Article: EPIC QUEST--A look back at Role-Playing Games

Epic battle in an epic story-based genre.

Image source: www.rpgdreamers.com

Ah, the Role-Playing Game(or RPG)--one of the most ubiquitous of all gaming genres. Having existed since long before video games in paper-and-pencil format(which it still coexists in to this day), the RPG genre has a proud tradition of entertaining gamers the world over. Role-playing Games are very much not for everyone, however, as they tend to be much, MUCH longer than any other game type on the market, and some players simply don't have the wherewithal to sit through that much gameplay. For those of us that enjoy the grand story involved in following a complete nobody through his journey to worldwide hero, however, read on!

ORIGIN STORY

As noted above, RPGs have a long history even outside of consoles. From the first consoles, attempts at Role-playing Games were being made. The first big successes that truly laid the foundations for the RPG genre as a whole(at least as far as video games are concerned) came on the NES--games such as the original Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior titles. The fundamentals of an RPG are simple--you control an adventurer or party of adventurers who gain 'experience points' after each fight, and when they reach certain totals, they 'level up'--increasing their stats and gaining new abilities. However, this simple framework isn't enough on its own--you have to have a world for them to adventure in and a plot for them to follow!

While the core of this genre is so deeply embedded that it can never change, it allows enough freedom around itself that many varieties of game have been made around the key principle. In some games you play a single character; in others, a party of maybe as many as eight. In some games you are free to explore as you want; others are more linear. Sometimes the exploration and combat all happen in real-time, other times, you enter a separate interface for combat(often turn-based). The Elder Scrolls, Final Fantasy, Tales Of, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Breath of Fire, Dragon Warrior--all RPG series, yet all play differently. It's easy to see why this genre is so popular despite its innate complexity compared to genres such as Shooters.

RPGs, amongst all genres, perhaps have the greatest tradition of long-running titles. While Final Fantasy and Wolfenstein may have been running for a similar amount of time, which one has more games? Final Fantasy is up to almost 14, not counting side games from the main series, not to mention each Final Fantasy game is much longer. RPGs have a tendency to inspire zealous brand loyalty in their fans, which keeps the name alive long after the first release--though it also stirs up tensions between RPG fans of different series, or even fans of the same series who disagree on which title is the best! Also, unfortunately, this makse it somewhat difficult for new IPs to break into the RPG market, as they're up against titans that have been releasing games for 20 years.

 GAINS IN VERISIMILITUDE or LEVEL UP


Role-playing games have benefited perhaps more than any genre from improved graphics and sound. The story of a good RPG is often alike an epic movie trilogy, and it needs a fittingly epic soundtrack. Likewise, it's much easier to identify with the characters if they have actual facial expressions and body language to convey their feelings. Perhaps most of all, voice acting truly brings these great stories to life. While there's so much dialogue in most RPGs that it often won't ALL be voiced, generally these days all major story scenes have voice acting, which combines with the other improved elements to truly draw you into the plot.

 Pretty graphics don't hurt in battles, either. Especially with all the female characters.

Image source: www.gamespot.com (duh)

Improved technology has improved Role-playing Games mechanically as well. Not only the simple change allowing the games to be longer due to more storage space, battle mechanics--often the most complex part of an RPG--can be much deeper and more diverse thanks to what today's game consoles can accomplish. Old Role-playing games such as the original Final Fantasy were limited to turn-based combat with both sides lining up on the screen mostly because it was what was possible at the time. Modern games show much more diversity and robustness, such as Tales of the Abyss' real-time, freerunning combat system with elemental fields placed by spells that modify attacks executed in them. Some older games broke the mold and tried some of these things early--for instance, the Tales of series has always had real-time combat--but it was not nearly as refined as it is today. Other mechanics besides battles have also improved, though they're often less noticeable, and vary much more widely from game to game--such as how leveling up works.

Modern Role-playing Games often have much more complex and enthralling stories than those of old, as well. Perhaps it was the desire for the games to appeal to a broader audience or less creative minds behind it, but many of the original RPGs have a fairly simple story, which can often be summed up as "you're a hero, beat the evil guys". From a modern RPG? Expect plot twists, tragedies, surprises, party members coming and going, and more.

OVERCOMPLICATION or STATUS DOWN

Older Role-playing Games had something new ones often lack, however--simplicity. While a grand, complex story and intricate battle mechanics are generally a good thing, they need to not be taken too far. When the story has so much Mind Screw that it's impossible to follow, it's gone too far. It almost seems sometimes as if RPG series are trying to outdo each other in who can have the most complicated, overwrought plotline. Of all RPGs, Japanese RPGs--noted for their higher degree of linearity and epic, complex stories--are particularly bad about this. As much as I like both series, Final Fantasy games usually have at least one sequence that makes NO SENSE AT ALL(*cough*Lifestream*cough*), and Tales of games can sometimes go overboard with symbolic discussions on human nature.

The same goes for battle mechanics. Sure, it's fun to play something more complicated than "stand in a line and when your turn comes up, either attack or cast a simple offensive or defensive spell". But when it gets to the point that the in-game help and instruction manual still leave you clueless as to how to do certain things in the system, there's an issue that needs work. I love the 'Fatal Strike' system in Tales of Vesperia, but it took me a while to figure out how to trigger one, and there's no way I can remember the nuances like which type of enemy is weak to which type of strike--someone less dedicated to that particular game would likely ignore the system entirely, making it a complete waste.

Want to be good with a sword? Ok, pick Destruction magic! ...wait, what?

Image source: www.ugo.com

 

Special mention goes to leveling mechanics, as well--and this one Western RPGs are if anything MORE guilty of screwing up. While improvements in leveling mechanics such as branching skill or reward trees can be simple but effective improvements to gameplay, messing up the leveling system in a game can utterly ruin it outright. The best example of this is the Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion. The system seems simple at first--the more you use a skill, the more often it will skill up, even more often if it's one of your 10 'primary skills'. Once your primary skills have skilled up 10 times, you can level up and adjust your base stats, increasing them by a certain amount based on how much the skills related to that stat were used. The innate problem with this, however, is that you will inevitably have primary skills that you use all the time, causing you to level up faster, which in turn means your stat bonuses on leveling will not be as high as they can be, which makes you underpowered. The solution? Create your own class which has NOTHING that you actually want to use as a primary skill. It's completely counterintuitive and screws up the flow of the game immensely.

WRAP-UP or SAVE POINT

Role-playing games have definitely gained more than Shooters or Strategy games from gaming's evolution over the past 20+ years. Take Final Fantasy 1 and Final Fantasy 13 and compare them--the difference is staggeringly vast compared to, say, WarCraft 1 vs. StarCraft 2. From the genre that's most like a TV or movie series, being able to tell grander stories with greater immersion is a major plus. The key is that the most important element in an RPG is story--if the game has fantastic mechanics but bad story, nobody's going to play all the way through it. Likewise, if the game has a superb story, it makes up for many sins. I actually like the older Tales of the Abyss more than Tales of Vesperia, even though Vesperia has better battle mechanics, better graphics, and even a more interesting cast--because Abyss has a far superior story.

While RPGs becoming overcomplicated is a danger, it's this constant search for the perfect balance of complexity and playability that keeps RPG designers trying new things and making sure the genre stays fresh and interesting to play, along with a requirement for a new story every time. While a Shooter can get away with another war story on a foreign planet, two RPGs with identical stories would not go over well. Variety and innovation are hallmarks of this genre that really make it one of the best, and even RPGs with too much going on will still have dedicated fans that take the time and effort to learn their mechanics and figure out the nuances of their stories.

Among recent RPGs, there are many that I could recommend to you, but I'm going to stick with my own favorite series and mention Tales of Vesperia(image source: www.wikipedia.org). As the newest(American-released... damn you, Bamco) Tales game, it has the best graphics and most intricate and interesting battle mechanics, which are definitely worth taking the time to figure out. The story is good(even if not as good as that of Abyss), with little of the back-and-forth tedium that sometimes crops up. It always seems to make sense why you're going to the next place you're going to. Also, as mentioned before, the cast is quite interesting; I don't think there's a single character in the game I don't like to some degree, and some of them--like the recurring villain Zagi--are absolutely excellent.

That's all for now, before this article rivals the length of an RPG itself. Look for another new article next week, and until then, game on!