Ironclad_Ninja said:
I have to disagree with this. First of all, you just post one genre, yet there are many different types of games that come out of Japan. You say that Japanese games are on the decline due to lack of quality, and a tried and true formula. Well, take one look at Pikmin 2. It is definetly a quality title, and does not follow this "formula" you propose.
Yeah, I could spend all day and list genres and break them down into their pieces but I took one of the most obvious offenders for my point. Same could be said for shooters, fighting games, adventure games, Survival Horror, etc. Evolution is coming in minor advances and normally includes stretching one or two tried and true game mechanics into something greater than it is.
PC RPGs are actually worse offenders with their collect all the pointless items as you can that pretty well amount to money anyway and gain as many levels as you can bullshit.
Pikmin is Lemmings with a open environment and more direct control. Not to say Pikmin isn't great because it is loads of fun to play. Its an advancement of a fantastic older idea.
I'm not expecting everything to be fresh and new all the time but recycling old ideas and conventions is what is bothering me.
If I were to make an RPG, for instance I'd dump the typical conversation system. Why is everyone willing to talk to you? If you walked into a town or city you didn't know would you just go up to strangers to find out where to find sailors? Storytelling isn't always about jamming in thousands of lines of dialouge.
Leveling up, has always been about killing beasts in an attempt to hit arbitrary numbers as opposed to player skill and what they can actually do or what they have accomplished. What about seeking out weapon masters or mages who live in towns to up your ability? You have to train with that person to become better.
Hit points are a joke. I don't care who you are, getting struck by a sword without protection on is likely to kill you or at least do grevious amounts of damage.
The RPG convention of leveling up is pretty ridiculous anyway. It is set up so your party or characters are always at a standard level to take on anything that comes their way at that point in the game. Why even give the player levels when it is set up this way?
The typical weapon and armor purchasing system is lame (why do people try to sell you shit when you are trying to save their lives? Just give me what I need if I'm doing you a favor?) As well, let me personalize my character. A change of weapons shouldn't automatically increase damage done. If the character has gotten used to using one type of weapon they have gotten used to the feel and weight of it. Changing that should be detrimental until the point where the character has gotten used to the new weapon. This would create player and character attachments to weapon types instead of blowing through 10 differnt levels of weapons.
No random monsters and no creatures out of place. Humanoids beasts or organized groups would likely have an encampment somewhere and their kind would inhabit the nearby areas that could be invaded. Wipe out the camp and you've wiped out the creatures. Hell this can be worked back into the storyline.
Tasks as simple as wiping out a pack of wolves that have been eating up a village's livestock would figure well into creating a more beliveable environment. Once the wolves are destroyed you don't see wolves anymore and the livestock thrive and therefor the villagers become more proseperous. Thoough, that is a simple expression.
Mix matched creatures would likely not travel together nor would they fight in an organized fashion. In nature I don't see squirrels, fish, and birds teaming up to attack people. You can have a group of goblins with a tamed beast on a leash or something that figures more into the environment.
Magic, especially the generic RPG kind, always seems like another day at the beach when it is being used. Casting out a mammoth sized beast should take more effort than selecting it from a list. Imagine actually having to protect a mage while he concentrates to prepare his spell over the course of a few turns or moments of time. Getting a spell like that should take more effort. Why are these magical beasts always at your beckon call? The player should have to promise them something to gain their use.
Fighting something like a Dragon should be near impossible given it's size and armor. It should take an army to wipe out something like this but in RPGs they just appear a dime a dozen and are wasted like slimes and wasps once you get to high enough levels. Also, how many Dragons would there really be in a world, given their size and nutritional requirements?
Without question I'd want to see more realistic character designs. Something more gritty and realisic in keeping with the mood and tone. Certaily no waify angular looking characters jumping around with a sword twice their size. Are these warriors or models? Lets see the characters grow from fresh faced farm boys to grizzled veterans.
This is a lot of stuff and I wouldn't expect all of this to be dropped into a game. This is just a quick rethink of the conventions. Games are still games though so there also needs to be a suspension of disbelief and some compromises must be made. Still the wheels have been stuck for a while. I just ask that a serious attempt at evolution takes place
