The Flawless RPG

[dragon wench]

I can't actually recall if we've had a thread like this. I suspect we likely have given the nature of this board, but if so it was a long time ago, and since then our composition would have changed significantly.. so here goes..


Anyway... What, in your view, comprises the ultimate RPG experience? You know, the perfect game, one that wouldn't give you any cause for criticism, at all..

I'm not asking for your favourite RPG. Rather, I'm asking you to create, what is for you, the ideal.. the absolute Utopia..

For me, an engaging story that draws me in and makes me care about the characters and the world they inhabit, is paramount. Equally, creative, skillfully executed party banter is a must. It also goes without say that the writing has to be excellent.

While I don't view graphics and music as utterly critical to a good game, I do feel they are important and can contribute a great deal to atmosphere and immersion. So, in my ideal game, these too would need inclusion.

I'm not really combat focused when I play games, but that too is an important ingredient, because I do like to employ careful strategy to get through a tough battle.

OK, over to you.

[kozeph]

Even if there is no perfect game, this is what I would consider flawless.

long narrative lots of background and mature(I dont mean chain mail bikinis) content with lots of moral choices, strong focus on choice making. extensive choice & consequence system. Generation system (you start the game but your pc can die leaving another character as the protagonist)

likeable npcs, easy to read and not tireing dialogue a party 6 (something I consider lacking in new games). overwhelming skill system (not only combat oriented, but in diplamacy, exploration ect) enough that in your first playthough youll go uh?

big map with lots of diferent regions, areas, towns ect ect ect...
intelligent AI that use smart tactics work in teams.

besides long dungeon crawls, a sort of progresion system in a career eventualy reaching the top (archmage, knight of a kingdon, king, general, master thief, guild master, really rich merchant prince)

day and night cicle with different things happening at different hours. you can play the antagonist side or the hero side. by antagonist I dont mean mean evil but smart evil that for the greater good you have to play evil. A worthy opponent or antagonist an evil master mind or a paragon of goodness.

I could go on and on for days so Ill stop

[Tricky]

Very good point. I think a lot of us are thinking about this most of the time. We have a value system here already, that much is obvious. It's not like we approve/disapprove of news postings about random RPG articles without knowing what we are talking about.

I think we generally don't like things that are dumbed down or too generic. I've never seen anyone complain about a too detailed RPG mechanism or too unique gameplay. And even if they did, it seems likely that such a title would have eventually become a cult classic in specific gamer circles.

Balance is everything. An intricate stat/ability system allows for creative solutions to character building. But you can still end up giving a character way too much experience points during the course of a game to make it become generic and unimportant. For character building to remain unique and interesting you simply have to limit how much you let a player grow. I don't believe this balance should be dynamic. Levelled content takes away part of the challenge of playing a character that tries to defeat the odds. Which brings me to the following paragraph.

Gameplay. I really have only one thing to add here: don't punish the player for wanting roleplaying something in a particular way. I had something more specific in mind here, but I lost track of that thought while petting a cat inside a cute little house in the Norwegian countryside. Such is life, but perhaps someone else knows what I'm talking about. I will get back to it later if no one else does.

Mage or Fighter or Thief. These archetypes were thought of a long time ago and still are at the roots of nearly every RPG. Even an 'open' class system such as the one used in Morrowind draws a clear line between these three archetypes. An ideal RPG would not only move away from these archetypes of roleplay, it would most importantly NOT have its most important underlying statistics, abilities and game mechanics revolve around it. In all likelyhood the ideal RPG would move away from any kind of traditional fantasy setting.

Storywise, the game would have to be written by an actual, proven writer. No predictable storyline. Dynamic, if possible. Of sufficient length and allowing for plenty of side quest to distract the player from is 'responsibilities' towards the main quest. Ah, and it would need good character writing. Compelling but completely optional NPCs and all that.

Finally the release of the ideal RPG would have to be preceeded by the ideal marketing campaign. Nothing obnoxious. Nothing EA. It would have to be clear and simple. Don't shower magazines with ads, previews and empty promises. No showy press conferences. No self-proclaimed gaming gurus telling US what WE like. A game should prove itself for what it is, not what it might be.

[Bloodstalker]

I have very few requirements to be honest. I could care less about the level of depth in any given rule system or such. They never made sense to me anyway because a lot of the restrictions are just wierd IMO.

First, I do not like sandbox play. I'm sorry, but my idea of a good time does not consist of "you can do anything" and all the promises that usually go along with that kind of thing. I shouldn't be able to do anything and everything. Choices made should have significant impact. If I choose to side with one faction, I should not have an opportunity to climb the ladder of a rival faction. I hated that about the Elder Scrolls games.

I want a fairly linear experience. I equate playing a game with reading a book. It has to have a plot, character, and a pace. Most games of late miss out on the pace. If I'm reading a book and it leaves the main plot for too long and rambles on and on about the various factions and people of the world that have no real connection to the main plot I lose interest. In too many games I wind up losing track of the main quest and just never bothering to go back to it. For me, there is such a thing as too much freedom and content.

My main thing is characters though. I'll look beyond a typical world if the characters are well done. Iwant to care about the people in the game one way or another. If I don't have that connection, I won't last in the game. Hence, I don't generally like RPG's that have no party system.

I don't expect my games to reinvent the wheel or to break new ground every single time out. I don't consider games to be art. I don't think shaking things up is always a good thing. I just want a game that is entertaining, draws me in, and is fun to play. I miss the fun factor. Seems like everyone wants to analyse games to death these days and focus of the technichal aspects of this series as compared to that one that no one really pays much attention to having fun anymore. Outside of that, I'm not really demanding.

[kozeph]

I don't expect my games to reinvent the wheel or to break new ground every single time out. I don't consider games to be art. I don't think shaking things up is always a good thing. I just want a game that is entertaining, draws me in, and is fun to play. I miss the fun factor. Seems like everyone wants to analyse games to death these days and focus of the technichal aspects of this series as compared to that one that no one really pays much attention to having fun anymore. Outside of that, I'm not really demanding.

truer words have never been said. this days games are only as good as their graphics, texture ect ect. the porpuse of mainly of videogames is to entretain poeple. That being said I stand behind what I posted earlier, I would find very entretaning a game with an open world such as elder scroll I found that the concep was very good the excution was done poorly becouse of the make your own story but I also would enjoy a linear significant choice making plot where what one does matters ala witcher. So in the end I can enjoy a game that can be a bit sandboxie as long as it has a bit of plot fallout, arcanum, realms of arkania ect ect as much as i enjoy purely story driven games witcher, planescape(its the closet thing I have to my ideal game with a few more things of my own preference) ofcourse the story driven games are my preference choice, just like a fluid book that takes away one mind away

[Garriath]

It's a fascinating topic. Somehow, the big thing I find missing in just about every recent game I've played is some sort of overarching message or theme in the game's story. DA has been loads of fun, and while the characters are entertaining and believable, I don't really feel like the game's directors had some sort of message in mind other than creating something entertaining, rather like Bloodstalker was thinking (not to put words in his mouth. And, of course, DA has its own faults...)

On the other hand, a handful of games that I've played have actually advanced some very interesting themes and messages. Planescape had some fascinating arguments on what regret really is, and what atonement really can be (or can't be...) The Witcher had a very interesting (if depressing) grey morality. Same general deal with TSL, blasting holes into what we like to call "good" and "evil." Even Mass Effect (1)'s renegade path offered some interesting philosophy as to the difference between being evil and being realistic (though I did find the 'paragon' path to be somewhat insipid.)

It's that kind of originality of thought, when I really feel that the game's directors are trying to *say* something other than "we want your money," that really attaches me to a game. Some people will argue that this is a field better explored in theater or literature, but I honestly believe that computer games can offer a perspective that no other medium can, where *you* are essentially the driving force in the storyline. Hopefully, it's a thought that'll be developed on as games keep evolving.