blaydcor said:
Good gameplay makes an RPG good. Good story and characters make it timeless. The examples are endless. People play RPG's to immerse themselves in a foreign, unique experience. Yeah, stat-building, levelling, and equipment and all that are fun, but that's what make it a game rather than an interactive novel; it still isn't the core of the RPG. RPG's are, at their best, interactive stories; the gameplay further invests you in the narrative and progression. Not understanding this doesn't make you out of touch, it just means you aren't a hardcore RPG fan. Obviously the better the gameplay the better the game, regardless of genre. My point is that there is a reason why horrible, boring games like Final Fantasy 7 are still so acclaimed, why (by modern standards) games as techinically deficient as Chrono Trigger are still so beloved. This is a bit tangential, but consider, say, "games" like the Ace Attorney games: almost no gameplay to speak of. Just awesome characters, crafty logic, gripping storytelling, and perfect music. And each of those 4 are in my top 10 games for this generation. "Game" is a vague term, especially in today's market. Attempting to enforce strictures on "games" by claiming that gameplay must come first and foremost is a stubborn, unilateral view that will never allow games to progress into anything more than mindless electronic experiences with the emotional depth of Pacman. |
You, my good sir, are in a losing argument.
Good gameplay doesn't just make an RPG good. It makes any game good. Earlier, you said that people don't play RPGs for good gameplay, and that they don't have good gameplay in the first place. If you're going to contradict yourself this much, you must think I'm an idiot. Of course a good story and good characters add to the experience. That's true for any genre. A shooter with good gameplay and a good story is far better than a shooter with good gameplay and a bad story. You're really stating the obvious here. Stat building and leveling and equipment are what make the games fun, and they're the core of the gameplay. Gameplay is the core of the game. If you take Metal Gear Solid 4 and take out all the gameplay, you just have a movie (and this is pretty much true for any game with cutscenes). What you're saying really makes no sense. So the things you listed are what make it not an interactive novel or story, but at they're best, they're interactive novels/stories? Are you actually reading what you're writing before you hit the "post" button? This is painful to read. The gameplay is what anyone buys a game for. They don't progress you into the narrative and progression, they progress you through the gameplay and add pacing. You're clearly out of touch, and if putting gameplay over other aspects in an RPG means that I'm not a hardcore RPG fan, than I don't want to be one. RPG lovers must be out of touch with gaming if that's the case.
Final Fantasy 7 is acclaimed because it's a great game. Maybe you don't think it's fun, but that's your opinion. Most people seem to think it's a great game, and it got great reviews. I consider it a fun game, and I'm still playing it more than 10 years later (from time to time). Hell, Final Fantasy 7 still has a more enjoyable and complex battle system than some RPGs today (see: Lost Odyssey). And wait, what does Chrono Trigger being "technically deficient" have to do with anything? People love it now and they loved it back when it released because it was a brilliant game. Great gameplay, great story, great music; the whole package.
Ace Attorney is a poor example. Even if it's not heavy on gameplay, it likely has some. I'm not sure, since I'm not very familiar with the series. Either way, the majority of games aren't like Ace Attorney, and the sales prove that that type of game isn't very popular. "Game" is not a vague term. Putting it simply, it's something that you play and have fun with. If you don't have fun with it, it's a bad game. Putting gameplay and fun first is the reason why videogames are thriving. Videogames are growing at a rate pretty much unseen by any other medium, and rapidly expanding its demographics. It's more popular than it has ever been. And you're saying we should replicate other mediums by making games "art?" They're not mindless by putting gameplay first at all. There's nothing stopping a game from having great gameplay and a great story; in fact, it's been done many times before. But putting any other aspect of games before gameplay will be the death of this industry. Wanna see how that policy works? Ask Nintendo, who decided to put gameplay before graphics and is now dominating the market and bringing in millions of new gamers. I'd rather have a medium that's fun and improving all the time than one that's similar to the crap movies have become.
