Khuutra on 14 June 2009
| blaydcor said: To continue what I was saying above: as I often do when I type things quickly and thoughtlessly, I misspoke. Obviously gameplay matters in RPG's; it matters very much. It is not, however, essential that it be surpassingly good, as narrative and characters often merit a slog through a gameplay-wise banal RPG. Emotional resonance is what can propel games into something timeless enough to be critically considered "art", and emotional resonance does not come from gameplay. If we connect with the characters, the story; if the synergy between music and narrative creates an emotional impression on us that can, years later, be stirred by the opening notes of the same song, THAT, I believe, is a measure of an RPG's success. The mindless, level-grinding aspect of RPG's has never appealed to me. Nor have excruciating, endless sidequests that do nothing but unneccesarily power-up already super-powered post-endgame characters. Maybe I'm in the minority in this. Very few RPG's achieve this, but they are the ones that we remember. Tales of Phantasia unquestionably has more enjoyable gameplay than broken, repetitive Final Fantasy 6, but who the hell cites Tales of Phantasia as their favorite game ever? Who the hell leans back and says "Yeah, I remember getting my 13th pokemon to level 100. So fucking memorable.". No, we STILL, as a gaming community, always come back to the personally affecting moments like "Holy SHIT, that was ridiculous when Sephiroth killed Aeris". I've restated this so many times that it's starting to feel like an adage, but great gameplay makes a game transiently great. Great story and characters make it timeless. |
I'm just going to primarily address the bottom, here: you mean RPG games in this last paragraph, right?
