Why do RPG have bad gameplay mechanics?

Hello friends,

i have been noticing one thing since years. its that most RPG have weak gameplay compare to any other gaming genre let say FPS. even critically acclaim award winning RPGs doesnot offer good gameplay mechanics. be it fallout, elder scrolls, witcher, mass effect. they all have bad gameplay mechanics. even top down CPRG like divinity doesnot offer much in term of gameplay but i guess they praise for its tactical RPG elements, longevity, quantity, story rather than gameplay.

other than witcher 3 offer terrible combat, mass effect offer bad cover shooting, fallout offer terrible shooting.

compare them to FPS. even mediocre FPS games have better mechanics let alone amazing FPS games.

I think quality matter more than quantity. thats why i couldnot get into RPG. only RPG i get into are Deus Ex and System Shock 2. they are masterpieces but they are blend with FPS and thier shooting mechanics not so great. unlike other RPG, they dont have mediocre quest and shitty romance system. can you imagine it in Deus Ex and System shock? lol

STALKER is only FPS/RPG that have Amazing shooting mechanics.

Do RPG games budget spent mostly on quantity, story, Role playing elements than gameplay is why RPG doesnot offer good gameplay mechanics?

lets discuss

Sorry, but how do the Divinity OSs not offer much in terms of gameplay?

I guess it’s because it’s the characters stats the govern how good your character is and not the player skill so much.

Hence why games like Deus Eggs and Systems shock are terrible shooters unless you spec your character towards guns.

I might be wrong though.

Divinity has great game play, Horizon has good gameplay(as long as you dont go melee)

horrizon is not RPG. its action adventure game.

Probably because the mechanics are essentially built on RNG rolls modified by stat lines rather than pure player input in most of the examples you provided, take the original destiny as an example of a game where the shooting is on par with any shooter in fact IMO it's one of the better shooters in terms of gun play, but you also have RPG-lite mechanics in terms of builds that affect ability recharge, or armor that benefits a certain class of weapon or grants additional grenade charges, thus your build choice has a tangible effect on your play style without impacting the basic shooting mechanics common to all dedicated shooters.

Divinity has superb gameplay mechanics.

I really don't think Mass Effect (2&3) compares that badly with your average 3rd person shooter. Of course different genres have different gameplay elements too. So, for instance, comparing FPS gameplay elements with a CPRG is as close as you can go before being clinically labelled as insane.

its just incredibly overrated.

i just cant see the apeal of top down rpgs either.

just because you can't see it doesn't make it overrated

overrated in the sense that many critics rate in like 10s and 9.8s.

FPS games offer everything better than RPG in general. even storyline.

i prefer 12 hour of quality gameplay than 50 hours of boring quest.

@ghosts4ever: Really don't see what's the point of you creating this, and many other threads, when your level of discussion is on par is that of an 8 year old kid. Honestly you're the most abnocious user I've ever came across on this forums. Jebus!

Just stop creating threads, please. I do try to engage positively, as many others, but it's like trying to swim against a stream of turds.

Why do you even open this for discussion when you're incapable of having one of any sort if it doesn't exactly fit your extremely limited taste in games? (And every freaking time the same games!)

Your topic is wrong in the terms of grammar.It should have been:

"Why RPGs have bad gameplay mechanics ?"

Now about the topic:

RPGs have a pretty deep gameplay but unlike FPS and action RPGs they require more strategic approach and thinking(When to use each ability,what abilities/skills to get when you level up, which items/weapons to buy ...) compare to shooter games that just require speed and a little strategy of how to move.

@phbz: Yeah totally agree. He says he wants to discuss but if anyone posts anything positive about a game other than the 12 games he like then they’re boring and incredibly massively overrated.

Would you count "Souls" as RPG? Do you think they have bad gameplay too?

I'm fine with Fallout's VATS for combat.

I do find Call of Pripyat's Chernobyl's inventory screen more intuitive than the Pip-Boy although the latter is probably more functional.

Oh a Ghost4ever thread. As usual he is so wrong it isn't worth putting any effort in this thread. Divinity as an example of bad gameplay? Yeah, sure 8-)

I don't know why you think all RPGs have bad gameplay. You'd probably have an easier time asking yourself that. It's probably because you only play and like shooters.

but most RPGs are bad shooter with dialouges system. be it mass effect or fallout. or bad action games with RPG elements like witcher.

beside this topic is not about RPG are bad. they are not. its about why RPG dont offer good gameplay compare to other genre.

The problem is that you are so ignorant that you literally call Divinity a game with bad gameplay and justify it because you don't like this kind of gameplay. There's no point in arguing with you if you can't add any reason besides "trolololo, I don't like it therefore its bad"

Name the specific gameplay mechanics that you think are bad.

To be fair, I don't think the topic is phrased as well as it could be. By "game mechanics" you're referring to the combat systems that are typically not as robust as you would expect from a non RPG title.

@ArchoNils2: How is that any different to you dismissing SoT as a silly game for streamers?

It's not bad, but it's not Ninja Gaiden (2004) as all the acclaim it receives would imply.

rpgs can and do have amazing gameplay. They just don't have "fps with stealth elements" gameplay (usually). Well tough. If and/when people want to play Prey or whatever they will. Different genre almost always means different TYPE of gameplay. If you don't like that type of gameplay that's a different story - that's 100% your call. But not being your type of game =/= bad.

I'd rather play Pillars of Eternity or Divinity any day than some if the games you list over and over. Maybe you'll counter "well you like shit gameplay" but it won't phase me. I like different games

I don't buy Mass Effect or The Witcher 3 for the combat, I do not view these games as action-rpgs, they are full fledged story-driven RPGs. I like to explore in these games, spend time in towns talking to people, specializing my build and equipping new items, etc.

The combat is definitely an important part of an RPG but it's mostly about the skill stats and equipment for me, enemy design, the actual gameplay just has to be functional for me because I'm focused on my build, not on the actual action. If I wanted that kind of game I would go play something like Wolfenstein or DOOM, which I enjoy a lot as well when I want to play a more action-packed title. Of course the gameplay has to be good enough, but I don't judge it the same way as an FPS, that's not why I buy these games.

Mass effect is cover based shooter first with RPG elements. most of time you are taking cover and shoot. same goes for witcher as its action game. the ciri part in witcher 3 is pure overpowered hack n slash.

Deus Ex and System shock which still lable which are still lable as FPS have deeper RPG mechanics than mass effect and witcher.

This guys is pure troll. Everyone knows it. Why does gamespot allow this crap?

@ghosts4ever: yes but much of the outcome of the battles has to do with what equipment you have on, what level your character is , what skills you have equipped, etc. and not because you are a skilled fps player who can take cover quickly etc, nothing to do with how good you are with the controller although that does definitely play a part.

Monster Hunter and Souls games have sick mechanics

In this thread here TC argues that RPGs are bad. In the other thread TC asked for a personal opinion. Talking about reality != "give me your personal opinion"

^ lol yeah, look who's talking

Point to me trolling please.

I can shoot fine in real-time with Fallout 4. I don't know what the big deal is. Sure, many of the bad guys are bullet sponges. But, even the STALKER games have bullet sponges too.

I do like Fallout 4's dual approach (real-time and turn-based VATS) to combat.

Because RPG genre was never meant to be gameplay centric. It is about the journey of a character you supposed having the role of. If you play RPGs for gameplay you doing something wrong.

Pretty much all of Gamespot has already dubbed you a troll. You can't hide behind your usual five-word responses to pretend you don't know what the hell people are talking about. Congratulations because you've been a troll longer than the average troll and you have such a beacon permanently displayed over your username and everyone already knows this. You really don't fool shit, other than yourself.

RPG's aren't usually button-masher experiences or games that handle fast-reflexes the way an experience like a shooter might provide, and that is not to say RPG's don't have good gameplay mechanics. Perhaps you just don't play enough RPG's and I think that's especially evident when you generalize all RPG's to be this way when it's really one of the most open-ended genres in all of games that can adopt just about any style of gameplay as the core mechanics in the game.

I think where RPG games truly shine over other genres, is the SYSTEMS at hand that gameplay and interaction has a way with affecting every other aspect of the game (i.e your stats, story progression, character relationships, etc.).

When you have an RPG like Pokemon where you can practically play the game with one finger, you got games with engaging mechanics like Divinity, Dark Souls and Xenoblade. Play more RPG's and you'll see how robust it can really be.

Please shut up. You don't even play games. It astounds me that you got up to 5,340 posts by trolling and talking about nothing but the same damn games smh

I actually get bored of fps's. It's shoot and that's it. RPG's offer so much depth.

Lol at divinity having bad gameplay. Clearly never played it.

Depends on what kind of RPG, and what kind of mechanics...

Action mechanics:

Japanese ARPG > Western ARPG > Turn-based RPG

Strategy mechanics:

SRPG > CRPG > Classic turn-based JRPG > ARPG

Most people meh'd the story, but praised the combat mechanics, which seems about right.

Pillars is the opposite, it has far superior story-telling but extremely bland combat too begrudgingly attempting to appease old school gamers.

Beats pencil and paper.

/thread

The OP doesn't understand "mechanics". The question could also be raised "why do shooters not have better RPG mechanics".

Your brand of trolling sucks.

get some new Spiel.

Just three words: Bloodborne, Souls, Nioh

Half life, Metro, Deus Ex, System shock offer better story than fallout, elder scroll and mass effect.

Deus Ex and System shock may not traditional FPS but they count.

That's completely subjective.

You picked the best FPS Stories, vs the lesser RPG stories.

again, improve...

@ghosts4ever: You just compared some of the best shooter stories with crappy Bethesda and Bioware stories. Well done.

@Jag85: Out of interest, why did you use the term "CRPG"? That's something I haven't seen in a very long time, and I'm not entirely sure what it means nowadays. I'm guessing "classic RPG" like the Infinity Engine games, since modem computer RPGs cover every subgenre nowadays (especially SRPGs)...but I'm not sure why classic RPGs would be a sub-genre either.