Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Discussion Time: RPG Gameplay
So, my humble beginnings with RPGs started with some Final Fantasy game, I can't remember which. It soon went into a downright spiral of SNES RPG love: I played Chrono Trigger. I played FFIV and V and VI. I played SMRPG, I played... a bit of Breath of Fire? Can't say I got too far because I was too impatient as a kid. My elder brother, Elvin was the gateway to those games, and I am very thankful for it. Without it, I doubt I would even be here. I'd probably be in some Ivy League school and being a haughty little shit about my career. Video Games? HAH! I turn my nose up at thee and your filthy presents, NERDS!
Okay, I doubt it would entirely end up like that.
RPGs are kind of hard. You have to have patience and grind, grind, GRIND until you're a decent level to handle everything. You have to think before you act. Equip the best damn things you could afford and hope to god something drops enough gold to line your pockets for days. I can understand why most people don't feel like dealing with them. Over the years, though, they've become more vibrant and complex. Sometimes, more than they need to be. And they tend to have some sort of story behind them. You can't just slap on a story in a platformer! Nobody will care!
So, my question to you guys who play RPGS: What do you look for in an RPG? And how do you normally play them?
Typically, these days, I don't really care about the grinding. I have more time than I can use watching all those youtube videos. Grinding is just a reflection of life, of doing mundane things constantly until we finally achieve a "level" and a big fat paycheck. Okay, maybe not, but there's really no way around it. Minimal grinding is nice, but balance is tricky. I mean, go look at Pokemon Gen II. They have the absurdly lowest level curve ever, and it is easy enough to overlevel and trash most of the gyms. Except Whitney. You might get EXPLODED on.
Innovative gameplay? Eeeh, you can't really stray too far, although I don't mind REAL LIVE ACTION COMBAT HOLY SHIT. Turn based gives you a chance to think before you act, so I kinda gravitate towards those. I prefer RPGs with lots of customization in terms of things I can do. There's something about combining the powers of two classes into one that makes me happy. I also tend to blow things apart if I get the right combo. Booyah, bitches. If you also put in team attacks, my god I will love you forever. RPGs need more team attacks like Chrono Trigger. Those were nice and usually had awesome effects. Maybe team attacks based on affection? I dunno...
Story? Yes, please. I want something meaningful, something to draw me in. Sure, I could possibly go back and play FFI and II and not really care much about the lack of story, but its an added bonus. I'd also like to be given hints as to where to go rather than stuck in one place with no NPC telling me what I need to know to go kill their villain. Compelling stories are part of my blood, and if an RPG has one, its... Well, it might win me over, if everything else is in place. You kind of can't have a good story in a game that's otherwise complete shit with gameplay elements. It turns people away and frustrates those who somehow stick with the janky controls and the absurd level curves.
My gameplay style is more focused around magic. Yes, did I ever mention I fucking love mages? LOVE EM. My entire RP roster is mages. All of them. Er, anyway, you usually see me with a party of two mages: one focused on support, one on offense. Summons are a plus. I always have a physical fighter in the group, and ALWAYS a tank. Then its all a matter of finding the particular weaknesses a monster has and nailing them with it hardcore. For bosses, it varies, but the whole strategy is the same: find weaknesses, boost physical defenses and magical defenses, study the boss patterns, then go out to town. I do not try to let the battle linger, in case the boss has an ace up its sleeve when it gets down to low HP. In other words, I play cautiously and really aggresively, because the last thing I want is for me to look like I'm winning, only to be nailed by like some bullshit Ultima up the ass and wiped. And if I don't win? I back off and go grind until I have the proper skills to handle it, and try again. And if that doesn't work... well, what other choice do I have but to try to figure out what's wrong with my strategy?
So guys and gals, tell me about your RPG experiences. Bad, good, weird, whatever. Maybe I can reccomend a good game? (haha as if i played enough RPGs to reccomend a few outside of the whole mainstream stuff)
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I've had an odd love-hate affair with RPG's in general. One that I've been playing recently, called Guardian Saga, is pretty good because it's just you and not a whole party, and battles are relatively fast-paced. Also the story is simple as hell - gods have gone mental, kick they ass. On the other hand, I've run into too many RPG's that quickly turned into a grindfest, became too complicated or the story got literally incomprehensible. I guess what turns me off is that in some the difficulty curve demands patience and skill, both things which I lack :U
ReplyDeleteI recently had a bad moment in Dragon Quest 9 with the... second boss, I think? The Skeleton Knight. For whatever reason, I simply went straight to the boss encounter, resiting the urge to strangle my annoying fairy companion (Navi come back, all is forgiven) only to get my arse handed to me due to the amount of damage this bastard was dealing with every stroke. A little warning would have been nice beforehand, game! No? Not even an indication that I should have murdered a few species until I was high-leveled enough? Fine, putting you down, then.
I generally prefer any RPG that lets me actually have an impact on things and not have to sit there mashing buttons. The Crystal Chronicles games on DS are Action/RPG, which is the best kind of RPG for me because I don't feel like a little helper gnome and my character's shoulder, disconnected from events on-screen. The Mario RPG's have their action commands, the fights of Project X Zone actually let me influence the outcome of battles and Fire Emblem's tactical gameplay lets me plan just how I'm going to tackle a problem, rather than merely deciding what flashy magic to shoot what monster with.
Failing that, any unique mechanic that stands out in any way can grab my interest, like the Action Points of BD or Gyrozetter's transforming cars. Because I'm a sucker for stuff like that :U
I've never been a big RPG player. I don't like the aesthetic of most of them - generic fantasy with either maid outfits and blue hair if it's Eastern or spikes, mud and demons if its Western. MMORPGs don't offer me anything in return for their grind - it never feels good to do tasks over and over only to get told to do it again. That said, there are a few titles I do enjoy.
ReplyDeletePokemon kind of counts, I guess? It has stats and turn-based battles and a party of characters and other mechanics we assign to RPGs nowadays. I've gone off it at the moment, but I expect I'll return to it soon. I prefer it due to the monster-collecting mechanic providing multiple aspects to consider when building a team, and what types to counter or be aware of.
I occasionally like the top-down western RPG - Diablo and Torchlight come to mind. But they never hold me for long enough. Maybe it's just the gameplay loop that doesn't grab me. I'm not attached to the progression of my characters enough, probably because I prefer a larger scale to view it on - see RTS games, 4X games where you can see your planets develop, etc. Seeing a entire civilization develop is cooler to me than watching some gelled-up guy get a nicer sword.
My favourite games, however, do have RPG elements in them. Dawn of War 2's campaign is a fucking incredible array of character management, tactical play and putting shiny armour on your heroes, and I'd like to see more light elements like that. Dota 2 is a beast too far removed from RPGs to be called one, but it has skills and levelling up and items and whatnot. And XCom is just the tits.
I've never really enjoyed the traditional RPG game, but I loves me some putting shiny gear on my mens to make things explode. It doesn't always work (*cough* Age of Empires Online *cough*), but if done right, it makes me more invested in my character, their role in the game and how they progress.
Grind is the worst, though. If there's no tangible reward to my efforts, I'll put the game down. I don't mind if levels come fairly quickly, or if they're The Levels That Don't Do Anything, but I won't spend days grinding for XP or whatever. Boooooring.