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Best examples of mixing various genres into one glorious game

A

Arthea

Member
I had this discussion in mind for ages, but never got around making a good OP, being as lazy as I am. So instead I'll make simple OP.

Most of Suikoden fans know, that series are brilliant mix of very different genres: we have RPG part, strategic wars part, kind of fighting (simplistic though) style duels and lots of minigames, most being some sort of gambling, also let's not forget fishing or even farming.

Other example of great blend of genres is Puzzle Quest: Challenge of Warlords. It was so great that spawned plethora of RPG and match 3 hybrids, some being good, some bad.

Yet another example is Dune (1993, by Cryo Interactive) it mixed RTS with adventure game and did it really good. It might not seem so elaborate today, but it was a game to be experienced

More often than not mixing genres just don't work, but when it works it's great. These are some of my most beloved games.

Do you like such experiments? Care to share some good ones? Or bad ones to avoid?
 
B

BGBW

Maturity, bitches.
Does Wario Ware count since the idea behind it is to whittle down games to their core component, thus it covers a wide variety of genres?
 
J

jonno394

Member
Nier

Mixed Action RPG with text adventure, bullet hell, Survival Horror and probably many other game types to form one of my favourite games of last gen.
 
D

Durante

Member
Divinity: Dragon Commander is an RTS, a TBS, an RPG and an action game. And boy is it glorious.

Arthea said:
Care to elaborate? I see Nier as a monogenre game.
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It actually had parts reminescent of horror games, top-down bullet hell shooters, and even a text adventure segment. It was great.
 
B

Basileus777

Member
Arthea said:
Most of Suikoden fans know, that series are brilliant mix of very different genres: we have RPG part, strategic wars part, kind of fighting (simplistic though) style duels and lots of minigames, most being some sort of gambling, also let's not forget fishing or even farming.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure I'd call the mixing brilliant. The strategic wars part wasn't done well in any of the Suikoden games. The mini-games were mostly a chore. Though the duel fights worked well even if they were really simple.
 
killatopak

killatopak

Member
Another one would be FF7 although to a lesser extent. It did have all those awesome mini-games plus dat casino.

Also Yakuza.

Borderlands also did quite well combining RPG and FPS.
 
D

Dioblastoise

Neo Member
The Yakuza series has been great for showcasing different sports (golfing being pretty involved for a minigame), hell of a lot of gambling minigames and a "dating" simulator on top of its beatemup rpg base.

EDITE: Beaten
 
A

Arthea

Member
Basileus777 said:
I'm not sure I'd call the mixing brilliant. The strategic wars part wasn't done well in any of the Suikoden games. The mini-games were mostly a chore. Though the duel fights worked well even if they were really simple.
Click to expand...

It depends, I like all of it, in all Suikoden games, so I wouldn't say it wasn't well made. These are mostly simple solutions, You just can make so many complex systems in one game, because it'll overwhelm people. But it is brilliant, I yet to see any series even try that, let alone succeed.

killatopak said:
Another one would be FF7 although to a lesser extent. It did have all those awesome mini-games plus dat casino.

Also Yakuza.
Click to expand...

both really good calls!
 
protonion

protonion

Member
I LOVE the genre mix in Brave Fencer Musashi. Platform/RPG/Action Adventure.

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R

Randdalf

Member
killatopak said:
Another one would be FF7 although to a lesser extent. It did have all those awesome mini-games plus dat casino.

Also Yakuza.

Borderlands also did quite well combining RPG and FPS.
Click to expand...

Is RPG even purely a genre anymore? It's more like a meta-genre applied to almost every modern game in at least a limited form.
 
killatopak

killatopak

Member
Randdalf said:
Is RPG even purely a genre anymore? It's more like a meta-genre applied to almost every modern game in at least a limited form.
Click to expand...

I'm lenient towards the RPG genre. Stick some stats, levels, skills and equipment and BAM! Instant RPG.

protonion said:
I LOVE the genre mix in Brave Fencer Musashi. Platform/RPG/Action Adventure.
Click to expand...

I still fondly remember sleeping besides the bakery door for whatever reason. It's a shame most of you guys didn't like the sequel. I really liked collecting various attacks with names that you use in the kitchen like fillet and chop.
 
D

Dark_castle

Junior Member
Haven't play the game, but Divinity: Dragon Commander seems like a smart combination of RPG and RTS.

And Saga Frontier 2. Basic turn-based JRPG to Strategy turn-based to 1 on 1 duel (still turn-based) to Visual Novel style of story-telling.
 
F

FloatOn

Member
Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes - best puzzle game/turn based strategy/rpg you will ever play

Orcs Must Die 2 - third person shooter/tower defense
 
R

RaikuHebi

Banned
Original Tomb Raiders. Platforming, puzzle solving and shooting (particularly the latter entries). Of all my favourite games this is the only one I can think of. Perhaps Persona as well with the visual novel/dating sim mixed with RPG?

This concept of your OP is one that has crossed my mind in recent years. I imagine a personal perfect game that combines Tomb Raiders platforming and puzzles, but with a seamless JRPG battle system for the enemies (perhaps action based), Persona style interaction with characters, a seamless world map and world like GTA (but JRPG style), MGS style bosses and stealth segments and collectables in the battle system that are like Pokemon, Persona, FF summons and VII's materia.

Crash Bandicoot, Uncharted and Portal are my other all-time favourites that I couldn't fit into this crazy games of all games. I suppose Crash Bandicoot can be talked about alongside the platforming of TR and Portal in terms of the puzzles. But no place for Uncharted. I don't play that game for the shooting, but for everything else.
 
C

Coxy

Member
Basileus777 said:
I'm not sure I'd call the mixing brilliant. The strategic wars part wasn't done well in any of the Suikoden games. The mini-games were mostly a chore. Though the duel fights worked well even if they were really simple.
Click to expand...

I thought they were rather well done in Suiko 5
 
A

Arthea

Member
RealityExists said:
Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes - best puzzle game/turn based strategy/rpg you will ever play

Orcs Must Die 2 - third person shooter/tower defense
Click to expand...

can't agree more on Clash of Heroes, it's a truly brilliant game, and more people need to play it!

OMD isn't bad example either
 
B

boltz

Member
One of my favorite genre blenders was Battlezone 2, which was a combo of FPS and RTS. The game was pretty buggy, but it got some decent mod support and was a blast to play coop with a buddy as one person did the base building and the other handled the units in combat. Great atmosphere too, but unfortunately, I don't think a BZ3 will ever appear.
 
K

Kokonoe

Banned
Sonic Adventure comes to mind outside of Big The Cat's fishing, but yeah I love how they gave the characters separate gameplay instead of them all being the same thing. Made it unique and fresh for me.

Also a game most people probably don't know about, Mazin Saga Mutant Fighter for SEGA Genesis.

The main game is a beat-em-up with very fluid animations that is brutally hard, but when you fight bosses it turns into a fighting game. Not a Capcom style fighting game, but one similar to but not quite to Smash Bros. It's pretty awesome. It's kind of like footsies in fighting games, though or fencing or even Punch Out with the way you fight. You have to learn the patterns and your moves and dodge or block accordingly similar to Punch Out.

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Classic Game Room HD - MAZIN SAGA MUTANT FIGHTER review
 
R

revolverjgw

Member
Ultimate Stuntman. You got side scrolling platformer/shooter, overhead driving, horizontal shmup, timed puzzles, and other odds and ends.
 
D

djplaeskool

Member
I'm playing through Panzer Dragoon Saga right now, and the mix of classic shooter, puzzle (some of those boss fights are just outstandingly designed), and RPG is just astounding. Forgotten just how progressive of a combat system that game has.
 
A

Arttemis

Member
I thought Sleeping Dogs masterfully combined the sandbox city with great brawler melee combat with lots of environmental interactions and over the top slow-mo shooting. The racing elements were tons of fun, too.

I genuinely hope that an even more fleshed out next gen sequel happens. And pack it with more Hong Kong cinema action movie allusions.
 
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