A big special thanks to Steven, Patrick and Milki for keeping the Facebook group alive this past week while virtually everyone was away on account of vacation or work or exams!
RPGs, RPGs, RPGs. We cover them all day, everyday on Siliconera. Especially of late, there’s been a pleasant amount of variety in the RPG experiences that the non-Japanese market has been exposed to. We’ve gotten games like Mass Effect 2, Sakura Wars 5, Monster Hunter Tri, Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey, Torchlight and many more.
So, let’s have at it. What kind of RPGs do you like? Story-driven? Character-driven? Battle-driven? Lighthearted? Serious? Tragic? Turn-based? Action-oriented? Massively-multiplayer? Realistic? Stylized? Korean? Japanese? Western? Bare your RPG soul for all to see!
Steven wrote:
Personally, I’ve grown to like JRPGs due to their more focus on narrative than many western RPGs. Since Chrono Trigger I’ve become particularly fond of being able to see my enemies before I engage in battle, even if the battle system has a phase sequence. If possible, I ALWAYS set my battle system option to real-time as I prefer it over being completely turn-based. I generally prefer linear RPGs or at least with lite branching.
If I get to determine the ending and certain scenarios along the way(Chrono Trigger or Chrono Cross) I prefer a silent protagonists as I feel more connected to the character. Otherwise I prefer a character with a voice when it comes to more linear RPGs (FF IX). I’ve also come to enjoy the MMORPG style gameplay like in FF XII. FF XII already has a lot of what I want in an RPG. The only area it fails at is the narrative. It shines at a few points, but ultimately fails to reach it’s potential.
Patrick wrote:
I think most people who visit Siliconera enjoy JRPGs. To me, what I look for most in a RPG is a good solid battle system. I tend to prefer the less traditional RPG battle systems. Action or Strategy type battle systems tend to be my favorite (Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, and Valkyria Chronicles), cause they keep me alert and thinking. Throw in a story that doesn’t have to be the best in the world, but good enough to keep me interested, and you’ve got my kind of RPG.
I don’t really care too much if the protagonist talks or not. I don’t really tend to think of them as myself, unless I create the character (how they look and their name). I do like MMOs but I can only get into them if I’m playing with my friends. I can never get enough interest to find people to play with in the game.
Milki wrote:
My perfect RPG would have a female MC, would be turn-based, with no stressy actionesque stuff like QTEs or having to hit the VISIBLE enemies (the age of random battles is over, yes.) before they hit you (to engage battle), it would have lots of story and branching pathes for replay value. Of course there need to be dating and stat-raising sim elements too, it doesn’t exactly have to be anime style, but PRETTY, mature art. NO silent protagonist, no it doesn’t make me feel like I’m him/her, it just takes alot out of the story for me, but lots of dialogue decisions would be a plus, being able to chose what kind of personality the hero/heroine has, that makes me identify myself alot more with them instead of no personality at all…
I’d prefer a Point&Click/RPG hybrid tho with a murder / mystery / detective / urban fantasy / magical girl / time traveling theme tho. I’d like a story where the heroine falls for the bad guy and you can epically choose which side you’re gonna end up on and have lots of romance and drama. I like customisation and alchemy too.Oh and I wouldn’t mind some blood and smex either, tho maybe not at the same time. But I think I’m old enough for that now, I can handle more than fainting in a battle and an innocent kiss on the cheek! :>
