I play RPGs for gameplay, item collection and customization. This trend of people who play RPGs primarily for 'epic story' and 'interesting characters' started with the exact examples you brought up; games like Final Fantasy VII and Mass Effect. And in my opinion, mostly was built around hype and advertising for those games, or the illusion of a huge 'epic' plot because stories were longer and had tons more dialogue than previous games. Not really because the stories themselves were good.

Case in point, you can enjoy an RPG just fine for its gameplay and item collection without it having a massive all encompassing story. Hence why some of the best RPGs out there are games not even remembered for their story, but their gameplay. Such as Paper Mario, Chrono Trigger, Dragon Quest (any of them), Diablo II, etc.

I have no problem with turned based combat when its done right. FF Tactics is one of my favorite games because it has deep and challenging turn based game play. Every fight requires you to do something different. Lining up in front of opponents and using the same 3 moves over and over doesn't require any thought and is boring. The first 5 hours of FFXIII I pushed the A button, 5 hours of pushing A is terrible game design. Turn based games can be a lot of fun as long as its not repetitive or over simplified.

there are games other than RPGS!? I don't believe you!!

out of all the area of gaming the Role playing/story focused games have always given the best value for money so much better than these half arsed grey 4 hr FPS's

ok that was unfair but to say you hate them?? that makes no sense what you gonna say next you hate platformers, or FPS's but no u would probably say you hate games that use controllers?! good job for you natal is coming ^_^;

ok I kid but RPG's are one of the best type of games around give them a try like I dunno Chrono Trigger would be a nice one to get the ball rolling.

plus I second that FFT is one of the best games of all time its certainly the best of the tactic orge series (by a different name of course)

you complain is as good as saying you dont like chest because there is no running involve

Well why do people like to wander around the same damn maps shooting each other or race around the same tracks so much. I get really bored with thsoe things and would rather do just about anything else, such as play an rpg.

are you seriuos?

Final Fantasy VII has the most fun gameplay in any game I have ever played. actually the same thing could be said for almost every game in the series, as well most of the Star Ocean series, Dragon Quest Series, Tales Series, Kingdom Hearts Series.

Ever heard of Pokemon Blue/Red/Yellow/Saphire/Rasberry/Vanilla Chocolate?

Honestly what are you talking about dude? You don't enjoy the gameplay in RPG's so you cant understand why other people enjoy it? Maybe cause it's fun as fuck? Honestly, I don't get half the fun out of FPS's like COD, CS, Killzone and Halo that I do out of the games I just mentioned. Some of the greatest games ever have come from the RPG genre, both critically and sales wise.

I don't think anyone could stand playing a game with poor gameplay for 200 hours+ so that theory is out the window and, besides, no story ever made in games takes 200 hours or more to pan out so there's a whole lot of sidequesting in those hours, something no one would bother doing if it played like crap.
I've never in my life played through an RPG with bad gameplay but I have had fun with RPG's with mediocre stories and characters (NWN, Oblivion etc) so for me the gameplay is always the most important in this genre.
If I want a terrific story, I'll read a book, games don't come close anyway in most cases so as long as its not terribly cheesy or too cliche I'm good.

OP reminds me a little of the die-hard Need for Speed fans who for the life of them can't understand why anyone can enjoy something as slow moving and tedious as Gran Turismo or Forza, some people just enjoy more depth, length and challenge in their games and RPG's usually provide all three.

this is what my point was, with out the sacasm and mocking. Thanks for posting.

I love the gameplay of RPG's - the story is just icing on the cake. A good turn based or strategy RPG is a challenge of intellect, where shooters are all about hand eye co-ordination and reaction times

Hold L1 and R1 to run.

Massive healing from items bought with your mountain of gold?  Gone.  Endless combat?  Mostly gone.  Easy battles?  Gone.

Never understood the complaints about RPGs being too easy.  It's not that they're easy, it's just that they give the player the ability to select the difficulty and, given the choice, most people pick easy.  Spend 40 hours grinding mooks to hit the level cap before the second town and yeah the game will be easy.  You just spent 40 hours making it easy.  Complaining at that point is silly and complaining that the developer decided to give you a choice is even sillier.