What would it take to make the greatest RPG?

[LordMyotis]

In my Opinion the best rpg would be a combination of a bioware story with a bethesda world and From Software combat. I meen think about it running around skyrim fighting like dark souls with a mass effect or dragon age type story. Drool.

[hector530]

isnt there a meme/joke about this already?

 

CDproject make the engine, bethesda builds the world, obsidian makes the story, bioware writes the dialog, fromsoftware the combat

[Vagrant0]

Arguably, none of the above.

 

The sad reality of it all is that the scope and scale of the world in which you can play in would always be limited by whatever production budget was set. Even if you could get your handful of A-list designers together to agree on anything, the vast majority of this budget would end up being spent on world assets, and like with most of the recent game titles, the gameplay itself would be very linear as a result (easier to tell the story). Meaning that the more detailed the world is, the smaller that world is, meanwhile developed and coherent the story is, the more linear it becomes. The only way to break this linear relationship would be to invest less on the art assets and more time on actually integrating and developing plot points (potentially even making whole groups of plot points inaccessible after various decisions are made). Unfortunately however, you would have a harder time trying to sell off a game that was primarily text, or featured a graphic quality lower than what you'd expect from a modern title.

[Thor.]

The greatest rpg is Skyrim or borderlands 2.

Edited December 21, 2013 by Thor.

[simtam]

oh, the production budget...

no problem, just complete the joke with the punchline "... and the funding of Richard Garriot!" ;-)

(or whoever is currently appropriate for this kind of punchline)

[brokenergy]

When everyone comes together and sings kumbaya.

[hoofhearted4]

Borderlands 2 is a great RPG. would be really sweet if it was an in depth RPG though, with more customized skills, points, even armor and stuff. imagine having armor reach the number of weapons. imagine if you could go down mini skill trees for each skill. sort of like what Dragon Age 2 has, where each skill has a couple of mini skills that enhance it you can grab. i would say stats too, but i couldnt see borderlands involving Vit and Strength and stuff. more like, if you wanted to mess with a tanky Assassin or something, youd find gear that puts more points into the tankier tree (sort of like it does now).

 

world event boss fights, like what ive seen in Destiny, would be cool too. you awaken a Rakk Hive, or a Constructor pops down, other players can hop in your world and help you take it down.

 

honestly, these little ideas i see being implement in Destiny. its having Skill Point trees for the weapons, and for the classes, with World Events. this is a game im hugely looking forward to. i like my RPGs like Fall Out and Demons Souls and Diablo and GW2, but something about FPSRPGs i find really fun (which Fall Out sort of is, just not in the same respect as BL2) maybe because classic weapon RPGs (sword, bow, etc) are over done.

[JimboUK]

Bethesda build the world and Obsidian fill it.

[Beriallord]

I like the combat in Dark Souls, Dragon's Dogma, and to some extent, Monster Hunter. I also like an open world, lots of exploration, towns, dungeons filled with loot. Maybe some of the dungeons could be random generating, so the loot, mobs, and structure varies. I like random mods on loot, but not so random that its guaranteed the vast majority of loot you find will be vendor trash.

 

I just got done playing path of exile, and I absolutely learned to hate loot mechanics like that in game with a passion.

Edited December 23, 2013 by Beriallord

[Zewp]

We will never again get truly great RPGs as long as the RPG developers are developing games for the Skyrim/Borderlands crowds. Those games are not bad, but they are not truly RPGs. The closest they come to being RPGs is that they have a system of character development, which on its own does not make an RPG.

 

Baldur's Gate, Fallout 1, 2 and (arguably) New Vegas, Dragon Age: Origins, Planescape: Torment - these are examples of RPGs. Skyrim and Borderlands scrape the bottom of the barrel of RPG-dom. Luckily we have projects like Underrail, Wasteland 2 and Torment: Tides of Numenera trying to return the RPG genre to its roots, but it remains to be seen if they can be successful in an environment where gamers are just out for instant gratification.