LONG BLOG
RPGs: The good, the bad, and the ugly.
I love RPGs. If there could only be one genre of games in the entire universe I would pick RPGs.
I remember playing my first RPG on the Commodore 64. It was called Mars Saga, and at the time it seemed awesome, but it's probably an awful game.
I don't think I actually ever finished Mars Saga, but it got me hooked on the genre. I think I was about 10 or 12 at the time that I played it.
Later on in life, when I had an Amiga 500, I played Battletech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception.
This was FASA's first computer game based on the Battletech univerese, and it's still one of my favorite games. There's a direct sequel that I might try and hunt down and play at some point.
Another RPG I played on the Amiga was Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday.
It had tons of irrelevant skills like singing and befriending animals, but it was a fun little sci-fi mmo.
I can guarantee that no one else on earth started playing RPGs with these games. You probably got started with Final Fantasy, Baldur's Gate, or Knights of the Old Republic. I started off weird, but I think it really shaped my taste in RPGs.
Since I got a PC around 2004, I've played a slew of RPGs including Knights of the Old Republic, The Witcher, Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines, Dragon Age: Origins, Mass Effect, Oblivion, Morrowind, Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, and others that probably worth mentioning.
My favorites are Dragon Age: Origins, Morrowind, and The Witcher 2.
I like my RPGs to be big. If I hear a game has over 40 hours worth of content, it makes me excited. I like exploring, I like crafting, and I like to be a part of the world. I like customizing my character, and finding bad-ass armor and weapons. I like burning things with fire. I love the lore and the back-stories. The more content the better. I have sunk over 150 hours into Oblivion, and I don't feel anywhere near done with that game.
I want to actually finish up all the old classic games like Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, the Icewind Dale series, and Planescape Torment. I've picked them all up off from gog.com and I'm slowly plodding my way through them, and I'm enjoying every moment of it.
While I am talking about RPGs, let me mention two that I hate real quick.
Dragon Age 2 was awful. The story was a disjointed collection of mini-quests that lacked an overall goal. The combat was some crazy jacked up hybrid of strategy and action. It was a bad hack and slash, and a bad tactics game combined. Enemies would appear out of nowhere in waves, which made planning ahead impossible in any combat situation. It was a pathetic shadow of Origins, and I recommend that everyone just pretend that it didn't happen.
Mass Effect 2 was dumb. The loyalty quests we're the center point of the game, and it didn't have the same epic story that the first one did. I liked the combat from the first game, and they changed it be more like a shooter. The first one was definitely slower and more tactical, and I like that type of pacing in a game. The orange score screens after every mission made me want to stab my eyes out. I have replayed one, and I will probably keep on playing it, but I don't think I'll ever replay two.
Both of these games were good games made by Bioware, and then EA bought them, and now they are junk. I think that it's because the sequels were made faster and they were made for a broader audience. Good RPGs are definitely more of a niche market, and trying to make one that sells 10 million copies means that you have to make it less of an RPG. This doesn't mean that an RPG can't be successful. Dragon Age: Origins sold around four million copies, and I would call that a success.
Joshua Derocher 
TriplZer0 1
E C Gach 1
I remember playing my first RPG on the Commodore 64. It was called Mars Saga, and at the time it seemed awesome, but it's probably an awful game.
I don't think I actually ever finished Mars Saga, but it got me hooked on the genre. I think I was about 10 or 12 at the time that I played it.
Later on in life, when I had an Amiga 500, I played Battletech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception.
This was FASA's first computer game based on the Battletech univerese, and it's still one of my favorite games. There's a direct sequel that I might try and hunt down and play at some point.
Another RPG I played on the Amiga was Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday.
It had tons of irrelevant skills like singing and befriending animals, but it was a fun little sci-fi mmo.
I can guarantee that no one else on earth started playing RPGs with these games. You probably got started with Final Fantasy, Baldur's Gate, or Knights of the Old Republic. I started off weird, but I think it really shaped my taste in RPGs.
Since I got a PC around 2004, I've played a slew of RPGs including Knights of the Old Republic, The Witcher, Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines, Dragon Age: Origins, Mass Effect, Oblivion, Morrowind, Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, and others that probably worth mentioning.
My favorites are Dragon Age: Origins, Morrowind, and The Witcher 2.
I like my RPGs to be big. If I hear a game has over 40 hours worth of content, it makes me excited. I like exploring, I like crafting, and I like to be a part of the world. I like customizing my character, and finding bad-ass armor and weapons. I like burning things with fire. I love the lore and the back-stories. The more content the better. I have sunk over 150 hours into Oblivion, and I don't feel anywhere near done with that game.
I want to actually finish up all the old classic games like Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, the Icewind Dale series, and Planescape Torment. I've picked them all up off from gog.com and I'm slowly plodding my way through them, and I'm enjoying every moment of it.
While I am talking about RPGs, let me mention two that I hate real quick.
Dragon Age 2 was awful. The story was a disjointed collection of mini-quests that lacked an overall goal. The combat was some crazy jacked up hybrid of strategy and action. It was a bad hack and slash, and a bad tactics game combined. Enemies would appear out of nowhere in waves, which made planning ahead impossible in any combat situation. It was a pathetic shadow of Origins, and I recommend that everyone just pretend that it didn't happen.
Mass Effect 2 was dumb. The loyalty quests we're the center point of the game, and it didn't have the same epic story that the first one did. I liked the combat from the first game, and they changed it be more like a shooter. The first one was definitely slower and more tactical, and I like that type of pacing in a game. The orange score screens after every mission made me want to stab my eyes out. I have replayed one, and I will probably keep on playing it, but I don't think I'll ever replay two.
Both of these games were good games made by Bioware, and then EA bought them, and now they are junk. I think that it's because the sequels were made faster and they were made for a broader audience. Good RPGs are definitely more of a niche market, and trying to make one that sells 10 million copies means that you have to make it less of an RPG. This doesn't mean that an RPG can't be successful. Dragon Age: Origins sold around four million copies, and I would call that a success.
Login to vote this up!
LOOK WHO CAME:
0 COMMENTS
Please login (or) make a quick account (free)
to view and post comments.
Login with Twitter
Login with Dtoid
Three day old threads are only visible to verified humans - this helps our small community management team stay on top of spam
Sorry for the extra step!
Login with Twitter
Login with Dtoid
About Joshua Derocherone of us since 10:05 PM on 06.30.2010
Josh is a PC gamer. He can usually be found flying around in EVE Online. He's been known to enjoy playing role-playing games like Dragon Age: Origins, Skyrim, and Planescape Torment.
Follow Josh on social networks, if you want.
He started out gaming on an old school Atari and a Commodore 64. Defender of the Crown was the shit back in those days. He would also play things like M.U.L.E, Carmen Sandiego, Summer Games, and Mars Saga.
Once he had his first Amiga, his fate was set to become a gamer. He mostly played point-and-click adventures from Sierra and Lucas Arts, but his other favorites were Empire, Lemmings, Future Wars, Buck Rodgers, and Battletech.
These days he also enjoys The Witcher 2, Mount & Blade, Titan Quest, Europa Universalis, FTL, Dungeons of Dredmoore, and LOTRO. He likes playing older games, because they are classics for a reason. He doesn't hop onto the latest thing just because the cool kids are playing it, and he believes that 90% of what's released these days is absolute crap.
Right now his home is right here on Destructoid. He has also done some writing for Front Towards Gamer and BitMob.
Follow Josh on social networks, if you want.
He started out gaming on an old school Atari and a Commodore 64. Defender of the Crown was the shit back in those days. He would also play things like M.U.L.E, Carmen Sandiego, Summer Games, and Mars Saga.
Once he had his first Amiga, his fate was set to become a gamer. He mostly played point-and-click adventures from Sierra and Lucas Arts, but his other favorites were Empire, Lemmings, Future Wars, Buck Rodgers, and Battletech.
These days he also enjoys The Witcher 2, Mount & Blade, Titan Quest, Europa Universalis, FTL, Dungeons of Dredmoore, and LOTRO. He likes playing older games, because they are classics for a reason. He doesn't hop onto the latest thing just because the cool kids are playing it, and he believes that 90% of what's released these days is absolute crap.
Right now his home is right here on Destructoid. He has also done some writing for Front Towards Gamer and BitMob.