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[Some Nobody]

I don't get it. I mean, I'm excited for The Witcher 3, Monolith's "X", and even DAI but...with the exception of "X" they're all sort of treading similar ground with the medieval fantasy. Now for me that's not a huge problem since I love high fantasy, but man.

You have Age of Wushu, a martial arts MMO with a beautiful wuxia setting. You've got Guild Wars 2, which is fantasy but completely unlike any fantasy I've ever seen. Then you've got Skyforge, the MMO that inspired this thread. So far there's only that one screen but it looks gorgeous and hints at a fairly interesting world to explore, with a pretty neat concept of immortals who aim to become gods, gaining their own followers as their powers grow.

This doesn't even make sense. MMOs cost way more money and in general seem to be a more risky venture, since as near as I can tell most MMO players tend to have one game they stick with and that's it. WOW heights are pretty much never hit. But you have standard RPG fans starving for games that don't explore the same old "elves, forests and castles"--people who are far more likely to invest cash in multiple games even in a single year. Why are we still getting the same shit over and over again?

Does anyone else agree or am I just losing my mind?

 

[pablito]

i'll have to disagree since ivalice is sp

 

[Some Nobody]

i'll have to disagree since ivalice is sp

When was the last Ivalice set game? 2007?

 

[Dezzy]

I agree with you. I'd even take it a step further and say I'd like more single player games to mimic the scope and size of mmos as well. Imagine something with a huge world full of unique and varied areas like WoW or GW2, filled with hundreds of quests, but all tailored for single player. Final Fantasy XII and Xenoblade basically did this, and I think those turned out great.

 

[Nostremitus]

Do MMO's tend to be more profitable in the long run? MMO's that have been out for a while continuously update and refine their settings, stories and characters for years post launch. This may have something to do with it.

 

[Phades]

It depends on what you are looking for specifically.

The main draw for those style of games is the exploration and scale, which leads the imagination towards potential and possibilities instead of focusing on content and mechanics (which comes later).

While others are looking more for the backstory/plot narrative that is largely absent in many mmo titles, so naturally they will disagree with you.

 

[chrominance]

Persona 4 is a bunch of high school students in a modern Japanese rural town. Devil Survivor is a group of people trapped in apocalyptic Tokyo trying to flee from demons. Fallout is set in a surprisingly lively post-nuclear wasteland. Resonance of Fate takes place on a giant floating clockwork tower in the sky where everyone's lifespans are controlled by quartz crystals. Valkyria Chronicles features a militia squad in an alternate reality World War II. Eternal Sonata is about a fantasy world in the mind of famous composer Chopin. Alpha Protocol is a stylish espionage RPG set in modern-day real-world environments. South Park is set in... well, South Park.

You're bored of straight high-fantasy RPGs? Great. So am I. Play some other RPGs instead!

 

[Squalor]

Bigger? Yes.

More interesting? Not so much.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Most MMOs have terrible settings and lore. Only a very small number stand out from the crowd.

 

[oddworld18]

Do MMO's tend to be more profitable in the long run? MMO's that have been out for a while continuously update and refine their settings, stories and characters for years post launch. This may have something to do with it.

This, plus Phades' point about depth of story vs depth of environment.

Not to mention MMOs are generally not aimed at the mass market, which means they can afford to be riskier.

At least in theory. We all know how many MMOs have crashed and burned after failing to inspire a userbase.

 

[Some Nobody]

Persona 4 is a bunch of high school students in a modern Japanese rural town. Devil Survivor is a group of people trapped in apocalyptic Tokyo trying to flee from demons. Fallout is set in a surprisingly lively post-nuclear wasteland. Resonance of Fate takes place on a giant floating clockwork tower in the sky where everyone's lifespans are controlled by quartz crystals. Valkyria Chronicles features a militia squad in an alternate reality World War II. Eternal Sonata is about a fantasy world in the mind of famous composer Chopin. Alpha Protocol is a stylish espionage RPG set in modern-day real-world environments. South Park is set in... well, South Park.

You're bored of straight high-fantasy RPGs? Great. So am I. Play some other RPGs instead!

- Never cared for the Persona series
- You can keep post-apocalpytic anything, so Devil Survivor and Fallout are out
- Was Resonance of Fate good? People kept telling me it was crap.
- Valkyria Chronicles is pretty awesome, you got me there.
- Eternal Sonata's artstyle turned me off.
- See my comments on Resonance of Fate for Alpha Protocol. I can never get a solid answer on the game's quality.

To your credit, you listed 8 different games that aren't typical high fantasy. You can either call me picky or you can just say that I find the settings MMOs are creating to be more interesting.

 

[Skelter]

Because of all the damn memories and stories we create for ourselves..

- Never cared for the Persona series
- You can keep post-apocalpytic anything, so Devil Survivor and Fallout are out
- Was Resonance of Fate good? People kept telling me it was crap.
- Valkyria Chronicles is pretty awesome, you got me there.
- Eternal Sonata's artstyle turned me off.
- See my comments on Resonance of Fate for Alpha Protocol. I can never get a solid answer on the game's quality.

To your credit, you listed 8 different games that aren't typical high fantasy. You can either call me picky or you can just say that I find the settings MMOs are creating to be more interesting.

Alpha Protocol has its issues but as with an Obsidian game it has excellent writing and great character. Alpha Protocol along with Witcher 2 has some of the best reactivity but not only that protagonist, you, are very proactive! You don't see that often in an RPG usually just reacting off whatever has happened. If you can get pass the broken gameplay and annoying controls its worth it.

This, plus Phades' point about depth of story vs depth of environment.

Not to mention MMOs are generally not aimed at the mass market, which means they can afford to be riskier.

At least in theory. We all know how many MMOs have crashed and burned after failing to inspire a userbase.

What?

 

[disappeared]

Chrono Trigger, Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Knights of the Old Republic II, The Witcher, Fallout New Vegas. All of these titles had worlds that were far more memorable to me than any MMO area I've ever run through.

 

[HK-47]

Its Torment time.

 

[JimPanzer]

- Never cared for the Persona series
- You can keep post-apocalpytic anything, so Devil Survivor and Fallout are out

there's your problem.

anyway, I wouldn't describe devil survivor as post-apocalyptic - it actually takes place right when the apocalypse happens. SMTIV was post-apocalyptic.

 

[Some Nobody]

At least in theory. We all know how many MMOs have crashed and burned after failing to inspire a userbase.

That's the thing: Are we really saying they'd sell less as a single-player game?

I agree with you. I'd even take it a step further and say I'd like more single player games to mimic the scope and size of mmos as well. Imagine something with a huge world full of unique and varied areas like WoW or GW2, filled with hundreds of quests, but all tailored for single player. Final Fantasy XII and Xenoblade basically did this, and I think those turned out great.

Yeah, I think about this all the time actually. A gigantic world that has hundreds of quests that alters as you play it.

 

[ocean]

I invite you to read up on something called Biased Search for Information.

The way you present your argument suggests that MMO settings' superiority is an accepted fact and you're merely wondering why that is. Perhaps you might want to step back for a second and consider whether they're better instead of jumping straight into why. That said, as a matter of opinion and personal preference your stance is perfectly valid. It is in assuming, or suggesting, that this should be so for everyone else that your argument fails.

OP ends in a question that seems to indicate that, contrary to the thread's title, the intention was to ask whether other people agree instead of merely seeking confirmation for your opinion though, so it's all good.

I've had relatively limited experience with MMORPG but I am not sure whether I'd go as far as saying that SP RPG are all elves forests and castles. It's an enormous genre that has extremely varied entries. I mean everything from Final Fantasy (which goes from medieval-fantasy to technopunk-futuristic), Pokemon, Mass Effect, Skyrim, KOtOR and everything in between suggests great variety of setting.

 

[Falk]

Not sure why this is a thread about MMO vs non-MMO RPGs rather than the developers and the culture they're based in.

I mean, really, why not compare LotRO, Age of Conan, etc vs JRPGs and based on that little slice alone conclude which is steeped in 'high fantasy'.

 

[Some Nobody]

I invite you to read up on something called Biased Search for Information.

The way you present your argument suggests that MMO settings' superiority is an accepted fact and you're merely wondering why that is. Perhaps you might want to step back for a second and consider whether they're better instead of jumping straight into why. That said, as a matter of opinion and personal preference your stance is perfectly valid. It is in assuming, or suggesting, that this should be so for everyone else that your argument fails.

OP ends in a question that seems to indicate that, contrary to the thread's title, the intention was to ask whether other people agree instead of merely seeking confirmation for your opinion though, so it's all good.

Title was to draw people in. It's meant to be provocative and catch people's attention, basically "let's see what this idiot is talking about".

I've had relatively limited experience with MMORPG but I am not sure whether I'd go as far as saying that SP RPG are all elves forests and castles. It's an enormous genre that has extremely varied entries. I mean everything from Final Fantasy (which goes from medieval-fantasy to technopunk-futuristic), Pokemon, Mass Effect, Skyrim, KOtOR and everything in between suggests great variety of setting.

I do want to point out that I'm talking PC/consoles and only since last-gen started (so 2005 or so). PS1 and PS2 eras definitely had a lot more variety.

 

[kuroneco]

There are no sp rpgs right now whatsoever.

 

[bonesmccoy]

SP RPGs explored most of those settings a long time ago.

Skyforge seems somewhat unique, but then I know next to nothing about it.

 

[Some Nobody]

Not sure why this is a thread about MMO vs non-MMO RPGs rather than the developers and the culture they're based in.

I mean, really, why not compare LotRO, Age of Conan, etc vs JRPGs and based on that little slice alone conclude which is steeped in 'high fantasy'.

J-RPGs have their own problems. Summed up thusly: They barely exist on consoles, and the ones that do tend to be Gust/NIS or Idea Factory and Compile Heart. Some people enjoy the former, many people dislike the latter, and I personally can't stand either.

If you want I could do an entirely different thread asking why console RPGs are slowly shrinking in number, but aren't you tired of that discussion already?

 

[Mesoian]

I don't get it. I mean, I'm excited for The Witcher 3, Monolith's "X", and even DAI but...with the exception of "X" they're all sort of treading similar ground with the medieval fantasy. Now for me that's not a huge problem since I love high fantasy, but man.

You have Age of Wushu, a martial arts MMO with a beautiful wuxia setting. You've got Guild Wars 2, which is fantasy but completely unlike any fantasy I've ever seen. Then you've got Skyforge, the MMO that inspired this thread. So far there's only that one screen but it looks gorgeous and hints at a fairly interesting world to explore, with a pretty neat concept of immortals who aim to become gods, gaining their own followers as their powers grow.

This doesn't even make sense. MMOs cost way more money and in general seem to be a more risky venture, since as near as I can tell most MMO players tend to have one game they stick with and that's it. WOW heights are pretty much never hit. But you have standard RPG fans starving for games that don't explore the same old "elves, forests and castles"--people who are far more likely to invest cash in multiple games even in a single year. Why are we still getting the same shit over and over again?

Does anyone else agree or am I just losing my mind?

Single player RPG's have a much smaller scope to deal with. A rag tag group of misfits teaming up to save X from Y is a much easier story to build a world around than something that needs to keep millions upon millions of people engaged but offer up a unique experience.

Dark Souls is similar to MMOs where the story is pretty massive and sprawling, but they explain things very sparingly allowing for the community to slowly piece things together.

 

[Aureon]

There's tons of good settings, eg. The Banner Saga.
MMOs usually come off as bland. I still haven't seen a MMO setting i really LIKED that wasn't based on an existing IP ( WoW, FFXIV:ARR, SWTOR)

 

[LOLCats]

oh i find MMO story lines and environment to much more uninteresting the SP RPG. Generally what makes the environment a little more interesting in MMO is obviously the other real players. There have only been a couple MMO where the lore and story line were fairly decent, but the vast majority i don't even know what the story is.

 

[jmood88]

I'm tired of the typical RPG fantasy setting but most MMO's hardly have any setting that I would consider to be interesting.

 

[Falk]

Actually I'm mildly surprised ESO hasn't been brought up yet!

edit:

J-RPGs have their own problems. Summed up thusly: They barely exist on consoles, and the ones that do tend to be Gust/NIS or Idea Factory and Compile Heart. Some people enjoy the former, many people dislike the latter, and I personally can't stand either.

If you want I could do an entirely different thread asking why console RPGs are slowly shrinking in number, but aren't you tired of that discussion already?

I think you're completely missing my point. I wasn't trying to shoehorn JRPGs (or their state in the industry) into the discussion. To quote your own examples, Guild Wars is Korean (It's more NCSoft's direction than ArenaNet), Age of Wushu (Wulin) is Chinese, and X is Japanese. The culture the developer comes from has a significant bearing on the aesthetics of the fictional worlds they produce. As big as Tolkien is, it's not as big in Asian countries when you compare the influence in English speaking (or Western) ones.

That being said I'm gonna agree with you in that Skyforge looks freaking baller.

 

[Hyunashi]

GW2 has potential to be a great setting, too bad ANET are dam slow and are so high on their pathetic living story BS. GW1 is what GW2 could eventually become, but who knows how long that will take.

Personally, I prefer SP settings, most MMORPG settings feel similar to each other.

 

[Syril]

Actually I'm mildly surprised ESO hasn't been brought up yet!

edit:


I think you're completely missing my point. I wasn't trying to shoehorn JRPGs (or their state in the industry) into the discussion. To quote your own examples, Guild Wars is Korean (It's more NCSoft's direction than ArenaNet), Age of Wushu (Wulin) is Chinese, and X is Japanese. The culture the developer comes from has a significant bearing on the aesthetics of the fictional worlds they produce. As big as Tolkien is, it's not as big in Asian countries when you compare the influence in English speaking (or Western) ones.

That being said I'm gonna agree with you in that Skyforge looks freaking baller.

What makes you say that Guild Wars is more NCSoft than ArenaNet?

 

[softie]

Ni no Kuni - an RPG placed in a Ghibli world. How awesome is that?