Most important quality of a good RPG?

[Ghost At The Feast]

There's been a lot of discussion over Oblivion, many people fearing it will be nothing more than a shallow (but good looking) game with features that don't really add anything other than crowd-pleasing aesthetics, so I was wondering what you guys think the key to a good RPG is*


*Note I said good, not popular, graphics and AI generally get people interested in the game and score brownie points from graphic whores and xbox users i.e. stupid people. (I'm going along with the whole "xbox users don't know their elbow from their arse" vibe which seems to be prominent on this board)...before I get flamed though I'd just like to point out I'm an xbox user (this'll probably only add to the immanent flamage to come), and yes the sweeping generalization of their psychological state made by PC users is on the whole true, though many people would disagree-but lets leave this in the 2482378389 noobish Oblivion threads out there and leave this one to flourish out of a somewhat stagnant room.

THIS THREAD IS NOT ABOUT OBLIVION, BUT RPGS IN GENERAL.

 

[Lumpy]

Fucking moron idiot!!!! Where's Patrick Stewart? Make it so!!!
What makes a great RPG? Choices. And that's missing as well.

 

[Whipporowill]

Pretty much impossible to answer. My pick would be gameplay, since I'd say an interesting skill and combat system will make me play through a game even with dialogue and quests that aren't top notch. The other way around might see me initially very interested, but probably not finishing.

 

[Ghost At The Feast]

Fucking moron idiot!!!!

And you certainly epitomise intellect. Well done.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Gameplay, obviously, makes or breaks any game. Unfortunately, gameplay is a generic as fuck word, so the poll is pointless. You should have listed gameplay elements.

 

[Ghost At The Feast]

You should have listed gameplay elements.

Yeah, but I didn't want to be too specific, a few people here have said they don't want good graphics/AI, just good lore...they then got called nerds, so I thought I'd make a topic to decide what people prefer. I should've given it more thought, but seeing as most threads here are just a flame-fest I thought I'd give it a go, meh.

 

[Twinfalls]

Fucking moron idiot!!!!

 

[Lumpy]

Fucking moron idiot!!!!

And you certainly epitomise intellect. Well done.

When I call you an idiot because you didn't make a Patrick Stewart option, I'm obviously serious.

 

[Delirious Nomad]

Only one great element doesn't make a great game, but the most important to me are challenging turn based battles.

 

[Stranger]

Gameplay, freedom of choice, storyline/lore and NPC interaction are four of the most important role playing game elements in my opinion, everything else doesn't matter as much.

 

[Ghost At The Feast]

When I call you an idiot because you didn't make a Patrick Stewart option, I'm obviously serious.

Sorry I obviously overlooked the fact that a famous face doing a voiceover for the first five minutes of the game is important. Maybe I just don't "get it" but your post seemed pretty ironic, I will though in the future be sure to take you seriously, because you're obviously such a well educated chap.

 

[galsiah]

Including gameplay is just silly. Games with good gameplay are good, games without it aren't. The question is what makes good gameplay.

Not including "choice with consequence" or something along those lines makes it a fairly useless poll in RPG terms.

 

[Ghost At The Feast]

Yeah, I missed out a few things looking back at it now, but I can't edit the poll so I guess we should just let this thread slip down the page and into the abyss.

 

[Section8]

Well, I can't really motivate myself to get into this yet again at any depth, so the skinny of it, courtesy of Twinfalls:

1. real choices (which entail real consequences, and hence limitations),
2. the facilitation of character development beyond mere powering up,
3. character skills rather than player skills deciding outcomes, and
4. Non-linearity in how the story or stories can be progressed through.

That's a good start.

 

[Drain]

You forgot "(lol)" after Graphics

 

[Goliath]

Most important quality of a good RPG? Spears! :twisted:

 

[OverrideB1]

Your poll is relatively pointless since you are attempt to define what makes a good RPG by isolating one single element. As previous posters have pointed out, it is a combination of elements and design philosophy that seperates the mediocre from the "good".

Choices, consequences arising from those choices, well-written dialogue that allows a variety of responses depending on how you're role-playing your character, non-munchinkin development of the player-character, non-linearity, character skills rather than keyboard thumping and mouse twitching...

What does not make a good RPG are pretty graphics, or celebrity voices!

 

[bryce777]

"immanent" is that something to do with radient AI?

 

[Lumpy]

The revolution of CRPGs is obviously... but see for yourselves:
http://www.elderscrolls.com/forums/inde ... pic=218160

 

[Ghost At The Feast]

Bloody hell, just let the thread die already.

 

[Section8]

The revolution of CRPGs is obviously... but see for yourselves:
http://www.elderscrolls.com/forums/inde ... pic=218160

Hah!

Player: Where is Cassius?
NPC: *BZZZZZTT!* I don't know anyone by that name.
Player: Where. Is. Cassius?!
NPC: *BZZZZZTT!* I don't know anyone by that name.
Player: Cass-eee-uuuuusss...
NPC: Sure you can.

 

[LlamaGod]

I would think that the most important things in a ROLE PLAYING GAME would be ROLEPLAYING and GAMEplay.

So of course all the developers focus on combat and graphics.

 

[Hamanu]

I had to go with Lore, after all without a framework of a believable world how are you supposed to create a character? How can he have motivations or desires if you don't even know what the hell happened to him yesterday let alone how he grew up. A close second to that would be freedom, I think you really have to have room to make choices in a game (mistakes included) for it to be an rpg at all.

 

[Mefi]

My problem with lore as teh most important aspect is that, well, it isn't to me. You can have the most in-depth lore ever and the game can still stink as an RPG. So it can't be the most important aspect.

 

[Hamanu]

Yep, it can have great lore and stink as an rpg, but I just can't see how it can even be an rpg without lore. Without a framework to define your character in how can you roleplay? If you have no reason to make the choices you do and no concept of the consequences then what does it matter? Well, to be fair I guess you could play some sort of amnesiac/time-traveller/planewalker, but that would be like trying to roleplay your way through doom. I could have pretended my sorceror in Diablo was a veteran of the Blood War, but that wouldn't have made it an rpg. It just doesn't work without the context. That's why I think the lore is the most important aspect of an rpg. It can't make a bad rpg into a great one of course, like it's been said, no one aspect of a game can.