Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Nobody Wants to Be an RPG!
First it was British game development's biggest mouth, Peter Molyneux, claiming that "Fable 3 isn't an RPG." After years of saying he was going to redefine the genre, he changed his tune to say he's going to abandon it. Kinda.
Now, the exemplar series of Japanese RPGs (jRPGs), Final Fantasy, is apparently abandoning the RPG genre as well. The RPG "template" was just too stifling, and the creators were aiming to go off in new directions without any preconceived expectations and requirements.
At least, that's what they are saying now.
Kat Bailey notes this recent trend in her article, "The Loneliest Genre." Mass Effect 2 (and Mass Effect 1) really look like hybrid FPS / RPGs to me (which, I stress, is cool and all...) While Dragon Age: Origins (which I still haven't played) sounds to be pretty much good ol' RPG on the inside, a lot of the marketing did try and make it feel like... something else.
Are RPGs once again for geeks only? Are mainstream game developers are trying to attract the "cool kids" by avoiding the stigma of the RPG label? Is this why nobody wants to be an RPG?
Or was it because you have doofuses like me who create RPG purity tests every every time some marketing goober decides to slap an RPG label on a game (back when it used to be cool, I guess) because it has elves or stats in it? And the RPG fan base goes nuts tearing apart games that don't adhere to the standards set by the faithful?
I don't really know what the root cause might be. I don't know if this is even a trend or a bump in the road or just plain old developer ennui at having made the same kinds of games for years and wanting to do something different.
From my own perspective, I prefer the idea of the genre expanding rather than contracting. And I especially don't like the idea of the definition of RPG contracting around some "evolution" in a direction that is not inclusive of the classics of the genre. I tend to think the latter is pure marketing hype / crap ("our new game redefines RPG! Everyone will follow the trail be blaze!" that suckers some naive journalists into buying it.
I personally think my own definition of an RPG - which still (mostly) holds years after I wrote it - is pretty dang inclusive. And I'm really pretty happy about game-makers pushing the comfort zone a bit on what constitutes an RPG. Just so long as the effort isn't accompanied by an effort to diminish what has come before. I have strong retrogamer tendencies - I do go back and play the old stuff, and I do recognize that those games are still fun, years later - maybe klunky and a little hard to figure out at first (probably not an insignificant contributor to RPGs' reputation for not being mass-market-friendly), but definitely still fun. Don't try and pretend that we were all under some mass delusion at the time, and that the gaming experiences we knew back then are better off dead and buried.
So where does the genre go from here? I'd be lying if I said I wasn't alarmed by the trend to abandon the label by big-ticket titles. It feels like a conscious marginalization of the genre ("This can't be an RPG, it's too fun!"). But by the same ticket - if it's really not an RPG, call it like it is. But I tend to think that the RPG tent is big enough to encompass an extremely broad subset of games, and I'd like to see it grow.
Labels: Roleplaying Games
- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 6:04 AM (Permalink)
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I've noticed this trend, as well. And it is a pretty big and fast turn around from even 2009 when games were touting how their RPG features created a depth not found in other games of their respective genres. Yeah, I'm looking at you Borderlands and Dawn of War II.
Maybe it's just a cyclical thing. Three years from now everybody will be talking about how it's got RPG elements again.
It's like... they don't want to be associated with the "ghetto" of RPGs... but they don't want to lose the money that can be made there.
It's like... they don't want to be associated with the "ghetto" of RPGs... but they don't want to lose the money that can be made there.
Bah, if the big developers decide to leave the RPG genre - good riddance. It'll just leave more space for good RPGs to emerge from the indie and 'single A' developers. Although... I must say I was taken aback by how much the marketing and gameplay of Dragon Age differed. I think it might be simply because a really good RPG takes a lot of imagination and resources to make, yet will never be as profitable as the next shooter... So companies are either trying to expunge the RPG elements or simply hiding them under marketing.
This is just the inevitable backlash against RPG elements being shoehorned into every genre from sports (Madden) to "sports" (WWE Smackdown vs. Raw).
It reminds me of unlockables. At first, only a few games had them, and it was fine, because those games had 'em for a reason. Then all of a sudden every new game you bought blocked access maybe 90% of its features (cars, levels, characters, etc.) because you hadn't "unlocked" them yet.
It reminds me of unlockables. At first, only a few games had them, and it was fine, because those games had 'em for a reason. Then all of a sudden every new game you bought blocked access maybe 90% of its features (cars, levels, characters, etc.) because you hadn't "unlocked" them yet.
It's just fad marketing. This kind of thing happens every few years; they figure they've pumped the fad of all it's worth and go off to find another one they can run into the ground. They'll be back when it's looking viable again.
# posted by 
: February 23, 2010 3:02 PM
: February 23, 2010 3:02 PM
It is absolutely a cyclical thing. In 1998 PC RPGs were considered a dead genre and FF7 on the Playstation was an amusing fluke.
Then Final Fantasy VII PC came out, Ultima IX was FINALLY released (though it was too late for Origin Systems and that's another story), a ton more Japanese RPGs came out on Playstation, including neat genre-benders like Tactics Ogre and FF Tactics, and the rest is history.
I think the problem is that "pure" RPGs which are all about character management, rather than skill in various flavors of realtime combat, can seem like they're missing something when compared to games like Bioshock, Fallout 3, Warcraft 3, and World of Warcraft*. Managing Your Dudes is now something you can do in a lot of different games that are most definitely not pure RPGs.
For developers who think that Their Story is more important than Managing Your Dudes, it's totally understandable that they'd want to rebrand existing franchises as "action adventure" or whatever.
Also, pure RPGs tend to take extra time to develop and are therefore almost always behind the graphics curve.
*WoW and other MMOs are RPGs, but I'd argue the fact that everyone gets a chance to do Quest X and become The Hero Of [insert place here] that it breaks the immersion of the player-created story. In a single-player RPG you really can be The Hero of the particular instance of that world, but then you can't raid dungeons for epic drops with your guildmates.
Then Final Fantasy VII PC came out, Ultima IX was FINALLY released (though it was too late for Origin Systems and that's another story), a ton more Japanese RPGs came out on Playstation, including neat genre-benders like Tactics Ogre and FF Tactics, and the rest is history.
I think the problem is that "pure" RPGs which are all about character management, rather than skill in various flavors of realtime combat, can seem like they're missing something when compared to games like Bioshock, Fallout 3, Warcraft 3, and World of Warcraft*. Managing Your Dudes is now something you can do in a lot of different games that are most definitely not pure RPGs.
For developers who think that Their Story is more important than Managing Your Dudes, it's totally understandable that they'd want to rebrand existing franchises as "action adventure" or whatever.
Also, pure RPGs tend to take extra time to develop and are therefore almost always behind the graphics curve.
*WoW and other MMOs are RPGs, but I'd argue the fact that everyone gets a chance to do Quest X and become The Hero Of [insert place here] that it breaks the immersion of the player-created story. In a single-player RPG you really can be The Hero of the particular instance of that world, but then you can't raid dungeons for epic drops with your guildmates.
I don't see it as a problem either. Do we take the large corps at their word when they declare that a genre is gone?
It is just a matter of marketing. There will be those gems that are made because the people behind the game love RPGs. They'll bring it to fruition regardless of what is said of the genre. If they're successful, then the swing back will begin anew.
It is just a matter of marketing. There will be those gems that are made because the people behind the game love RPGs. They'll bring it to fruition regardless of what is said of the genre. If they're successful, then the swing back will begin anew.
# posted by : February 23, 2010 8:44 PM
: February 23, 2010 8:44 PM
May i ask here what Mass Effect 1 is then? I finished it recently, started it over and saw how doing even small things differently seem to alter the game. Some say its an action game, but having played a ton of action games, this is as much a plain action game as deus ex is a "doom clone". However if someone mentions "RPG" in the same context as Mass Effect there are always people who cry infidels.
The closest thing i can think is "action RPG", but Oblivion is also said -by some- to be an "action RPG" and to me both games feel far from the same.
The closest thing i can think is "action RPG", but Oblivion is also said -by some- to be an "action RPG" and to me both games feel far from the same.
You are right. The Diablo-style games are also an action-RPGs, and they are completely different in gameplay and feel, too. Action-RPG is useful to distinguish a game from being a traditional (but now rare) turn-based RPG, but I guess not much else.
I referred to them in the above post as hybrid RPG / FPS games above - if your FPS skills are lacking, you are gonna do poorly in those games. I criticized a recent article that praised the FPS-ish-ness of ME2 as the future of RPGs - apparently wanting more FPS and less RPG - but Bioware still (so far) calls both games RPGs, and I'm okay with having the tent big enough to include them.
I referred to them in the above post as hybrid RPG / FPS games above - if your FPS skills are lacking, you are gonna do poorly in those games. I criticized a recent article that praised the FPS-ish-ness of ME2 as the future of RPGs - apparently wanting more FPS and less RPG - but Bioware still (so far) calls both games RPGs, and I'm okay with having the tent big enough to include them.
I love to read, but I generally can't stand best-sellers. Whenever I've tried one, I've been amazed at how... mediocre it is. And often enough, blockbuster movies leave me cold (don't get me started on television!).
So should games be any different? Mainstream game developers are simply trying to appeal to the largest customer base they can identify. Making a good game is of lesser priority. Sure, they want to produce a good game, but that's not the primary goal.
As for me, my tastes clearly aren't mainstream. But so what? I'm way past the time I worried about being cool. I'm happy enough as long as I can find games I want to play,... and right now, I've got more games I want to play than I've got time to play them.
So should games be any different? Mainstream game developers are simply trying to appeal to the largest customer base they can identify. Making a good game is of lesser priority. Sure, they want to produce a good game, but that's not the primary goal.
As for me, my tastes clearly aren't mainstream. But so what? I'm way past the time I worried about being cool. I'm happy enough as long as I can find games I want to play,... and right now, I've got more games I want to play than I've got time to play them.
Do not miss the ENN video on this subject, it's good:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/escapist-news-network/1482-RPG-Elements
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