What would it take to make the greatest RPG?

[hoofhearted4]

but they are not truly RPGs.

no, they just arent classic RPGs. RPGs, like every game, evolve. RPGs today are the Borderlands and the FallOuts. which i dont mind at all. but an RPG is any game where you RolePlay a character and make choices on how that character develops. some are simple like Borderlands in that you just choose how you play a class. some are more in depth like Fall Out where you choose right and wrong and etc. a pure RPG would have every action have a unique outcome so no two characters are the same.

 

RPG has come to define any sort of open world sandbox games with some form of Skill Tree and or Leveling. ive always been one thats said that Skill Trees/leveling are almost never a bad addition to a game. it gets a sense of advancement and achievement and a sense of choice and customization

 

as i said before, Destiny is they RPG im currently looking forward to. but even then its just for the Skill Trees everywhere. i like being able to use something and unlock stuff the more i Use it.

 

If you could truly create a unique character in borderlands, that would be sweet. just give a gigantic skill tree, sort of the Souls series approach where starting class really only affects youre starting equipment and maybe your personal story origins. you would then pick anywhere on a skill tree map and start from there. this would let your class become almost anything. you want a theif that tanks, you just need to head that way into the Tree, or how about a Healer that does DPS, head that way into the tree. a Ranged DoT class or a Melee glass cannon. if you can think of it you can build it. now make the game use any and every weapon. you wanna rock a sword a la Zer0, but no guns, go for it. you wanna rock a ranged toon with a bow and a sniper? go for it. duel wield an axe and a pistol or a hammer and a shield? you could have crazy combos, and skill trees, and badass looking chracters with this amount of weapon customization. i think a game with both guns and swords would be cool. especially if you have a skill tree that can reflect that. then the hammers and the swords could do crazy stuff that borderlands weapons do.

[Zewp]

Fair enough, if you want to consider any game that has character development and RPG then that's your prerogative. I don't consider them RPGs, but consider them to be action games with RPG elements, at most.

 

For me, an RPG is a game that not only has character development, but where player agency also plays a big role in the game. You should have an impact on the world and the world should react to your actions and decisions. Aside from the character existing, this is not the case in games like Borderlands where there is only one way to play through the game. The easiest recent example would be Dragon Age, where your actions have a direct, visible impact on the story and how it plays out.

 

That's not to say I dislike games like Borderlands, just that I don't consider them RPGs simply for containing basic RPG elements.

[hoofhearted4]

Fair enough, if you want to consider any game that has character development and RPG then that's your prerogative. I don't consider them RPGs, but consider them to be action games with RPG elements, at most.

 

For me, an RPG is a game that not only has character development, but where player agency also plays a big role in the game. You should have an impact on the world and the world should react to your actions and decisions. Aside from the character existing, this is not the case in games like Borderlands where there is only one way to play through the game. The easiest recent example would be Dragon Age, where your actions have a direct, visible impact on the story and how it plays out.

 

That's not to say I dislike games like Borderlands, just that I don't consider them RPGs simply for containing basic RPG elements.

this is exactly what i said a pure RPG would be. i didnt say Borderlands was the prime example of an RPG, but its still an RPG. its a game in which you Role Play a Character and choose how he develops. its just a very simplified version of it. it really is no different then Diablo, which you arent going to tell me isnt an RPG. again youre thinking of RPGs are only such if they adhear to the strictest and purest rules of an RPG. but thats not the case for every RPG. today, instead of a game being a pure RPG, games just take elements from RPGs like open world, trees, character development and/or choices, and stick them in games. because these elements are great additions to any game. so the game is no longer just an FPS or just an action game or just an RPG, it becomes a blend. but to say its neither of those is wrong. it would become and FPSRPG or and ARPG

[Vagrant0]

Could always just send heaps and heaps of money to Paradox Interactive to create a game as expansive and in depth as Crusader Kings II, with the agency of Mount and Blade, and just toss in a more in-depth skill tree... Which is more completely localized to English. They certainly have a good enough track record at publishing good games.

[Zewp]

this is exactly what i said a pure RPG would be. i didnt say Borderlands was the prime example of an RPG, but its still an RPG. its a game in which you Role Play a Character and choose how he develops. its just a very simplified version of it. it really is no different then Diablo, which you arent going to tell me isnt an RPG. again youre thinking of RPGs are only such if they adhear to the strictest and purest rules of an RPG. but thats not the case for every RPG. today, instead of a game being a pure RPG, games just take elements from RPGs like open world, trees, character development and/or choices, and stick them in games. because these elements are great additions to any game. so the game is no longer just an FPS or just an action game or just an RPG, it becomes a blend. but to say its neither of those is wrong. it would become and FPSRPG or and ARPG

 

 

As I said, if you wish to call those games RPGs that's entirely up to you. I don't consider hack 'n slash games with lite RPG elements RPGs, because character development alone does not an RPG make. There are RPG elements in countless games today, yet we don't call those games RPGs.

 

There is no such thing as a 'pure RPG'. There are RPGs and there are non-RPGs. Dragon Age Origins is an RPG, Borderlands is not.

[hoofhearted4]

except Borderlands is classified as an RPG. sold as an RPG and called an RPG. but i digress