The "True" RPG
fvmedeiros
Member Posts: 32
in Off-Topic
What for you would be the TRUE RPG?
A character in a open world without any main plot, "do what you want" style?
Must be in a fantasy world? (GTA without missions is a true RPG? it is NY and LA, not Forgotten Realms)
Must have classes and character progression?
Must have or must NOT have real time action? (many people says that skyrim is not a rpg... omg)
Any game that have an open end or consequences are a rpg??
There are so many questions...
What is the true RPG? not the rpg you would most like to play, i mean the true RPG in the term, even if you dont like to play it.
RPG is the old school D&D, or rpg is another thing?
Think out of the box... what is and what isnt RPG?
Not so easy question...
A character in a open world without any main plot, "do what you want" style?
Must be in a fantasy world? (GTA without missions is a true RPG? it is NY and LA, not Forgotten Realms)
Must have classes and character progression?
Must have or must NOT have real time action? (many people says that skyrim is not a rpg... omg)
Any game that have an open end or consequences are a rpg??
There are so many questions...
What is the true RPG? not the rpg you would most like to play, i mean the true RPG in the term, even if you dont like to play it.
RPG is the old school D&D, or rpg is another thing?
Think out of the box... what is and what isnt RPG?
Not so easy question...
0
Comments
Yes, for me the true rpg is a character (chose at least a gender) in a open world to do what i want in it... be good, bad, live, and do whatever the game allows me in the way i want... with no linearity, and most freedom possible... can have quests, help people, kill people, have consequences and have no obligation...
to be a rpg dont need to have a fantasy set, can be anywhere... rpg for me is the concept of "play a role"... but... in ANY GAME you play a role... so any game is a rpg? no, for me freedom makes the difference... and must have subgenres... or everything falls to rpg style.
Of course elder scrolls are rpg and of course WoW is a rpg and of course BG is a rpg... should be no question about it... but one is single player, one is mmo and one is classic... one have more real time action, one have more loot progression focus, and one is more story driven/party grouping etc...
There are subgenres...
Altough i am still to meet the real rpg... the one most near to it is Skyrim, so far... more freedom to live the way i want in an open world.
I think that is rather hard to specify what cRPG is. Play a role is not really enough, since in basically every game you play a certain role.
For me, there are many important factors about cRPGs. First of all, the immersion. Without even a slight feeling that you're not sitting before PC, wasting your time in the progress but rather feeling like an actual character you play, I cannot really talk about RPG aspect in computer game.
Next, character development. Both in fabular sense and "statistical" sense. Also, player choices ought to have an impact to the plot (even if we do not talk about main plot).
Second, the setting. Contrary to traditional RPGs, cRPGS have to posses some kind of setting for your character and limitations as well. For example, I feel great roleplaying a Bhaalspawn from Candlekeep, with foster father Gorion and childhood friend Imoen. I feel great roleplaying the complex character from the novels (Geralt of Rivia). I feel great roleplaying a Vault 13 citizen in quest to save my Vault, with all responsibility on my back while facing dangerous and unpleasant world. But being a literally no-one, without settings or backstory or purpose, just unlucky enough to be a Dragonborn bores me endlessly.
Speaking of Dragonborns, wide open worlds aren't a must. They are welcome, as long as they don't handicap the main plot, which is the other important factor to a good RPG.
Next, the lore. The more details about surrounding world, the better.
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Well, Planescape Torment is an amazing CRPG, but you can't even decide the gender you want to play, but you can role play this game a lot, it is the game where evil player characters are a lot more denoted than in the BG, you can sell your companions into slavery, stuck them in the Pillar of Skulls, kill them, you can promise forgiveness and kill it anyway... You can become really good too, forgive a Fallen Deva that caused lots, LOTS of trouble, help undying spirits you left wandering in your other lives, you can re-forge your nature according to your beliefs.
I always say RPGs =/= CRPGs, RPGs tend to be P&P, with a DM and other players. This type of RPG can last for years or for half hour, it depends on the DM and in the players. I agree that just you have to role-play, PS:T is much more Sci Fi than Fantasy, but anyway it is a RPG, there are some Sci Fi CRPGs but they aren't as good as the BG saga, for a first example you have Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic and it's continuation SW:KotOR2: The Sith Lords.