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[BossLackey]

I respect RPGs. I've played many of them.

But recently I started experimenting with playing anything but RPGs.

And you know what? I'm having more fun. No more fucking fetch quests. No more reading 30 paragraphs of inane dialogue. No more layers of abstraction. Just pure gaaaaaaaamin' mon.

Back to sneakin' around in Metal Gear/Splinter Cell/Hitman, back to slicin' guys up in Ninja Gaiden/Musous/DMC, back to exploring in Zelda/Ghost of Yotei/Tomb Raider, back to racing in GTA/Forza/Asseto Corsa.

For me personally, I feel like RPG mechanics have slowly added an unwanted layer of crap between me and actually playing the game. I get why people love them. I did for a long time. But in my old man stage of video gaming, I'm consistently craving the purity of non-RPG games again. Like when I was a kid.

 

[HRK69]

back to racing in GTA/Forza/Asseto Corsa.

GTA racing quietly remains the best arcade racer out there IMO

Spot a bald rider in a plain white bathrobe on a bike? That's me.

 

[BossLackey]

GTA racing quietly remains the best arcade racer out there IMO

Spot a bald rider in a plain white bathrobe on a bike? That's me.

 

[Dacvak]

As someone who doesn't like RPGs at all, I had two of the best gaming experiences in the last few years with E33 and BG3. I highly doubt any RPG will come close to either of those for quite a while, so I'm right there with you.

I wanna play games that respect your time.

 

[Cert.in.Death]

Keep an eye on Crimson Desert.

 

[Boss Mog]

With western games being what they are these days I'm sure I'll be increasing my JRPG play count again this year.

 

[Sephimoth]

A RPG annoyance to me is timewaster dialogue, where every party member HAS to comment on every thought, no matter how irrelevant.

Every single sentence should have a reason to be there.

Most JRPG scripts need a ruthless editor pass.

 

[poodaddy]

I've kinda done the same, but not because I want to. I actually just have a bit too much on my plate to get into a proper RPG right now, so I've relegated myself to other genres for the time being, but they just don't satisfy the same way at all anymore.

Fighting games used to be my addiction, I find them boring now.

Racing games used to be somewhat amusing to me, I find paint drying more engaging now.

Immersive sims are still my jam, but the same restrictions as RPG's apply, as they tend to be very involved experiences.

Action games bore me to tears these days.

Pretty much all I'm playing, if I play at all, as of late are just Party Hard 2, River City Girls 2, or Streets of Rage 4.....but goddammit I miss RPG's so bad.

I set up a heavily modded instance of Skyrim for my wife, and she's been absolutely loving it. I'm thinking of doing the same on my machine upstairs, but for Fallout New Vegas, but I just wish I had more time to game these days.....it's a bummer man.

 

[SomeNorseGuy]

As long as you're enjoying your recreational time it's all good.

 

[jshackles]

Don't worry OP, I'll play enough RPGs this year for both of us combined.

 

[Hawk The Slayer]

Still more than enough from backlogs from modded Fallout and Elder Scroll games.

And there's going to be a gigantic rpg storm in 2027 with Witcher 4, Elder Scrolls VI, and FFVII Part 3 Rectum Reckoning.

 

[Danjin44]

If you dont enjoy RPGs then dont play them.

I can never see myself not playing them...I LOVE RPGs (mostly JRPGs).

Currently these are the RPGs I'm highly anticipating for this year....

 

[ungalo]

I came to hate RPGs. Not only are they shit but they are infecting basically all the other existing genres.

May our most expected games be spared from this plague.

 

[DreamcastSkies]

FF VII Remake 3 is coming.

 

[Durin]

I can understand the perspective, but still my favorite genre.

Ever since Mass Effect though, I've felt that many RPGs would be better off with that 30ish hour mark to complete.

That's a sizeable amount of time to do meaningful progression, character arcs for all your party members, have the grand plot, and still feel worth the money. Most RPGs past 50 hours don't justify the time, and do just throw in artificial grind.

 

[HRK69]

FF VII Remake 3 is coming.

Without timed exclusivity

 

[Nephryte]

If you dont enjoy RPGs then dont play them.

I can never see myself not playing them...I LOVE RPGs (mostly JRPGs).

Currently these are the RPGs I'm highly anticipating for this year....

Urgghhhh. So many good jrpgs…

 

[Danjin44]

Urgghhhh. So many good jrpgs…

As long as I get good JRPGs I will never stop playing them.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

A RPG annoyance to me is timewaster dialogue, where every party member HAS to comment on every thought, no matter how irrelevant.

Every single sentence should have a reason to be there.

Most JRPG scripts need a ruthless editor pass.

I've been saying this forever. Some JRPGs have an impressive ability to yap on and on without saying anything. They'll react to stuff you just saw, talk in circles, point out obvious things, etc. Conversations will go on like 3x as long as they need to. Amazing when you look at how much dialog could be cut without losing anything.

That's one thing I really appreciated about the 16–bit and (to some extent) the 32 bit era. They'd keep the dialog brief and have just enough talking to get the point across. Nowadays we have multiple hours of voice acting. You'll get to a boss fight and it has like a 20 minute dialog before the fight starts + another 5 minutes after (plus 3 skits).

 

[Aenima]

I would say that 80% of my gaming time is spent playing RPGs, and its by far my favorite genre. From JRPGs to Western RPGs to CRPGs to Strategy RPGs.

At the end of the day you should play what you enjoy, if you not enjoying RPGs that much you dont own anyone any explanation. Some ppl i know spend all they gaming time playing GTA Online or Fifa, or CoD, etc.

 

[Shadowcoust]

I dunno if I'm getting old and time's too little of a commodity or what, but whenever an RPG slaps me with heavy, forced narration I just skip it all. Re-playing CP2077 now and its all just vibes that's keeping me going, couldn't really care less about the dialogue and overly chirpy interactions.

 

[TintoConCasera]

I've been saying this forever. Some JRPGs have an impressive ability to yap on and on without saying anything. They'll react to stuff you just saw, talk in circles, point out obvious things, etc. Conversations will go on like 3x as long as they need to. Amazing when you look at how much dialog could be cut without losing anything.

Getting some Golden Sun flashbacks from this post lol.

It's one of the reasons I love SMT games so much: they rarely beat around the bush in that way. In fact I wouldn't mind if V had more dialogue, but I enjoyed what's there.

 

[TintoConCasera]

I dunno if I'm getting old and time's too little of a commodity or what, but whenever an RPG slaps me with heavy, forced narration I just skip it all. Re-playing CP2077 now and its all just vibes that's keeping me going, couldn't really care less about the dialogue and overly chirpy interactions.

I find the writting in that game to be more quantity than quality. Specially as the story was nearing to an end, I couldn't give two shits about many characters yet they kept yapping and yapping with no end in sigh.

For me the golden standard is Baldur's Gate 2: imo the game has the right amount of line of text for what it tries to say, and the writting was superb with some very cool characters and story beats.

 

[BennyBlanco]

Getting some Golden Sun flashbacks from this post lol.

It's one of the reasons I love SMT games so much: they rarely beat around the bush in that way. In fact I wouldn't mind if V had more dialogue, but I enjoyed what's there.

Persona might be the worst offender. But mainline SMT and the old spinoffs didn't do this at all. I wish Strange Journey had more dialogue because the characters are so good.

 

[TintoConCasera]

Persona might be the worst offender. But mainline SMT and the old spinoffs didn't do this at all. I wish Strange Journey had more dialogue because the characters are so good.

Yeah Persona really likes to repeat itself. Specially the part when someone new joins the party and they have to explain them what's going on. Damn if it weren't for covid, copious amounts of weed and the waifus I would have never beaten that game lmao

For me SMT IV had the right amount of yap and gameplay. III and V are very cool games but they go more for a minimalistic approach, which is nice too since that lets the gameplay shine more. That said I hope VI has more dialogue than V, or at least a more fleshed out story.

 

[Dorfdad]

I respect RPGs. I've played many of them.

But recently I started experimenting with playing anything but RPGs.

And you know what? I'm having more fun. No more fucking fetch quests. No more reading 30 paragraphs of inane dialogue. No more layers of abstraction. Just pure gaaaaaaaamin' mon.

Back to sneakin' around in Metal Gear/Splinter Cell/Hitman, back to slicin' guys up in Ninja Gaiden/Musous/DMC, back to exploring in Zelda/Ghost of Yotei/Tomb Raider, back to racing in GTA/Forza/Asseto Corsa.

For me personally, I feel like RPG mechanics have slowly added an unwanted layer of crap between me and actually playing the game. I get why people love them. I did for a long time. But in my old man stage of video gaming, I'm consistently craving the purity of non-RPG games again. Like when I was a kid.

Yeah now you get to experience fps where for some reason everyone leaves exploding barrels around the levels!!!

However I get your point all genres have some BS I just don't like meaningless quests in games. They seem like artificial time grinds to keep hours up. Just jumped back into LOTRO the mmo and love the lore and taking my time to explorer middle earth but the amount of go find my drunk dad or chop me some wood quests are annoying

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Getting some Golden Sun flashbacks from this post lol.

It's one of the reasons I love SMT games so much: they rarely beat around the bush in that way. In fact I wouldn't mind if V had more dialogue, but I enjoyed what's there.

 

[Arsic]

If you dont enjoy RPGs then dont play them.

I can never see myself not playing them...I LOVE RPGs (mostly JRPGs).

Currently these are the RPGs I'm highly anticipating for this year....

Holy fuck that trails Art cover is the best Art cover since like ps1 era boxes jesus that goes fucking hard!!!!

 

[Crayon]

I love a serious rpg, but I need a lot of different stuff in between and even during them. A 100 hour game can take me a few months because because I'll usually take a break here and there to play more dense stuff.

 

[Arsic]

Yeah Persona really likes to repeat itself. Specially the part when someone new joins the party and they have to explain them what's going on. Damn if it weren't for covid, copious amounts of weed and the waifus I would have never beaten that game lmao

For me SMT IV had the right amount of yap and gameplay. III and V are very cool games but they go more for a minimalistic approach, which is nice too since that lets the gameplay shine more. That said I hope VI has more dialogue than V, or at least a more fleshed out story.

I won't lie… I'd rather get a SMT4 and strange journey remake than SMT6 just yet…

Still haven't played them.

 

[DarkShadowXI]

I want to beat more RPGs this year, but I can totally understand this take.

I should honestly stop playing them too, but the 70+ I have in my backlog are like:

 

[TintoConCasera]

I won't lie… I'd rather get a SMT4 and strange journey remake than SMT6 just yet…

Still haven't played them.

I'd kill for an SMT IV remake if it means fixing the issues the game has (game balance mostly)

 

[EverydayBeast]

RPG elements are implemented into every game these days, Jedi survivor with the lightsabers, Indiana jones with collecting things and upgrading Indy's "abilities".

 

[xenosys]

" No more fucking fetch quests."

"Ghost of Yotei"

Nice sneak. Ghost of Yotei is just even more refined Ubislop with a samurai sword.

 

[Danjin44]

I'd kill for an SMT IV remake if it means fixing the issues the game has (game balance mostly)

I'm guessing you are talking about the Smirk system which can destroy your entire and how your dumb Ai.I human party keep using dumb moves to trigger the smirk on bosses.

 

[March Climber]

Once gamers equated playtime to money and decided they didn't want to spend 59.99 on experiences below 35 hours anymore, MMO design unfortunately found it's way into both WRPGs and JRPGs in the past decade.

"Get 10 Pelts" "Fetch 7 birds" just to get a line or two of cheeky dialogue in a side quest, or in the case of FF16, some main quests.

But hey, at least the game is 60 hours right? That justifies the dollar to hour ratio…right?

 

[ChoosableOne]

I'm not specifically against rpgs, but I've grown tired of games that try to force their shitty stories through gameplay(pushing "a" for 100 times, holding the left stick up for 5 minutes etc). I don't have the patience for that anymore.

From time to time, when I come across a really good rpg(1 or 2 in a year), I take great pleasure in spending hours on it—other genres just don't hook me the same way. You have to pick the good ones and play those. But I really can't stand jrpgs with childish stories.

 

[grvg]

I respect RPGs. I've played many of them.

But recently I started experimenting with playing anything but RPGs.

And you know what? I'm having more fun. No more fucking fetch quests. No more reading 30 paragraphs of inane dialogue. No more layers of abstraction. Just pure gaaaaaaaamin' mon.

Back to sneakin' around in Metal Gear/Splinter Cell/Hitman, back to slicin' guys up in Ninja Gaiden/Musous/DMC, back to exploring in Zelda/Ghost of Yotei/Tomb Raider, back to racing in GTA/Forza/Asseto Corsa.

For me personally, I feel like RPG mechanics have slowly added an unwanted layer of crap between me and actually playing the game. I get why people love them. I did for a long time. But in my old man stage of video gaming, I'm consistently craving the purity of non-RPG games again. Like when I was a kid.

You make a very good point. I may just try it out.

Probably good for the brain, too, to get away from the dopamine skinner box design of most rpgs.

 

[Aressa]

Play better RPGs?

 

[balls of snow]

Nothing better than a crunchy wrpg to dig in after playing shorter stuff.

 

[Artificial Heart]

Cool story bro. Enjoy Battlefield and COD

 

[cireza]

RPGs without bloat and with good pacing do exist though. They are simply not the current norm.

 

[ungalo]

It's the game-design that's the big problem not the cutscenes or story.

The need for constant player progression, the nature of said progression (meta based) and ways to bypass difficulty are RPG traits that are infecting everything in gaming.

 

[Soodanim]

Variety is the spice of life. Have fun.

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

For me personally, I feel like RPG mechanics have slowly added an unwanted layer of crap between me and actually playing the game.

Most game genres have done this, honestly.
A few years ago, I was quite irritated that the New Super Mario games had to have a stupid introductory cutscene showing Bowser kidnapping the princess. Fuck off with that nonsense, and let me play 1-1 already.
JRPG bloat is its own special kind of bloat, but the genre is hardly alone in making everything way more redundant and complicated than it would be good for it,

 

[TintoConCasera]

I'm guessing you are talking about the Smirk system which can destroy your entire and how your dumb Ai.I human party keep using dumb moves to trigger the smirk on bosses.

Yeah that can be annoying but I actually meant how the game's difficulty takes a nosedive after Naraku.

 

[Gp1]

As I'm getting older i admited something hard and harsh.

95% (minimum) of videogame scripts and stories still sucks and have one or many of the of the following: are badly written, over bloated, simplistic, preachy, makes no sense from a logicall point of view, overexposing at every corner, don't know how to be subtle, etc. And even when they nail this part we still get the over talkative protagonist or sidekick...

Since RPG's are the ones that really need a good script...

There are about 1-2 dozen games that really excels on that front on the last 20 years.

And from what we're seeing, were the industry is going, it continue will continue to be like this.

To me, the solution has been to always look for good gameplay loops. Everything else is secondary.

 

[Humdinger]

That's interesting. It goes both ways, of course. Me, for instance -- I have a long history of playing open-world RPGs, but about two years ago, I got sick and tired of them. I felt what you're feeling now. "Enough with the bloat, enough with all the misc. side quests, enough with the massive time sink." I wanted shorter, more linear experiences. And that's what I played, for a long time.

But recently, I've gotten my taste back for long WRPGs. I find them relaxing and immersive. I don't feel that way with more linear action games. Those are more entertainment/challenge-driven, get through the chapters, push on to the next. With a big RPG, though, it's a very open-ended, leisurely experience. Easy to relax with. There are lots of options to fit the mood, too -- if I get bored of doing one thing, I can another any number of other things instead. It also feels more like an immersive experience in an alternate world, whereas other games tend to feel more like movies you play through - an "entertainment experience," if you get my drift, rather than a world you "live" in.

Anyhow, I go through phases. Once I'm done with the multiple-hundred hour RPG I'm in the middle of now (Oblivion), I will probably be ready for something shorter and more direct.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

As I'm getting older i admited something hard and harsh.

95% (minimum) of videogame scripts and stories still sucks and have one or many of the of the following: are badly written, over bloated, simplistic, preachy, makes no sense from a logicall point of view, overexposing at every corner, don't know how to be subtle, etc. And even when they nail this part we still get the over talkative protagonist or sidekick...

Since RPG's are the ones that really need a good script...

There are about 1-2 dozen games that really excels on that front on the last 20 years.

And from what we're seeing, were the industry is going, it continue will continue to be like this.

To me, the solution has been to always look for good gameplay loops. Everything else is secondary.

Agreed. I have really low expectations for game stories now. I just want them to be good enough to make me want to find out what happens next, and to be fun + work well as a game story.

If a game does put heavy focus on story + characters then it better be damn good. Otherwise I'd rather just read a book or watch a movie.

I hope Expedition 33 lights a fire under the ass of JRPG writers. It proves you can do a killer JRPG story without corny shounen anime melodrama, treating the gamer like a moron, over explaining everything, cartoonish mustache-twirling villains, hours and hours of filler, etc.

 

[NeverYouMind]

Once gamers equated playtime to money and decided they didn't want to spend 59.99 on experiences below 35 hours anymore, MMO design unfortunately found it's way into both WRPGs and JRPGs in the past decade.

"Get 10 Pelts" "Fetch 7 birds" just to get a line or two of cheeky dialogue in a side quest, or in the case of FF16, some main quests.

But hey, at least the game is 60 hours right? That justifies the dollar to hour ratio…right?

I just recently stole dozens of cars in GTA Vice City to unlock a monster truck. As long as there is a satisfying item at the end the fetch quests can be fun.