Role-Playing Games

[Canadamus Prime]

Yahtzee, I feel obligated to point out that if they had gone with the one click combat, you would've bagged them out for that too, like you did for the developers of The Whitcher. Kinda puts 'em in a no win situation don't you think?
Also you seem to like to rag on JRPGs alot, but I have to wonder just how many you've actually played. Certainly your description of the androgynous teenage protagonists could apply to many Final Fantasy protagonists, but Final Fantasy games are only a small percentage of JRPGs.

 

[TheUglyAmerican]

Yea, easy solution to this. JRPGs aren't really RPGs. Look at it this way, it's all so very clear.

 

[Zaydin]

One game I wouldn't mind Yahtzee doing a review of, even if it's of an old game, is of Deus Ex. But, it's his 'show', so to speak. Of new games coming out, I wouldn't mind seeing his take on Bayonetta. I haven't got it yet myself (Can't afford it), just like I won't be able to afford Mass Effect 2.

 

[zombie711]

what his email?

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

snip

Final Fantasy games are RPGs they are JRPGs just because you don't think so doesn't not make them RPGs. Also thanks for nice pointless dig at the end that makes your arguement look so much better.

JRPGs, for example, could be easily reclassified as 'Stupid Gay Rubbish'.

I could not agree with you more. How does anybody actually stay awake for the entire game? I tried playing one of the Final Fantasy games at a friends house- don't even remember which one, but my only reaction after about twenty minutes was 'bored bored bored'.

I agree that the classic genres are far too general for this day and age, where most titles have elements from several different types of game.

Thanks for proving the point that everyone who hates JRPGs on t his site has to announce it to everyone else.

As I have mentioned before in this column I avoid online multiplayer because my brain still works.

Just as a nitpick, there's a big difference in "online multiplayer with random prepubescent apespawn" and "online multiplayer with respectable human beings". The former would match with the malfunctioning brain theory, but the latter, not so much.

While Yahtzee generally reviews games from the single-player view, he has made comments about playing games with people before (Guitar Hero/Rock Band, a couple Wii games), which makes me think he's not totally averse to playing with other people.

I wonder what might be his opinion on something like ODST*, where random matchmaking is not even available and online multiplayer must be assembled from people you actively invite in (which, one would hope, fall into the "respectable human beings" category).

*Note that I said something like ODST -- that game itself might not be the best example, considering the "Halo" name seems to prejudice him (and a not-insignificant number of commenters around here, I've noticed) with automatic hate, and that particular game doesn't seem to resonate with people who don't already like "Halo" in general.

For that matter, I wonder what his reviews might be like if he included the multiplayer side of things in general, even if he limited those reviews to just sessions played in private matches.

Yahtzee is a critic and not a reviewer he even calls himself such in his videos. Even still people more watch them for their comedic value.

 

[KDR_11k]

Don't worry about Borderlands, it doesn't get any less boring. Not that the paid big reviewers seem to notice that, either they somehow got Borderlands: Good Edition or they are just easily amused.

 

[mechanixis]

The problem is that the term "role-playing" has come to be associated with managing statistics when it technically has nothing to do with them.

 

[The Youth Counselor]

RPG genres are well definied, you just forgot to do some research.

RPG - Thats the classic Pen and Paper.

CRPG - thats the "hardcore" RPG PC game usually with strong emphasis on actuall role playing, stats, numbers and die rolls. Examples would be, Baldurs Gate, Neverwinter Nights or recent Dragon Age.

JRPG - Self explanatory.

Action RPG - More dynamic (usually combat-wise) game but still about talking with things, killing things, doing quests, collecting gear and what not. Vampire Masquerade Redemption,
Mass Effect or Gothic series are examples of this (sub)genre.

Role Playing Shooter - sub sub (!) gerne of Action RPG, focusing on shooting things (duh) usually from first person, while leveling, learning skillz and other RPG stuff (thou its more shallow then Action RPG). Like in Borderlands, Bioshock, System Shock and such.

Hack and Slash - Yep Torchlight is a HnS. And these kind of games are about, as we all know, clicking a lot, killing a lot, looting a lot. Theres not much "RP" in HnS games, but the core mechanics like leveling or skills are the same.

These are major genres (or sub geners, who gives a sh*t anyway). Hope that helps and you wont be so confused anymore !

But examining these so "well defined" genres brings up our argument.

What makes a pen and paper RPG the classic RPG? Before pen and paper games, was there not theater improv?

Deus Ex is set in first person but it has just as much "hardcore" emphasis on changing the game as Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights.

Dragon Age is a so called "Hardcore" CRPG, but it follows a linear path in a set story and is as Hack and Slash as Diablo.

Diablo is a role playing game in the way you can change your stats, name and inventory but not so much more than say the inventory I have in Doom and the name I made up for the Doom guy.
Just a quick glance, destroys any semblance of sense in these definitions.

 

[chessmasterhex]

Yahtzee, I have the cure for your JRPG hate right here... in my collection.

Valkyrie Profile 1
Valkyrie Profile 2

If characters and story are really your hang up these should do the trick. However, you're too busy to play them.

 

[Nurb]

I played [Borderlands] in single player for a bit and thought it was excrementally boring, but I'd heard it was best played multiplayer. As I have mentioned before in this column I avoid online multiplayer because my brain still works.

This.

I thought the game was incredibly bland, empty, repetitive, and boring (except for the things that wanted to kill me). I also don't buy into the excuse that multiplayer makes up for a shitty single player experience, and don't play games to listen to swearing 13 year olds or douchebags screaming racial slurs.

 

[Booze Zombie]

Don't get so pedantic about game genres, everyone knows what people actually mean when they chuck genre names around.

That said, I do agree that most RPGs do not meet the standards set by, say, Mass Effect or VTMBL.

 

[elexis]

Hehe, I can just imagine next Final Fantasy: One big cutscene (aka Movie) with random encounters:

"Don't worry, we're going to save him."
"I know. I just--
YOU HAVE BEEN AMBUSHED BY 2 DIRE RATS

 

[Stabby Joe]

One thing I really hate is how some JRPG fanboys complaining about other RPGs. Now of course other genre fanboys complain about JRPGs but lets put that aside for now.

In 2008 when GameSpot awarded Fallout 3, some people (IE The World Ends With You fanboys that lost) kept on saying "its not a RPG but a shooter"... despite the fact Fallout 3 had more RPG elements and by the logic of calling it a shooter I could call most JRPGs not RPGs but turn based tactical games.

But regardless I acknowledge both.

What I would like to see is a game with JRPG gameplay elements but not Japanese, basically an epic story with she boys, a western made game. Now what sub genre would you call that? WJRPG? The best Japanese made RPG I played in a while was Demon's Souls that was more of a WRPG.

On a side note, I liked Borderlands.

 

[TheMadDoctorsCat]

Your arrogant attitude came across particularly sour today. -_-

Sorry Yahtzee, but on this one I agree. I was the guy who joked about you having a "cold, shrivelled heart", but I think the snideness offset the humour here. It wasn't a fun article to read.

As for "free", what do you mean? I click on the banner ads that pay your wages like a good little robot...

 

[duchaked]

ehh don't worry about Borderlands
I mean, it really can be fun when played with friends (or a friend)
but otherwise it'll get boring really fast...and currently I'm bored by even if my friend wants to play it
(don't get me wrong, it was a blast to play)
and since Yahtzee really appreciates a good storyline, then of course he'd hate it
(in fact, the first friend I asked to co-op it with my hated how it didn't have a story, and the second friend loved its action-based gameplay)

 

[Jenx]

but catering to people who don't like other human beings (i.e. RPG players).

And here I always thought Yahtzee wasn't into RPGs *rimshot* So yeah. This was old and stale. "Pointing out the obvious that RPG doesn't really mean anything in computer games, also the sky is blue and the grass is green. Then I'll make fun of RPG players because they are nerds, and nerds are funny, the end."

Seriously man, I always thought you for a person who tries to steer away from these sorts of things and, ya know, go for fresh material. Shame on you.

 

[Jaranja]

borderlands was amazing (like i stated in my self written review this weekend). but its opinion. yahtzee is an awsum reviewer, he is entitled to his views. anyone else who criticises the game however...

The ending's crap. What you got to say about that?

 

[flamezlord]

I've had my issues with this RPG label, too. Growing up on an unhealthy amount of JRPGs, I saw it as something with turnbased action and different characters with different stats, an unnecessary amount of dialogue, etc, but a lot of this doesn't hold up any more. Many Western RPGs use real-time combat, as well as a more-than-nominal percentage of JRPGs. Dialogue's also become more prominent in other genres, even if RPGs still have more, and the whole stats/skills thing is becoming common in everything, although different characters not so much. Quite frankly, I think the modern video game industry just keeps making it harder and harder to classify what genre a game belongs to. Giving up seems like the most sensible action to me.

 

[AugustSchmidt]

I tried my hand at borderlands just yesterday. I just couldn't get into it. I've played this game 100 times before--that's what I kept thinking whilst killing random mutant dog/bandit and collecting random ammo/health kit from random debris pile/corpse. Where's the fun bit?

Non sequitir, and perhaps I'm behind the curve on this, but has Yahtzee had any inkling to review Machinarium? I love that little game.

 

[Jsnoopy]

'Games Where You Click On Things A Lot'

I thought this category was already named "action rpg's" ?