What Makes An Rpg Good? graphics...IGMs...playability..or what?

[Gr4ve_Digger 0]

the best rpgs i prefer are ones that u can make ur own, like u can fully customise ur character so its like u, all the games i've played that are fully customize able with lots of levels to customise are games i'm addicted too, like diablo, final fantasy, dungeon seige, never winter nights, altho the latter 2 are a bit limited.... hehe, but anywho, yea, go customize! but anywho, there are also the variety of creature which also plays a massive part, if u can customize ur guy, but all u do is fight millions of goblins on a giant plain and all u do is click each one 2 kill it... well it gets rather boring aye. lol

[Trystim 0]

Storyline that is followed is key to me graphics are 2nd with repeated play a close 3rd.if your going with MMORPG's the community, then storyline and graphics.Community being key because if all the people are moron's and idiots then your not likely to want to play that game or associate with community therefore dulling your experience or ability to immerse into the game world.

[wansuen 0]

Regular RPG's to me focus largely on the story and as a result, for those types of games I think a huge part of the reason I like or dislike a RPG is because of the story. But also a very huge factor is the graphics, which I don't mean simply like how many polygons are on the screen or the antialiasing (although both can really help), but I think that character design is extremely important because in a way it is what really supports the story a lot. With bad character design, the people don't match the story or their personalities and then it weakens the story and the connection that I think you should be getting when you play a game like an RPG.When it comes to MMORPGs I think that the focus of the game compared to RPGs has shifted a lot from the story base which I guess MMOs original from. But even though I would really love to have a MMORPG with a great story and character development etc, I think the way that MMORPGs are setup and just the nature of the type of game does not really allow too much room for this. I think what makes a good MMORPG for me is once again the graphics being very important because it can really create or change the mood of the environment and the experience while playing, but more importantly I think it needs to be a game where just doing the tasks or quests is simply just fun to do and not frustrating. PVP also I think has a large importance for MMORPGs because the whole idea of MMOs is to have many players and I think that PVP is a large aspect that allows the players to interact in a very different way compared to just the normal chatting and partying. But I think they should be used in a way where it is easy to play either way without too much trouble. Like I enjoy the occassional PVP in WoW but in Guild Wars I never play PVP because it seems so dettached from the regular game that I don't feel like making the transition and ultimately I lost interest in the game after I reached the highest level because there wasn't a whole lot else to do. And of course the other big factor in MMOs is that they need to have changes, additional quests and items that are added occassionally to keep the interest of the players. I always enjoy the season events that both WoW and Guild Wars has, even if the items that they often introduce are relatively useless.

[master_bacarra 0]

well, primarily it's the plot and gameplay. we don't want to play an rpg that we would throw to the trash before we would finish the game. i would prefer those that would make me feel like playing it again and again and not be bored with it. the graphics plays a role too. with the fast paced technology, most games would be evolving and adopting to the current. we should expect to see a lot of games with outstanding graphics, those that seem to mirror reality. of course some wouldn't easily accept something new, and still prefer the previous than the new ones. but i guess it's all in the person who's playing the game.

[boyCradle 0]

I am more of a graphic person, so would most of the time appreciate an RPG game for its graphics and 3D characters. Although I also like those with nice stories, but i think the plot are almost the same as those already existing, they only change the character names and the settings.

[Chez 0]

With Oblivion coming out and bumbing the bar so high, not many new RPGs will even be able to compare. Wither and die, more like it. So here's a list of what I feel is in a great RPG as of March 2006:1) Radiant AI------a must now that we see what it's capable of)2) Graphics ------gone are the days of 640x400 Diablo II, we need to feel like we're in a reality in itself)3) Storyline ------it's got to be good. This means it could be something old like Oblivion where the king dies, you become the successor, etc. or something new like Hellgate: London4) Independant Sidequests------what fun is an RPG that you can only succeed if you finish the main quest? Sidequests that have nothing to do with the main quest, but are nearly as important in their individuality as the main storyline itself creates perfect balance.5) Powerful enemies------Something I loved about DiabloII was that if you were doing the Hell difficulty by yourself, you could be as powerful as you wanted and you'd still get our @ss handed to you every once in a while. Whether it be from cold-immune Dark Lancers vs your cold-based Sorc or Iron Maiden-casting Hell Mages on your whirlwinding Barbarian. Morrowind lacked this. Do enough side quests and you'd find enough weaponry, armor and jewelry to render yourself immune from the final boss himself. No matter your lvl, there should be enemies more powerful than you, making sure you are always tested skillwise and toughness-wise.6) Powerful Allies------Something lacking in Neverwinter Nights. Mercanaries you hire are so weak you pretty much use them only as decoys.7) Epic Final Battle------The final battle in most RPGs and even FPS games (like doomIII) were dissapointing to say the least. Morrowind's battle against Dagoth Ur just plain sucked. Walk into him and push him off the cliff only 10 feet behind him and you were scott-clear to beat the heart to death. Too easy, no matter how weak you were, as long as you could survive two or three hits, you still won. The final battle in Doom III was almost as bad. Once you knew what to do, it was a simple repeatition defeat. Kill imp,s load the cube, hit the cyberdemon 5 times, you win. No! This is not how the final battle ina Role Playing Game should be won! You should be using all the skills you acquired to defeat the ultimate boss! The scriping in the game should alter the final boss based on your adventures and skills so that when you fight him/it/her you should be stressed ot within an inch of your life (and that would only be when you didn't die more than half the time). make it epic. something to remember.

[antwill 0]

Personally for me what makes a good RPG are many different things,It helps if you have a character you can relate to, that way it helps you want to help them suceed and not die, but the character can also be of little significance but if you really want to enjoy the game it helps if you are consumed into it.As some people said the graphics arent that important but it helps if they arent like pacman and have some depth of colours (sorry about the spelling, im Australian) also the game should not be dull and boring unless theyre is a community of online players. But most importantly the game should not be one of those quick to finish games and have nothing else to do once the main objectives have been completed.

[Goosestaf 0]

ahhh nice question/discussion :(many have noted features which will make a good RPG, and above somewhere has ntoed alot about Oblivion which is going to be amazing.but at truth, all these features only help an RPG.At heart a great rpg needs to do what it says on the box. . .. which is getting you involved in the role you are playing. Meaning, you jsut dont feel like you have a character who is doing this, collecting this, doing that etc. . .but that you become so emmersed in the game that you feel like the character is you/you are the character. That is what creates a truely amazing role playing game.Features are what creates that connection with the game, but them alone won't neccerly (sp?) create a good role palying experience.A great epic story line is very important, but also as is the freedom to do what you want, when you want, As having linear game play makes you feel like your playing a character, rather than a role.so anyways. . . i've had my rant :(and i believe i made sense :(if you agree/disagree plz say

[T100 0]

In my opinion, an RPG must have good story and characterss. Graphics and animations come after story and characters. I have played RPGs for more than ten years. In the old days, when computer graphics were not so advanced, stories were of utmost importance. Say, in the DOS environment, I played Relentless I and Relentless II, both are very good games despite the graphics not superb in those days. The most touching RPG I played those days, also in DOS, was a love story RPG in Chinese. I played it over and over again because I was so moved by the tragic story that I wanted to look for a better ending! And the music can be very important too. Nowadays, graphics eclipse the story and we have a lot of poor RPG with nice graphics but an empty story. Which is quite a pity.

[CherryCoke 0]

What makes a good RPG for me is the gameplay and the storyline. if it doensn't have that then it won't be so satisfaing as I thought it will be. Usually I always pick the right games though.

[Chez 0]

Oh, i forgot an important thing in my list: time.I can't tell you how pissed i get when i buy a $50 RPG and i beat it in one night. Fable that was suposed to be "the best RPG game of 05!" was, in a word, horrible! The graphics were awesome, i enjoyed the various skills and powers, but the lack of gameplay was horrendous! I beat it in 8 hours, including all side missions and buying my own house and getting a woman. I've played longer games in Act I of diablo on easy! That and the limited weapons made Fable a sub-mediocre game at best

[kawasu 0]

i find that good rpgs generally have a good plot, set of characters and game play system. graphics arnt a neccesity but they do help. look at ff7 for exaple. its a very higly regarded game of the rpg genre. the graphics were really bad but it made up for thi through its awesome story and characters. the gameplay wasnt even that special but having the two points i just stated; it was a big success. if the game keeps u interested and isnt irritating it well sell haha. as long as the user can keep interest wihout getting bored of aspects of it its uaually fine.in the rpg game magna carter for instance, the story and characters were unreal. totally awesome in those aspects... but then the gameplay was really bad. the battle system took way to long and ruined the game completely... well imho anyway. ;]rpgs are hard to base on being good or bad. small things can make a game that much greater... so although some games arnt that good, with a few small improvements i bet they'd have the potential to be alot better.

[Jimmy 0]

For me it has to be the ones that are really free-roaming. Any games that allow u to go wherever you want should turn out to be great, unless they are just boringly cobbled together like some RPG'sGraphics definitely help - most bad games are somewhere in the middle with graphics, where they can look a little mismatched between realistic and cartoony, while the best have either gone original and made a new look or been realistic down to the smallest things that make it good :angry:A quibble to decide between the best and worst: a really annoying thing with gun-toting games is when there has been an attempt to show a hand holding the weapon, often these "hands" just look completely aweful, and as you have to look at this throughout the whole game it just gets ruined. It shouldn't be that difficult to just put a bit of effort into making a nice looking hand!!!

[DaeFenris 0]

A good storyline is the base of an excellent RPG, tacked together with above average (doesn't have to be AMAZING) graphics, free-roaming (non-linear gameplay), and interesting in game systems (like cooking, or crafting weapons).A good story-line is a must tho, otherwise it just becomes a haze of leveling up to beat the final boss, not "I must become the strongest in the kindgom in order to defeat the grand dragon and the dark wizard!"Regarding the free roaming/non-linear gampleay...some RPGs don't have much of this yet still are able to hold my attention quite well because they don't allow the intensity of the adventure to dissapate. Some RPGs on the other hand allow you to free roam almost immediately, which is a lot fun. You get to learn about places that will later become an integral part of your journey.Immersion into the gameplay is something hard to do sometimes. Some games just their hooks in your flesh before you even know it.

Edited April 11, 2006 by DaeFenris (see edit history)

[wansuen 0]

I know I already replyed to this but now I feel that there is something new that I really find is important now, which really applies only the mmorpgs but it is the server stability and communication between the server moderaters and their customers. I mainly bring this up because lately (like the past months) for World of Warcraft, the servers have been very very lagging making the game very frustrating at times and also not only do they have more frequent unannounced server down times without a clear reason, but even the scheduled maintanence down times are getting extended often without reason as well... often giving a new estimated time that is again extended when that time actually comes. If the game was running the way it should, I would love this game so much more, but instead of the game being a good place to relax after a long day, it often just makes the rest of my day feel longer with frustrating waits and queues to get into the server and then a lot of lag often making certain aspect of the game impossible to play.