Originally uploaded by bikeracer
The entire idea of role-playing started out with the ability to create your own characters and venturing on a journey that existed outside of our daily lives. This sense of fantasy gave people the chance to step out of reality, become someone they are not, and have fun doing it. Within the comfort of your own home, games such as Dungeons & Dragons You were able to gain that same sense of fantasy right in your own home without venturing into the backwoods wearing your moms cooking pot for a helmet. That was what the beauty of taking the idea of a fantasy character placed in a imaginary world and making it a video game. However, over time, many games were becoming too similar giving us the same predictable characters and story lines that have now grown stale in this current day and age.
The role-playing genre (RPGs) has given us many memories: some happy, while others sad, along with those controller breaking bosses. When RPG’s were still young companies’ fresh ideas, they enticed the interest of gamers young and old with great characters and compelling stories. The RPG genre we all know and love is dying out for many reasons. Many fans love clutching on to the great ideas of the past, not realizing that comparing RPGs of the present to those of the past is what is really hurting this genre. What does the future hold for this genre: a completely new uprising or an ultimate death?
The main problem I see with the role-playing genre is that every year so many titles get pushed out into the market with only a few subjected to stand out from the rest. However many of these titles don’t live up to their hype which projects the “best” the company has to offer. For example Final Fantasy: Crisis Core was supposed to deliver new experiences for the fans of Final Fantasy 7. Unfortunately, we were given a game with horrific dialog, an even worse combat system, and it was all covered up with beautiful unstoppable cut scenes. Being a huge fan of the Final Fantasy series, I was disappointed with Crisis Core especially knowing that this was a four year project. There could have possibly been many games that were better than Crisis Core, but they had to take a backseat to the bigger franchise. Nothing against them, but its just a crime that a smaller company’s game would only get recognized by word of mouth of a person who took a chance on a title no one has heard of.
The other faults I see in this genre vary from the most obvious to the tiniest detail. The battle systems we have now have been done over and over again (no matter how hard you try, I believe turn based fighting is dead). Character personality’s being rehashed since the early ages of RPGs with recycled storylines with the same end result. In the most recent games, we still have random battles transitioned to with blurred screens plagued with the basic commands. Many RPGs constantly emphasize on building up your character’s attributes which can consume time that can be used to enjoy the story. The formula for making an RPG has become too simple for companies and it leads to gamers receiving the same product time after time again.
As of 2008, the role-playing genre is sitting on life support. What could be the possible reasons for such a lack of creativity? Are companies running out of ideas or are companies so focused on making money they lose sight of engaging their players. Being a huge fan of this genre, I loved the many things that these games offered for instance the deep story that consumes your attention, the characters that you love and hate, and the epic journey that you must complete to achieve balance in your world. The element of fantasy that takes you away from reality achieving that childhood dream of being a knight, pirate, etc. is now lost. The future outlook for role-playing games does look promising especially with E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) on the horizon and companies showing us whats in store for this genre in the upcoming months. With many titles on the horizon like Last Remnant for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Final Fantasy XIII for the Sony’s PlayStation 3 (PS3) coming soon both are shaping up to be very promising for their respective systems. Will we possibly have another genre defining game to defiantly raise this dying genre from the grave it has dug itself or will we suffer through playing mediocre title after mediocre title? I, for one, am tired of it.
I will continue to have faith in for this genre and hope things will start to bounce back. I think its time to let go of the past and bring forth new ideas that will strike the interest of old gamers and entice new ones. With so many major titles coming hopefully a smaller 3rd party developer can get a chance to showcase their creations and stand out for a change. Its time for innovations and new ideas to come and revive this dying genre and correct the many faults that have been looked over in the past. 2008 and 2009 will hopefully be good years for all RPG fans across the globe. I myself happen to be very excited for Last Remnant for the Xbox 360. I only hope that more RPGs will start coming to the Xbox 360. Will this genre be able to get off life support? Only time will tell.
great artical
Nice article. I just have to disagree a little. Turn based rpg’s are dead. Which means that orignal rpg’s have died. But rpg’s have not died yet. It has evolved. Meaning role-playing is everywhere you just don’t notice or give credit where it is due. Most games now days have rpg’s elements. For example. In sports games you can create a player. Then put that player on any team. Then you can role play as what that team would have been like with you or a made up person. To me that is great role playing. Also don’t forget that MMO like WOW are the future of role playing because people want beat other people with their characters and then dance. lol.
Thank you both for the comments and George I do agree that RPG’s have evolved but however the genre itself is getting uncreative. Nearly almost every game to date has some kind of RPG elements in them, but that’s what they are just elements. I disagree though with MMO’s being the future as many of them you are just leveling up and going on quest you have to use more of your imagination. Producers need to give us better RPG’s with better stories and unique characters.