Western RPG's

[Guest Root]

Alright. So I borrowed Kingdoms of Amalur: Recjoning off a guy at work the other day. Started playing it on Sunday and have so far clocked up over 16hrs of gameplay on it. And I've barely touched the actual main story missions. I'm mainly doing side quests, and have now started doing faction missions. It's fair to say, I am very much loving it.

 

This is a bit weird for me, as for years I was always very much anti RPG games. It goes back to trying some Final Fantasy game on the PS One. It just wasn't for me. I didn't get the whole turn based thing. That coupled with bizarre characters and an impenetrable story lines meant that it just wasn't for me. The game that changed it all was Dragon Age: Origin. A friend of mine had it and was raving about it to me for months. I kept my view that all RPG's were crap and that he was talking out of his arse. Eventually I gave in and borrowed it. Turns out it was ME that was talking out of my arse. But how? Why? Had I been wrong about RPG's all this time? No. I've now established that it's JRPG's that are rubbish, not RPG's :lol While I still hold my (possibly misguided) belief that all Japanese RPG's are bobbins, I've found that many western ones are...what the kids are calling "Shit Hot".

 

Dragon Age will probably go down as my favourite game of this generation. I was free to act how I wanted. Kill who I wanted. Make every immoral choice I ever wanted, and not be penalised for it. In the early stages I convinced a moter to kill her child. All kinds of amazing choices came my way. And generally I took the option labelled "Dick Move". Another joyous standout was letting a village of short people be taken off for slave trading, in exchange for a tiny piece of evidence I needed. Such fun!

 

I never played Dragon Age 2. I didn't like the demo. It put me off greatly. When the reviews for the game started coming in, I knew I had made the right decision. But now I needed another RPG to sink my teeth into.

 

Last summer I gave Divinity 2 a go. It was decent, but truthfully it just wasn't as much fun as Dragon Age.

 

In the winter, the big one dropped. Skyrim was here. I hadn't played any other Elder Scrolls games, so had high hopes for this. And bloody hell, was I disappointed. What a steaming pile of cack. Quite how anyone enjoyed that game is beyond me. I like open world games, but I also like open world games that have something to do in them. Again, it lacked the character interaction of Dragon Age. But everything about it just bored me. The aimless wandering, the villagers who would never forgive or forget just because you tried to kill their children a couple of times (the kids no sold my sword swings worse than John Cena!). I genuinely found nothing to do in the game. No, this was not the game for me.

 

So 2012 came along and after the last burn, I was hesitant with Amalur. Rather than run out any buy it on release, I waited. And waited. And then forgot all about it (SSX and Fifa Street distracted me - which does lead me to think that maybe I do have attention span issues). It was only, in fact, the current hype buzz about The Witcher 2 and Risen 2 that made me remember Amalur. Those three games this year means it looks like being a pretty awesome year.

 

So what RPG's do y'all go in for? If any? Does anyone like/get JRPG's? I appreciate someone must as they still sell, but looking at some emo haired girly boy swing a sword twice the size of their body doesn't make sense to my brain.

 

Come, share your love for the playing of roles. What other games has my short dalliance with the genre left me missing?

[Omega 354]

I'm just amazed anyone who likes RPG games says they disliked the FF series for PS1 which realistically contains probably the two best FF games in FF7 and FF8.

[Guest Fatherof10minis]

No kidding i was obsessed with ff7 when it first hit the shelves.

[Guest Root]

I just don't "get" Final Fantasy. Never have, never will. Don't like the gameplay style, the stories. They just aren't for me.

[Omega 354]

I just don't see what there is to "get". The stories are no more outlandish than any western RPG and turn based action is hardly a new concept for RPG's and certainly isn't alone in being used by FF. Anyway, I clearly think you're weird so lets move on. Cthulhu saves the world was the last RPG I enjoyed. :)

[Guest Maximinn]

My girlfriend touts FF7 as the greatest game ever made but I just dont see it.

 

The gameplay looks repetitive and the graphics are just god awful. I mean I appreciate that there were technical limitations back then but not THAT much!

 

Most people tell me none of that other stuff matters because the story is so amazing. Is it really so amazing though? Is it not just that not many other games around that time had much of a story so it was only great by comparison.

 

I'm pretty sure most of the praise for FF7 is born from rose tinted nostalgia. It just doesn't stand up by today's standards.

[Guest Fatherof10minis]

i dont know much about todays current rpgs but i still enjoy the classics. I have a garage full of original arcade machines from the 70s and 80s and i could play 8 bit rpgs all day if allowed to. I dont think this pertains much to this thread but its got reminiscing about my childhood now.

[dsrchris 190]

Western RPGs? Tough question.

 

Ummm...Fable? I loved all 3 Fable games (I think I must be the only one!) so they top my Western RPG list, but that's really only because I'm not including Final Fantasy or Zelda as Western.

 

I feel like there should be more, but other games I like wouldn't really be classed as RPGs. I love a game that lets you level up, but I usually get my kicks with things like Batman or red Dead. I prefer big open world explorer games rather than a straight up RPG.

 

Oh! Penny Arcade and Costume Quest on XBLA! I reckon they'd probably count as RPGs?

[Omega 354]

My girlfriend touts FF7 as the greatest game ever made but I just dont see it.

 

The gameplay looks repetitive and the graphics are just god awful. I mean I appreciate that there were technical limitations back then but not THAT much!

 

Most people tell me none of that other stuff matters because the story is so amazing. Is it really so amazing though? Is it not just that not many other games around that time had much of a story so it was only great by comparison.

 

I'm pretty sure most of the praise for FF7 is born from rose tinted nostalgia. It just doesn't stand up by today's standards.

 

Personally I thnk FF8 has a beter story but it really isn't rose tinted glasses, FF7 is great by 99% of the standards that are worthwhile comparing games on.

 

I also laugh at anyone who says "Yeah but the graphics suck so it can't possibly compare".

[dsrchris 190]

FF7 & 8 most definitely stand up to today's gameplay. Obviously the graphics aren't gonna be as good, but FF11 looked nice, it just also happened to be a bit sh*t

[Omega 354]

ff9 was the same, styled like 7 but updated graphics but awful.

 

FFX was good as well.

[Guest Fatherof10minis]

FF12 was the last rpg i really got into and completing and i found the gameplay very enjoyable with a good story

[etz 78]

FF7 still kicks the living shit out of 90% of games.... not just RPG's, all games to date. Literally, if there was a fire and I could only choose 1 game to save, it'd be FF7.

 

FF8 is boss too. FF9 onwards were good, but not as good.

[Omega 354]

If I had like 3 games I'd be forced to play for the rest of my life it'd be Mario Kart, FF8 and TF2.

[Guest Fatherof10minis]

If I had like 3 games I'd be forced to play for the rest of my life it'd be Mario Kart' date=' FF8 and TF2.[/quote']

 

I am sooooo in agreement with mario kart but i would replace the other 2 with the sega genesis version of Tecmo Super Bowl and FF12.

[Guest Edgehead]

I always hated RPGs. I played a Final Fantasy game on PSone around 1996 & I just couldn't get into it. I never went near RPGs again until a couple of years ago when I discovered Fallout 3 which really was an awesome game. As far as FF goes it seems to have the marmite effect on people....you either love it or hate it

[Guest MojoPogo]

I fail to see how anyone can dislike Skyrim. For **** sake, you can surf a bear down a mountain. How is that not cool? Or repeatedly punch a dragon and get a massive benny hill style chase involving it, guards, giants, mammoths and any other beast stupid enough to get involved! Im rather partial to Amalur though, its got a great backstory. Pity the company who made it have just been liquidated....

[ViciousPrism 177]

After one game... R.I.P 38 Studio's. We hardly knew ye.