Is "Mass Effect 2" an RPG or a TPS?

[Pablosdog]

Why do people fuck trees? How do people fuck trees? Does one hollow out the tree and smoothen it before one sticks one's dick in thy splintery crevice?

 

[boynextdoor]

RPG with TPS combat. period.

 

[Raapys]

It's an adventure game with some shooter elements( and really lame puzzles ). The most important RPG element, character stats that determine the outcome of your actions, are pretty much non-existant.

 

[Longshanks]

RPG with TPS combat. period.

Not possible. Unless there are plentiful RPG elements outside of combat. There are not in ME2. So, you think ME2 is a TPS, fair enough.

 

[Muty]

It's an adventure game with some shooter elements( and really lame puzzles ).

 

[Black Sun]

[/img]

 

[relootz]

On top of that, if ME2 was a straightbn shooter and not an (action) rpg, Codexers would not be paying attention to it at all. They simply wouldn't care hence another reason why it has more in common with rpgs than a shooter even if's nto the best rpg. If ME2 was a true shooter I wouldn't have gotten it nor would most anyone here.

How come? Many Codexers love good shooters and love to baaaw about dumbing down shooters almost as much as they do with RPGs. Codex has covered games that definitely aren't RPGs but only have some light elements (or even don't have but marketing campaigns stated they have) like Bioshock or King's Bounty.

Bioshock FPS
King's Bounty Strategy

They are not RPG, not even slighty.

ME2 also isnt an RPG, it IS a third person shooter.

Move along, nothing to see here.

 

[Micmu]

For the second time, King's Bounty is not a strategy game!

 

[Imbecile]

RPG with TPS combat. period.

Not possible. Unless there are plentiful RPG elements outside of combat. There are not in ME2. So, you think ME2 is a TPS, fair enough.

What are these non-combat RPG elements of which you speak? I assume its things like C&C through dialogue, or some kind of persuasion or intimidation stat that makes a difference to conversation options?

I still don't see it as an either/or question. If any RPG only involved ranged combat, and was viewed from the third person it could be called a TPS. The argument here is basically "is it an RPG?". Which basically means that its another "What is an RPG?" thread.

Enjoy.

 

[HanoverF]

Total Piece of Shit

Am I the first one to make that joke?

 

[Micmu]

Probably.
I did the Fucking Piece of Shit once, but I'm not sure if out loud.

 

[Azrael the cat]

Well Bioware seems to be quite happy to sell it primarily as a TPS. Their own advertising has heavily emphasised its role as a shooter, with next to no use of 'rpg' - maybe the odd reference to 'role playing' as an element. Right now it's very very difficult to use traditional gaming definitions as the whole trend seems to be towards merging genres towards one big misshmash of third-person-shooting-open-exploration-sandbox-role-playing-adventure.

 

[chicago_bankroll]

Well Bioware seems to be quite happy to sell it primarily as a TPS. Their own advertising has heavily emphasised its role as a shooter, with next to no use of 'rpg' - maybe the odd reference to 'role playing' as an element. Right now it's very very difficult to use traditional gaming definitions as the whole trend seems to be towards merging genres towards one big misshmash of third-person-shooting-open-exploration-sandbox-role-playing-adventure.

Re: the merging of game genres. Well, yeah. In ME 2's case, they're marketing it to the Halo teabaggers and the Gears of War frat fapping dude-bros. Those college-dropouts don't care about choices and consequences or stats. They want to shoot shit and touch themselves when Miranda shows them her boobs. And there's a lot more money to be made from that crowd than the Codex audience.

 

[Volourn]

"Well Bioware seems to be quite happy to sell it primarily as a TPS. Their own advertising has heavily emphasised its role as a shooter, with next to no use of 'rpg' - maybe the odd reference to 'role playing' as an element. Right now it's very very difficult to use traditional gaming definitions as the whole trend seems to be towards merging genres towards one big misshmash of third-person-shooting-open-exploration-sandbox-role-playing-adventure.
_________________
"

Bullshit. They advertise it as whatever genre teh audience happens to be. In their latest interview they were bragging how the role-playing system is 'deper' than their older games. R00fles!

Bottom line is BIO has always hyped the ME series as an Action RPG with shooter elements which is exactly what it is.

Me? I like to refer to its combat system as 'pop n shoot' or 'hide n seek'.


R00fles!

Again, ME2 has more in common overall with rpgs than shooters.


That's a fact jack and don't try to make a fuckin' cumback!

 

[relootz]

For the second time, King's Bounty is not a strategy game!

I have read it once and i have read it twice.

It is still stupid.

 

[Jim Cojones]

Again, ME2 has more in common overall with rpgs than other shooters have.

Fixed, your version was quite ambiguous and one might think you tried to say that ME2 has more in common overall with rpgs than with shooters and that would be a retarded statement.

 

[Micmu]

For the second time, King's Bounty is not a strategy game!

I have read it once and i have read it twice.

It is still stupid.

Why do you think it is a strategy game?

 

[relootz]

For the second time, King's Bounty is not a strategy game!

I have read it once and i have read it twice.

It is still stupid.

Why do you think it is a strategy game?

The entire game is based around turn based fights. You can apply different strategies and the decisions you make determine the outcome instead of luck.

 

[Micmu]

Tactical combat alone doesn't make it a strategy game same as "playing a role" of a space marine doesn't make Doom an RPG.
If you compare it to HoMM, Disciples, AoW, Warlords... it has every single strategy element taken out (managing multiple armies/heroes, managing and owning towns/kingdoms, research, skirmish, opponents, resource management, etc etc). It is reduced to nothing but a sequence of fights.
Whatever... this is off topic.

 

[Monk]

Same: RPG with TPS for combat.

 

[Longshanks]

RPG with TPS combat. period.

Not possible. Unless there are plentiful RPG elements outside of combat. There are not in ME2. So, you think ME2 is a TPS, fair enough.

What are these non-combat RPG elements of which you speak? I assume its things like C&C through dialogue, or some kind of persuasion or intimidation stat that makes a difference to conversation options?

I still don't see it as an either/or question. If any RPG only involved ranged combat, and was viewed from the third person it could be called a TPS. The argument here is basically "is it an RPG?". Which basically means that its another "What is an RPG?" thread.

Enjoy.

It's not the viewpoint that's of importance. It's the lack of character skill. If character skill in a game has no impact in combat (not claiming this of ME2), it's very unlikely said game is an RPG. Only thing that could turn it would be very strong RPG elements in other areas. A game without, or with very little, character stat impact is apriori, not an RPG (talking video game RPGs, I suppose it's theoretically possible to have a statless RPG, but definitely hasn't happened yet). I don't think this aspect of RPGs is in question, it's the strongest possible bedrock of the genre. In the opinion of some, the effect of character stats in ME2 is not great enough for it to be labelled an RPG.

My comment about a game with TPS combat not being an RPG assumed TPS combat as unaffected by character stats, or affected to a negligible degree.

There's no doubt that ME2 has some RPG elements, it also has TPS elements. The deciding factor of whether it's one or the other, is which is stronger?