Recipe for the perfect RPG

[masterwyoda]

Recipe for the perfect RPG

For more Immersion to characters and Story we have to take alook at the old RPGs I guess. Like the infinity Engine Games, or Oldschool Super Nintendo RPGs I guess.

Where Infinity Games gets their immersion from:

• You have to get to know yourself. At Start you dont know who you are before you get more into the Story
• You always know what your Party or your character is thinking, because they tell you, or you can hear their or your thoughts. Thoughts and comments descripe the environment, and highlight things that pure visuals cannot show.
• Story is what is allabout.
• D&D or other pen and paper Rules
• a very detailed World which make you curious. The World tells Story.

Where Oldschool Super Nintendo Games like Terranigma, Secret of Evermore, Secrets of Mana, Zelda, illusion of Time, Chronotrigger get there immersion from:

• The Characters are always growing with the Story. At the beginning you are the poor guy from the village who doesnt know what to do with life. Because of an accident ( happy or unfortunateli) you get the opportunity to proof yourself and save the goodthings/ the World/ your girl stuff like that.
• A Story which everybody experienced in life in somekind of way.
• Bossfights are always the highlights and after the Boss fight you get a powerful/ Story needed Object.
• Gameplay grows with story
• There are always puzzles inside the games
• Not too much loot. "Loot" makes sense

I wish that Cyberpunk 2077 could combine all that stuff in a dark atmospheric, Blade Runner like theme. With modern technics and goodlooking graphics. It has to have an epic Storyline where your Character grows in. Just imagine how a Game like Baldurs Gate with new modern graphics would be like. That would be my perfect RPG

 

[kofeiiniturpa]

There's a loooong thread about a "dream RPG" started by a "company man": http://forums.cdprojektred.com/threads/26940-Cyberpunk-2077-Your-ideas-for-a-dream-RPG

That said, I agree witha bunch of what you said, but to me the bare essentials are something like:

- Careful adaptation of the PnP rulesystem (CP 2020) where the systems not only define (heavily) how your character plays hands on, but also tie in with the world and its interacions and the narrative.

- A strong but not overly locked down / set narrative about personal goals where your interactions with the world and its inhabitants (or the lack of those interactions) molds and bends the told story, that reacts and branches as per how you approach it (what's your take on the issues it offers for you to solve), what choices you make (how you complete missions, who and what you interact with and how, who you might not interact with), what kind of character you have (what career package you have, how you build it up and what all of it opens for and closes from you), and builds all that into a reactive conclusion (see how Fallout and Fallout 2 managed their narratives).

The finicky details can be argued, but that's the sort of spine for the whole thing I'd go for.

I'm not big on "boss battles" so that raised a red flag for me...

I'd love a "Baldur's Gate" style game with "modern tech" (though I'd like it even more if you replaced BG with Fallout 2 in that sentence). That said, they are in all likelyhood aiming for a more mainstream approach, so the question is: How to bring the sort of classical RPG gameplay (that takes its inspiration heavily from PnP) of Baldur's Gate or Fallout 2 or Arcanum (et al) to the modern audience without turning it into something completely different and/or pushing the original source of inspiration to the marginal to such extent that it might not even exist? Once you they get that right, it might well be close to "a recipe for the perfect RPG", in my opinion.

 

[Wertandrew]

As kofeiiniturpa said, this discussion has been going for ages. However, I do feel we can discuss things in more detail here and do some critique without spamming the other thread.
Regarding your ideas, I am lately beginning to dislike games where they make their systems obvious to the player. What I mean is that in a lot of RPGs (usually JRPGs), you get to World 1, do stuff, beat boss, get story item, repeat. It's very obvious that the game is split into x number of worlds and you need to follow this process to progress. What I want is a system where its so chaotic to the player's eyes that he won't be able to figure out what the game holds for him in the next corner, next mission and how much game is left to play. This is why I love Final Fantasy 7 and Witcher 3. The game constantly expands while breaking the pace frequently with storytelling, mini-games, fun moments, backtracking and "chaotic progression".

If they make a game that is more like reality than facilitating game development, they have my attention.