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RPG Games-Why are there so few

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  • Level 4
    Paper Boy
    Posts: 6
    Dec 11, 2012 4:43 am GMT
    I've noticed that compared to a couple of years ago only 1-3 RPG games are being released as opposed to FPS games that are released in the dozen. Why do so few companies make RPG games? I don't understand because unless you don't value your character and just want to run around destroying things (Like I'm sure most FPS fans do) then why not make them anymore? If a company hits a sweet spot if they make an RPG game they are likely to get large amounts of money if they make it a franchise. If you look at Bethesda with The Elder Scrolls and BioWare with Mass Effect and Dragon Age then the fact that RPG games can earn large amounts of money quickly is evident.
    The reason for there being so few RPG games, in my opinion, is because most game companies want to mass produce games to earn money quickly. I mean if you look at EA or Activision you've got games coming out yearly. I think they don't want to spend lots of time into making a RPG game because a RPG game takes a massive amount of time to make. There are all these different and unique characters, there's the world/galaxy/city/continent, the lore and such.
    But I'm sure that most of you agree with me that developing a character, personalizing a character, making different choices and such is a nice way to spend time compared to running around with a shotgun killing everything that moves. Two of my favourite RPG series of all time is The Elder Scrolls and Mass Effect. We need more RPG games from different companies and they mustn't be rushed, cliched, unoriginal or be given a small place to be in. If you look at The Witcher, TES and ME then you can see that a good RPG should last some time, have a good story, be original and have a good combat system.
    I love RPG games and think it's sad that they aren't what they used to be as well as gone onto stand-by mode. Post here, if you want, on some good RPG games, RPG making companies, what you'd like to see with RPG games, what you think of RPG games, what you think of this post and such.
    I've noticed that compared to a couple of years ago only 1-3 RPG games are being released as opposed to FPS games that are released in the dozen. Why do so few companies make RPG games? I don't understand because unless you don't value your character and just want to run around destroying things (Like I'm sure most FPS fans do) then why not make them anymore? If a company hits a sweet spot if they make an RPG game they are likely to get large amounts of money if they make it a franchise. If you look at Bethesda with The Elder Scrolls and BioWare with Mass Effect and Dragon Age then the fact that RPG games can earn large amounts of money quickly is evident. The reason for there being so few RPG games, in my opinion, is because most game companies want to mass produce games to earn money quickly. I mean if you look at EA or Activision you've got games coming out yearly. I think they don't want to spend lots of time into making a RPG game because a RPG game takes a massive amount of time to make. There are all these different and unique characters, there's the world/galaxy/city/continent, the lore and such. But I'm sure that most of you agree with me that developing a character, personalizing a character, making different choices and such is a nice way to spend time compared to running around with a shotgun killing everything that moves. Two of my favourite RPG series of all time is The Elder Scrolls and Mass Effect. We need more RPG games from different companies and they mustn't be rushed, cliched, unoriginal or be given a small place to be in. If you look at The Witcher, TES and ME then you can see that a good RPG should last some time, have a good story, be original and have a good combat system. I love RPG games and think it's sad that they aren't what they used to be as well as gone onto stand-by mode. Post here, if you want, on some good RPG games, RPG making companies, what you'd like to see with RPG games, what you think of RPG games, what you think of this post and such.
  • Level 5
    Tapper
    Posts: 11
    User is Online
    Dec 16, 2012 10:01 am GMT
    I completely agree. My favorites are also Mass Effect, Elder Scrolls, the Witcher, and Dragon Age. There is no other genre which rouses so much of my emotion as a well-made rpg. The brilliance of the story telling in Mass effect and dragon age made them my favorite all time series (except for Dragon Age 2), sigh. I never buy other types of games, because they seem to be to repetitive. All fighter, racers, and alot of fps's Ive played seem the same after the first hour or so. That is also why I cant stand hack and slash. I do love some jrpgs also such as the Tales series. Other jrpgs I don't play because they make the characters to 'cutsey' and annoying. It seems rare to find a solid rpg now days, and other genres are abundant. I am constantly searching the internet for news of anything new, but I am often disappointed.
    I completely agree. My favorites are also Mass Effect, Elder Scrolls, the Witcher, and Dragon Age. There is no other genre which rouses so much of my emotion as a well-made rpg. The brilliance of the story telling in Mass effect and dragon age made them my favorite all time series (except for Dragon Age 2), sigh. I never buy other types of games, because they seem to be to repetitive. All fighter, racers, and alot of fps's Ive played seem the same after the first hour or so. That is also why I cant stand hack and slash. I do love some jrpgs also such as the Tales series. Other jrpgs I don't play because they make the characters to 'cutsey' and annoying. It seems rare to find a solid rpg now days, and other genres are abundant. I am constantly searching the internet for news of anything new, but I am often disappointed.
  • Level 3
    Mediator
    Posts: 3
    Dec 16, 2012 12:21 pm GMT
    I know exactly how you feel. RPGs are the only types of games I will play. Other games like FPS games are too boring. They lack a good story and any sort of compelling character development. In the end, in those games, you just don't care about your character; all you care about is killing the most bad guys. And that gets so repetitive. I don't understand how anyone can stand to play those games for more than an hour, but anyway I digress. My favorite games are the Mass Effect series, Dragon Age series and The Witcher games. I'm also currently addicted to playing SW:TOR. As you can tell, I'm a huge BioWare fan. It's sad that there are so few game developers willing to put out quality RPGs anymore. When a good RPG does come along though, I get really excited.
    I know exactly how you feel. RPGs are the only types of games I will play. Other games like FPS games are too boring. They lack a good story and any sort of compelling character development. In the end, in those games, you just don't care about your character; all you care about is killing the most bad guys. And that gets so repetitive. I don't understand how anyone can stand to play those games for more than an hour, but anyway I digress. My favorite games are the Mass Effect series, Dragon Age series and The Witcher games. I'm also currently addicted to playing SW:TOR. As you can tell, I'm a huge BioWare fan. It's sad that there are so few game developers willing to put out quality RPGs anymore. When a good RPG does come along though, I get really excited. :)
  • Level 23
    Super Bagman
    Posts: 1659
    Dec 16, 2012 10:52 pm GMT
    Really ! ?
    Theres just as many RPG's as there are FPS.
    And honestly there should make much much less of them.
    Really ! ? Theres just as many RPG's as there are FPS. And honestly there should make much much less of them.
  • Level 7
    Sectoid
    Posts: 107
    Dec 21, 2012 1:18 pm GMT
    well, lets not say that, the reason why so few are made is because a good rpg game had to be MASSIVE, a team of 100 or so guys working on this game, with the story and side quests and special thingys for YEARS i heard it took GTA 5 about 3 or so years to be made.

    ps. im still waiting for fallout five (new york please!)
    well, lets not say that, the reason why so few are made is because a good rpg game had to be MASSIVE, a team of 100 or so guys working on this game, with the story and side quests and special thingys for YEARS i heard it took GTA 5 about 3 or so years to be made. ps. im still waiting for fallout five (new york please!)
  • Level 30
    Wicked Sick!
    Posts: 2157
    User is Online
    Jan 26, 2013 10:14 am GMT

    Well, it probably takes longer to make a giant RPG compared to a 10 hour FPS. Not saying the FPS is bad, but it doesn't need a giant world to be created full of things to do. It also doesn't need to take a lot of things like level scaling into consideration, and looking at just two RPGs, Skyrim and Dark Souls, it is evident that even that one element can have a drastic impact on a RPG and what it turns out to be.

    Though, I'd argue some of those games you mentioned aren't really RPGs, such as ME2/3 and Skyrim. The ME games turned more into adventure games, much like those choose your own path adventure books, as there is pretty much nothing RPG (level building/stat management) in the games. If you look at the Souls games they require you to think about how you distribute your souls/stats, but ME2/3 basically just let you upgrade a few attack stats. Likewise, Skyrim doesn't really require that much in thinking about how you distribute stats since the world scales with you, and they even took away a lot of stats from previous games (i.e. why doesn't your armor/weapon strength ever go down and require you to repair them?).

    Regardless of what a RPG is, I don't agree there aren't a lot of them. The thing is, a lot of them, as said, aren't very heavy on RPG, and rather focus more on being adventure games. Again, that's not a bad thing either, it's just a bit odd there aren't more RPGs that require strategy (even Pokemon requires you to think about who to bring into battle and what attacks exploit enemy weakness, why is that game deeper than many modern WRPGs?).

    Well, it probably takes longer to make a giant RPG compared to a 10 hour FPS. Not saying the FPS is bad, but it doesn't need a giant world to be created full of things to do. It also doesn't need to take a lot of things like level scaling into consideration, and looking at just two RPGs, Skyrim and Dark Souls, it is evident that even that one element can have a drastic impact on a RPG and what it turns out to be.

    Though, I'd argue some of those games you mentioned aren't really RPGs, such as ME2/3 and Skyrim. The ME games turned more into adventure games, much like those choose your own path adventure books, as there is pretty much nothing RPG (level building/stat management) in the games. If you look at the Souls games they require you to think about how you distribute your souls/stats, but ME2/3 basically just let you upgrade a few attack stats. Likewise, Skyrim doesn't really require that much in thinking about how you distribute stats since the world scales with you, and they even took away a lot of stats from previous games (i.e. why doesn't your armor/weapon strength ever go down and require you to repair them?).

    Regardless of what a RPG is, I don't agree there aren't a lot of them. The thing is, a lot of them, as said, aren't very heavy on RPG, and rather focus more on being adventure games. Again, that's not a bad thing either, it's just a bit odd there aren't more RPGs that require strategy (even Pokemon requires you to think about who to bring into battle and what attacks exploit enemy weakness, why is that game deeper than many modern WRPGs?).

  • Level 23
    Super Bagman
    Posts: 870
    Jan 30, 2013 7:51 am GMT

    RPGs takes much more effort and i think the fan based has shrunk over the years. Ni No Kuni and Xenoblade might be the last real/good RPGs in the generation of consoles.

    RPGs takes much more effort and i think the fan based has shrunk over the years. Ni No Kuni and Xenoblade might be the last real/good RPGs in the generation of consoles.

  • Level 1
    Player
    Posts: 3
    Feb 12, 2013 10:56 am GMT
    I understand where you are coming from basic facts are the FPS genre had a wider audience the RPG. Also with FPS you dont need a huge staff to put together a relatively short game. Compared to some RPG for like the Xbox360 were you need 3 disc like Star Ocean Last Hope. Only some extra designers for possible DLC later on.

    FPS:
    Wider Age fan base (more money and future revenue)
    Smaller staff (more money to smaller staff)
    Shorter game (less work for a better return with multiple platforms that can come out with sequels faster)

    RPG:
    Smaller Fan base (less money and not good for future rpgs)
    Large Staff (less money to be spread among staff)
    Longer game (more development, designing, and overall labor which takes years of effort)
    Non multi platform (most good RPGs come out on a singular platform Fire Emblem-DS)
    Some are never brought over (With sony being a Japanese brand they keep a lot of games exclusive to the Japan market - meaning we never get some really great RPGs)
    I understand where you are coming from basic facts are the FPS genre had a wider audience the RPG. Also with FPS you dont need a huge staff to put together a relatively short game. Compared to some RPG for like the Xbox360 were you need 3 disc like Star Ocean Last Hope. Only some extra designers for possible DLC later on. FPS: Wider Age fan base (more money and future revenue) Smaller staff (more money to smaller staff) Shorter game (less work for a better return with multiple platforms that can come out with sequels faster) RPG: Smaller Fan base (less money and not good for future rpgs) Large Staff (less money to be spread among staff) Longer game (more development, designing, and overall labor which takes years of effort) Non multi platform (most good RPGs come out on a singular platform Fire Emblem-DS) Some are never brought over (With sony being a Japanese brand they keep a lot of games exclusive to the Japan market - meaning we never get some really great RPGs)
  • Level 3
    Mediator
    Posts: 15
    Feb 12, 2013 11:37 pm GMT

    I also suffer because of lack of good RPGs... I have played all RPGs I have several times already, and I'm looking for something new, but there is nothing at all!!!

    My online magazine'sGAMING category

    MyFacebook page

    I also suffer because of lack of good RPGs... I have played all RPGs I have several times already, and I'm looking for something new, but there is nothing at all!!!

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ForumsRole-Playing Games Discussion Forum › RPG Games-Why are there so few