What's missing in today's RPGs: Humanization

Games are getting so caught up in showing you something new and flashy that they don't take time to connect with the player. Everything is so in-your-face.

People die, and Yuna dances.

We need those moments that ground us, sober us. You want us to play as the lost kid who's gonna save the world, so show us what it means to be lost.

When will she stop dancing? When will it stop?

Even if we're playing as a talented and charming hero, his skills have to come from somewhere. He's still human. He still feels, still struggles, still wonders. If I could say two words to any RPG developers out there, it would be this: slow down. You have to make us believe in the characters and the story. Do that, and your game can be truely memorable.

Or they can come up with better gameplay.

Huh Darkest Dungeon set out to do all of those things. Look it up if you are interested in that type of games.

I feel in my younger years that I could really connect more with a games overall story, and remain in awe as it unfolded across my television set. Today though it's a lot more difficult because I have been through so many games and genres. I've seen the majority of what a story can offer and can pretty much predict from start to finish how most things will pane out, besides the little nit picks. JRPGS, and RPGS all things included. maybe I've over spoiled myself in these areas and now I'm not left with much to roll with.

One of the problem with RPG is that many focus too much on the story and trying to Humanize the characters. While reduce how good the game play is like removing stats.

I think humanization is great but when it's overdone or when that's the only thing the game can actually do then it's a huge problem. The big focus of RPG's are gameplay and story/characters are the second most important. I have yet to play an RPG that manages to successfully combine humanization and gameplay perfectly, however I'm sure there are a few or more that's succeeded to pull this off.

What annoys me about some modern games is how everything is made to be obvious - storywise and gameplay wise. When I hear that the devs are "streamlining" a game, it usually means that they're doing this.

Take Skyrim, for example - everything about the plot and gameplay are completely obvious. Your task is to kill a dragon and save the world. Everything from start to finish is exactly what you expect, essentially leading to a forgettable dud of a story line. When meeting a character in the game, you already know all there is to know about them. "I work at the wood mill. Blah blah. I saw wolves nearby." Every NPC in Skyrim is boring and not worth talking to unless if you have to.

The opposite of this is Bioshock Infinite. Things are hidden from you for the whole game - especially with respect to the story. This is the type of storytelling I enjoy. Most of the main characters get your interest because you want to learn more about them. They have actual depth.

Darksouls, mass effect, fallout nailed that one.

Darksouls was good for the fact that there's very little story very little guidance, it just throws in the deep end and says go have an adventure.

Darksouls? That is strongly debatable.

Care to elaborate?

Always room for improvement , but RPGs are better then ever if you like American RPGs. JRPGs have gotten a little stale as of late IMO, but am a happy rpg gamer. Currently enjoying Dragon Age Inquisition.

@ariabed: games are all subjective. We all like different things. I love RPGs, but DS is my least favorite game of all time. It was made difficult by bugs and lack of save points. I like difficulty based on a fair challenge of the AI, but then again we all like different things. I think DS is a game that people are going to love or hate, so therefore "debatable".

True it is a l Iove hate game.

I supposed you're not talking about today's RPGs, but just some of them

There are many modern JRPGs I've played that do a good job at establishing their characters organically. So I don't really know what you're talking about.

@ariabed:

Sadly yes.... by RPG Standards Dark Souls gameplay actually is pretty good...... and if you tell anyone I said that I will deny it. :(

I don't want to be a kid in games tho. I keep being forced to be JPN devs.

@Lulu_Lulu: secrets safe with me buddy.

@Lulu_Lulu: it's there for all to see. Too late

@mastermetal777:

No its not..... its magic ! :p

@Lulu_Lulu: I still saw it. I don't forget such things.

Well I don't enjoy the action type of RPG that the USA is into. I prefer JRPG, the caracters are deeper, the story always have a twist and in end up in a epic battle while an american RPG is either FPS or 3rd person without a story ... just do that and then that ... travel for very long to find nothing. It had a very : you are the hero, individualism while JRPG always have a many heros into the story.

Also what you talk about the hero struggling and all that ... I guess you never played a Metroid game as you always start with some power and get stripped of them. But it isn't an RPG

@mastermetal777:

You don't need to.... just screen grab.

@Lulu_Lulu: nah. Too easy

@mastermetal777:

You monster :(