Emperor_Uriel
Member
Complaints about character tropes in Western RPGs aren't hard to come by, it's no secret that people are sick of Chosen One MCs searching for magical MacGuffins to defeat evil tyrant #37645. But what I've seen far less of are complaints about the settings modern WRPGs often take place in: Dangerous, war-ravaged lands with a desperate populace and very evident threats.
Let's look at a large number of the big WRPGs of the past decade, at the start of their main quests:
Skyrim- Divided by massive civil war, populace is very on-edge, rumors of dragons returning to destroy the world.
Borderlands- Hostile alien planet where very few outposts can escape the wrath of endless bandits and beasts.
Fallout 3- Post-apocalyptic wasteland largely populated by mutants and raiders.
New Vegas- Post-apocalyptic wasteland torn apart by warring factions and anarchists.
The Witcher 3- Kingdom devastated by war with conquering empire.
Dragon Age: Origins- Kingdom struggling to stave off hordes of subterranean demons.
Kingdoms of Amalur- World ravaged by elven holy war.
Others- Dead Island's zombies, Dishonored's plague, Bastion's calamity, Transistor's process, XCOM's alien invasion, Dust's racial genocide, Mass Effect's Reapers, Gothic 3's war with Orcs, etc.
And then there's The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, a game considered by many fans to be the worst of the franchise. What sets Oblivion's setting apart for me? At the start of the main quest, Cyrodiil is a very prosperous and carefree society with very few apparent struggles. Citizens have minor gripes, certain groups feel oppressed in certain locales, but it actually seems like it would be a decent universe to inhabit.
Sure, there are bandits roaming the roads and beasts haunting the woods, but most of Cyrodiil's strife lies below the surface; horrific betrayals buried within the dark secrets of guilds, torture conducted in hidden dungeons, cult sleeper agents intermingled with the general populace. There's an element of subtlety and detective work needed to root out the true sources of danger in Cyrodiil that war-torn, dragon and demon infested locales lack.
Even as the Emperor lies dead, the Daedric invasion begins and Oblivion Gates open up all over the land, citizens remain somewhat aloof and ignorant of the threats lurking outside of their city walls. They aren't used to confronting real danger like Skyrim's Nords, or being victimized like Witcher's peasants, so they assume someone else will take care of it and the status quo will be maintained.
Oblivion may have left a lot to be desired in terms of environment variety and questing depth, but it still gave us a setting that was unique in its prosperity and splendor. A place that is as intriguing to protect as it is to destroy, Cyrodiil is not a land of strife and siege, but one of subtle corruption and conspiracy. As the genre is further refined and technology allows for more complex worlds, visiting more flourishing kingdoms like Cyrodiil would be a welcome change of pace from the traditional world-engulfing, in-your-face doom and gloom.
Oh, and Hackdirt was awesome.
