Incline How to properly enjoy an RPG

[catfood]

Don't read the Codex. If you do you will never be able to enjoy an RPG ever again.

 

[Wayward Son]

Don't read the Codex. If you do you will never be able to enjoy an RPG ever again.

Fake news. I enjoy RPGs more now that I read the Codex.

 

[Alma Elma]

IMO the best way to enjoy an RPG is to play it however you want. The best types of RPG's are the ones that offer up different experiences depending on how you play, with Divinity: Original Sin being a fairly good example of that I feel, even if the main story in the game doesn't change.

 

[Iznaliu]

with Divinity: Original Sin being a fairly good example of that I feel,

Am I really seeing this?

 

[Jack Of Owls]

In ungodly huge, beautiful open worlds, you must fight fight FIGHT your autism and/or debilitating OCD mental illness and avoid doing every single little side quest that comes along and try to stick to the main quest (if it's interesting enough... with some games you want to avoid the main quest, and stick to the side missions... adapt as necessary) and perhaps do only a few or just enough of those side quests to help level up. Skyrim was the single most important learning experience for me on how to properly play cRPGs. I did everything wrong and that experience stuck with me though I ended up repeating that experience with Zelda: BotW. I have Neanderthal blood.

 

[Cat Dude]

Simple. You have to love reading a lot.

 

[anvi]

I think if you play like it says in the OP, the game will buttfuck you late game. In fact I just quit TOEEs supposed glorious CO8 mod because it required a high level diplomacy skill (which I actually had but.. nm.. long story). In a game that lets you choose so many things however you please... it REQUIRED something or you can't keep playing. Admittedly that is just a mod not designed by professionals, but a lot of games are designed the same way. I have been burned too many times. You play all casual and you come up against a quest that is key to the game, and it requires some amulet from some crate in the corner of a dungeon you visited 50 hours ago. If you can go back and get it, that's at least not too bad... still sucks. But often the game is just over if you didn't find the item at the time. Modern games are a bit smarter with their design but they also generally suck, so playing old RPGs is kind of essential and yet this is the sort of bullshit you have to deal with.

You HAVE to search every barrel, crate, rock in the game. Every corner of every dungeon, because once you leave, that dungeon may be gone forever. You have to spam every dialogue option because there's a chance only one of them is the right one. And good luck beating a game like Blackguards if you just casually pick whatever seems like a cool idea. You power game or you get you punished to death. And in TOEE when RNG is so massive, a bad turn is 3 of your party die, and reload and the exact same choices mean you kick ass... savescumming is the only option. You could just eat the character deaths but you would end up level 7 at the end game when you need to be level 10 to even stand a chance. Basically I think OPs list is only reasonable for about 1% of RPGs.

 

[Üstad]

Spoiler

How to get the most out of it and immerse yourself imo.



Don't seek tips

Use your wit and intelligence to overcome obstacles.

Don't metagame

Obsessing over perfect builds can ruin the fun. Flawed builds are cool. However it turns out makes it special. Picked the wrong feat by accident or made a bad call? Don't worry, it might prove useful after all.

Don't save-scum

Obvioiusly, ruins muh immersion. Stick with what you get.

Increase difficulty

The greater the challenge, the more rewarding gameplay will be.

Be spontaneous, not completionist

Don't try to visit every location. Don't try to complete every quest. Leave something for other play-through. I'm not advocating role-playing strictly speaking. But tend to do stuff which makes sense. Clearing five dungeons in a row doesn't.

Don't binge on dialogue options (by eXalted)

Don't exhaust all conversation options if you don't find them interesting. And yes, there could be a quest hidden there, who cares?

Keep cycling savegame slots

Try to save less often. Certainly don't spam the quicksave button. Continuity of experience is key to immersion.

Live with your consequences.

Failed a skill roll? Attacked someone by accident? Jammed a chest? Try this experiment and don't reload. That liberates you from OCD and made my runs much more memorable and distinctive e.g. that time when I was caught stealing, that time when I drank the wrong potion etc.

Role playing

Obviously a subject which can be widely interpreted however just making consistent dialogue choices works.

Play it like it was meant to be played (by Wayward Son)

Sure, you COULD look up that dungeon map or use screenshots to take notes, but the game was built around the lack of easily accessible internet and/or screenshots, so this can ruin the gameplay. Ultimas are a good example of this, they were built around you taking good, concise but accurate notes or you were up Shit Creek without a paddle.

Spontaneity is king

This is where all the fun and good gaming memories stem from.








Do you have any suggestions? I wish more games would encourage such behavior.

You can automatically do half of those by disconnecting from internet. Just like my brother did around 2004. Except internet was a luxury for us then, we couldnt afford it.

 

[GentlemanCthulhu]

IMO playing only one RPG at a time, and surrounding yourself with as much related-media works wonders. The key to enjoying a good RPG is (muh) immurxion.

 

[Curratum]

I love that when playing RPGs I'm always doing the exact opposites of at least 75% of the items in OP's list.

 

[Butter]

I love that when playing RPGs I'm always doing the exact opposites of at least 75% of the items in OP's list.

Reading a walkthrough, save-scumming, playing on the lowest difficulty, and asking every generic NPC about the history of his colostomy bag FTW.

 

[Curratum]

More like using guides for anything that has builds that allow you to fuck up and have a losing character / party mid-game, never going over Normal / Medium, exhausting every dialogue option just because I have to listen to the content, and quicksaving every time I'm about to pickpocket someone.

 

[luj1]

Spontaneity and lack of metagaming are the most important ingredients, in my opinion. Having no internet was possibly among the main reasons we enjoyed these games so.

 

[Kev Inkline]

The key to enjoyment is not to have fun while playing, first and foremost.

 

[Beastro]

Don't metagame

Obsessing over perfect builds can ruin the fun. Flawed builds are cool. However it turns out makes it special. Picked the wrong feat by accident or made a bad call? Don't worry, it might prove useful after all.

The problem comes with twist late game shit like the Deep Caverns.

 

[Valky]

Don't pick the wrong weapon focus feat by accident though. If you find a different weapon you like better you will regret that shit FOREVER.

 

[DalekFlay]

Don't metagame

Obsessing over perfect builds can ruin the fun. Flawed builds are cool. However it turns out makes it special. Picked the wrong feat by accident or made a bad call? Don't worry, it might prove useful after all.

Agree with this one a lot. It's always baffling to me when people on here complain that their playthrough was ruined because they followed a min-max path exactly to become a god ASAP, then "it was too easy and boring." Like, motherfucker you did that to yourself. That's not how you're supposed to do this shit, so of course they never balanced for that and of course loot is boring when you b-line for the best shit you read about on a Wiki.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

Try to save less often and don't spam the quicksave button.

Continuity is key to immersion.

Well, dying and having to replay the same section again isn't very immersive either...

At least it creates a challenge.

BTW that's an inherent weakness of games that use manual saves instead of autosaves. It's very hard to use the save function sparse enough that you retain the challenge without making the experience frustrating (by having to replay filler sections, or annoyingly big chunks of gameplay). That should be the designer's job, not the player's.

I don't trust designers. Give me back my control.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

Watch the playthrough on youtube while doing something more interesting.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

Avoid every single side quest. Life is short. The backlog is huge.

Also you can comfortably bet that all side quests are shit.

 

[RickOmbo]

Don't play Planescape, it will ruin rpgs for you

 

[GentlemanCthulhu]

First we should define what an RPG even is...

 

[fantadomat]

First we should define what an RPG even is...

I do hold the answer to this question...

 

[GentlemanCthulhu]

I do hold the answer to this question...

Why don't you make a dedicated post and tell us ALL about it?

 

[mondblut]

It's always baffling to me when people on here complain that their playthrough was ruined because they followed a min-max path exactly to become a god ASAP, then "it was too easy and boring."

What kind of people "complain" about that? Making games easy and boring (as opposed to frustrating and boring) is the entire point Well, that and the feeling that you are more competent than the hack who had designed it.

That's not how you're supposed to do this shit

Which makes it twice as enjoyable.