September 6, 2004
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There are three kinds of RPG video games really. Some people will use
other categorizations but these three really cover the basic breakdowns
in terms of style of play and the kinds of players that tend to play
them.To put it simply the three are Traditional RPGs, Tactical RPGs, and
Online RPGs. Note that previously people have put so called “Action
RPGs” and “Cinematic RPGs” in other categories but really any of the
three prior categories can have combat structured in an “action” style
or story sequences that are primarily “cinemactic”. However,
these three categories really are distinctive.Note that I consider RPGs very much distinct from Simulations. There
are so called “Strategy RPGs” but these by and large are
either variations on tactical RPGs that have some superficial resource
management thrown on or are simulation games that happen to have a
story. Having a story is very much not sufficient to call
something an RPGs not even if it is a very interesting or engrossing
story. It is, however, true, that all RPGs that I have seen do
have some semblance of a story attached though sadly not always
interesting or exciting ones. Indeed I can think of at least one game
of each of the three RPG types that really has no story worth
mentioning.No the defining aspect of RPGs in them you are in control of a
character or characters making your way through a story and the
environment in which the story takes place. In traditional RPGs
you pretty much control a small group of characters and walk around the
world exploring the environment while the story just unfolds
automatically. In tactical RPGs you don’t even do much exploring of the
world, instead you overcome tactical challenges in order to advance the
story. Online RPGs add to the pre-created stories that you can
proceed through by allowing you to collaboratively create your own
story (or at least they’re supposed to).Now most RPG fans will enjoy all three to some degree or another but
you will almost always find in any particular RPG fan a very
distinctive order of preference that highlights the difference between
the three genres.For me personally, I know that my heart lies primarily in the
traditional RPGs. I like the way in which these games allow you to get
acquainted with a core group of characters and follow them through a
preferably epic tail. These games focus your attention on getting
attracted to this small group and getting you to care what happens to
them. You see them grow more powerful as they go along and you have a
say in how they grow more powerful. But the key in the success of these
games lies in their ability to focus your attention on the growth of
these characters in the story. Preferably the growth in story should
parallel the growth outside of story so that the two reinforce one
another. When these games are done masterfully the player really cares
what happens in the end. And when the character triumph the player
feels triumphant as well. In short it really feels like you were
in the story for the time that you were playing. In a way it can be an
even more powerful experience than reading a very well written story
even when the writing, very often, doesn’t quite make it the same level
of excellence as our most beloved authors.Now my second favorite of the three is the Tactical RPGs and these have
been growing on me more and more. In particular the games by
Nippon Ichi – Disgaea Hour of Darkness, La Pucelle Tactics, and
Phantom Brave the last of which I just bought are really adding very
innovative and fun aspects to the tactical and level building aspects
of these games. I have always found playing through the combat
sequences in these games unbelievabley fun. The more involved and
challenging they get the more interesting they are. Really
enjoying these games is much like enjoying a game like Chess or
Magic each time you play you are trying to overcome a distinctive
scenario challenge using a limited set of resources.Unfortunately, I don’t like these games quite as much as traditional
RPGs because I simply do not like the disconnect between the combat and
the story. The tactical scenarios are so engrossing that I forget
all about the story and for the life of me I can almost never really
find myself associating the sprites I control in the tactical scenarios
with the sprites that are undergoing the story. In part this is
because of the large number of randomly generated characters that
really have nothing to do with the story except to be your faceless
troops.In short it feels like I am readying a story/watching an anime
for five minutes and then I stop and spend two hours playing Chess and
then I go back and read the story for another 5 minutes and then I go
back and play another board game, and so on and so forth. It
becomes for me very hard to stay focused unless I pretty much ignore
the story and take of it as only a minor background thing. But
when I do that I find myself eventually getting tired of the tactical
game, taking long breaks and often never completing the game at
all. It is the story that drives me to complete a traditional
RPG. Due to the disconnect between it and the combat, the story is not
adequate to drive me to complete the tactical RPGs. A part of me wants
to complete the story but when I ty to make myself do it, it even
starts to feel a little like a somewhat onerous task.In a way this is a good thing. Tactical RPGs seem to take up an ungodly
portion of my time. Phantom Brave has just come out and I am already
regretting that I have spent some twenty hours playing.Always I am brought to wonder what if we did not have these games? What
would I be doing? What would I accomplish? It is likely nothing. I
would be writing or reading or talking or sleeping otherwise wasting
time. It is not the existence of games or television or any other
recreational invention that causes people to not accomplish all that
they are capable of accomplishing. Nay, in the end it all boils down to
a matter of will. Those that do are those who are somehow able to look
within themselves and find a good reason to do or those who have been
convinced to act in accordance with what they are told SHOULD be their
reason for doing. I as of now am still looking for a good reason
to do anything, and most of the people telling me to do this or that
for this reason generally tend to seem to be fools or at least not
people who have thought it through as much as they think they have.Perhaps what we really need is our own story and we need to care as
much about our fate in it as we do the fate of the characters in
RPGs.
