What Every Next-Gen RPG Needs
Fallout 3’s opening narrative begins with the series’ iconic statement: “War. War Never Changes.” The question is, do RPGs? And if so, what does the next generation of RPGs need? Well, if Fable 2 and Fallout 3’s sales are any indication, the answer seems to be pretty clear: sex, violence, and sequels.
In seriousness, the answers are littered across the RPG landscape of the past and present, waiting for some lucky developer to pony up the cash and development time to cook up another winning recipe. As Oliver Saenz puts it near the end of his Fallout 3 review, there’s little that can be done to revolutionize the RPG world at this point, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be done better. With that said, here’s what I’m looking for to ensure the next generation of RPGs continue to occupy my shelf:
Interactivity - RPGs almost always have a vast, expansive world for the player to explore, but the ability to see and do almost anything you want to is relatively new. The world can’t remain static either; it has to grow and change with your character, or the real sense of freedom will be lost. This lesson hasn’t been lost on other game genres either. Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto IV, while inherently an action game, took on this kind of outlook; the player has a cell phone, a girlfriend, the ability to steal any vehicle he or she wants, and more! Fallout 3 and Fable 2 both boast impressive amounts of interactivity, but with ever more powerful consoles and computers, it seems logical that the interactivity can take yet another step. I want a game so interactive that, with a mini-fridge at hand and Homer Simpson’s patented Lazy Man reclining toilet chair, I won’t even have to get up or go outside!
A Farewell to Random Encounters - This goes hand-in-hand with that feeling of being immersed in the game world, since I find it hard to feel immersed in a game’s world when you keep getting whisked away to some abstract part of it by a random encounter that I couldn’t even attempt to avoid. Mind you, I’m not one of those “Death to all Random Encounters!” types, but few things result in more controller-throwing fits of rage than a random encounter in an area my characters are powerful enough to blow through with nary a scratch. I won’t even write about those game designers that decide the only proper way to lengthen a game or challenge a player is to have a random encounter every three steps. If my party is torn to shreds and I’m crawling desperately towards a save point that I know is just around the corner, the last thing I want is to have to replay three hours because I ran into a deadly random encounter one friggin’ step away from the save, my own lack of item-buying foresight be damned!
No More Fetch Quests! – A quick consultation with some of my RPG-brained brethren quickly reminded me how much I despise this type of situation. It’s enough of a pain in the rear to have to go back to the store to get that forgotten gallon of milk! After all, we should play games to have fun, not to repeat the monotony of daily life. Delving into an unexplored dungeon once to find an item of immeasurable power for that guy on the street is fun; flying back and forth between a place I’ve already been, with no new encounters or meat to the story, is just torture.
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