and two expansions) I probably logged well into 400 hours playing them, with all the subquests included. The Icewind Dale series is almost as bad, though a lot of that time is spent refighting those hard-as-hell battles. It's gotten to where I'm leary of even getting a new one, as I know that once I start I'll be too wrapped up to stop. I'm about the halway point in Icewind Dale 2, with the last session I played almost a month ago. I had to cut myself off for awhile, as I normally would play for almost six or seven hours at a stretch, and that was wrecking my time off. I'll start back up again at some point, but for now I just need a break.

Damn you, Bioware! Damn you to heck! Your franchises are killing me...

[charlesr]

Turn based combat puts me right off. Doesn't matter how good the story is. I just can't sit there and wait. Zelda though.... yes.

[Brats]

It depends, most RPGs bore the hell out of me with their crap battle systems. Squaresoft seem incapable of producing an RPG with one that is enjoyable. Sega and Camelot do the best ones by far. I really wanted to enjoy Xenogears and Vagrant Story for example but they were way too tedious to play whilst with Shining Force 3 I would replay the battles over and over.

Now you know why FFX bored the hell out of me. After playing the majority of the other FF games, why wouldn't it?

Personally, I find the Japanese style RPGs have to be really special for me to stay the distance nowadays. Most have a terribly generic story. I really had to push myself to finish Golden Sun and Grandia 2 I got bored of far too quickly. The last great Eastern RPG I played was Skies of Arcadia, but even that had moments when I thought "Haven't I seen this many times before?".

There are far too many established trends in Japanese RPGs. Random battles and linearity are two of the most depressing things, but there are far too many established gameplay mechanics that emanate from 20 years ago and could well do with bring ditched: The upgrading of weapons at shops, the over familiar status of characters (Poison, Sleep, Silence, etc), the fact that all towns are the same (RPG Town = Inn plus Weapon/Armour Shop plus Item Shop plus npc's houses plus house with old man who's granddaughter has been captured by local monster, yadda, yadda, yadda), etc, etc... I mean, what wild animals do you know of that carry money?

And most stories are the same. Only the settings change slightly depending on the amount of technology involved. The best story imo was FF6 and even that borrowed heavily from Breath of Fire.

In short, after years of playing Japanese RPGs, I am thoroughly bored with them. Now Western RPGs, JRM has got the right idea..... .

[moosedeer]

I have to say RPG's are my favorite kind of game simply because you get so wraped up in them.
The worst thing about them however is the battle sequences as a lot of people were just saying they are just to damn boring and you cant go 2"(screen size)without trigering a new one i find myself trying to dodge them even(although this never works as they are just random after all ).
I have to say im looking forwards to ff:cc more than ever because it should have the kind of in depth(ok slightly linear)story that im used to with squares titles but also has real time battles(well by the looks of vids and screens ive seen).

[Tom Salter]

Yes, the random battles are terrible, but many eastern RPG's bypass this. Chrono Cross was a fine example, it didnt have ANY random battles in it. But personally, the turn based combat of the FF series is a stroke of genius. I find it much more entralling than say, Zelda's ability to only dodge and swipe.

Im currently p;aying Dark Cloud 2, and I would much rather have the turn based combat from a "true" rpg than the hack and slash combat derived from Zelda OoT. For me, it's just so deep and addictive.

[JibberX]

I am not a fan of RPGs, I've tried damnd hard to get into them. On the DC I tried Skies and Grandia 2. I liked Grandia 2 but the characterisation and story was complete blog, and Skies, was random battle city.

There's something in my brain that says turn based RPGs are a genre from an era where technology defined the gameplay, and it's never grown up. Grandia 2 was the first RPG that seemed to have moved along, for better of for worse. I discussed this with an RPG nut friend of mine and he said I was "spoilt" by grandia 2 and it's system, he seemed to be excusing the random battles and turned based combat of other RPGs.

I know the random battles are there so you are forced to combat and level up, but in Grandia 2 it was a "choice" rather than a forced action, it seems that the key door key door has been removed mostly for FPS games, why not the randomness of RPGs. Its a genre out of time in my book, although there is definitly a place for it.

[Tom Salter]

Like I said before, the random battles suck. They do seem like where they are from an age where technology defined the gameplay. But, the turn based combat is a much deeper system than any realtime combat can be. In a realtime system, there are only so many combo's that you can perform etc, and you never feel like you are progressing. However, who else can remember the total difference in the combat between the start, and end, and FFVII? Being able to learn a vast range of new spells and abilities and summons et al. made for a more immersive combat system, which you just don't find in games like Zelda etc.

Feel free to bitch at my opinion though, because I know that turn based combat isn't for everyone....