Question about RPGs

[Herosmith15]

Hi all. I have a few questions for people about RPGs. I love RPGs and I love almost everything about them. The battle systems, the powers, the characters, and lastly the awesome story! However me and my father constantly have arguments about RPGs. Keep in mind that he dislikes RPGs for various reasons, but here is the dilemma:

He says majority of RPGs that he has seen are alike. With the turn by turn battles, the eras, the lifestyles of the characters, and even the plots. (Heroes band together to fight a higher power) And he says that "I" should be disappointed with the games because they sound alike. So my question is, "What makes an RPG different from eachother?"

I honestly don't care about what he said, but to me a good rpg is a game that I play and I can't put down. But I want to know what you guys think.

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

Well, if you look at a macro scale, yes they revolve around the same ideas... what makes them different is the micro scale (the specifics of the story, the characters, etc)

 

[ShinGamix]

Sounds like he is Strago from FF6

 

[Herosmith15]

Well, if you look at a macro scale, yes they revolve around the same ideas... what makes them different is the micro scale (the specifics of the story, the characters, etc)

LOL That is what I tell him, but he feels that an RPG should be totally different from another. I think he is right in some areas.

Like with RPG Maker. We argued bout this today. The engine does what the engine does so making a game and having it stand out will all depend on its content, right? (Ruby can manipulate most things, however)

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

You cannot make them TOTALLY different... else they would not all be RPGs anymore... the genre is the basis of anything that you add into the game... so if he thinks that even that should be different, then that game doesn't belong in the genre anymore...

the idea of having a genre is that those included in it has basic, common points... so if you go with something that doesn't have any of that common point, then you can't classify that anymore...

we should really take great care in using absolute words...

 

[kerbonklin]

Have him play games like Animal Crossing and he'll change his mind. =)   (Still considered an RPG since well, there's roles....I think....)

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

RPGs really is a large genre...

the most basic that we know would be Adventure RPGs I think... then there's Action RPGs, MMO RPGs etc

 

[Herosmith15]

These are all great answers! LOL Kerbonklin. My sister has that game. (Fun as jeebus)

I will take these answers and show them to him, because he is kind of putting me at a halt with my RPG. He thinks that I won't be able to sell my rpg because anyone can make an rpg with this engine and that all the stories are played out, But I think with a great story, good gameplay and interesting characters. People will enjoy it!

Replay value as well. Gotta include that!

Thanks guys! ^_^

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

just make your own stories and your own character... though selling might be hard if you don't have any samples to go... also, most people who knows the engine will probably say the same since we all know how to make games using the engine... but remember that developers aren't your target, your target is the players...

though it would also depend on where you wanna sell that... if you plan to go Steam, then you would really need custom graphics and a really good game...

 

[Herosmith15]

just make your own stories and your own character... though selling might be hard if you don't have any samples to go...

Oh I know. I didnt actually finish the game. I am holding off on saying anything about it because anything can happen and I dont wanna get peoples hopes up.

But selling a game requires marketing. I know plenty of companies that sell garbage products, but they do it because they get it to many people. A good product can't be sold if no one knows about it, right?

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

though indie games I guess are quite harder to sell really... AAA games can sell even if they are not a total hit since there is a player base already... but anyway, this is so off-topic now... so just Good luck on your game...

 

[Shaz]

When I studied game design at uni a few years ago, one of the lecturers in an arts faculty subject about story/plot design made the point that there are only 7 basic outlines used by all the movie studios. Every single movie that's ever been made fits into one of these 7 outlines. Going by your dad's line of thought, every single movie should bore us to death by now

 

[Herosmith15]

Thanks! I guess I have a case to show my father.

 

[Sharm]

I think what you need to do is tell him that it doesn't matter if he has faith in the genre, just ask him to have faith in you.  Things have been done over and over but if it's done well it doesn't matter and it will sell.  If that weren't true we wouldn't be seeing Cinderella stories anymore.

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

When I studied game design at uni a few years ago, one of the lecturers in an arts faculty subject about story/plot design made the point that there are only 7 basic outlines used by all the movie studios. Every single movie that's ever been made fits into one of these 7 outlines. Going by your dad's line of thought, every single movie should bore us to death by now

wow, that's quite many... I thought it was actually lower than that... XD

 

[Herosmith15]

I think what you need to do is tell him that it doesn't matter if he has faith in the genre, just ask him to have faith in you.  Things have been done over and over but if it's done well it doesn't matter and it will sell.  If that weren't true we wouldn't be seeing Cinderella stories anymore.

LOL very true! So many stories about her.

 

[hian]

In many regards your father is demonstrably wrong.

RPGs come in all different kinds of eras, with many different kinds of battle systems.

As for stories, there might be less variety, but that's irrelevant. By your father's logic we should dismiss pretty much every genre in every type of medium. Does he think books or movies have more variety in plot?

Furthermore, it's only really possible to discuss quality in sets of similar products. If only one battle system existed, we'd have no basis for comparison, and therefore no way to establish what true quality would be.

The fact that genres replicate their stories is what allows us to evaluate, evolve and cherish certain plot devices and story lines.

Originality is not a prerequisite for quality. Furthermore, it is perfectly normal to enjoy things that are similar to one another. If I enjoy a certain setting, I'll probably gravitate towards stories with that setting.

What your father essentially is saying is that we either ought to only like one thing, and dismiss anything that is similar, simply for being similar, or he simply doesn't like the essential aspects of RPGs.

Personally, I'm satisfied as long as an RPG performs well within the confines of what I enjoyed about the first RPGs that I played.

A well-told story, nice art and music, decent gameplay, and a bit of length is all I need.

 

[Andar]

Here are a few more arguments for you:

RPG comes from "RolePlaying" - which is basically storytelling and acting combined. If you go down to the roots of RPGs (before computers even existed, the Pen-and-Paper-Variants like D&D), they are very similiar to making a non-visual movie (with the game-master or the computer handling the jobs of storywriter, regisseur and producer) and the players as actors.

The computer has removed the need to play in a group (PnP-RPGs usually need a group of 5-6 players in the same room), but should still focus on storytelling instead of game mechanics (my opinion, there are more than a few computer RPGs who fail that part).

If he considers the story useless, then he probably won't need to go to a theater often to watch a movie or a play, as they are all identical to him, right? ;-)

 

[kerbonklin]

If he considers the story useless, then he probably won't need to go to a theater often to watch a movie or a play, as they are all identical to him, right? ;-)

Definitely this, it's always much more entertaining to watch a movie in a theater than on a DvD/netflix.

 

[Reynard Frost]

All apples are apples. But you try to tell me a red apple is just like a fuji apple and I'll slap you silly.

The devil is in the details. All pizzas are pizzas, it is the TOPPINGS that set them apart, how each topping is arranged! Sounds like your dad just has no sense of nuance.