Smash_Brother said:
Yeah, that's great.
But here's the reality of the situation: most RPGs have only ONE thing standing in the way of you completing them and that, of course, is the amount of time you put in. Normal games typically require you to learn a skill set within the game, something which requires you to adapt to the internal logic of the game and play accordingly or fail miserably. Take Super Mario Bros., for example: either you get good at jumping or you die horribly. This isn't a question. This isn't up for DEBATE, it's the actual case, plain and simple. I make an exception for RPGs which involve real-time combat or at least button reflex tests which require that you press buttons at the right time or your characters take piles of damage and deal very little. I also make an exception for RPGs which make the bosses have a percentage of your stats as opposed to set stats, but even those are a bit too forgiving. My point is, in your standard linear JRPG, skill seldom comes into play: the game uses your stats as criteria for a random number generator to determine the outcome of a fight. With level grinding always being an option so you can superpower your characters into raw invincibility, the game is literally not allowing failure. Success is LITERALLY assured so long as you just keep playing the game. Even Wii Sports with its casual-friendly nature isn't THAT forgiving. It's not like you can play 50 games of tennis and be unstoppable, even if you never learned how to get better and lost every single match. It takes a learned skill to succeed. Traditional JRPGs may not be "casual" by the current definition, but they don't deserve to be called "hardcore" unless they bring skill into the equation somewhere and I've just played too many that absolutely do not. I'm not calling the genre into question for its fun factor because I've enjoyed RPGs in the past. It's just that I acknowledged that I wasn't exactly being challenged as a player as I did so. |
Thats nice, and I don't really care that you take so much pride in gaming that you feel these game take so much "skill". Frankly your being far to damn lenient with the word. Performing a heart transplant is difficult. Getting a freaking high score in Guitar Hero is not more skilled in any way than strategizing your move skill set and attack patterns in some turn based RPG in order to beat a boss or encounter. Your letting your bias into this situation. DDR requires alot more reflex and coordination than FF13 will but its one of the most freaking casual games in the damn industry. Memorizing patterns, physical repetition and silly button pressing reflexes does NOT make a game hardcore and I find it laughable that you think so.
You've takes some sour playing of a bad JRpg in your past that you dont like and tried to stretch and lay it over ALL rpgs and label them casual and thats just pure bullshit. It doesnt matter how you spin it RPG are in FACT one of the hardcore genres PERIOD. One of the PRIMARY descriptions of casual gaming is time spent on the hobby. You cant even begin to try and shoehorn RPGs into that category. There are good Rpgs and there are bad. And no, not all of them rely on mindless grinding and other bullcrap. Suggesting you can just button tap your way to victory without any thinking or party tuning/strategizing of any sort in your average RPG is crap. Like I said, your opinion is wrong.
