Sunday, August 15, 2010
Role-Playing Games
If you play videogames, you probably have an RPG (Role-Playing Game). An RPG is a game where a system of battle is turn-based, like the Pokemon series. A turn-based attack system is when you are in a fight, you and your enemy have "turns." You can use your turn to attack, or heal yourself. After your turn is up, your enemy makes a move. But the word role-playing means you take on the persona of one or multiple characters. In every videogame, you ALWAYS control someone, so EVERY game is a Role-Playing Game. For example, when a game called Super Paper Mario was released, one major criticism was that the game was "not an RPG." HOWEVER, Super Paper Mario IS a Role-Playing Game because you take on the role of Mario, Luigi, Bowser, and even Princess Peach. It's just that the game did not have a turn-based attack system. Like I said before, EVERY GAME is a Role-Playing Game. I think a better name for the genre is TBA (Turn-Based Attack). Don't you agree? AGREE OR ELSE!!!!
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This is really interesting. It seems like the term RPG was originally an umbrella term that has taken on a more specific meaning. I'm no gamer, but do you think it's possible that people consider the turn-based attack system to be the most important part of RPG's? I mean, that's pretty much the only reason why Pokemon is so awesome... I mean.... Pokemon is the best thing in the world. Heh... heh...
ReplyDeleteOh right, I was going to explain the origin of the term "role-playing game" to you! You're right that essentially all videogames today involve taking on the role of a character, but the term was originally used to describe games like Dungeons and Dragons - games that people played with a pen, paper, and dice before videogames even existed!
ReplyDeleteWhat we know as "role-playing games" today share similar characteristics to these old role-playing games. Turn-based role-playing games like Pokemon and Final Fantasy are probably the most common type, but there are many others too - some of them are known as "action RPGs" where you fight in real-time, "strategy RPGs" where you move characters on a grid, "jRPGs" which are Japanese games that tend to be anime influenced (Pokemon, Final Fantasy), and "wRPGs" which are Western games (made in America or Europe) such as Diablo or Fallout (western RPGs tend to be pretty violent and are more often found for PC or PlayStation or Xbox - not many on Nintendo consoles).
The main thing that all these games have in common, the thing that make them RPGs, that makes them like Dungeons and Dragons, is that you build up your characters. In Pokemon, the more you fight, the better your Pokemon get - their stats increase, they gain levels, and you can customize your team in very specific ways. The focus of the game is on creating a specific character or set of characters - whereas in an action or platform game like Banjo Kazooie, the focus is more on collecting items to advance in the game, not necessarily to strengthen the character or build them up in the way that you want. Building up your character may be a part of the game, but usually it's not a focus (such as getting new moves once in a while in Banjo Kazooie versus spending the whole game in Pokemon leveling up your characters).
RPGs have plenty of other important characteristics, but like with all genres - the boundaries are fuzzy. Super Paper Mario is sort of a platform game and sort of an RPG - you can argue either way or both ways. A lot of things in life have fuzzy boundaries - you get to decide what it is for you!
I'm happy you're getting interested in RPGs though - they're the best! I'm just a little bit obsessed with them... only a tiny bit, I swear...
Zach that was the most intelligent thing I've read in a SUCH a long time...
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