Poll: Are RPG's and MMO's getting too predictable?

[Archetypal_Maniac]

Ok so I'm sure everyone who is reading this has played at least a few RPGS/MMOs. There seems to be this default structure to creating RPG type games now. Everything seems to be recycled, the lay out, the spells, the name, the gear and the dialogue. I really enjoy RPGs and I think they do it for a reason, and that reason is to make them instantly accessible to the fans of the genre.

However now a days I really get a de-ja-vu type feeling, I tend to use the same spell set ups across a range of games with similar team builds and I tend to get the same effect. Now I know theres gunna be an: "If it ain't broke don't fix it" reply but as well as the poll, and if you think there needs to be some major changes, what default thing would you actually change or what features would you like to see more commonly introduced into RPGs?

 

[zombflux]

"getting"?

 

[Cargando]

Can I have an example of a predictable RPG or MMO?

 

[Archetypal_Maniac]

Can I have an example of a predictable RPG or MMO?

Dragon Age: Origins I found pretty predictable, nothing I hadn't seen before really, Warhammer Online, tons of resembelence to WoW I found. Not that any particular MMO/RPG owns the rights to this format but...just really have seen it before. Not to say I don't enjoy the games however, but I did only play Warhammer for a month. Partly due to the fact it was dead.

 

[Cargando]

Can I have an example of a predictable RPG or MMO?

Dragon Age: Origins I found pretty predictable, nothing I hadn't seen before really, Warhammer Online, tons of resembelence to WoW I found. Not that any particular MMO/RPG owns the rights to this format but...just really have seen it before. Not to say I don't enjoy the games however, but I did only play Warhammer for a month. Partly due to the fact it was dead.

Okay, take heart that there is still some truly great RPGs still out there, like Oblivion.

 

[badgersprite]

I don't think RPGs are necessarily too predictable. RPGs can take you from fantasy to the post-apocalypse to interstellar space. I guess it just depends on what you define as an RPG. It seems like you're talking about gameplay, though, but I only notice RPGs from the same developers being similar, as in they have a similar button layout. Maybe that's different on the PC.

 

[Summerstorm]

"getting"?

This... Since.. what 2002 or so we rarely getting new ideas... and those are normaly packed into "we need to make money - play it safe" -games as well.

 

[Archetypal_Maniac]

"getting"?

This... Since.. what 2002 or so we rarely getting new ideas... and those are normaly packed into "we need to make money - play it safe" -games as well.

Yes I agree, I mentioned in another post that there are too many safety games, kind of: "This works, we will use that" mentality.

 

[Andy_Panthro]

MMOs are surely unpredictable because of the users, but are generally lacking in coherent plot or consequences for your actions. Since they are about user-to-user interaction,

RPGs tend to be predictable to a certain extent because they follow narrative structures that have been endlessly repeated with various changes in theatre, books, cinema etc..

 

[hazabaza1]

Borderlands.
That is all.

 

[Twad]

MMOs and RPGs that i know all share the same flaws (IMHO); Grind, and global linear power progression. So yeah, need change.

 

[DreamKing]

They were always had some amount of predictablity even in the beginning. Most RPGs are based off some forms of mythologies with slightly altered enviroments and characters. All the character archatypes are there.

But I would not change it at all.

Remove the familiarity and RPGs will eventually fall on its face. We judge these games off an established standard, removing said standard will cause a new standard to rise.

Nothing is truly original in terms of a story. People want to hear the stories of great trimuph of great defeat. Just human nature I suppose...........

 

[RyQ_TMC]

I'd be grateful if you gave a few examples. As in, more than just Dragon Age, one game is not enough to characterize the state of an entire genre.

I, for one, actually found DA... refreshing, mostly because it is so cliched. Instead of trying to appear "original", they just decided to resurrect the glory of the Infinity Engine days. And succeeded, if even changing the gameplay a bit to suit modern times... (BG was over 10 years ago, and it seems like just yesterday...)

OK, back to the topic: let's take four recent titles: Jade Empire, The Witcher, Mass Effect, Dragon Age: Origins. Each has a different combat system, different setting... OK, they are all pretty dialogue-heavy, but somehow I don't think you meant that. Hell, I could throw Fallout 3 into the mix and variety would remain.

From what you've said, it seems you mean MMOs rather than anything else. I'm not much of an MMO player - played a few, but only WoW managed to hold me longer and I only play that to spend time with friends - so I won't argue with you here. Although I can see how after WoW gained massive popularity, all the other big titles wanted to emulate it.

 

[SilentHunter7]

I'd take predictable over not fun any day. If I can play it for the required 40 hours, and still want more, than it's a good game in my book, regardless of how far ahead I spotted the plot twist. You can have all the plot twists, and throw me for a loop as much as you want, but if I never get there, because I stopped playing 2 hours in, then it doesn't really matter, does it?

Not every game has to reinvent the wheel.

 

[thiosk]

Getting as predictable as the threads, in every case.

Look: elves, dwarves, hobbits, and gnolls; with mages, thieves, and barbarians.

You can take this high fantasy and do a high fantasy game. We have decades of balancing done in this area; you can spend more time on content and make a better game, or you can do a complete redo of high fantasy. I'd rather have the better game, and I don't mind bow-weilding elves or battleaxe swingin' dwarves.

Or, you can make up a bunch of random classes and races, as in http://www.kingdomofloathing.com

Seal clubbers,

Pastamancers,

and Disco bandits.