What’s up everybody? DK here kicking off another week of epic Member BattleCries here on the ‘Axe and as always, we’re looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this week’s topic.
So, with the release of Mass Effect 2 pretty much taking over the gaming industry this week (something we discuss on Skirmish 061 of EpicBattleCry), it got me thinking about the RPG genre and how it has evolved. Obviously, there have been some standout titles over the years that helped push the genre forward…helped define what it is to be a “Role Playing Game”, and helped solidify how RPGs can serve as an example of the capabilities of interactive entertainment. With that in mind, I offer up this week’s Member BattleCry topic for you to discuss:
WHICH ROLE PLAYING GAMES DO YOU THINK HELPED DEFINE OR REVOLUTIONIZE THE GENRE?
Of course, we’re not limiting you to any specific time frame or era in gaming…We all know that the old-school RPGs are what paved the way for titles like Mass Effect 2, so don’t be shy when brining those up.
Anyway, I’m really looking forward to checking out what you all come up with. We’ll be selecting one post each day to feature as the Member BattleCry and then highlighting the Member BattleCry of the Week, which will be featured on the next skirmish of the EpicBattleCry video podcast.
Alright, I’m gonna leave you to it. Have fun and check back daily on the ‘Axe to see which MBCs get featured!
Peace,
DK
My battlecry begins with FF7 which for me revolutionized the RPG genre, by turning the 2d sprites into 3d characters.
then it was KOTOR, which introduced the karma system i came to love.
And finaly fable: lost chapters which was one of the best rpg of last gen consoles, for putting in a social system and a lot of other stuff
In relation to the kind of RPG I consider Mass Effect to be there are two games that come to mind for me, Baldur’s Gate 2 and Anachronox. Both were packed with action, mystery, leveling-up and all that, but they were both also really, really humorous. I’ve expected my RPGs, especially those from BioWare, to have a healthy helping of humor since playing these two games; and since playing Anachronox I’ve looked out for those with intelligent, perhaps more subtle types of jokes, especially between recruitable NPCs.
I think that a very sucessful RPG is World Of Warcraft because no one can prove before WoW, that MMORPG genre is a very popular and gainful enterprise.
My Battle Cry begins with the Final Fantasy Series as a whole. Which I believe that most people would agree on the fact, it is the bar in which all other RPG’s are Measured. Maybe not in game play but, in overall success.
I will be honest though My first experiences with an RPG title WAS NOT Final Fantasy. It was Secret of Mana and the beloved Chrono Trigger. These games are the whole reason I played Final Fantasy 7 which is my favorite game maybe of all time.
It’s weird how we see the impact of RPG in so many different genre. Devil May Cry and God of War ask use to chose what we as the player should spend our experience points on.
It helps Deepen the experience when you are making actual decisions that will have a direct affect on gameplay.
Also when talking about RPG as a whole we can not leave out Oblivion and Fallout and Champions Of Norrath 1 & 2 and the Baldur’s Gate series. Customizing the specific look of a character and spells helped games that other wise would have been monotonous have actual appeal.
All these titles are the OG’s of RPG which have helped push the genre past dice and boards.
My Battlecry has to (HAS to!!!) go to Blizzard and their multitude of RPGs, because i don’t believe that there’s anyone who can make RPGs like them. My personal favourite series being the daiblo franchise, and i still play Diablo II to this very day! The Diablo series cannot be ignored as a revolutionary franchise in the RPG genre (yet it is, which makes me angry) because its made world records which havent been broken by WoW or anything else (14.1 million people online at one time). Revolutionary and defining? you wont find a better candidate. I think that when blizzard finally do announce a release date for diablo III, everything will be pandemonium. everything.
Maybe we, all together, will experience kind of game where we will change face of gaming as a possibly means of arts.
And one times game will be regarded as ART!
I am only familiar with the western rpg so that’s the genre I will address.
The fist game that must be mentioned is Baldurs Gate, that game pretty much defined every rpg that came after it. But more than the game its the engine that was influential. So many good rpgs came out of that engine, planescape torment, icewind dale, Baldur’s Gate 2… (was it the eternity engine). The most revolutionary thing of it all was the real time turn base combat with pause, now that was an influential move.
The second game I have to mention is Morrowind, I’m not a fan of bethesda but i have to grant them that they found a great rpg formula with morrowing. A formula thats been more or less well executed in both Oblivion and Fallout 3.
The final game on this list is of course, Mass Effect. The thing with mass effect however is that its not strictly speaking an rpg. This is why its more a revolution than an influence of the genre. But I also think that mass effect is a revolution for all games because of the intense cinematic feel of the game. Many games are trying to achieve that today, and mass effect is the only one that totally succeds because not only is it cinematic but its also a game through and through. It is so as opposed to games like Uncharted, which may be almost as realistic as the real deal and very cinematic in the camera presentation and cut-scenes. But because its so based on cutscenes outside the players control it sometimes becomes more movie than game. Mass effect does not fall into that trap.
[...] first Member BattleCry of the Week here on EpicBattleAxe.com that has to do with our new topic; the RPGs that helped revolutionize or define the genre. We’re kicking things off with a doozy as EyeofThundera (SWEET ASS THUNDERCATS REFERENCE!) [...]
My battlecry would have to go to a couple RPGs:
1)Final Fantasy, When people think of RPGs, this is the game that usually comes to mind. Drunken Pistolero mentioned the cinematic feel of Mass effect and how it is revolutionizing games, but I remember playing FF7 and thinking of how much that game felt like a movie when I first played it.
2)Morrowind, This was the first RPG that made me feel like I was influencing the world rather then just being dragged along with the story. In morrowind I chose what I wanted to do, and I think a lot of new RPGs have been borrowing a lot from that aspect to make their games “not so linear”
3)Mass Effect, I have never really played a game where I felt so connected, to the characters, and to the story as Mass Effect. Another thing that mass effect did for me, was smoothly complemented the RPG aspect with heart pumping action. There are plenty of RPGs with both action and great story, but I think mass effect really combined them flawlessly rather then one aspect being tacked onto the other.
4)Baldurs Gate, This game pretty much started the “your own character” feel of the RPG (at least for me). In final fantasy, you were given a really cool character to play with, but in Baldurs Gate you actually got to Make your character, It felt so good to get to do a D&D type character creation when in most games I was only really given the choice of what “class” to be.
That’s my battlecry, I hope some other people agree
PS: I don’t like final fantasy that much, but I still voted for it because I think It probably did contribute the most, even if i didn’t enjoy it as much as other games.
My battlecry goes out to Rockstar San Diegeo. I’m a little late on this one but I don’t remember DK talking about it.
http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/RockstarSpouse/20100107/4032/Wives_of_Rockstar_San_Diego_employees_have_collected_themselves.php
You guys know about Red Dead Redemption and I think you even mentioned liking it on the show. Well, the wives of the guys working on it over at Rockstar San Diegeo are pissed. Apparently Rockstar treats their eployees like crap, forces them to work long hours 6 days a week for long periods of time and are generally trying to make as much money as possible as quickly as possible without caring about their employees.
Do you think this will affect the final product and its sales, now that many people found out about this?
My BattleCry goes out to Fable. When talking about RPGs that shaped the industry, it is hard to ignore Fable, and some of the earlier games in the RPG genre that really put a effort into creating your own story. The obvious implication being the good/evil system we see in so many games nowaday. I think no game does it quite as good as Fable, because you see the effect visually as you grow horns and one of those evil beards. The Fable games, and other western RPGs are really more Role Playing Games, than the JRPGs that shaped genre during the NES till now.
Alright I’ll give this a go:
I couldn’t let a battlecry on RPGs go by without mentioning Baldur’s Gate.
The story and the overall immersion into an entire fantasy world accomplished only by a handful of character pictures and occasional voice acting on top a masterfully written script is what (FOR ME) sets it apart from any other game.
The same way that reading a great book can transport you into an entirely different universe, Baldur’s Gate made it possible for me to escape on occasion into the Forgotten Realms.
Baldur’s Gate – again for me – marks the line between a massively marketable Role playing game and a true work of art.
PS: And I do hope Heavy Rain does well sales wise despite all the apocalyptic predictions (fingers crossed).
My BattleCry goes out to Bethesda for The Elder Scrolls 3 Morrowind. While many of the most important RPGs before it were turn based, Morrowind was the first and largest to truly blend the depth of an RPG with real-time combat that is more akin to action games. While there is nothing wrong with turn-based RPGs, the addition of real-time combat revolutionized RPGs by blurring the lines between genres. Not to mention that both Mass Effect 1 and 2 blend their own systems of real-time combat with RPG elements.
While Arena and Daggerfall came first, their learning curves were too high and were buggy. Oblivion sold more and had smoother combat, but it was building on the foundation laid with Morrowind.
My BattleCry goes to the boys (and girls) at BioWare. Sure, there have been other great RPGs by other great developers (Bethseda, Black Isle, Square Enix, ect)… but none of them, at least in my mind, have even approached the level of connection to the characters or the emotion conveyed that BioWare has been able to do in multiple games.
Going back to look at their library of RPGs, it reads like a who’s who of RPGs. KotoR and it’s alignment system, which effects how characters react to you as well as the abilities you can attain is still used today in games like InFamous.
NWN has the mod community still going strong to this day, almost 8 full years later.
And to see how influential Baldur’s Gate was, just look at the games that came out in it’s wake that stuck to it’s formula. Icewindale and PS:Torment spring to mind as good games that followed the BG formula.
“War. War never changes…”
In a land torn asunder by the deeds of men, a land ravaged by the corruption of soul and body, a land with no hope, there was one they called the Vault Dweller.
Fallout was a diamond in the post-apocalyptic wasteland. Not only did Black Isle weave an engrossing tale of an alternate Earth, a drastically stylised “What if” scenario, they managed to concoct their own proprietary game mechanic that was easy to understand, yet still had lots of depth. The SPECIAL system gave gamers a rare opportunity to completely customise their character’s attributes, with each bearing its own significance throughout the story. Modified by optional Traits and later Tags, you could play your character in this open-world any way you chose to, warranting multiple playthroughs to explore paths not previously taken.
While the first game was extremely short, Black Isle Studios did something ahead of their time: they listened to the feedback of their fans and used that to improve the next game, Fallout 2. “By Gamers, For Gamers” was their motto, after all. And boy was Fallout 2 a blast! I mean, how many RPGs out there was actually FUN to play as a 1 Int character? Or a Jinxed Sweet Talker? Or let you punch a hole through Mike Tyson’s torso, despite only dealing a singular point of damage?
Let’s not forget one of the most endearing legacies of Fallout is none other than the Pipboy. In a setting marked with death, gore and mayhem is a cartoon character of simple design. It is no surprise that he has become more iconic of the Fallout franchise than the Power Armours or Mutants.
my battle cry goes out to mass effect as revolutionizing the roleplaying genre, not to kiss Dk’s ass or anything cause god knows no-one !! would wanna do that, but i belive Mass effect has realy changed the way RPGs are played changing it from the jrpg turn based style,and the classic super nerdy rpgs that leave one unsatisfied in the combat and action department, mass effect is the birth of a new style of rpg thats dedicates to a great story and characters,story telling through exallent cinimatic set pieces,and that also has paid special attention to action and combat, this will internt attract action fans of average storys like gears and halo and trans from them into action rpg fans to further repopulating the rpg fan base
My Battle Cry for RPGs goes out to Grandia. It was the first RPG I played where a three dimensional space was used and mattered both in and out of battles. Outside of battles 3-dimensions are now common but it wasn’t so much back then. Inside battles even now it’s often only for presentation or aesthetic and developers still seemingly struggle to utilize it as a strategically dynamic variable. Grandia made it matter were the characters physically where in relation to one another for strategic purposes without degrading into the chaos that is an actionRPGs battlefield. Grandia also showed you enemies in the dungeons instead of relying on random encounters which eliminated much of the tedium associated with traveling in RPGs. Grandia 2 was, in my opinion the pinnacle of the series but even as the games have since gone down hill the battle system they employ makes them standout. Grandia 1, 2, Xtreme, & 3 all utilize a similar battle system that remains fun, engaging and strategic and doesn’t fall back on knowing the one specific weakness of every enemy as the only way to progress.
My battle cry goes to well D&D Series (even the bored game). Ok sure most people will say Final Fantasy Series and ya the FF Series has done alot for rpg’s. But D&D is the RPG that started it all. Sure some of the video games were well crap. But D&D layed the base for most rpg’s todate. When you look at most rpgs they use D&D’s standers for lvling stats exp. With out D&D alot of the game we have now would not look like they do. Our minds and the way we see fantasy worlds has bin shaped by it wether we know it or not. It has done so much for rpg’s and other games that we dont even realized it.
My battle cry goes out to Deus Ex. OK so before the shout downs roll in with “It’s not really an RPG it’s a shooter”, it’s really not. The game took a massively different approach to the RPG, gone was turn based combat in was FPS mechanics. Gone was the traditional line of good vs. evil, in with twisting plot loyalties and for the first time in any game that I’d played (up to then) was a case of a truly moral decision within the game. The stats and mod’s included in the game genuinely effected not only how you approached combat but also how you approached the landscape of the levels, the NPC’s and even the ending of the game itself. Everything was pitched perfectly the characters seemed natural and well defined, the locations were superbly grimy and futuristic capturing a blade runner feel. The story was compelling and seemed relevant at the time, and maybe even more so now.
Its hard to imagine the gaming scene today without the success of Deus Ex. Its influence can be found in massive hits like Bioshock and smaller but no less compelling games like Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines… I’d even make the argument that without D.E it would be difficult to imagine Mass Effect being released. How much more influence do you need than a game that changed and blurred two genres at the same time?
My battle cry goes to Final Fantasy VII from Square. As one of the first RPGs to have polygonal battles, amazing CG cut scenes as well as using pre-rendered backgrounds to help vastly improve the visuals, Which was an enormous leap from its predecessors. Not only were the visuals above and beyond what anyone thought the PS1 could handle, but the story and music delivered as well. It was the game that brought console RPGs outside of Japan and levitated the genre to the have a global mass appeal. Making it one of the most influential games of all times.
Though it’s not not really RPG related, despite them being my favorite genre. My Battlecry goes out to those willing to pay for games. I was crushed a few days ago when I discovered there were torrents of Mass Effect 2, even before the release. I think of it look putting in a full hour work week in to a job you love and not getting paid for it. BioWare put so much effort in to this game they deserve more of a reward. Sure there many such as myself who paid full price or order the Collector’s Edition. Those who are unwilling to pay 50-60 bucks for such a triple A game are sending a slap in the face and a big F You to BioWare and other companies when ever they pirate these games
My battle cry has to go out to Baldur’s Gate. This series may have taken a bit of a dive when it went to PS2 but was truly home on the PC. It’s influence isn’t only felt in the hours of more then satisfying gameplay, awesome character creation, intricate story, but takes role-playing back to its earliest roots by basing the rules on the role playing Grand Daddy themselves, D&D.
I maybe not so into RPG games… But my battlecry of the week goes to Mario RPG… It was the game that started all… Sure it wasn’t the first of it’s type but it had freakin’ Mario! and Liugi too, but who gives a shit about Luigi xD… Anyways we loved this game and it sticked us into the RPG games.
My Battle Cry goes out to Planescape Torment.
This game was incredible on so many levels. The game to me defined interactive story telling in an RPG. It did not follow the tried and true formula of a nobody that rises up to save the world/girl. It was the first RPG I remember playing an evil character from the start, and was definitely the darkest RPG of its time, possibly of all time. The game kept you guessing until the end what it was about, and did not insult the players intelligence the way most RPGs of today do. I remember taking notes to help follow what was actually going on in the game..
The game clearly influenced games like Mass effect, where even little decisions in the game would have impact on later events of the game. The game didn’t succumb to political correctness, themes such suicide, sexuality and theology were throughout the game.
This is the game companies are scared to come out with today, as they like to make games politically correct, appealing to the masses and easy sells in the market place.
My BattleCry goes out to BioWare. This company has created awesome games for quite some time now, and most of them have become instant classic. Their newest game, Mass Effect 2 is totally kicking ass in every conceivable way imaginable. It’s a really spectacular mixed bag of both TPS and PRG elements put together in order to create a real masterpiece. I don’t believe there was a game like it in both 2008 and 2009, and I believe there won’t be a game like it in 2010. So cheers Bioware for creating the absolute Messiah of Video Games, complete with manual and poster. Amen.
So, my Epic Battle Cry (TM) goes to Bioware’s RPG arsenal. They are the Blizzard of RPG’s (see what I did there?!). But no, their games were always strong in the most important RPG element, storytelling! It’s unbelievable how detailed they manage to shape a whole universe in just one game.
Just think about it, Baldur’s Gate (one of the hardest games in my childhood), Neverwinter Nights, then the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic series (still angry at Daniel because he didn’t list it in the poll, duh!), and the newer one’s being Mass Effect and Dragon Age. If I had to pick one I would go with KoTOR because it was the brick that shaped every other modern Bioware game until today (gameplayish and storywise).
I’m actually sad that we won’t see SW:tOR this year, but I believe it’s definitely worth waiting for it. Surely Bioware won’t disappoint us.
Greets from Croatia,
Adi.
My member BattleCry goes out to Dragon Warrior for the NES.
This game was my first hands on with an RPG and got me hooked on the “leveling up” aspect of gaming. Prior to this making my gaming character stronger or better in some way was either by a particular skill or by chance attempt at getting a mushroom or flower or star etc…
RPG’s are to me at their best when they are in a sword wielding setting and this one takes us back old school to where there are Castles, Knights, Wizards, and Dragons.
Remember the days of such awesome simplicity in gaming?
Any RPG game that followed I was able to use what I learned from this game as a Template of how to win or achieve my goals. Thus making this game like my Yoda or Mr. Miyagi or RPG’s.
To my first RPG – Dragon Warrior!
My Member BattleCry goes out to The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind for the PC.
This game was the first RPG that actually managed to get me into the genre. Why? One word: Freedom! Bioware games may have given players the opportunity to influence their tales, but it’s Bethesda that truly unleashed freedom upon the concept of roleplaying. To me an RPG is only true once you as a player become part of a vast world. Morrowind was the first game that gave me, as the player, the feeling that I was part of such a world. Hundreds of hours were wasted upon this single game, 348 hours to be exact. The variety of quests, guilds, dungeons allowed for endless replayabality. A true classic!
But is that all oh great Mya? No there’s more! Morrowind was the first to give players the option to add all sorts of things to the world, by editor. People created weapons, dungeons, quests, villages, squad members and what not. Still people download various fan-made DLC.
To Bethesda – To morrowind we sail!
My Member BattleCry goes out to Legend of Dragoon!!!
This games was one of the great games that went under many people’s radar only because of FFVII. It was different because i belive it was one of the first rpgs that included interactivity as you fought your battles instead of choicing an option and watching it happen. So many other rpgs dont have as much advertising or are overlooked by other big titles and people miss out on great rpg tiles like Demon Souls and White Knight Chronicles. I would love to see companies put more effort on new ips that the FANS are excited about and not what they want us to be excited about…FF13.NEways…I believe that Legend of Dragoon help in the interactivy of today’s rpgs and would love to see more support for the new ip rpgs.
My battlecry goes out to the new shooter RPG’s we’ve been seeing. Games that like to take elements of shooters and RPGs like Borderlands, Fallout 3, and Mass Effect 1 & 2. This decision helps expand the RPG audience to fans of shooter games. The possibilities for shooter RPG’s are endless Borderlands already made coop available but wouldn’t it be cool to have a deathmatch against 8 other people using the character that you’ve customized during the main campaign.
My Battlecry goes out to the Baldur’s Gate series. Simply put, it was the first rpg I played where I was actually cautious (or wary) about pissing off my companions. JRPGs spend a lot of time telling stories; as such, they feel like interactive films in which you’re an observer that occasionally jumps in to make sure they don’t die in battles. Otherwise, the stories they tell are essentially the same to every player, and all the characters and the relationships cannot be influenced to a major degree.
This is all great and fine – but the experience isn’t nearly as involving as having companions that call you a bastard; or, in the case of Korgan Bloodaxe, threatening to bend an elf girl over his knee and spank the shit out of her if she doesn’t shut up. These characters not only react to other characters, but to YOUR actions and decisions – and not the predetermined actions of the ‘main character’ which are set in stone from the moment you begin the game.
The Baldur’s Gate series is the RPG that introduced true interactivity within your party; it gave you the freedom to roll with whomever you wished, and it was genuinely interesting to see them interact with your avatar and his or her choices. This level or memorable and relatable characters is what set the standard for other RPGs in the future, many of which try to emulate that level of immersion and connection.
My battle cry goes out to Planescape: Torment. It is the very first game that I have played that went out of the traditional “save the world from evil being orchestrated by a larger evil” plot. It’s story was about getting into terms with oneself and making the appropriate decision that will affect you long term wise in the gameplay, even if it is not the most righteous one.
Its in-depth dialogue system only establishes its intent in focusing on story telling and making combat only as an optional vehicle to get to the finale. During the period that it was released (and possibly up to now), there was no game (at least to my knowledge) that prioritized the intelligence attribute over strength, agility, etc. The game’s story has a deep emotional and personal impact that makes you root for the anti-hero protagonist.
Finally, the setting and the art direction is also very different even up to now. Most RPGs are set in one of the following: classic medieval, high fantasy, steampunk (with a very limited number), contemporary, dark fantasy, sci-fi and post-apocalyptic. PS:T was set in a fantasy world unlike any other – dark, obscure and almost surreal like. The level of detail in the game’s world is astonishing.
It is clearly one of the RPGs that transcended into an art form. The dark and imaginative world plus the thought provoking, unafraid story is clearly what makes this game shine. It swam against the current during the period when mature topics were frowned upon (even scrutinized to the point of non-sense) and mass appeal was favored.
But then again, it is all up to personal taste and opinion. I, for one, love the non-traditional stories and quasi-surreal settings. But in terms of influence, I think its main contribution was indeed the deep dialogue system found in many RPGs today and the capability to shape the journey.
My battle cry goes out to a little known game that literally changed my life named Dark Cloud 2. Everything about this game was miles ahead of the competition, from the genius weapon-crafting system that let you take ordinary stuff and use it to empower your tools to the time traveling aspect that made it so everything you did in the past drastically altered the future. Both of these are prequels to things like the “choose your own future” aspect of Mass Effect and the item crafting of practically every RPG ever now, but none of them did it with quite the finesse of DC2.
I could go on about all the other little things that made the game great such as the amazing art style and seemingly endless sidequests, but then we’d be here forever. However, the fact that this game wasn’t as popular as, say, Final Fantasy X and it was kept in the shadows allowed the people who did see its genius to copy it without resistance without having to stay quite as true to the magic that made it amazing. If there’s any game that’s influenced at least me as a future game designer more than any other, it would be the game the showed me how to create, innovate, and capture the imagination like other other title can.
My first Battle Cry but hopefully a good one.
As we all know, Mass Effect 2 recently came out and Bioware had once again redifined the RPG genre with super immersive, emotional and even personal gameplay mechaincs and unparallelled storytelling. But I am not here to talk about Mass Effect 2 I am here to talk about Bioware’s greatest game ever. Baldur’s Gate.
This RPG was the first true RPG of it’s kind with an immersive story, excellent gameplay and superb graphics (not now obviously) many RPG’s, such as Neverwinter Nights to Diablo have used Bioware’s formula and altered it their specifiactions.
Bioware is currentely the king of RPG’s and it will take a mighty feat to topple it from the top of the hill.
To me one rpg what shines over the others is Rogue
It is full on ASCII characters made game, but it is first “graphical” adventure game. And it was very simple take race,class and go on randomly generated dungeons to find amulet of Yendor. Rogue has affected many commercial games from Diablo to recent ones like Torchlight and Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo’s Dungeon
battle cry is as follows:
many will tend to follow the hype and say FF(numberhere) was the rpg that changed it all. but im swimming against the stream here saying Fallout was what raided mountains and laid the road for the huge titles we have today. Yeah FF was great but it stayed in its own path and didn’t have anyplace for others’ to intersect, whilst i think Fallout was what let U the player create the character and, instead of having it go throw an already written story, U were the one who created your OWN story thus having different effects and endings when your journey was about to finish. That’s why for me Fallout is the gravel for Mass Effects’ tar to be lain on!!!
My battle cry goes out to legend of mana, as dragoon was taken. This game has got to be the most replayble RPG to date, even though it was released in the late 90′s.
Hear me out not only can you choose the path you want, as the locations the player visits can be arranged by the player, you can choose between 3 major story arcs, and once one major story arc is resolved the player can choose to either beat the other 2 or go ahead and end the game.
Did i mention there is a new game plus feature that not only gives you every item you had as well as skills you can also raise the levels of monsters in the game from a measly 20 levels to every monster is lvl 99.
Also you can synthisize weapons armor and magic to create the ultimate player as the main character can equip a wide range of weapons all with varied limit breaks 200+ combined (pure eyecandy check them out on youtube).
This game also combined pokemon as the player can have a pet travel with him/her (yes you have to catch it to) and depending on how it was raised can benefit the player in a variety of ways. Also it had a more complex robot helper system but i wont explain that.
It has coop play as the main character meets with various party members along the way, they can be controlled by another human. Did I forget to mention that if your friend had a save copy on his or her memory card you can import that main character on to your file and his/her char will be playable in your file to help you out (of course all equipment and skills are locked as it will be asking to much from the game). How many games had this feature, and taken to this extent?
Their is more in the fine detailing of this game like choosing certain sides between 2 opposing parties, it isn’t turn based had alot of mobility given the dimensions. I am just hoping this game will be released on the psn with online capabilities.
This game is a gem and given the chance play it and just have fun. As it is an experience that will please any gamer.
My BattleCry goes out to two games in the Western and JRPG genres. For Western it would be The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind because not only for its affect on RPGs, but also so many other genres. It helped build up the craze of 3D open world games and games were you could literally spend more time on side quests rather than the main quest. For JRPG it would be Final Fantasy. Not only has that helped build the influence of stories that are just way too long, but also cinematic sequences and CGI. Without these games (and the ones they were inspired by) I can’t imagine what gaming would be like today…. probably more shooters…. if that is even possible.
I’m sure this has been mentioned but I have to bring up Fallout 2, again. In my opinion, it’s the most role playing of RPG’s ever made. You can literally take on ANY character role and have the game react to you accordingly. Whether your character is a dumb brawler or a charming wimp, the Fallout 2 will acknowledge it and give you a unique experience.
On top of that, no game has passed the level of interactivity of Fallout 2′s world to this day. You can affect the fate of various towns and settlements in actual meaningful ways. You can choose to take part in politics between several cities and crime wars within others.
Example: I was messing around with competing crime families of a town called New Reno. One of them tasked me with destroying booze stills of another family. After I snuck into the basement with the stills, I decided against it because I liked the family. For whatever reason, I threw a scorpion tail that I had on me, into the stills, though. Some time later, the town’s drunks started dropping dead…
How AWESOME is that?
I hope there is no rule against double posting here.
Reading through these posts, I don’t understand how people bring up Mass Effect as an influential RPG. I love Mass Effect, it’s a great RPG without a doubt but it’s basically KOTOR without the Star Wars. I have not played the second one yet but the first one followed the KOTOR formula to the tee. It’s like saying that Uncharted is an influential shooter (also a great game but the shooting mechanic is straight out of Gears of War).
My battle cry goes to WRPG vs JRPG in general. I will take two most influencial (imo) RPGs of the decade +/- from both camps: Final Fantasy (the main ones not the shovelware spin-offs) and Mass Effect. If you are like me who is primarily an RPG gamer, then you’ve probably 18-25+ at the time of writing this post. You’re not playing your toy cars (unless it is still your hobby) but actually driving a real car.
So my question goes how come western RPG developers are not afraid to put out M-rated RPGs out on the market whereas very few Japanese developers get over T-rated status barrier.
When I play Mass Effect, Dragon Age Origins I not only experience the epic-blockbuster-movie-like story and Interesting spin on the gameplay but also mature content. Whether it is sex-camp (probably the best part in the game, j/k) at DA:O or Mass Effect’s epic scale galaxy with some of the best stories out there and great voice over actors.
Now, when I look at JRPGs I do not see any of this(!):
*No mature content (platonic kissy kissy touchy touchy but nothing more does not cut it with me)
*T-rated content
*Same gameplay mechanics
*No references to sex (After you’ve been in long battles fighting evil to save the world, you’d want your main character to release some steam on female companions O___O it sounds dirtier than it was in my head)
*Linearity is a new thing for JRPGs that puts me off (yes FF13, I am looking at you!)
*English voice over actors do not seem to have any talent at all!
JRPG camp and Square Enix look like dry cows with no milk to feed western audience with nothing more but continues spin offs, lack of innovation, same stories (amnesia?) and no mature content. Anyway, ban them from ‘west’ until they sort things out!
PS.: This battlecry only concerns consoles/PC not handhelds.
I have 2 Battlecries EBA crew, so listen up.
My first goes out to Kingdom Hearts, while FF was always successful in the west, KH was a great was to cross over with franchises over seas. The end product is a game everyone can enjoy, and doesn’t just hit Japanese or Western tastes like most games nowadays. It seems sad that Japanese developers are designing games for the west like Quantum Theory (you know that Gears of War clone), when they could be developing more unique games.
My second BattleCry goes out to MAG. The game is released already, but many sites don’t have reviews up. Part of the reason is Sony wanted reviewers to take time with the game, since it is all about Multiplayer. That is fucking stupid!!! The game was done a month ahead of time, they could have had the servers up for reviewers so that the gaming public could judge the game before release. Of course reviewers should be careful about reviewing these kinds of games, knowing that it will evolve as the community grows, server issues will be managed, ect. But a reliable opinion needs to be made before people buy it on impulse. What if Activision or EA started putting review dates past all the games they knew would suck. Just to get impulse buyers first day. This works even better with first party exclusives like MAG because they will get those fanboys that purchase exclusives, because they only care about exclusives.
My battlecry goes out to all the rpg’s of the past which game developers have built off of. Some of these such as the Final Fanstasy series changed the way you think about these characters you play as by creating personalities that grew on you and stories that immersed you in the world. That and the revolutionary way they have changed how you combat evil with ever changing battle systems and character customization that many games now use in some form. Another branch that grew in popularity fast was the mmorpg mainly the ever popular (WoW) which let you interact with other people while you played through the same game in any way you felt you wanted to. This also brought up the great formation of groups,guilds,or clans of friends and fans alike.
My battlcry goes to the grand daddy of RPG/Shooters, Deus Ex. Warren Spector and Ion Storm were leaders in creating games where player choices affected the world around them. It had a deep and engaging story with multiple endings, featured open environments with multiple ways to progress, and set the bar for dialogue systems and RPG mechanics mixed with first person shooters. Deus Ex paved the way for modern shooter RPGs like Mass Effect. Now if only they could get Deus Ex 3 our in the next decade…
My battle cry goes out to Game Freak’s gameboys Pokemon games. The combat systems were very simplistice and that made the game accessible to people of all ages. Also the amount of the playable Pokemon and the amount of possible attacks for them to learn gave your team of six gave a unique feel for everyone elses team. And the combat through the link cable with your friends was the best portable multiplayer ever.
My battle cry goes out to the Mass Effect franchise and what it has done. I’ve been playing Mass Effet 2 alot today and it’s really phenomenal. What is worth distinguishing is how personal they’ve made these games to the player. First you have the decisions that you make throughout both current games that range from minor to drastic changes. More importantly is the ability to upload save files across games. Being able to see your actions and decisions stick and affect a world across all games in the series makes it so much more personal and untactful. This is something that more RPGs should definitely do because it just takes immersion to new levels which I think is important for RPGs.
My battle cry goes out to System shock 2. I’ve chosen it because System shock 2 was a game that popularized the role playing shooter having noticeable impacts on games like bioshock, and it helped pave the road for games like fallout 3, mass effect and borderlands. Thanks largely in part to system shock 2 the RPS is now a rapidly expanding genre, Cliffy B himself agrees with the above having stated “the future of shooters is RPGs.” And who could argue that point when even the most hardcore shooters are starting to incorporate elements of RPG’s, COD for example; leveling up to unlock better weapons and perks to use in combat. So here’s to the future of the RPS and system shock 2.
A link for those who want a reference to the Cliffy B quote: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Cliff-Bleszinski-Shooters-Will-Become-RPGs-in-the-Future-116092.shtml
My battle cry goes out KOTOR (Knights Of the Old Republic. Possibly (in my opinion of course) one of the best RPGs of all time. The story was unique, the characters were interesting, engaging, and hilarious (HK-47 FOR THE WIN!), and the combat was frantic, exciting, and always fun. Final Fantasy is one of the most influential RPGs of all time. But thanks to KOTOR with it’s light or dark side choices gave birth to a whole new way of role playing. I will never ever forget how much I truly loved that game, and forever will.
My battle cry goes out to many of the Pen and paper series like Dungeon and dragons. We can not forgot how this all started, simple pen and paper and an open imagination and an idea that somewhere and some how we could make this world a better place, even if that means that we need to create a fake world to believe in ours.
My battlecry goes out to Final Fantasy 6 (or 3 on SNES). It was the first game I played that made me actually care about the sprites in the game. It was just so rich in story that till this day is hard to match!
Hell Yeah RPG’s! My Member Battle Cry is as follows, but first let me say I’m an RPG whore and pen and paper is my bitch. I’ve been living and breathing the life for twenty years now and I’ve seen alot of progress in the RPG market when concerning roleplaying games. I can’t just name one, so I’m gonna make a list of games that are my milestones in RPG Gaming History.
Rogue:
The Grand Daddy of all RPG’s. It is generally credited as being the first “graphical” adventure game. The graphics are represented by letters and symbols usually on a black background similar to DOS. Soon after arrived other similar games, such as Hack, NetHack and ADOM. These games where actually called “rogulikes” cause they borrowed so much from the original. Roguelikes have since even influenced games such as Diablo.
Ultima (the series):
Need I say more? With out it Richard Garriott would not have gone to space! I’ve been talking to alot of people on the internets and it seems that Ultima (or any of its siblings, especially VII or VIII) has been a huge influence on the older generation of roleplaying gamers. I think it is THE first “mainstream” RPG gaming series and worth the title.
Baldur’s Gate:
Before RPG’s tended to be really hard to get into. You really had to focus your mind, suck in the lore and enjoy a fighting mechanic usually lackluster to the eye. But in 1998 enter Baldur’s Gate. It wasn’t the first to try to integrate the D&D franchise to a game, but was the first to do it outstandingly! The game was polished and awesome to look at. The story was deep and the world seemed endless. Baldur’s Gate just put to shame every other game before it and murdered its opponents. It even got a good sequel and expansion pack so I urge everyone out there to go and play the game, now!
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
Morrowind was the game that broke the chains and set the genre loose into the wilds where it is today. It showed the masses that a good RPG can be anything you want it to be and in a totally new way. Again it was not the first game to try firstperson views and such, but was the game that got it right. For me this game is the first Action RPG.
My next milestone after Morrowind was Mass Effect. Everyone knows (or should know) how big of an impact it has made. I know I’ve left out big names such as Diablo, Fallout and Final Fantasy. Don’t get me wrong they’ve made an impact, but not as big as the ones I’ve listed. I need to get back to work so I’ll try to wrap this monster of a cry up. The RPG genre I knew as a child has grown from a seed to a fricking monster tree with ravenous animals living on its branches. The borders are gone and today anything can be categorised as an RPG. I see this as a positive aspect and I’m satisfied. Nuff said!
PS: JRPG’s and Hack’n Slash games are not RPG’s. They have as little to do with RPG’s than a Rocket-Propelled Grenade.
My battlecry goes out to Dungeons & Dragons.
If one game has shaped the RPG genre, it’s this one. Sure it’s pen and paper at its core, but it is the game that introduced the concept of experience point and character progression, based on levels, following the path of a class, or job. Already we have the bases of every western and JRPG…
Then, add the strong emphasis on playing with a group of people and you have your party in every RPG.
When you think about it, D&D might be 35 years old, yes already… but it has cemented the foundations of the genre more than anything else. Props to the late Garry Gygax for it, D&D has changed everything.
Hiya Axeheads, my Battlecry goes out to these titles:
Diablo series, my favourite Hack’n Slash and action rpg of all time. Yes, it didn’t revolutionize gaming industry much, but still… (Imo a good way to bring rpg elements into action game.)
Ultima Online, one of the first MMORPG’s to be a big success in the worldscale, It just owned with its possibilities.
Fallout – Guns and Stuff in a RPG. It’s a success, who would have thought it would work out so good.
Classics like Baldurs Gate and Icewind Dale just deserve their place in this list.
For the last:
Not a title, but a genre: Multi-User Dungeons… Self-explanatory isn’t it. Grand daddy of multiplayer Rpg’s via internet connection.
My Battlecry will have to go with the FABLE franchise.
No other RPG franchise tries to be as ambitious and as fully realised. What a good RPG means is, you have to be sucked into that game world for a long time, and FABLE went above and beyond. Having this social simulation with the general RPG ingredients gave one of the most sandbox and TRUE role-playing experiences anyone can ever have. You start forgetting about the real world, and start caring about your virtual dog and family instead. It’s that immersive (which might be a bad thing
).
Everyone’s experience will be different, depending on your character’s clothes that affect karma, getting married, your sexuality, relationships with NPCs, managing towns, building up a reputation with becoming a Hero/Villain and seeing how towns are affected by that. There is so much to do in the game, like get girls at the bar drunk, go fishing Zelda-style, having a gay marriage (the most forward-thinking game about homosexuality yet), having children with your spouse.
No other RPG tries to be as ambitious because it’s too risky on an investment scale, so you probably won’t see an RPG quite like FABLE in a while, until they create their own social simulation engines.
My EpicBattleCry goes to Microsoft-Fucking-Games Studio. I mean, I understand that you guys trust us, but selling the game already pirate doesn’t help the industry. Yes, and after years and years, not having yet given us a unique SERIAL number for AGE OF MYTHOLOGY. I bought the Gold Edition and guess what: I can’t play with my friends online. This is such a cool game and yet… anyways.
Major RTS influence: KOTOR for such diversity.
My Battle Cry goes out to Irrational Games for Bioshock. I’ve never beena massive RPG fan but having played it and seen its depth and the thought that went into the world created I was utterly blown away. The inventive ways of killing your enemies, not only with weapons, but the environment as well was genius. Also having seen this http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/irrational-reveals-cut-bioshock-ideas it looks like there was an awful lot more they could’ve thrown in there which again just shows how creative they really are!
- Knight!
If this was about any other genre of gaming this would be easy, but RPGs have been around for so long and have had so many incredibly different forms that picking just ONE that helped revolutionize the genre is impossible.
I could talk all day about how refreshing Earthbound was, or how epic FF6 was.
Chrono Trigger blew us away, and The Elder Scrolls let us explore an entire world inch by inch.
Baldur’s Gate lit the way for what was to become a CRPG revolution, and Planescape Torment’s uniqueness is unrivaled.
Might and Magic was a masterpiece, and the Bard’s Tale made us laugh about all the little things we take for granted in most RPGs.
Fallout took away preconceptions of what an RPG was, while the Shin Megami Tensei series includes some of the most eclectic and amazing experiences in the genre.
RPG is the most diverse genre of gaming in that it lets you assume just about any role and live through the worlds that others, or you, create. Whether you like JRPGs, CRPGs, action RPGs or just about any other type.
My battle cry goes out to RPGs in general for having evolved far beyond what anyone would have expected as a genre. To go from Eye of the Beholder to Mass Effect 2… It’s unbelievable.
My battle cry goes out to Fallout. Not because it was a great game, with a unique universe, tone and atmosphere, but because without it the WRPG would probably be limited to whatever the guys at Bethesda churn out. If you read an old fallout review they almost always mention that it’s the first decent PC RPG that’s come across their desk in a long long while. Fallout almost single handedly beathed new life into the genre and started the Interplay RPG renaissance that gave us Fallout 2, Planescape Torment, and established a little studio named Bioware with Baldur’s Gate and who would go on to become one of the pre-eminent story tellers in the industry. Fallout got the ball rolling again on the WRPG and got it rolling in interesting and new directions, and the genre owes a pretty big debt to it.
My EBC goes to…
Elder Scrolls
While games like Marrowind and oblivion, its your choice, game ends when you die. You can play the story for 5 minutes, then you decide to visit the huge world and wonder off for hours, do lots of side missions, etc etc. There is no penalty in the game, you can even steal a Horse or any iteam desired and you can use it right away, while other games would restrict you. I remeber in Marrowind, you could even kill the quest givers and main characters of the story and there was no Game over. In Elder Scrolls, the sky is the limit, while other RPGs you are stuck in very narrow story mode with few side quests here and there that you can’t kill the good guys and too many strict rules.
Just to compare Elder Scrolls to GTA games.. Well In GTA games, if you have a missin, and you fail, you have to reset, while in Marrowind , you could not reset, you just kept going just like in real life.
So again, for me Elder Scrolls should deserve the spot since they are the MOST open ended games ever created.
My Battle Cry goes out to Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars made by Square (Square Enix). I say this game because it was something different in the Mario series and actually worked well. Same story with Princess Toadstool gets taken by Bowser and you have to save her, but adding in the Final Fantasy fighting with it. In my mind this game helped get a new audience into RPGs and it’s one of the best RPGs of all time. Seriously, Mario + Final Fantasy = Pure amazement!
[...] which, as you’ve no doubt noticed, deals with the classic RPG franchise Fallout (per this week’s topic). Now, one of the best things that can be said about this series is that it is simply [...]
My battlecry goes out to my favorite RPG ever, not necessarily because it is the best game I have ever played, but because it was the first game I ever played that incorporated ideas that we see in games today: Deux Ex. The item collection system is very fun and things you do make sense. The damage system is exactly like Fallout 3, limbs get damaged and your various actions are impaired. It also gives you many different dialogue options, and you can kill most any NPC in the game, which was rather new at the time. Finally, the game afforded you with many different tactically sound approaches to the game’s obstacle, like det packs, sniping, hacking a bot, or sneaking in. This game wasn’t the most technically sound game, and the shooting felt a bit off, but it had many of the mechanics we see in popular RPG’s today.
For me, this is a 2 part answer. In the glory days of 8 and 16 bit, it was not only Final Fantasy, but Square as a whole. Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger, and Final Fantasy 1, 2, and 3 (American numbers) were all great. Great stories, fun gameplay, and each one mixed up the gameplay just a little bit to be different. Secret of Mana had more of an action adventure vibe, but still had deep roots in the RPG genre. Chrono Trigger was a fantastic jump through time, and one of the first games with multiple endings and the new game+ feature, causing me to play it over and over again. And of course, the masterpiece of Final Fantasy 3, the greatest FF in my opinion, was a grand story that first set the stage of “not all endings are happy.” And then, with the jump to 32 bit, I noticed something very, very wrong with rpgs, well, jrpgs. The men were girly looking. There always seemed to be this high-pitched, annoying young girl in the party. The stories never jumped ahead, they were just the same old thing. Now, I did stay with the FF series, but every time I would try to jump to a new series, I would hate it or just be weirded out and quit.
Then stepped in my future wife, who introduced me the Neverwinter Nights, and ultimately, Bioware. NN was a whole, was a mind blowing experience. Create your own character, shape your story, your skills, weapons, it was like a Choose your own adventure book in the form of a bad ass video game. And, thanks to NN, I looked this little company called Bioware, and found KOTOR, and the deal was sealed, Dragon Age and Mass Effect take up most of my gaming time these days.
So, my Battle Cry of the week goes out to old school Square and Neverwinter Nights, and to the woman who introduced me Bioware.
I love everything made by Square and Bioware and I could easily send my battlecry to almost any one of the games made by either company. However…
My battlecry goes out to the Diablo franchise. Diablo did for the Action RPG what Final Fantasy did for JRPGs and Fallout did for WRPGs. The Diablo series may not have invented it’s genre but it definitely set the bar for it.
The Diablo series introduced one major new aspect, not only to RPGs, but to other genres as well. The “Item Grind”. The Item Grind can lend a level of replayability and addiction to almost any game, which is why it is found in many games since then. It’s been used in almost every MMO, Fate, Torchlight, and most recently Borderlands.
My epic battle cry goes out to Final Fantasy 7. I think this game changed the world with its steam lined graphics, Super deep story, and having the worlds most revered villain to date (Sephiroth) Last but not least the music was one of the best scores people mention in a video game, even to the extent they have had concerts held of game footage being played while a live orchestra performs the music. I end it with a side but quite significant note. Most people I talk to that have played many RPGs say that this is the first game that they have cried over the loss of a character, and I wont lie when I saw the death of Aerith and heard the music I balled like a baby. Call me a fanboy if u will but no game sticks in my heart or feels like it has influenced the world like final fantasy 7
[...] Ex Hey everyone, DK here with today’s epic Member BattleCry. In case you’ve missed it, this week we’ve been examining the most revolutionary, defining RPGs of all time. We’ve asked our [...]
first things first why are u talking about RPGs when u just spent 45 percent of the ep talking about mass effect and u had a perfect set up with that pole that u did bc i would have said Kingdom Under fire the crusades.
BUT best RPG of all time goes to Elders scrolls MORROWIND hands down. that game was life for me at one point. one of the things that i liked most about besides the story was the limitless customization which i feel oblivion lacked. like i really felt my character was completely unique from anyone else and its not like they gave u stuff just for completing the main mission, if you wanted to get the real good stuff u had to go out there and get it your self.i really felt immersed with my character (keep in mind i only played Morrowind and oblivion on x box)
PS mass effect sucks
jk
My Battle Cry goes out to Final Fantasy 4. FF4 introduces me and my friends to RPG’s and is the reason why I love RPG’s to this day. It was the first game(not just RPG) I had ever played where I actually felt submerged in the story, that alone makes the game revolutionary! On top of this the combat was top notch for an RPG at the time, the characters were of a wide variety and mermorable, and some of the game took place in space! Cool? Yes!
I couldn’t have dreamed of a better game in even my fianl fantasies!
My Battle Cry goes out to Final Fantasy 4. FF4 introduces me and my friends to RPG’s and is the reason why I love RPG’s to this day. It was the first game(not just RPG) I had ever played where I actually felt submerged in the story, that alone makes the game revolutionary! On top of this the combat was top notch for an RPG at the time, the characters were of a wide variety and mermorable, and some of the game took place in space! Cool? Yes!
I couldn’t have dreamed of a better game in even my fianl fantasies!
Unrelated Battlecry to the subject, but I just want to say…
My Epic Battle Cry goes out to Rockstar games for bringing GTA: Episodes from Liberty City to PS3 and PC come March 30. Way to go for taking so damn long. The problem with the original episodes is that they released so far away from GTA4 many people didn’t care, even though they are awesome. Now your releasing them for everyone else after GOW3, FF13, Bad Company 2, and even Red Dead Redemption, good luck making your money back. Not to side with angry 360 fanboys, but didn’t you take $50 million from MS for those episodes? I know you have a good history with Sony, but I didn’t hear about them giving you any money, so as far as I know Agent is exclusive because… you just wanted to do something nice after GTA4 went multiplate and sold better on 360. So good luck with that crazy ass business model, and where the hell is Max Payne 3?
And as if it hadn’t been mentioned before… the Diablo Series.
It’s impossible not to mention Diablo when it comes to RPGs, even if it doesn’t offer much of a ‘role playing’ experience. You character doesn’t get to have a personality or choose anything other than his gear and how to kill the next wave of enemies.
Still, what mattered most in Diablo is that it was an incredibly polished game (specially the 2nd iteration) with great and intuitive gameplay, and was such a ridiculous success that it pretty much taught everyone else how to make RPGs. It reached a point where you could pick up other similar games and play them as you would play Diablo, all the way to the potion belt, the weapon swapping and even the hotkeys.
If way back in the day we had ‘Doom clones’, the post-Diablo times are well worthy of the ‘Diablo spawn’ term (which, if not yet a term, I suggest we coin it right now :p)
Please don’t do stuff like this. I’m using this post as an example. It will be deleted soon. We’re trying to generate an interesting discussion here. If you have nothing of value to offer to the conversation, please don’t waste your time or ours. If wanna do this, go somewhere else. Bottom line.
[...] RPGs of all-time this week so be sure and check out all of the submissions over on the topic starter post. Of course, we can only select one each day to be our Member BattleCry and while it was tough to [...]
My battlecry this week goes out to Chrono Trigger and Square Soft (oh how we miss you). When you first popped in this bad boy you would expect a typical 16 bit jrpg with leveling, world map and a variety of characters BUT in this game you get even more! With several different times ranging from current to prehistoric, mid-evil, ascended and apocalyptic you had several different worlds to explore. Secondly it has its tech tree combo’s which has been built off on by most party RPG’s since which is awesomesause for how deep it was. But mainly (in similarity to what Mass Effect 2 is doing) when you make a decision in one aspect of time your actions effect your plot, world settings and possibly changed how the game ends for you. Chrono Trigger was the first to offer such an awesome way of being individual in how you played and has changed how I look at RPG’s forever.
My Battle Cry goes out to SUIKODEN series. Its main strength has always been 108 Stars of Destiny but SUIKODEN III perfected it through its story (the trinity system, if i remember correctly). The main plot of the game was told through the point of view of the games 3 main characters (or 4 if you count Thomas as a main character) each crossing paths at different occasions as friends or foe. By doing this, it makes you more attached to each of the 108 characters you can recruit because each character can recruit different characters on their individual quests making it easier to introduce the background of each character instead if it just being some random stranger you recruit. But more importantly, it gets you more involved in the story because you see the turn of events from different sides in order to see the bigger picture at the endgame.
All in all, Suikoden III is influential to the genre because through this trinity system, it SHOWS the player the story, instead of TELLING. By doing that, the player would have been immersed in its story so much, that beating the game would have so much more meaning.
My Battle Cry goes out to the SUIKODEN series. Its main strength has always been 108 Stars of Destiny but SUIKODEN III perfected it through its story (the trinity system, if i remember correctly). The main plot of the game was told through the point of view of the games 3 main characters (or 4 if you count Thomas as a main character) each crossing paths at different occasions as friends or foe. By doing this, it makes you more attached to each of the 108 characters you can recruit because each character can recruit different characters on their individual quests making it easier to introduce the background of each character instead if it just being some random stranger you recruit. But more importantly, it gets you more involved in the story because you see the turn of events from different sides in order to see the bigger picture at the endgame.
All in all, Suikoden III is influential to the genre because through this trinity system, it SHOWS the player the story, instead of TELLING. By doing that, the player would have been immersed in its story so much, that beating the game would have so much more meaning.
My Battle Cry goes out to every masterpieces of the genre that allowed me to experience a really interesting role or situation, which I will always remember. I can’t think about just one game, that’s better than all the others. But some had genius ideas and ways these were implemented into the game, which pushed the genre or even gaming itself to the next level.
Of Course there are the amazing and unique worlds of Final Fantasy, Fallout and Baldur’s Gate, all these characters we loved and fighting-systems we dived into and spend, perhaps too much, lifetime on.
The games I think helped define or revolutionize the genre and I’m deeply thankful for are:
Fallout 2
This game created some of the most memorable moments by being not like the others (which is something a gaming freak like me knows well) and that even more than his antecessor.
In Example: In most games, after defeating the threat and rescuing the world, not many people know that I am the hero, who did all this (with al little help of my friends). But Fallout 2 gave me the opportunity to share my outstanding adventure with the messes via producing some fine piece of porn. I don’t want the princess. After walking through hell, I want to be rich and famous.
Baldur’s Gate
Not only one of the greatest pieces in the genre but this game played the major role while saving the western rpg from death in the late 90′s. And by the way it was the biggest step for BioWare on their way of delivering those lovely titles we’re so excited about today and becoming the big name for western rpg that SquareEnix is for jrpg.
Baldur’s Gate 2
One of the most intense bunch of characters and conversations in such a huge game. And nearly every nerd has played it. There is no easier way to get in touch with the introverted guy from the it-crew at your work, when you need his help.
And a special Battle Cry goes out to Minsk and Boo (don’t forget Boo!)
Fallout, Final Fantasy 7, KOTOR, Omikron, Dark Sun, Planscape Torment
Some of the most unique and most different Worlds, without orcs and elves.
Yes, Omikron isn’t a real rpg but it includes one of the most interesting styles of playing roles.
Arcanum and Shadow Run (both rpgs, not the shooter)
Two of the most unique and most different Worlds, with orcs and elves.
Deus Ex
Not really a rpg, too, but never before role-playing-mechanics were integrated into a shooter so great. (reminds me of Mass Effect, which now is called a rpg)
Dungeon Master, Might & Magic, Ultima and Final Fantasy
With their styles of play they created the foundation the genre is build on today.
World of Warcraft
It was never before so easy to get hooked by a rpg. Even former non-gamers got sucked in by the way WoW introduced itself. And bringing hardcore-gaming and women together is, in my opinion, one of the greatest moments in gaming history. (yea, Wii Sports has gone even further but a bit too far for me. now my whole family is using my stuff)
Final Fantasy 6
Not the most famous part of the franchise but the way in which the story and characters are developed over time is carried on in the later titles and became what the whole series is most famous for. But for me, even 7 never reached this level of depth in plot and characters.
And at last there are all the rpgs that included one or more characters that were so unique and different, so they were copied by others in many ways and will be allways remembered by fans like me.
Alright, my battle cry goes out to RPG fans like myself who don’t give a shit if there is a W or a J infront of the most important three letters. In my opinion an RPG is a game driven by strong stories and characters, whether it is made by a dev team in the land of the rising sun, or some dudes in Canada, eh, shouldn’t matter at all. From my start in games I’ve been a Final Fantasy fan boy, still am, always will be. Then again I’ve also always liked anime so maybe those characters just appeal to me, however, I also like characters like my girl… erm I mean manly man Shepard from Mass Effect. You see, I’m not attracted to what kind of characters they are, just the simple fact that they are well made, and fit beautifully into a universe and story I care about. Whether that story is about aliens or aeons doesn’t matter and shouldn’t so long as the story is well done and engaging.
That being said I will go on with what you asked for. The first RPG that redefined the genre, in my opinion, obviously, was Final Fantasy X. Not so much the graphics, that would go to VII and VIII, or even the voice acting, so much as a story and characters that gripped me so tight I cried at the end and still get starry eyed whenever I see Yuna trip as she passes through Tidus. While FFX was a big game, I think a bigger game would be the first Mass Effect. True, KOTOR had a branching dialog tree, and yes it was because of KOTOR that I was interested in ME to begin with, but once I booted up my 360 and got behind the eyes of MY Shep I knew I was seeing the future of my favorite genre. No game has ever made me feel like I owned a character, everyone plays the same Link, everyone gets the same feelings from playing Samus, but when I see someone else playing Mass Effect I can’t help but think, Thats not whats supposed to happen… Thats not the REAL Shepard. And that is something wonderful and something I don’t think we’re ever going to see again, atleast not for a long time.
Finally a topic I can sink my teeth into. My battlecry goes out to the Gothic series. Easily one of the most underrated franchises of all times, these games are the first contact i had with gaming and you can imagine how much I love them. They didn’t revolutionized the genre as a whole but the one thing in RPGs that must not be overlooked is the story and these games aren’t lacking in that department. Add to it great gameplay and beautiful artistic direction and it makes for one of the greatest RPG experiences of the last decade. Of course after Gothic I moved on to other games like FF and The Elder Scrolls but that game is still near and dear to my heart!
i would have to say xenogears because of it’s awesome and creative and completely epic storyline. this rpg not only define the genre and revolutionize it. due to the such research of many different religious beliefs and put it in such glorius stage as this game did. it’s mindblowing how a remake never got release for such classic and beasty game that even i know many people still play this game for the psp and psx. and the fact how you as the player just stay so focused on the game that you won’t stop playing it. and it did quite surprising well by making it a turned based battle system with mechs that even the later trend (xenosaga) failed compared to this legendary classic even with it’s movie length scenes and everything it couldn’t complete what xenogears could ever do. and i say square to hurry up make a real epic remake make it full HD add a few new mechs revamp the stages like in lunar harmony of the silver star and drop this game out already again to show the new generations of gamers what a true classic rpg is.