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How do you feel about innovation in RPGs?

How do you feel about innovation in RPGs?


  • Total voters
    175

Riddler

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jan 5, 2009
Messages
2,353
Bubbles In Memoria
This poll asks the wrong question.

Whether I like an RPG or not is not tied to innovation, it is tied to quality.

Games are overall of very poor quality(particularly writing quality), possibly because it is very difficult to create games. That is the issue, not the presence or lack of innovation.

Compare it to non-interactive media, am I not going to watch a movie or read a book because it isn't innovative? Would in watch/read something just because it is innovative?

I consume things because they are good, not because they are new. That is not to say that new isn't interesting, but I'm not going to say no to a really well-made game just because it is similar to what came before. (Good)innovation can excuse some blemishes but quality is always quality.
 

Doktor Best

Arcane
Joined
Feb 2, 2015
Messages
2,849
Im really looking forward to an super-AI dungeonmastering my vr rpg sessions. No pre written dialogue. No real plot. Just me, a predefined world with a laid out ruleset and one poor artifical cognition that has to put up with my sick little mind.

Incognito mode would be appreciated.
 

deuxhero

Arcane
Joined
Jul 30, 2007
Messages
11,326
Location
Flowery Land
The only recent innovation in RPGs I can think of that actually work are

1: The text adventures in PoE
2: The Expeditions series camping tasks

Both were copied by Kingmaker.
 
Joined
Apr 4, 2019
Messages
220
Location
Austria
I'm not sure if dumbing down a game should be called innovation or injecting 'certain political views' in it.
Regarding the trend to fully voice the player character...so far i cant really complain. Most german VA did in my opinion a good job.
 

Machocruz

Arcane
Joined
Jul 7, 2011
Messages
4,318
Location
Hyperborea
Any real, good innovation that could come to video RPGs would come from the wellspring. The classics evolved along these lines by incrementally approaching the possibility space of tabletop. All the games that are great in CRPG added a new stone to the path. There is still a long way to go of course. So are any developers looking at where things stand now and how the distance can be closed even further?

One thing I know is that it will never come from AAA. The audience is a leash. RPGs are a lot about simulation, solving problems/figuring things out, and dealing with permanent consequences, things that most players have shown repeatedly to either loath or be incompetent at. You cannot build a road to the promised land while having a quest marker or Balanced mentality. That's the path to regression. You're short-dicking the potential of the genre.
 
Last edited:

HoboForEternity

sunset tequila
Patron
Joined
Mar 27, 2016
Messages
9,175
Location
Disco Elysium
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
i am definitely on centrism spectrum.
execution > concept. you can have a novel idea but shittily executed, or refine an old formula to perfection.

of course, everything is not equal. good idea + good execution > old idea + good execution > good idea + bad execution >old idea + bad execution.

the leftmost is very rare, the 2nd is decently rare, 3rd are more common and 4th are those copycat garbages.
 

ManaJunkie

Arbiter
Joined
Feb 15, 2018
Messages
281
The only recent innovation in RPGs I can think of that actually work are

1: The text adventures in (PoE) Realms of Arkania

cache

2: Realms of Arkania (The Expeditions) series camping tasks

79925-RealmsofArkania2StarTrail.jpg


Both were copied by Kingmaker.

:nocountryforshitposters:
 

Prime Junta

Guest
Have you tried playing games from other genres?

Kerbal Space Program is still cool.

Edit: non-facetiously

KSP actually scratches one itch much better than spreadsheet RPGs ever did. KSP is all basically a massive optimisation problem, just like fine-tuning a build. Except KSP has way more freedom, more toys to play with, harder challenges, and generally more creativity. Even the best character systems in RPGs seem simplistic, unimaginative, restrictive, and just plain dull one you've had a solid intravenous injection of KSP.

That means that systems in RPGs are a lot less interesting to me at this point than they used to be e.g. when Pillars came out. If it doesn't have something else going for it -- notably, the larpy role-playing/story/worldbuilding shit -- then I just can't get all that excited about it.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

luj1

You're all shills
Vatnik
Joined
Jan 2, 2016
Messages
12,872
Location
Eastern block
First off all, innovation can be both good and bad. Good innovation is always desirable. Kenshi or Neo Scavenger are recent examples of good innovation. Example of bad innovation is feature bloat in PoE and Kingmaker, or Guildwars 2 changing what made the first game good (wild example).

Changing what's good =/= good innovation
Feature bloat =/= good innovation

In cases where the formula is perfected you don't need to innovate (Underrail, Grimoire).
 

Max Damage

Savant
Joined
Mar 1, 2017
Messages
657
I'll sit on the fence here and just say that what most RPGs lack is not innovation or respect to tradition, but quality and vision. I've played lots of titles that fall short real fast because of not understanding what makes a good GAME before everything else.
 

TT1

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Nov 25, 2016
Messages
1,479
Location
Krakow
Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. My team has the sexiest and deadliest waifus you can recruit.
I finished the Long Dark episode 3 last night, so I opened my Steam library today and... I am kinda burned out/ hopeless, after Disco Elysium and Long Dark. There are no possibilities of playing something so good in the near future. Then I decided to install Epic Games to play any of their exclusives, maybe TOW or RDR2, but... I dont know... I dont know if I want to play it now.

I dont know what to do with my life anymore.

:despair:

Suggestions, please.
 

fantadomat

Arcane
Edgy Vatnik Wumao
Joined
Jun 2, 2017
Messages
37,087
Location
Bulgaria
I finished the Long Dark episode 3 last night, so I opened my Steam library today and... I am kinda burned out/ hopeless, after Disco Elysium and Long Dark. There are no possibilities of playing something so good in the near future. Then I decided to install Epic Games to play any of their exclusives, maybe TOW or RDR2, but... I dont know... I dont know if I want to play it now.

I dont know what to do with my life anymore.

:despair:

Suggestions, please.
Get drunk and fuck something,also no,don't instal an epic cancer or any of those shitty games.
 

smaug

Secular Koranism with Israeli Characteristics
Patron
Dumbfuck
Joined
Feb 20, 2019
Messages
6,438
Location
Texas
Insert Title Here
There are games that you and I can play for a couple hundred hours (depending on playthroughs) that have lots of replayability etc.

But if you’re going to make a “New” game, then give me something different/innovative FFS. If not, what’s the point?
 

Darth Canoli

Arcane
Joined
Jun 8, 2018
Messages
5,687
Location
Perched on a tree
Yeah baby, everything must change is the right answer, but not for every dev.

This is the right approach for a dev whom mastered the basics, is talented and has a vast knowledge in bow PnP RPG, cRPG and is interested about everything else.
For someone with a vast set of skills, talent and inspiration, creating an innovative masterpiece should be an ultimate goal.

For the rest of the peasants and other shitty "AAA" devs, just play the classics you goatfuckers and retire if you don't learn anything new.
 

ntonystinson

Scholar
Joined
Nov 11, 2016
Messages
181
I think some innovation is needed. The genre has gotten quite a bit stale with every new RPG a spiritual successor to another old RPG. That's why am grateful for the "odd" RPGS. The likes of CK2/the upcoming 3, Mount and Blade, and brave indie Devs trying new things
 

Jimmious

Arcane
Patron
Joined
May 18, 2015
Messages
5,132
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
Fallout 2 could certainly have better combat. I don't like PB games so can't comment on Gothic 2
 

Tito Anic

Arcane
Shitposter
Joined
Dec 27, 2015
Messages
1,679
Location
Magalan
rofl.

One dickhead said that Underrail is perfect, when it's complete garbage in comparison to Jagged Alliance 2 (made 13 years earlier).

Now this dickhead thinks Fallout 2 is perfect and doesn't mention Fallout at all. But will mention a popamole sequel like Gothic 2 instead of Deus Ex.

Such bad taste.

Fallout 2 has everything Fallout offers. Gothic 2 has factions. JA2 is not pure RPG - it is tactics first and foremost.
 

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