EMO REQUIRE: DO RPGS NEED A STORY?

Posts

Thats true but it helps make the game more interesting as like an effect its not entirely necessary...wait I'm sure this has been said, are we going in circles with this?
Versalia
must be all that rtp in your diet
1405

author=LockeZ
Allow me to rephrase the original question to be more clear:

Do games based around experience points, level ups, and menu-based combat need to have an engaging, deep story with a lot of cut scenes?

And the answer to this is obviously "no". There's nothing about experience points, level ups, or menu-based combat that strictly requires a story on par with a Final Fantasy game, as evidenced by the fact that plenty of successful games with this type of gameplay only have average or even bare bones stories.

If you think the answer is different, it's because you're answering a different question.

I agree with this statement 100% as it is written without the word "RPG." But introduce what you think an RPG IS into the matter... Power levels, equipment, skills, etc are not gameplay features unique to the RPG genre. It's how they're presented to you. I do not define an RPG as "any game using experience points, level ups, and menu-based combat."
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
Yeah, arguments about "wut is rpg" will go on until the end of time. If your definition of an RPG involves playing a role in a story, then obviously that type of game needs a story that is at least deep enough for you to feel like you're playing a role in it. And likewise, if your definition of a story includes games that simply have a setting and a goal, then it's damn near impossible to not have a story.

So basically, at least 70% of this thread is misunderstandings due to semantics. As usual.
You guys should read those articles I referenced.
author=LockeZ
So basically, at least 70% of this thread is misunderstandings due to semantics. As usual.


There isn't a right or wrong answer, only opinions were asked of people, and that's what they gave. It wasn't necessarily a direct question, and if they interpreted the question differently due to semantics, then that's an additional piece of insight to consider along with their actual answer.

I don't know why it's popular to score the quality of threads. If someone's derailing the topic, fine, but the responses have been on-topic and various (which is what makes asking for opinions or discussion useful).
Magi
Resident Terrapin
1028
I guess what anybody should take away from this thread then is: Opinions are happening!!

The more appropriate question that this thread should have posed is "Does YOUR RPG need story?" Evaluating a game's needs are one of the earliest points of development and would have been a fine discussion that pointed out the strengths and weaknesses of gameplay vs. storytelling bias.

Also gameplay is a very broad and vague definition that changes from person to person, so really it's again a subjective quality!
benos
My mind is full of fuck.
624
I get more involved with trying to make a good story then mapping as much. I'm pretty dull at both. Somewhat.

I'll do it to the best of my ability. Characters do matter. Not like for some example:

Caroline: Let's go there and fight demon, because it's evil we kill it.

Alice: I agree.

Earnest: Sure, nothing else matters then the storyline without explanation.

C % A: *nods.
author=LockeZ
Allow me to rephrase the original question to be more clear:

Do games based around experience points, level ups, and menu-based combat need to have an engaging, deep story with a lot of cut scenes?

If only the original post had been as clear as that question. I actually had no idea that was what the original post was asking. And I tried re-reading it a couple of times. (You'll see in my responses in this thread that it answers a couple of different questions depending on what I thought the OP was meaning at the time.)

But yeah. I agree with you there LockeZ. A game based around menu-based combat with some progression really doesn't need any kind of story. Of course it's nice if it has some context. "Arena based combat" is a good one for example, though you can even take away the word "combat" from the menu-driven interaction and you could turn the context into something completely different.
I would hardly suggest that a story is required, but it can be useful to remember the things having a story gets you that aren't directly related to its depth. Providing goals was mentioned upthread, for example; I would also mention pacing, because dungeon-dungeon-dungeon can be a strain.
author=LockeZ
Yeah, arguments about "wut is rpg" will go on until the end of time. So basically, at least 70% of this thread is misunderstandings due to semantics. As usual.
100% still interesting though
author=DFalcon
I would hardly suggest that a story is required, but it can be useful to remember the things having a story gets you that aren't directly related to its depth. Providing goals was mentioned upthread, for example; I would also mention pacing, because dungeon-dungeon-dungeon can be a strain.
Even then I've never enjoyed a dungeon crawler -_- wait maybe diablo but thats not a true dungeon crawler.
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
Diablo is a roguelike with real-time combat. It definitely falls under the "practically no story" category though - it has more than Tetris, but no more than... Contra.
author=Emanzi
Even then I've never enjoyed a dungeon crawler -_- wait maybe diablo but thats not a true dungeon crawler.

This is the problem with everyone defining things differently. I thought Diablo was one of the first things to think of when talking about dungeon crawlers.
rabitZ
amusing tassadar, your taste in companionship grows ever more inexplicable
1349
Well technically Diablo had a lot of... back-story, right?

EDIT: haha guess I was thinking along the lines of Waste of Time Story
i thought it did? iv only played DII LOD tho. *-IMO-* it would have still been enjoyable without a story, ive never really paid any attention to any of it.
Versalia
must be all that rtp in your diet
1405
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NoPlotNoProblem

Most media have some kind of setting. A world, a time, some characters, maybe some backstory... but not here. There's only one thing for you to see or do here. No frill, no fluff. ... When used in video games, the main reason for not having any story or characters is generally because the player's not going to be interested - the Casual Game is meant for pick-up-and-play while waiting for the bus or something.
The story of Diablo is that Dekard Kain wants to talk to you but you keep finding reasons to avoid him except when getting items identified
author=GreatRedSpirit
The story of Diablo is that Dekard Kain wants to talk to you but you keep finding reasons to avoid him except when getting items identified


This is pretty much all of Diablo in a nutshell.
It's better if a game had a story, even if it's a half-assed one.
For me, good story helps but it's not the most important thing for a game.
Gameplay and interactivity is what matters the most, that's what games are good for - other mediums like books,films and comics can do better than games if the emphasis is on story.
Thiamor
I assure you I'm no where NEAR as STUPID as one might think.
63
RPG Is Role Playing Game (Obvious yet most ignore it.)

If you play a role in a game, no matter what type it is, it is an RPG.
Say your role in a game is to, race, with little to no story. It still is an RPG. They may call it sports, but the fact remains you have a role in the game upon playing it.

It is pointless to try to say what it really is, when there are basically millions of solutions as to what it could be. RPG isn't really about the story, but it really isn't about anything other than the fact you're playing a role of something else.

A good story is good. Good game play is good. But what is good and bad is totally an irrelevant point given all games go for is the opinions of the consumers.

RPG = almost anything in terms of gaming.