Just Curious...

[Daria]

It seems to me that DP (unlike other forums I vist) isn't exactly over flowing with RPG fans. Not that it should be, just bear with me a moment. And I was wondering for those of you that just outright avoid the genre, why? What game was it you played that just made you say "Ugh, this genre stinks!" And what would have to be different about the games for you to change your opinion?

And for those of you that already enjoy RPGs, I guess my question to you is what RPGs do you love, what RPGs do you despise, and well... why?

[SMB]

I would have to say the Phantasy Star series and Online are my favorite and Zelda series.oh and is shenmue adventure or rpg?

[GrayFox]

Well, I like RPG's, I have nothing against them at all. It's just my interest has grown smaller over the years. My RPG-ing days hit it's climax around when FF7 hit, I was waiting for that game for so long after I experienced FF6. After that, I was playing whatever RPG I could. Fav RPG's? FF7, FF6, Zelda 3, Zelda: Ocarina, Parasite Eve 1, Secret of Mana, FF5, probably more but I'm tired.

Now, I don't play them as often because I don't really like sitting down playing games for 6 hours at a time, or investing 90 hours. I wouldn't mind it, but not right this second. That's my only 'bwah' with RPG's, is that I can't get enough time to play them, otherwise, I love RPG's. So, I guess it's kind of my fault that my interest for RPG's has gone down a little. Boy do I suck.

Tales of Symphonia is hot though

[Daria]

I would have to say the Phantasy Star series and Online are my favorite and Zelda series.oh and is shenmue adventure or rpg?

I'd include it in my "collection" but it's really in the same vein as adventure/point and clicks. So no not really. Expect prehaps if you love the game for reasons similar to why you love certain RPGs then, yes it could be considered. :P

[-hellvin-]

I pretty much enjoy all rpgs, but I usually tend to like pc geared ones more, I think they are a bit more in depth and technical. Console RPGS are great as well but after a while I think they become monotonous/tedious and sometimes I feel like all the play time I'm investing isn't really worth it.

[Crush Crawfish]

I'm a huge RPG fan, with my all-time favorites being (in no particluar order):

Chrono Trigger
Earthbound
Breath of Fire 2
Tales of SYmphonia
Disgaea
Robopon 2
Suikoden
Suikoden 2
Super Mario RPG

I still remember the first RPG I ever played. It was Earthbound, which I only rented because the box was so damn big. I was SO confused at first. I had never played an RPG before, but I eventually figured it out and loved it. In my opinion, it's the second greatest game of all time, second only to chrono trigger.

Anyway, the reason I love RPG's is because of the way they immerse you in their story. I love feeling like I'm part of the game's storyline, and I love how the storylines slowly unfold, and they just keep pulling you in over time. I'll take a good RPG over a movie or book anyday. I personally feel that the RPG is the greatest form of storytelling.

Thakns for listening to my ramblings! It's 2am and I'm tired, but FFXI still hasn't finished installing dammit!

[Nez]

I used to love RPGs but now that I've played so many of them I have grow tired of the cliched stoy lines, the usuall plot twists, charictors that just reind me of others from rpgs I've played in the past. Plus they just take too damn long to finish.

[GrayFox]

Ah jeez, how could I forget Super Mario RPG and Earthbound. Earthbound is the RPG that got me hooked on RPGs. I loved that game, it was just so damned fun. I just loved how it was in modern times, you didn't get RPG's like that back then.

Such good times.

[Daria]

I would have to say my first console RPG was Dragon Warrior (although it wasn't my first RPG at all, but RPG video games are so far removed from their pen and paper counter parts I can't really liken my enjoyment of one to the other) and at the time I enjoyed it. I don't see how I could enjoy the game now, there wasn't really anything to it, walk in a circle and gain enough experience to cross the next bridge and up grade your equipment. Rinse and repeat. Localization was the addition of a medieval dialect which I just think was the most brilliant thing anyone could have done to spice up the game. And of course it had it's charm. The little things, like the sprite change when you rescue the princess. When I was a kid that was absolutely magical, wandering around the screen fighting monsters while I'm carrying around this girl in my arms. Well maybe magical's a stretch but it was certainly funny.

I couldn't tell you how many RPGs I've played since then, certainly not them all but enough to cover the time span of the last 20 years or so. And they're all different, while most of them manage to stay the same. But I love the differences. Many critics will knock a game for deviating from the norm, but fuck 'em I love it. So the new battle system in Thousand Arms didn't exactly catch on. So what? I loved it. Any company that tries to be original should be praised for it, otherwise you'll just end up with a thousand final fantasy clones that all play alike because their formula is a proven success. It's also proven to be absolutely boring.

Or take a complete knock off. Shadow Madness, a complete Final Fantasy knock off but I absolutely adored the game. One you have to give kudos for an American company to even attempt developing a console RPG. Of course it bombed, and it was really ugly, but I fell in love with it's script and dialouge. No spoony bards here, this was a complete script orginally written in english by none other then Ted Woosley and it was a complete work of art. Well ok- it was funny anyway.

Another one of my favorite PSX RPGs is Koudelka. I mean what the fuck? Great RPGs are Final Fantasy, Dragon Warrior, Chrono Triger, Earthbound, who's even heard of Koudelka? I hadn't. But it's the greatest blend of Survival Horror and RPG and it completely puts Parasite Eve to shame. The game manages to stay creepy and keep you on your toes with random battles. And it even implements belivable characters to identify with. I could probably count on two hands the number of RPGs I've played with characters that didn't feel either wooden or contrived.

So what is it about the genre I love? Humor seems to be a constant, I'd probably enjoy a really terrible game if it kept me entertained- oh wait I have. Knights of Xentar. - I also value originality, I can over look any number of mechanical flaws if I felt the designers fell in love with the creativity of the game (Heeello Rhapsody!). And hey, I'll admit it, I'm a whore. I'll even play a game if all it brings to the table are drop dead gorgous graphics, although I may not play it for long (I'm looking at you Saga Frontier 2).

Not sure what my point was, but that was certainly a long winded rant... >.>

[Kroogah]

Not many RPG fans? Could've fooled me. I think the mixture of gamers is pretty balanced here.

I used to play RPGs a lot. Now I can't make myself play any that were made after FF7. I bought Suikoden III after hearing a certain fangirl here rant and rave about it, played it for about 20 minutes the day I got it and not once since.

I also used to write short stories and pencil sketch and do other things that require an active imagination. Connection?

[bluberry]

For me, it's the lack of control over your character. I can't stand just popping away at menus. And although I like a good story, I don't like the game to be driven by the story alone. Many RPGs are.

[anagrama]

I've enjoyed the occasional RPG in the past, but on the whole it seems that the majority are just variations on a theme. And the whole backtracking/talking to every character to find the one that advances the sroty/levelling up process just leaves me cold. I'd much rather spend a fun half-hour shooting beasties than I would reading text and negotiating sub-menus.

[christianscott27]

when i was younger i really liked fantasy/sci-fi stuff so i always figured i'd be a natural for RPG games. bearing that in mind i have avoided them in adult life as i figure it could become a huge time drain. of course my life is full of foolish time drains as is but at least those have some real world interaction.

sometimes i'll get sucked into a less complex RPG like Ys books just because i like its style but i cant work up the interest to even learn the basics of something final fantasy.

[pookninja]

i love rpg's,i just usually dont have enough time to stick with all of them to the end.i mean,when i was younger and didnt have kids and 2 jobs.i use to play rpg's all the time,and complete them.i always like to build up my experience points and level my characters up to insane levels.like the dragon warrior games,i would walk around and fight slimes and such until i was at least level 10 or 15,before i would start the first mission on the game.i enjoy building up gold and levels.i had fun doing that,and then easily defeating all the bosses i fought later on.im currently playing a rpg,legaia 2 duel saga,for ps2,great game.

[digitalpress]

I'm in that "love RPG's but have no time to love them properly" category.

I still have a pile of them that I fully intend to play, as soon as I can make some time to enjoy them!

[Chunky]

Maybe tv has ruined my attention span.

Now i can't really play a rpg for awhile. I used to sit all weekend and play one. Just can't do it anymore. I mean I still love them to all hell but I get distracted and don’t remember what I was doing, a few weeks go by and I can’t remember what I was doing and it dies.

[Queen Of The Felines]

RPGs are pretty much the only genre I DO play. However, if the storyline/gameplay doesn't hook me in immediately I'll toss it back into the pile and pick up another one.

I've pretty much enjoyed all of them except for that damn Legend of Dragoon game. It started off ok but 1) after awhile it felt like parts of the story were stuffed in just to stretch across four discs and 2) I HATED that I had to do that "button timing" thing every time a character attacked in order to get a decent hit in. Legend of Legaia's Street Fighter-esqe button combos annoyed me in the same way. (Although Sabin's button combo attacks in FF3 didn't bother me because it was just ONE character instead of ALL of them.)

Robotrek for the SNES is a pretty good twist on the whole RPG genre too...

Kristine

[Azazel]

I think it's the lack of time for most people. Also the random battles and leveling up can turn people off.

I've played RPGs since the Dragon Warrior and Ultima

As for RPGs that I like

Phantasy Star series
Dragon Quest series
Emerald Dragon
Saga series
Seiken Densetsu
Ys and most other pre 95 Falcom action/RPGs
Faria
Radia Senki

I've played most of the big name RPGs and I generally focus now on the more obscure ones. Ones that have a slighty different story, gameplay that makes me want to play through it. I also want to play through all the Dragon Quest games. I'm doing part 7 now which will take me a while.

As for ones I don't like. I don't care for the Xenogear kind of games where you spend more time watching video than having actually gamplay. Some games like Sword of Mana have too much text that it can be almost unbearable. Probably the #1 reason why I'll never beat the game. One final thing is to many RPGs takes place in medival times or they reuse the same old you have to stop the evil empire storyline.

[ClubNinja]

I absolutely cannot stomach RPGs. Most of my reasons have already been addressed above, but let me try to outline it:

- Battling via menus. If I wanted to do this, then I could grab any game off the shelf and cycle through the options menus for hours. To me, it's the same boring thing.

- Wandering aimlessly. This happens in other genres too, not just RPGs, but it seems most typical with them. It's like trying to find a needle in the haystack just to advance the game or level up or whatever.

- Fantasy. I do *not* enjoy fantasy type stuff, yet every RPG seems to be loaded with magic spells and wizards and dragons and crap. Obviously, they're not going to grab my attention with that.

- Time investment and attention span. I cannot spend 60+ hours trying to get through a game. I prefer arcade games because I can sit down for hours with one or just blast around for five minutes, then carry on with my life. There's no "quick fix" enjoyment in RPGs.

None of this is to say RPGs are *bad*, just why *I* don't get any joy out of them. The one pro to RPGs is that they tend to be worth money, so when I find them cheap, I can sell them easily without feeling guilty that I never tried to play the game or add it to my collection.

[Arcade Antics]

I absolutely cannot stomach RPGs. Most of my reasons have already been addressed above, but let me try to outline it:

- Battling via menus. If I wanted to do this, then I could grab any game off the shelf and cycle through the options menus for hours. To me, it's the same boring thing.

- Wandering aimlessly. This happens in other genres too, not just RPGs, but it seems most typical with them. It's like trying to find a needle in the haystack just to advance the game or level up or whatever.

- Time investment and attention span. I cannot spend 60+ hours trying to get through a game. I prefer arcade games because I can sit down for hours with one or just blast around for five minutes, then carry on with my life. There's no "quick fix" enjoyment in RPGs.

None of this is to say RPGs are *bad*, just why *I* don't get any joy out of them.

I'm on the exact same page with ClubNinja on all these points. In my case, I'm also not particularly bright. Couple that with the fact that I have no attention span and I'm looking for the nearest Robotron machine at the mere mention of the letters "RPG".

I appreciate the artistry and craft that goes into creating RPGs, but when it comes time to play one, I'll pass.

*goes off to play Mr. Do!*