VERSALIA'S PROFILE

How did I miss this thread before, this is genius

author=Ghost
What charity lol.

Cheer SF - San Francisco's volunteer cheerleading squad. They're pretty much community activists who then run their own fundraisers all year round to give money to other organizations. HIV/AIDS, Cancer, and life-threatening illnesses are their primary focus <3

author=oh_no_im_melting
the things we endure for the good of others

It was pretty fun but I am really glad that it was just one performance

those boots kill

and it's more fun to be hot as my original gender than to be hot as a woman

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."

I DO NOT SUPPORT PIRATED SOFTWARE
but downloadable cracked versions do exist
NOT THAT I AM SAYING YOU SHOULD FIND ONE
but you could if you wanted

yeah the 'shitty' comment was a little harsh, but that flaw is NOT 'barely noticeable' including the miscolored grass around the little water 'pools.' You may not think of these as important details, but it destroys the look of your game and the suspension of disbelief when you can tell the maker didn't care to obvious errors (graphical errors are as obvious as errors can get). I'd be happy to try and map it out a little bit better or edit the tileset if you need help!

author=ShortStar
They start out storiless. Then people complain so I add stories.

Nobody complained, you received a valid criticism from a game review

quit being so goddamn bitter and petty about it already.

and if you're not specifically referring to my comments, then maybe you should listen, as that would mean I'm not the only one to have said this to you

author=S. F. LaValle
The strategic gameplay elements of an RPG carries more weight with a story, because the game is designed to be played over an extended period of time. If one was to start dreaming ways to develop a game with RPG gameplay while avoiding the story convention of modern commercial RPG's, player interest would be the primary issue to tackle because a good story WILL hook more players than the same game without that story

This is why I pretty much consider some kind of story focus to be a requirement of games describing themselves as RPGs. If it's SOLELY gameplay-based, then all of my motivation comes from the gameplay and not from any outside story, plot or attachment. Shadow of the Colossus makes it obvious what your next motivation/goal is without using any explicit story. See my above posts on why it's not an RPG.

author=eplipswitch
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.

The rest are all secondary but are "icings to the cake" to enhance the taste of an RPG.

Wrong. RPGs are not defined by their gameplay features, but by how those features are presented to you. Plenty of other games use RPG Features and are NOT RPGs. Just because you are a character does not mean you are given an immersive role. What is important is that the "role" you are given is what produces your primary basis for interacting with the world. Super Mario Bros. is not an RPG just because you are some plumber. Mario RPG is an RPG because it adds another level of depth to the world you're exploring and how the world reacts to your role in it. Shadow of the Colossus - You play a dude with a horse, you can switch between your Sword and Bow, you have an HP Meter, etc. But it's NOT an RPG. It's a platformer/adventure game. Can you name a gameplay feature that is unique to RPGs? Equippable items? Playing as "some dude?" Exploring a world? None of those are strictly RPG gameplay features... it's all about how you, the player, interact with these features and how they interact with the role you've taken on.