The Five Ingredients for the Ultimate Action RPG
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2. Give me an engaging story.
The story of an RPG is vitally important, as it gives context to the world the player is experiencing, and keeps the player interested through the many hours they put into the game.
A well-paced story will slowly reveal information to the player, giving them timely rewards, encouraging them to keep playing further.
Being able to emotionally invest in the story and characters is also important, as a lacklustre story and rubbish characters can lose a player's interest.
Good Knights of The Old Republic
KOTOR had the benefit of having a pre-established history being set in the Star Wars universe, thus gaining the interest of gamers and Star Wars fans alike.
Not one to simply sit back and watch the money roll in, KOTOR also provided a compelling story. Not just the traditional Star Wars story revolving around Jedi vs. Sith, KOTOR provided what many gamers believe to be one of the greatest gaming twists; you were actually the fabled Darth Revan.
Add to that the interesting buddy characters, each with their own backstory, and you have a great narrative.
Bad Final Fantasy XIII
I'll be honest; I never ended up finishing Final Fantasy XIII. I personally felt that the story was pretty convoluted, not to mention the extremely slow pace of information revealed to the player.
I also felt that the switching from character to character broke up the narrative even more.
Add to that the annoying characters that the FF series can produce, and you have one story that struggles to maintain player interest.
