What's more important in a CRPG?

[eli]

A good story or setting makes an already good RPG better. It doesn't make a bad RPG good, at best it makes it tolerable.

I am gonna say it...

Spoiler

morrowind

 

[Can't handle the bacon]

This is tough. I am torn between an "objective" point of view, where combat gameplay comes first coz video game duh, and a "subjective" preference, where I would rather play a game with crappy gameplay compensated by a thrilling story/immersive atmosphere, than a well-made gameplay with minimal/non-existent/ununspired :creative: elements.

Looking back at all the games I have ever played, I have to conclude that the ones that really "stayed with me" are the ones that had a strong story/atmosphere element, regardless of their gameplay, and that in a way I continued to enjoy them long after I had stopped playing them. The good gameplay-wise games were fun at the moment of playing, but left no real impact after I got to the endgame and turned off the system.

One thing I will rule out from the onset are games that are intentionally designed to be walked simulators with "riveting" stories - not only were they boring to play because of a lack of mechanics, besides walking, but not a single one of them had a decent story either.

P. S. "If you like storyfag games so much, why not read a book?!" - because it is a completely different experience to interactively "live out" the story, than to passively watch it in a movie or read a book.

 

[undecaf]

Fallout franchise has botttom of the barrel turn based … combat.

Yes, but whilst not perfect, it’s fun and doesn’t disturb the focus of the game by being overtly heavyhanded and making the other features seem like an afterthought.

 

[Fedora Master]

CRPGs are still computer games. If the fundamental mechanics are shit - see poe or DOS - no amount of writing will make the game enjoyable.

 

[M. AQVILA]

What initially attracts me to play a certain game? Setting.
What keeps me from getting bored? Gameplay.
What leads me to continue playing? Story.

If I don't like the setting, I won't bother with the game to begin with. If the gameplay is bad, then not even the setting or story will be enough for me to endure it. If the story is bad, then I won't have a reason to keep going after the gameplay gets repetitive.

However, I would say that the core of any game is the gameplay, of course.

 

[luj1]

That's a setting. You can construct a setting with thick atmosphere just by the level architecture and visual style you use. No written story is necessary.

A well designed world can tell its story in silence. That is how Morrowind was crafted.

 

[0wca]

Ultimately I am a bit of a storyfag, but really more of a settingfag. A game with the best combat in the world can rarely keep me coming back to it if the setting is extremely boring, the game has no exploration, the characters are weak, etc. I am much more willing to tolerate a game with great setting and story even if it means putting up with bad combat.

Same here. It's setting>story>combat for me. It's why I can replay Bloodlines or Torment so many times. Ultimately a game with setting=story gives great replayablity if the C&C is good enough also. I'd say setting is what draws you in initially and makes you wonder whats around the next corner. If the setting sucks, you might be in it for the story or the combat but will kind of have to push yourself through the bland maps around you which usually ends up in an uninstall.

Obviously a great RPG needs all 3, but I can live with slightly shittier combat.

 

[VonHoffenHeimer]

Books were my gateway drug to RPG's. All the right games came out in the early 90's when i was a teen to supplement my book addiction. I am the ultimate story/setting fag. As long as combat doesn't actively get in the way of the enjoyment (Witcher for me) i'm good.

 

[Tyranicon]

It's sad that reactivity/Choice & Consequence don't even make it into the poll. C&C are separate from story, and it's a good way to measure how much devs respect player agency apart from just gameplay decisions.

It's a role-playing game. Not a combat simulator, or lore dump, or VN.

 

[JarlFrank]

It's sad that reactivity/Choice & Consequence don't even make it into the poll. C&C are separate from story, and it's a good way to measure how much devs respect player agency apart from just gameplay decisions.

It's a role-playing game. Not a combat simulator, or lore dump, or VN.

Yep. I'd rather have a mediocre story with lots of choices that actually change the course of the game, than a great story with 100% linearity.

 

[Zombra]

It's a role-playing game. Not a combat simulator, or lore dump, or VN.

Tell me, what is an RPG really?

 

[JarlFrank]

It's a role-playing game. Not a combat simulator, or lore dump, or VN.

Tell me, what is an RPG really?

A game in which you play a role.

Spoiler

In Super Mario you play the role of Mario, therefore it is an RPG.

 

[Tyranicon]

It's a role-playing game. Not a combat simulator, or lore dump, or VN.

Tell me, what is an RPG really?

I don't want to divert the conversation to the discussion of definitions, because those never end well. But for me, a good RPG in the spirit of its PnP ancestry, is one that allows players to:

1. Build a character with a fair amount of freedom in regards to their background, motivations, and talents.

2. The freedom to experience and interact with the world setting and NPCs as that character.

3. The freedom to influence the world (such as starting or ending conflicts, big or small) in a reasonable way and within the means for that character.

I try to build my games in that spirit, and at the end of the day you have to recognize that there are limits due to resources and manpower, but I don't think these 3 points are asking too much.

 

[Can't handle the bacon]

It's a role-playing game. Not a combat simulator, or lore dump, or VN.

Tell me, what is an RPG really?

It's a game where pants and boots are fused together into a single piece of clothing.

 

[RNGsus]

It's a role-playing game. Not a combat simulator, or lore dump, or VN.

Tell me, what is an RPG really?

A friendship of imaginative virgins solving problems together.

 

[Dorateen]

Has there even been a RPG released with good combat in the last 5 years?

Knights of the Chalice 2

I feel like I'm missing an obvious one.

Grimoire: Heralds of the Winged Exemplar

 

[smaug]

Interactivity