Are RPG's the best form of video games?

[MeetyourUnmaker]

I think ever since the video game was a thing that RPG's have been a universal thing for it. There are all kinds of old RPG's that are easy to get into for me just by their nature of gameplay. I think the games that stick with me the most aside from FPS's and unique games like Worms Armageddon and Battlezone 98 are story based JRPG's and regular RPG's. So what do you actually think about this topic?

[Chezza]

I think it's so subjective you might as well call this thread "what is your favourite game genre?"

 

In a Doom forum you might have some people disagree with your rpg are the best viewpoint.

[Bauul]

Games peaked at Minesweeper.  It's been all down hill since then.

[ETTiNGRiNDER]

Ugh, no.  Occasionally one holds my interest for a bit, especially in the realm of Diablo-style or Dungeon Master-style ones that aren't so RPG-ish in the usual sense, but otherwise I've always been much more of an action or strategy fan.

[geo]

Best form of video games? RPGs were barely video when they started. Static images, text only, but hey you gotta start some where.

 

Let me play devil's advocate here, because the answer is clearly a simple no. With RPGs you have your choice, chose equipment, chose where to go, what to explore, even chose your own dialog sometimes. RPGs are also easy in the sense, they don't require skill so much as strategy and enough time to grind your way to the top. You will get better and better as long as you invest the time.

 

Also what's with the Role Playing in Role Playing Games... you always play a role in most games before Tetris. The role of Mario, the role of Doomguy. What I think RPG should really mean is Roll Playing Game as in you roll the dice ala Dungeons & Dragons and other similar table top games. There's a big play to roll the dice in RPG games when it comes to attack power, evasion, stats upgrades and so on.

[Aquila Chrysaetos]

1 hour ago, geo said:

What I think RPG should really mean is Roll Playing Game as in you roll the dice ala Dungeons & Dragons and other similar table top games. There's a big play to roll the dice in RPG games when it comes to attack power, evasion, stats upgrades and so on.

Morrowind was this way, but it could easily be warped in such a way that RNG didn't affect anything anymore, so the early game was hard as hell and really fun, but then the end was like "I spent 100,000 gold training to level 65 and now I'm invincible."

Its still better than Skyrim, I think, though.

[Halfblind]

Honestly I don't find the allure in grinding my way through the same dungeon over and over just so I can upgrade my character enough to enjoy the game. I don't have the patience to wait for my turn when playing turn based RPG's and I am not obsessive enough to clean out all the dungeons loot only to spend countless hours in the shop selling, buying and crafting gear.

 

If the RPG was classified as an Action RPG and it contained a good story I would consider playing it. I do like games that have well designed character customization and the ability to customize my gameplay experience around my playing style.

 

As for my favorite game types and genera's I like Arena Shooters (Unreal Championship 2), FPS games (Halo CE, 3 & ODST), Action Adventures (Drakan: OTF) and Open World games (Destroy all Humans 1&2, Saints Row 2 and Crackdown). I like games where you can have fun and explore the most.

[[McD] James]

I love RPGs immensely, but I generally lean towards first-person shooters and 2D platformers more often. I still need to get around to playing Ultima 5 sometime soon. 

 

But yeah, as Chezza already said, the question is entirely subjective.

[Apaul27]

Well, FPS games can goes well with RPG games.

[MrGlide]

Bah, its all whatever. I like a wide swath of games. But can you even say most early rpgs where even "Roleplaying"? I mean it's not like DnD where you have real choices for most early rpgs, to say you're role playing in them is the same as saying you're role playing as Doom Guy.

[Pure Hellspawn]

There is no "best form" of video games.

 

I'm not into sports game and I love RPGs. But I'd probably be more likely to enjoy a well-polished sports game than a crappy, buggy RPG. If Skyrim only sold on the PS3, I would probably have never played it due to the buggy questlines (the pc version was much better).

[Impie]

Not when they're just visual novels and math homework.

[SOSU]

Depends on if RPGs are your favorite video game genre.

[Taw Tu'lki]

Of course, yes. In RPG you can create your character for your pleasure and in addition missions do informal missions. RPG replaces a real life. And that's great.

[qdash]

No. It's really hard to make really cool FPS game, harder than anything else - it's best form of video games for me. FPS genre is the best, this games they can have some RPG elements but it's still not classic RPGs. Exploring, non linear story are just few things from RPG genre. GTA isn't RPG, right?

[Nine Inch Heels]

I played quite a few RPGs, such Diablo 2 or Path of Exile, also tried World of Warcraft and looked into Final Fantasy a lot (love the story element there), but in hindsight I feel like that time I spent on most of those games did (next to) nothing for me. Sure, you get your jollies when you get some good item drops and such, and obviously there's a speedrunning scene for (some of) these games as well so it's hard to argue there is some element of skill involved when you play early on.

 

But for the most part, once you had your essentials equipped, you really just "watch stuff happen". Path of Exile is the prime example for that sort of "gameplay" where really all you do is zip around from mob to mob for loot. It's like a slot machine on steroids where almost nothing you do wrong is going to get your character killed. I can see why people enjoy these cookie clicker-ish games with tons of layers of RNG-based loot and RPG based character progression, but if it wasn't for the fact that I played some of those games competitively I'd never have played them as much as I did in the end.

 

I can't understand, for the life of me, why people get so immersed in these games just because these games are what they are, surely it's a matter of taste, but I always needed another reason to load Path of Exile when I did. As far as I'm concerned, these games are merely very elaborate time wasters that do very little to reward skillful play in the bigger scope of things.

 

So, to answer the question: No, they're not the best games ever made, the only thing they're good at is denying you progress by virtue of RNG to create the illusion of success (pride and accomplishment) once you make progress.

[eharper256]

As someone who GM's table top RPG's, I have to say most computer based RPG's are a pale imitation that have really gone off on their own tangent, with Western Ones favouring the 'Go anywhere, Do everything, and "In this theme park world everything is a dungeon!"' and Japanese ones favouring 'Grind anywhere, Grind everything, and "Listen to my wonderful story that should have been a crappy web-novel!"'

 

There are nice exceptions from time to time, though, to be sure. And I love games with RPG systems that are actually deep and force me to make difficult decisions. Alot of the homage games to the original Dungeon Master are some of best one's I've played, because they know its all about the pure gameplay; stuff like Starcrawlers, Fall of the Dungeon Guardians, and Grimrock are fantastic. Some JRPGs are also pretty darn good on occasion; and they really do strategy-RPGs well. I love Fire Emblem games and the Etrian Odyssey / 7th Dragon series.

 

Path of Exile struck me as a bit of a sham; you get this absolutely massive skill forest, but ultimately you have to build in about 2 or 3 specific ways to not die in the late game (there is a serious attack speed meta), so its all a waste of time. I want bizarre builds to be viable. And it is, of course, built on the skeleton of Diablo's infinite loot slot machine.

 

Personally, I'd say RPG's, like any game genre, have the potential to be amazing. But often, people just bolt some ill-concieved RPG mechanics onto something and call it a day.

 

It also depends on your mood. Sometimes I want some X-COM strategy because I'm feeling like I want masochistically challenge the RNG god. Sometimes I want to sit on my sofa and read an anime Kinetic Novel for a sugar injection. Sometimes I want to curse the fates from playing an ASCII roguelike like Stone Soup. Sometimes I just want to splat monsters with powerful explosive weapons in Doom. Variety is the spice of life!