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To be honest, I've never been quite the avid fan of RPG's that some of you, no doubt, are. I missed all the Final Fantasy games, and only managed to fit in a couple of Dragon Warrior and King's Quest games in between The Secret of Mana, and Zelda 64 and Skies of Arcadia.
But although i've never really taken to RPG's, turning to football and adventure games for my entertainment, there is definitely something special about them. It could be a lot of things... the moves, chracters, hype... but for me, it seems to be the storylines.
Like a book, RPGs seem to be able to absorb gamers into another world... something that can't be done by a Racers or Shoot 'em Ups. The sense of adventure is almost overwhelming, and no other genre can trigger the release of such emotions... tears, joy, happiness, shock, horror, disappointment.
I think everyone here, definitely over the age of 17, apreciates literature. It's not the sort of thing you 'take to' when you're young... but in a world full of pictures and sound, and technology on a silver platter, some of us oldies, like to sit down, and make our own worlds... how we want them. Now, although RPGs show you the world and don't let you create it, they do a good job of making it so un 'earth-like', that most of us wouldn't want it any other way.
Look at SOA... Moonstones? Flying Ships?... To the common man, that might seem like a joke... or at least something out of a fairytale, but to an RPG lover, it's perfect. It's unrealistic, therefore practically exempt from the limitations of a 'Physical World', it has great potential, and whadya know... it turned out to be one of, if not the best DC title out.
The one thing RPG games do lack, is multiplayer options... I know all about the MMORPG's (On-Line RPGs), but the isometric view of Legend of Mir doesn't quite enthrall you the same way a lush forest might do. Sega had the right idea with PSO, you could meet up with mates, destroy beasts in full 3D and have a chat at the same time. I know Mir is kind of 3D, and there are loads of features... but I know I'd prefer a co-op SOA On-Line to Mir anyday... maybe it's just a preferance.
Maybe it's just me... but RPGs seem to have everything going for them. People will never grow old of stories and fiction, in the same way they won't grow old of Role-Playing Games. Okay - maybe not to the same scale, but there might come a time where people just don't want to fight anymore. They don't want to race, they don't want slash demons with swords... but the burning desire for adventure will always be there... it's just human nature.
I suppose the next step is, indeed, Final Fantasy XI. Finally getting chance to play your friends from SR at a game... Take your three best friends from here... nay your 15 best freinds and go round in a group, doing whatever you want. The storyline is bound to be good, the graphics, amazing - the experience in general, undescribable. But RPG's will live on AFTER FFXI, maybe because they're timeless... Skateboarding is in, WWF is in, Centre Partings are Out and Asics trainers are out, but I don't think RPGs will ever lose their In-ness.
They're too good... and each one is different. Almost like a day in real life... no matter how many times you play the game, you'll take a slightly different route each time.
Of course, me praising RPGs is only an opinion... but one I would imagine quite a few people share.
Game
Add stuff if you want.... The Future of RPG games?
But although i've never really taken to RPG's, turning to football and adventure games for my entertainment, there is definitely something special about them. It could be a lot of things... the moves, chracters, hype... but for me, it seems to be the storylines.
Like a book, RPGs seem to be able to absorb gamers into another world... something that can't be done by a Racers or Shoot 'em Ups. The sense of adventure is almost overwhelming, and no other genre can trigger the release of such emotions... tears, joy, happiness, shock, horror, disappointment.
I think everyone here, definitely over the age of 17, apreciates literature. It's not the sort of thing you 'take to' when you're young... but in a world full of pictures and sound, and technology on a silver platter, some of us oldies, like to sit down, and make our own worlds... how we want them. Now, although RPGs show you the world and don't let you create it, they do a good job of making it so un 'earth-like', that most of us wouldn't want it any other way.
Look at SOA... Moonstones? Flying Ships?... To the common man, that might seem like a joke... or at least something out of a fairytale, but to an RPG lover, it's perfect. It's unrealistic, therefore practically exempt from the limitations of a 'Physical World', it has great potential, and whadya know... it turned out to be one of, if not the best DC title out.
The one thing RPG games do lack, is multiplayer options... I know all about the MMORPG's (On-Line RPGs), but the isometric view of Legend of Mir doesn't quite enthrall you the same way a lush forest might do. Sega had the right idea with PSO, you could meet up with mates, destroy beasts in full 3D and have a chat at the same time. I know Mir is kind of 3D, and there are loads of features... but I know I'd prefer a co-op SOA On-Line to Mir anyday... maybe it's just a preferance.
Maybe it's just me... but RPGs seem to have everything going for them. People will never grow old of stories and fiction, in the same way they won't grow old of Role-Playing Games. Okay - maybe not to the same scale, but there might come a time where people just don't want to fight anymore. They don't want to race, they don't want slash demons with swords... but the burning desire for adventure will always be there... it's just human nature.
I suppose the next step is, indeed, Final Fantasy XI. Finally getting chance to play your friends from SR at a game... Take your three best friends from here... nay your 15 best freinds and go round in a group, doing whatever you want. The storyline is bound to be good, the graphics, amazing - the experience in general, undescribable. But RPG's will live on AFTER FFXI, maybe because they're timeless... Skateboarding is in, WWF is in, Centre Partings are Out and Asics trainers are out, but I don't think RPGs will ever lose their In-ness.
They're too good... and each one is different. Almost like a day in real life... no matter how many times you play the game, you'll take a slightly different route each time.
Of course, me praising RPGs is only an opinion... but one I would imagine quite a few people share.
Game
Add stuff if you want.... The Future of RPG games?
Page:
To choose a favourite between Skies of Arcadia and Zelda: Ocarina of Time ould be quite hard. For a start they're different games, engine-wise (if that's a word)...
What I like about Zelda so much is the 'attack when you want' idea... a little less strategy involved, but regardless, losing the turn-based setup did mean you could play more of an adventure game.
Skies of Arcadia I loved because of the storyline... whether RPGs are all like this, I don't know... but I though it was exceptional, and the idea was genius... I mean what can't you do with moonstones?!
I suppose, in a sense, RPGs are just alternative adventure games... I mean in most adventure games you get new moves, extra features and more items... and other than the Turn-Based fights and the Levelling-Up, RPGs are the same.
What I like about Zelda so much is the 'attack when you want' idea... a little less strategy involved, but regardless, losing the turn-based setup did mean you could play more of an adventure game.
Skies of Arcadia I loved because of the storyline... whether RPGs are all like this, I don't know... but I though it was exceptional, and the idea was genius... I mean what can't you do with moonstones?!
I suppose, in a sense, RPGs are just alternative adventure games... I mean in most adventure games you get new moves, extra features and more items... and other than the Turn-Based fights and the Levelling-Up, RPGs are the same.
I don't mind being called a beard. In fact I'm quite proud of my beardy/hitpoint heritage.
But not all RPG players are beardy stato hit point types (although I am).
The thing we like about the REAL D&D type videogame RPG's is the levelling up of our characters. Because when we change from a wooden sword to a dagger for the first time and slay the same WidgetOrc in less hits because we are dealing an extra 2 damage class points per blow (and possibly receiving less damage ourselves because of those leather leggings we've equipped with the +1 ac attributes), it's sheer joy.
A few years ago we had to keep a note of our stats and attributes with pencil and paper, and roll a dice for EVERY hit on a monster that we made and calculate scores for every battle.
Now all we have to do is point and click and the console does it all for us!!
Now computers can handle Magical Armor Class (MAC), Soul Class Damage (SC for Taos and Monks), Magical Class Damage (MC for Wizards and Mages) and even combinations of these for characters that balance two or more of these attributes.
Not only that, they put the whole world in front of our eyes, they depict the characters and monsters in glorious 3D so we can concentrate on playing rather than imagining that we are playing, and the whole experience is speeded up.
Yes, us beardy ones are obsessed with gaming, but our RPG heritage goes back a long way (almost as long as our beards), and we are proud of that. We may look like hunchbacked dwarves when we're crouched over our keyboards in the wee small hours, tappity tapping and clicking away, but we love what we're doing, we're 'involved' more in our games than anyone could be in say Gran Turismo or action adventures like Silent Hill 2.
Of course this has drawbacks too. We get labelled 'weirdos' when we play Magic in pubs, we tend to lose fights a lot because when we punch someone we pause to see the little numbers float up above their heads saying how much damage we've inflicted, and usually end up getting barred because the barmaid won't accept copper coins when we're asking for flagons of ale and beef jerky.
But we're passionate about our RPGs. We're passionate about gaming.
I'm off to slay a dragon now. (After I've got the cat hairs out of my beard.)
But not all RPG players are beardy stato hit point types (although I am).
The thing we like about the REAL D&D type videogame RPG's is the levelling up of our characters. Because when we change from a wooden sword to a dagger for the first time and slay the same WidgetOrc in less hits because we are dealing an extra 2 damage class points per blow (and possibly receiving less damage ourselves because of those leather leggings we've equipped with the +1 ac attributes), it's sheer joy.
A few years ago we had to keep a note of our stats and attributes with pencil and paper, and roll a dice for EVERY hit on a monster that we made and calculate scores for every battle.
Now all we have to do is point and click and the console does it all for us!!
Now computers can handle Magical Armor Class (MAC), Soul Class Damage (SC for Taos and Monks), Magical Class Damage (MC for Wizards and Mages) and even combinations of these for characters that balance two or more of these attributes.
Not only that, they put the whole world in front of our eyes, they depict the characters and monsters in glorious 3D so we can concentrate on playing rather than imagining that we are playing, and the whole experience is speeded up.
Yes, us beardy ones are obsessed with gaming, but our RPG heritage goes back a long way (almost as long as our beards), and we are proud of that. We may look like hunchbacked dwarves when we're crouched over our keyboards in the wee small hours, tappity tapping and clicking away, but we love what we're doing, we're 'involved' more in our games than anyone could be in say Gran Turismo or action adventures like Silent Hill 2.
Of course this has drawbacks too. We get labelled 'weirdos' when we play Magic in pubs, we tend to lose fights a lot because when we punch someone we pause to see the little numbers float up above their heads saying how much damage we've inflicted, and usually end up getting barred because the barmaid won't accept copper coins when we're asking for flagons of ale and beef jerky.
But we're passionate about our RPGs. We're passionate about gaming.
I'm off to slay a dragon now. (After I've got the cat hairs out of my beard.)
Beard.
Sorry, just to add to that...
About the whole 'how you want it'...
So many things about RPGs are customisable... from the moves, down to basic things like clothes and hairstyles. You can 'rear' your character and refine his/its/her abilities to what you want.
I don't know if any of you have played 'Evolva' I haven't, but the idea of the game is such that you start of with an animal/alien and as you kill other animals you are given the chance to extract their DNA so you can give your animal their abilities... it's a full 3D game and worth getting apparantly, if you've got the money... and even if you haven't!
So although the world is made for you, just like the Earth is as it is, you can customise the way you are, and what you do... fighting games don't yet let you pick the moves you want to assign to your character (Bar wrestling games)... I know you can customise quite a lot of things in games... but with your character in the RPG being so close to you, because of the power of the game, it feels like it's more important significant...
Just an extra thought...
Game
About the whole 'how you want it'...
So many things about RPGs are customisable... from the moves, down to basic things like clothes and hairstyles. You can 'rear' your character and refine his/its/her abilities to what you want.
I don't know if any of you have played 'Evolva' I haven't, but the idea of the game is such that you start of with an animal/alien and as you kill other animals you are given the chance to extract their DNA so you can give your animal their abilities... it's a full 3D game and worth getting apparantly, if you've got the money... and even if you haven't!
So although the world is made for you, just like the Earth is as it is, you can customise the way you are, and what you do... fighting games don't yet let you pick the moves you want to assign to your character (Bar wrestling games)... I know you can customise quite a lot of things in games... but with your character in the RPG being so close to you, because of the power of the game, it feels like it's more important significant...
Just an extra thought...
Game
To be honest, I've never been quite the avid fan of RPG's that some of you, no doubt, are. I missed all the Final Fantasy games, and only managed to fit in a couple of Dragon Warrior and King's Quest games in between The Secret of Mana, and Zelda 64 and Skies of Arcadia.
But although i've never really taken to RPG's, turning to football and adventure games for my entertainment, there is definitely something special about them. It could be a lot of things... the moves, chracters, hype... but for me, it seems to be the storylines.
Like a book, RPGs seem to be able to absorb gamers into another world... something that can't be done by a Racers or Shoot 'em Ups. The sense of adventure is almost overwhelming, and no other genre can trigger the release of such emotions... tears, joy, happiness, shock, horror, disappointment.
I think everyone here, definitely over the age of 17, apreciates literature. It's not the sort of thing you 'take to' when you're young... but in a world full of pictures and sound, and technology on a silver platter, some of us oldies, like to sit down, and make our own worlds... how we want them. Now, although RPGs show you the world and don't let you create it, they do a good job of making it so un 'earth-like', that most of us wouldn't want it any other way.
Look at SOA... Moonstones? Flying Ships?... To the common man, that might seem like a joke... or at least something out of a fairytale, but to an RPG lover, it's perfect. It's unrealistic, therefore practically exempt from the limitations of a 'Physical World', it has great potential, and whadya know... it turned out to be one of, if not the best DC title out.
The one thing RPG games do lack, is multiplayer options... I know all about the MMORPG's (On-Line RPGs), but the isometric view of Legend of Mir doesn't quite enthrall you the same way a lush forest might do. Sega had the right idea with PSO, you could meet up with mates, destroy beasts in full 3D and have a chat at the same time. I know Mir is kind of 3D, and there are loads of features... but I know I'd prefer a co-op SOA On-Line to Mir anyday... maybe it's just a preferance.
Maybe it's just me... but RPGs seem to have everything going for them. People will never grow old of stories and fiction, in the same way they won't grow old of Role-Playing Games. Okay - maybe not to the same scale, but there might come a time where people just don't want to fight anymore. They don't want to race, they don't want slash demons with swords... but the burning desire for adventure will always be there... it's just human nature.
I suppose the next step is, indeed, Final Fantasy XI. Finally getting chance to play your friends from SR at a game... Take your three best friends from here... nay your 15 best freinds and go round in a group, doing whatever you want. The storyline is bound to be good, the graphics, amazing - the experience in general, undescribable. But RPG's will live on AFTER FFXI, maybe because they're timeless... Skateboarding is in, WWF is in, Centre Partings are Out and Asics trainers are out, but I don't think RPGs will ever lose their In-ness.
They're too good... and each one is different. Almost like a day in real life... no matter how many times you play the game, you'll take a slightly different route each time.
Of course, me praising RPGs is only an opinion... but one I would imagine quite a few people share.
Game
Add stuff if you want.... The Future of RPG games?
But although i've never really taken to RPG's, turning to football and adventure games for my entertainment, there is definitely something special about them. It could be a lot of things... the moves, chracters, hype... but for me, it seems to be the storylines.
Like a book, RPGs seem to be able to absorb gamers into another world... something that can't be done by a Racers or Shoot 'em Ups. The sense of adventure is almost overwhelming, and no other genre can trigger the release of such emotions... tears, joy, happiness, shock, horror, disappointment.
I think everyone here, definitely over the age of 17, apreciates literature. It's not the sort of thing you 'take to' when you're young... but in a world full of pictures and sound, and technology on a silver platter, some of us oldies, like to sit down, and make our own worlds... how we want them. Now, although RPGs show you the world and don't let you create it, they do a good job of making it so un 'earth-like', that most of us wouldn't want it any other way.
Look at SOA... Moonstones? Flying Ships?... To the common man, that might seem like a joke... or at least something out of a fairytale, but to an RPG lover, it's perfect. It's unrealistic, therefore practically exempt from the limitations of a 'Physical World', it has great potential, and whadya know... it turned out to be one of, if not the best DC title out.
The one thing RPG games do lack, is multiplayer options... I know all about the MMORPG's (On-Line RPGs), but the isometric view of Legend of Mir doesn't quite enthrall you the same way a lush forest might do. Sega had the right idea with PSO, you could meet up with mates, destroy beasts in full 3D and have a chat at the same time. I know Mir is kind of 3D, and there are loads of features... but I know I'd prefer a co-op SOA On-Line to Mir anyday... maybe it's just a preferance.
Maybe it's just me... but RPGs seem to have everything going for them. People will never grow old of stories and fiction, in the same way they won't grow old of Role-Playing Games. Okay - maybe not to the same scale, but there might come a time where people just don't want to fight anymore. They don't want to race, they don't want slash demons with swords... but the burning desire for adventure will always be there... it's just human nature.
I suppose the next step is, indeed, Final Fantasy XI. Finally getting chance to play your friends from SR at a game... Take your three best friends from here... nay your 15 best freinds and go round in a group, doing whatever you want. The storyline is bound to be good, the graphics, amazing - the experience in general, undescribable. But RPG's will live on AFTER FFXI, maybe because they're timeless... Skateboarding is in, WWF is in, Centre Partings are Out and Asics trainers are out, but I don't think RPGs will ever lose their In-ness.
They're too good... and each one is different. Almost like a day in real life... no matter how many times you play the game, you'll take a slightly different route each time.
Of course, me praising RPGs is only an opinion... but one I would imagine quite a few people share.
Game
Add stuff if you want.... The Future of RPG games?
Page: