Why I like RPG games?

I started playing RPG games since my middle school days. I have been playing Pokemon Gold and Silver in my sister’s Gameboy day and night (I didn’t have a Gameboy for my own). Sometimes my sister used to get angry with me, as I didn’t let her play since I got pretty addicted to this simple little game (my sister liked Pokemon games too). I never realized that such a simple concept of building up a character, meet random enemies and fight in turn by turn basis and in the process you progress through the storyline can be so fun. Of course, these simple concepts can be converted into more complex mechanisms (example the battle system in Final Fantasy XIII or character customization in Arcanum). RPG or Role playing game is a very old genre. Some of these RPGs are derived from pen and paper RPG board games (eg. Baldurs Gate and Neverwinter Nights is based on Dungeons and Dragons and Vampire Masquerade series games are based on World of Darkness). So no more further description let me tell you why I like RPGs.

 

Longetivity

 

While most games today are turning out to be quite short, RPG games still takes long time to finish the whole campaign. That’s why most of the RPG games sold today does not include multiplayer (except some games like Neverwinter Nights, Diablo or any other RPGs where multiplayer is necessary). It is because the campaign itself is so huge that it makes out the absence of multiplayer. Yesterday I finished Final Fantasy XIII and it took me 94 hours of total game time. I remember I took 4 months to finish a game (Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn) and 5 months to finish another game (Final Fantasy VIII) on my first playthrough. Both games are RPGs. I left out Pokemon because it turned out to be part of my hobby. It is good to have huge game with huge campaign with long story with greater depth in storyline rather than introducing a story and reach the climax within 4 hours (Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2). A quality game needs to have gamers locked into it for as long as possible. What if any games are finished within few hours? You are finished with the campaign. What else left to do? Stick to online multiplayer? What if you don’t have internet connection or what if you cannot compete in multiplayer? That is one of the reasons why I didn’t buy Modern Warfare II. I borrowed from my roommate.

 

Replaybility

 

One of the biggest reasons RPGs stands out is its replaybility factor. True, most of the games have no multiplayer and only has a huge storyline but still there are lots of elements that can change the overall campaign and the gameplay. Let me take an example of Baldur’s Gate. I remember I had to restart the whole campaign from the start 10-15 times before I found a perfect build for the game. I built a Kenshi character at that time. Well that is only for 1 build. There are lots of character classes that the player can explore by playing multiple times using different characters. Character customization is so critical that if the player screws up with a wrong build (there is undo option) then the player may not be able to continue (biggest example Diablo II, where I entered Hell difficulty with my Poison Summonancer build and I could not stand a chance). Do you want even worse example than Baldur’s Gate and Diablo II, then play Arcanum. The number of playthroughs can also differ from the decisions taken by the main character during the game and also what character class you are. In Baldur’s gate, there are some critical decisions which can totally change the scenario of the whole campaign (one of the example may come from the character siding with guilds). Mass Effect II can be taken as the recent example as character decision can alter what will happen to the crew members. In Vampire Masquerade: Bloodlines, the character progresses the main storyline in different ways based on the character classes (most notable difference is the Nosferatu class compared to other vampire classes). That is not all. Most RPG lovers tend to play the same campaign again just to finish the game with even better result.

 

Story

 

Almost all the RPG games have more or less very good or decent storylines. Good stories locks people more into the game. That’s why I was locked at least 94 hours just to finish the Final Fantasy XIII game and see the ending. There is Mass Effect II which left me inactive from NoobFeed for a period of time, since I was so into that and how the story progressed. Not to mention the campaign is very long and so the game is capable to make the player stick into the game for a long period of time. I have explained some views on the story and how it affects gamers in my earlier blog (Gaming Psychology and Mass Effect II).

 

Critical Thinking

 

I think RPGs comes second (Strategy games comes first) when the games requires gamers to have serious critical thinking. Let me take an example on Final Fantasy XIII. Before the player has to fight a difficult boss, at first the player needs to set up the party formation and then he/she has to find out the role setups for the characters. Then the player has to equip the right weapons and accessories based on the attacking and defensive properties of the boss. Then later the player has to decide whether it is right to use some shrouds before battle or not. Then inside the battle, timing is very necessary. The player has to initiate the right moves, change role formations at a right time. The player has to find the weakness and use appropriate moves. Also the player has to defend using the right moves. Although the player can mistake in the battle, there are chances to get back to the battle. To make things even worse, the player has to finish the boss within a given amount of time or else its game over. In simple RPG games like Pokemon, the player has to decide which pokemon he/she should use against the enemy pokemon. In Baldur’s Gate, the player has to think first before passing any dialog option since each dialog can have effects in the campaign, to the surrounding NPCs (non playable characters), to the team mates or even the player has a relationship with someone in the game (requires even more critical thinking, which makes me wonder games do help people to teach how they should approach to someone in order to commit in relationship). Even character customization requires critical thinking.

 

Fun factor and value

 

Do I need to say anything in this topic? Why not I combine all the above four factors and make a complete package? It makes things a hell lot of fun. Considering the value option, I think it is worth it. Nowadays games are worth $60 for 360 and PS3 games and $50 for Wii and PC games. When a game offers many things in a package at a given price like this then it is worth it. At least you don’t have to waste so much money on short games. The reason I should be angry at Modern Warfare II is that the campaign is shamelessly small. Why should I pay $60 just to play a short game? Why should I pay $60 dollars on games like Resident Evil 5, Bayonetta, Dead Space or even Halo 3 (considering the fact I don’t play multiplayer regularly)?

 

Today majority of the games are priced too high for the meager content provide. It is totally unfair for gamers, who put so much faith on these developers just to get a good package of quality games. Most of the gamers cannot afford to buy huge libraries of games. Most of the gamers either rent, finish them in few hours and give the game back or just wait for the price to get down or wait for a used product. That is why companies like Gamefly and Blockbuster offers to rent games to people. If developers keep on reducing the content in the games, I guess there will be a time where few will bother to buy the game at full price in the future.