EMO REQUIRE: DO RPGS NEED A STORY?

author=Darken

author=Craze
All I'm hearing is that "RPG gameplay is teh sux, the solution is to put more money into FMVs."

What exactly did you expect from making this topic? Everyone to say they really like dungeon crawlers?

I hate dungeon crawlers -_-
but thats not to say they are bad rpg's, its just a matter of my personal taste like I prefer open worlds and exploration but when its exploring a dungeon fighting countess enemies in some strategic battle system I go meh... lets go play some shooting games and have more fun. RPG's without stories and dungeon crawlers can be great but such games really need something extra like a free world and a great character creation system and fun battle system. Even the most grind-core dungeon crawler with a beautiful battle system can outdo the best written story game wise but I still hate dungeon crawlers because I'm not an old school rpg fan, I like SNES and only a few pop games like Earthbound, Chrono's Trigger ( never bothered with Final Fantasy since its soo popular not really a cult hit like Mother/Earthbound ).

All I'm saying is sometimes its impossible to classify what makes a good rpg since everyone has their own perspective of whats fun or essential for rpg's. I just like fun games, rpgs. shooters whatever as long as they are not too run of the mill and are generally enjoyable...

So Emanzi, you admit to generally not enjoying RPG gameplay/combat, then? So then do you make RPGs because...?
1) There are specific types of RPG gameplay/combat you do like?
2) You are stuck in 1997 and think RPGs are the only type of game that can have a story?
3) You want to turn the genre upside-down and make one that *is* fun to you?

Or am I misunderstanding, and your point isn't "I dislike the core mechanics of RPGs and think they're inferior to other types of games" but rather just "Most RPGs are bad and don't utilize the system well"? Because, well, no one's going to claim that second point is wrong, 90% of anything is garbage. But I assume everyone's goal here is to make games that are better than the status quo, yeah? We're talking about the games you're making yourselves here. So unless you think your own game's gameplay falls into that category as well, "most RPGs have gameplay that sucks" not a relevant point.

*edit*
Blanket statements are fun!

An RPG doesn't require a story.
An RPG doesn't require graphics.
An RPG doesn't require audio.

That doesn't mean they're not still important to have.

YOU MEAN REALLY
FFVII IS A SEQUEL TO FFX-2
WHAAAAT 0_0
PFFFF
*I've read that in the link in the first post*

i used to think rpg genre was very broad and had many types to cater to everyones hunger and needs, but reading the comments i dont think that anymore...

author=DE
Oh, and there's also the issue of RPG battle systems usually being the worst (boring + tedious) part of the game. Discard all the other parts and you're left with a game that's as fun as a visit to the dentist.

Although I agree that most battle systems are extremely boring... He did bring up the point that you would be able to spend more time on the battle-system as you would have extra time from not creating a storyline. This could make it very complex and interesting, and could actually make a fun game all by itself.

...but movies don't need decent stories :\

All games have the ability to create from what theorists call "emergent narratives". These player-enacted, "low-level" narratives are different from the "high-level" narratives created by the game designer. If we define the genre in this sense, RPGs as essentially having "story" about the player, all games can be considered RPGs, because all games allow the player to create an emergent narrative in dialogue with the game design.

Further Reading:

Dansky, Richard and Kane, Brad. “Chapter 1: Introduction to Game Narrative.” Game Writing:Narrative Skills for Video Games. Published on Gamasutra. August 24th, 2006. Accessed April 1st, 2009.
URL: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/1838/book_excerpt_and_review__game_.php

Jenkins, Henry. “Game Design as Narrative Architectural.” In Noah Wadrip-Fruin and Pat Harrigan (eds.) First Person: New Media as Story, Performance, Game. Cambridge, MIT Press, 2004. Accessed online April 4th, 2009.
URL: http://web.mit.edu/cms/People/henry3/games&narrative.html

Lindley, Craig. “Game Taxonomies: A High Level Framework for Game Analysis and Design”. Gamasutra. October 3rd, 2003. Accessed April 1st, 2009.
URL:http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/2796/game_taxonomies_a_high_level_.php

Rouse, Richard. Game Design: Theory and Practice. Plano, TX: Wordware Publishing.

The times have changed. RPGs of the past have great gameplay, but only decent story, which doesn't matter, because gameplay alone is what propels players to play on.

Things like story, graphics, sounds, music etc are all really secondary and bonus effects. The core element of a RPG (Role-Playing Game) is to play as a role of a character, and you control him to do loads of stuff like leveling, wandering around the world etc, achieving the character's objectives etc. That is what a true RPG should at least have. The rest are all secondary but are "icings to the cake" to enhance the taste of an RPG.

That said, I play RPGs for the story really, but most of the time, the gameplay is just as per typical.