Is it me...
EntropyXII
Member Posts: 656
in Off-Topic
....or is there simply no more decent story-based RPG's?
I mean, don't get me wrong - There have been some fantastic RPG's over the last decade. Skyrim being one. Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect. (I won't even go into the travesty that was Dragon Age 2 or Mass Effect 2&3).
It just seems to me that most modern games appear lackluster in their story telling. Dragon Age: Origins, whereas good, was self-admittedly inspired by Game of Thrones. I loved the original Mass Effect but it's sequels have been found wanting. Bethesda make fantastic open-world games but their story telling has never really been there. I agree that the story is not really the point of those games and that the exploration factor more than makes up for this.
...but why can't there be anymore original, brand-new, story-based RPG's out there? Everything today is a sequel, or a sequel of a sequel - or even a prequel? - and not only that, they just don't seem to know when to end a good series while it's on top.
Honestly the last two games that actually made me feel like the story was about my character, yet still kept me intrigued and allowed for some level of customisation are the BG series and KOTOR.
Like I said, maybe it's just me and i'm not looking hard enough. I think 'Project Eternity' might be one worth waiting for however, and perhaps the future installment of BG3.
I 'crave' for such games to return once more.
I mean, don't get me wrong - There have been some fantastic RPG's over the last decade. Skyrim being one. Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect. (I won't even go into the travesty that was Dragon Age 2 or Mass Effect 2&3).
It just seems to me that most modern games appear lackluster in their story telling. Dragon Age: Origins, whereas good, was self-admittedly inspired by Game of Thrones. I loved the original Mass Effect but it's sequels have been found wanting. Bethesda make fantastic open-world games but their story telling has never really been there. I agree that the story is not really the point of those games and that the exploration factor more than makes up for this.
...but why can't there be anymore original, brand-new, story-based RPG's out there? Everything today is a sequel, or a sequel of a sequel - or even a prequel? - and not only that, they just don't seem to know when to end a good series while it's on top.
Honestly the last two games that actually made me feel like the story was about my character, yet still kept me intrigued and allowed for some level of customisation are the BG series and KOTOR.
Like I said, maybe it's just me and i'm not looking hard enough. I think 'Project Eternity' might be one worth waiting for however, and perhaps the future installment of BG3.
I 'crave' for such games to return once more.
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Comments
Hiring a decent author to write a well crafted screen play before development actually begins might be a good start. Alas, I know this is difficult nowadays - game companies are often beholden to pressure from producers who simply want to make money. There seems to be this need to cater to a wider audience who simply love mindless action and button bashing. I don't have anything personal against action games - don't get me wrong. I just have issues with making a button bashing action game and declaring it as an 'RPG'.
Or maybe you're right. Maybe inspiration is truly gone.
But there are a lot of great stories out there that aren't in the RPG genre. Even God of War I had a decent story, and that was basically just a beat-'em-up.
I grew up on story-heavy games such as Resident Evil 1 and 2 and Final Fantasy VII (It breaks my heart to see the directions those games are taking). -sigh- Maybe i'm just getting old. Games to me have always been my own version of getting into a very good book. Twists and turns in the story-line. Finding outin BG...
*spoiler* ....who your father is, or an allies betrayal and the return of a certain sibling. In regards for KOTOR, call me gullible but I truly never saw it coming when you discover who your PC really is. *spoiler over*
Ah well, I have three copies of BG:EE to keep me occupied for a little while at least!
I think you are not only guy who thinks there is no more game worthy.
As for, why things are like this, there is more factors besides lack of inspiration and game industry. Let's say us, gamers - many of "us" are super-excited about big, open world in games, hence such titles like Skyrim are made. But, such big, open words often render making good and complicated plot impossible (hence Skyrim just bores me). In short, the more "big open-world" cRPGs are made, the less plot-based rpg are made. It's simple mechanism.
Of course, I'm looking up to playing one certain cRPG that is said to "have complex plot alongside with big, open world", but I'm sceptical about this, but since I'm fan od the franchise, I'll give it a try.
I suppose that there is nothing to do but wiat for Project Eternity. I think many people here are having high hopes for it. Me too, actually.
*That being said, I'm not a very experienced cRPGs player, by any means.
@ZalgadisGW - Agreed - I honestly love Skyrim but I think it settles it when I say that I have yet to complete the main quest. Numerous characters, 100's of hour spent. Still haven't done the main quest. I found the main quest boring.
Project Eternity I have very high hopes for. Just gutted it's coming out in 2014 and i'll probably have to buy some form of new computer in order to play it. urghh.
Sometimes, I feel like it's better that a game leaves out some blanks, some questions unanswered. But not in the way that "Oh noes, the game was prematurely released, it's so unfinished!", prime example being Obsidian Entertainment games (although I always liked their stories and narrating better than BioWare), but rather as a design choice.
Sure, you can say Skyrim, or any The Elder Scrolls game is a good example, and I agree, as long as you don't go to the main quest where you just have a line that you have to follow, no matter what. The story is explained in its way to the minimum detail that after the game ends, there's little for you to fantasize about, so to speak.
Are there any such games nowadays though, that have you entertained as you make a story of your own, without canon limitations because there aren't any? Well, there is almost none. But I do know of one, released in 2011, in fact a couple of months before Skyrim, mightily overshadowed by it as well as by its unforgiving, but FAIR, difficulty. I'm speaking of Dark Souls of course. (hint given by my Boovatar just now)
It's a unique game, the narrating which is almost non existent might not appeal to all audiences, but the most important part is : you don't learn a thing about the story if you are casual. For learning about it, you have to check every single item you get throughout the game and read its description. There is no other way, safe for plot synopsis, but as I said, this one game is different - anyone can interpret it as they want, which is what appeals me a whole big deal.
Oh and yeah, many people might think "Dark Souls has no story" - trust me, these people are those friggin casuals who didn't care about opening their inventories and checking the item descriptions, which I missed ever since games like Baldur's Gate truth be told.
There was a time when you could buy a complete game, and expansion packs weren't something thrown out like sweets, because they were separate and well-thought out additions to the game. Now, they're just tacked on left, right and centre, because the developers and publishers are too lax to finish their job properly.
If you enjoy JRPGs then I suggest you seek out Persona 4: Golden. It's a very interesting game which tackles issues like gender, identity and sexuality.
As I said above, I may have gone and bought three of them - so that should hold them out a little longer... xD
(Ipad, then Steam - before I realised how much I dislike Steam - then most recently from the Beamdog website.)
That's not to say Baldur's Gate 3 can't be just as great as 1 and 2 but with this generation's focus on shiny graphics and stream lining, it seems unlikely.
I only started playing games like Baldur's Gate and Planescape Torment over the last year and I felt far more connected to them than any game this generation.
Perhaps a prequel game designed around the Avatar series - but with an unknown hidden character of course. Perhaps you could play Bhaal himself? The main aim of the game would be to sleep with as many different women of all the many different races before you are killed by Cyric.
Imagine what those nasty critics of the gaming industry would say... -rubs hands together smiling evilly-
I've played way to many "classic" fantasy games about knights in shiny armour that it bores the hell out of me. That's why I'm also eager to try out Wasteland 2, even though I dislike modern firearms.
The thought of a possible Baldur's Gate 3 seems interesting as well. I won't expect the continuation of the bhaalspawns saga though. Rather, I'd like to see the start of a new epos with a different plot. Naming the new game something like "Sword Coast _____: ___ _____" instead of "Baldur's Gate 3" would be a good idea as well.
.....Sounds like Dragon Age!
@Kitteh_On_A_Cloud - Well i'd imagine it to be an awful lot like The Witcher!
On a serious note, I'm not sure another game flying off of the BG name but not actually being BG will be a good idea either.
Remember 'Dark Alliance'? Absolutely nothing to do with BG but was set in the same city so that money could be made from the BG franchise.
Why not another city? Tethyr? Cormyr?
Actually, if Overhaul are allowed to do so - perhaps a brand new Infinity Engine game set in one of these cities starting a new series of games?
....that would be something i'd go for.
The problem is more that the gaming industry goes through cycles where it determines that certain genres are dead or don't sell. This happened to the party-based RPG and is currently happening to the RTS genre. This is however a self-fulfilling prophecy, if no more of those games get made, there's no way of telling if they're going to sell. The rampant success of Project Eternity, Torment: Tides, Wasteland, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, the Witcher (BG:EE doesn't seem to have done too badly either) have pretty much proven the industry conception wrong.
There has been some criticism of trilogies above, but I think they are an excellent idea. Creating a new and unique fantasy/sci-fi setting consumes a vast amount of resources, those are wasted if you just make a single game in the setting. However I accept that it does detract from the experience when you know from the start that the game is going to be a trilogy, it's better to have a natural evolution.
In short, developers need to just make the damn games and put aside speculation about what does and does not sell. At the end of the day, good games sell whatever their genre (who would have thought that a fantasy based massively multiplayer RPG would be succesful? or a game about moving blocks?). I think too often it is a case of developers making a bad game, and then blaming lack of success on the industry.
@Kitteh_on_a_cloud if you're in the market for a story based RPG, don't look further than the Witcher (1 or 2), they are both superb games, and the stuff about the sexual content is nonsense. It's pretty much all optional, though the game is on the mature end of the spectrum. The story is outstanding.
*spoilers*
I was referencing the similarities between what @demented said about a threesome between 'Irenicus, Imoen and a Kobald' to the optional Dragon Age: Origins scene where you can have a foursome between Zevran, Leliana and Isabel. The Kobald was likened to that weird night you can have at 'The Pearl' when you wake up with a couple of 'Nugs'.
The scenes were poorly made, and hilarious on a GFX basis.
*spoilers over*
Not once in any of my posts did I mention Brood mothers, 'rape' or in any case make fun of any of it. That word has only been mentioned by you.
@HeroicSpur - I have yet to play The Witcher. It's still one of those games I can't bring myself to play even though I have heard the story is amazing. I prefer games where I can customize my main character a bit. Would it be recommended?
While I would suggest you give The Witcher series a chance, I can understand your reticence. I also prefer to create my own character, it's one of the things I love about the BG games and most pre-EA Bioware games. Before you play it, I suggest watching a few conversations online as you could easily find yourself disliking Geralt and it can be hard spending thirty hours with a character you find annoying.