Is there anything in RPGs that you see as a problem that seem to repeat itself in most RPGs. Example of a couple of things i frequently think about is how much random encounters destroy the fun in games and that NPCs often just repeat the same thing, feel mechanical and lack of personality. Areas with potential for improvement. Also if you would change these factors, how would you design them to make them great?
Lots of stuff.
1) Get rid of stories and dialogue. I don't mind if it is good, but I have only ever seen it be good once, out of 10000000 games, so just don't do it, it is always so fucking terrible. The problem is that millennials have never watched a TV, never seen a good movie, never seen The Wire, The Shield, Weeds, Cheers, Breaking Bad, etc.. So they just have no frame of reference. All their entertainment comes from some moron twitch streamer or twerking youtube fukc, so anything that resembles a story or conversation in a video game will blow their mind. But the truth is, it is all terrible.
Adventurer! You must help us! This town has become afflicted by a curse/witch/wizard/goblin/zombie/vampire/demon/archdragon/etc and you must find a rare plant/amulet/ring/potion/alchemist/etc/ to cure us! Or in Bethesda's case, Jarl Fjorgnflrprrpderp is mad at Jarl Fnargenshnarf and you must help me to rally deee people to stand against him, travel 100000 miles to Keep Fyjargenskgaskg and speak to Osrum about obtaining a rare plant to unite dee peoples. And you are always the lone hero to save the world. And it is always a terrible ancient evil, a blight on the land, etc. And that is just the main quest... If it is one of those side quest type games (fucking Bethesda) you also have to do a million quests that are basically, "Greetings adventurer, I lost my necklace/boots/sword/wife/sheep/etc in dungeon X and you must go and retrieve it for me because you are an xbox retard and that is what you do, now go." Fuck stories and dialogue. The only way to do a game like this is to have a single intro that explains the whole plot in 2 minutes max. And then no more than 1 more minute of talking in the rest of the game. If games like Legend of Grimrock can do it, then everyone can.
2) The combat is always so shit in RPG's. Yet I live for it... but always want more. The problem is that there are only two types of RPG, and both are retarded. The first type is the tactical RPG that codexers have a hardon for, and it is the best type for sure, but it is still pretty shit. A big bad enemy attacks you, and you have a fireball, but first you must strip several layers of magic protection from the enemy. By that point the enemy is in your face so you can no longer use your fireball or you would blow yourself up. So instead you cast Ball of Discomfort which does 1 damage, and repeat. When everything is dead you find a skeleton still throwing stones at you, so finally you can unleash ice comets, fireballs, and a cone of cold on the poor skelly. And now you have to rest for an hour before you can repeat this again 1000 times. It is retarded in a rainman aspergersy type way.
The second type of RPG is the action RPG, like everything Bethesduh make and the Gothic series and lots of others. You press left mouse to hack 'N slash stuff or pew pew your bow/fireball and everything dies and explodes and chests full of loot appear and now you can upgrade 1 of your 3 stats. It is retarded in a retarded type way.
There are about 3 or 4 exceptions in the history of gaming that were really good and didn't work like this. I will describe them in another post if anyone is still reading and wants to know.
3) The progression and loot is always bad. I looted items in EverQuest in 1999 that I can still remember today, because it was such an incredible experience. Yet I can't remember a single item I have looted in any other game, before or since, including ones I played today. This is proof all games are shit (except Everquest obviously). But not just the loot, the way you build your character in general needs to stop being bad. RPG's need to let people assign attribute points, and they need to be able to ruin their character if they do something stupid with it. I don't mind if the game lets you reset all your points for 1000 gold or something, I just care that the game depth to it. Most new games are scared of doing that. Also there needs to be ways to make the character feel like my own. I don't mind a strict rigid class, as long as I can excel at playing it in my own way. But ideally it will be like Neverwinter Nights or something where you pick a Sorc/Wiz and there are 20 different spells each time you level up, and picking what I think is best, eventually makes the character that I envisioned from the start. Nowadays you just don't get that kind of depth and variety and quantity in games. If you like tactical RPG's, there are only like 5 of them left, and although I like them for being like the one gem in a mountain of turds, to be honest they aren't that great. Blackguards, Aaklash Legacy etc. They give you the basics but that's it. Aarklash was cool for a single play through over a few days, and it was a little indie game so that's fine. But from a bigger game I need more than 4 spells on each character. p.s. Fuck the Dragon Age series and everyone who defended it, because they are big budget games with a grand total of about 8 spells on a character. Neverwinter had 800.
4) Stop wasting my time with timesinks. If I run for 10 minutes to get to a village, and then some fuck gives me a quest to run 10 minutes back where I came from to collect a magical orb of time wastage, I will likely just uninstall. I don't mind almost constant fighting because at least that engages me, but running doesn't. And it doesn't matter if it is running through swooshy grass in CryEngine26 or clicking to make my sprite cross a 2d screen like Baldurs Gate, or whatever, if I feel the game is dragging shit out, I get annoyed. Pillars of Eternity annoyed me in this way, and many other ways. That game was so shit.
5) Stop making dungeons that are glorified caves. I played EQ in almost 20 years ago that had dungeons that would blow your mind. And there were no maps, and you would stuggle to map it anyway because there are multiple floors so there is stuff above you and below you etc.. Basically you just had to explore it and have a good sense of direction and you had to remember landmarks and stuff. There were hidden rooms behind fake walls, traps (that wouldn't 1 shot you but would hurt), lots of varied bosses, etc. If a modern game can't at least do something as good as that 20 year old low budget game, then they shouldn't be in the games business. Basically, look at Skyrim and do the exact opposite of everything that game does.
EA are like gaming cancer, and Bethesda are like a degenerative brain disease of gaming.
6) Stop wasting budget on production values that aren't necessary. Not every RPG needs to look like Crysis, be voiced by Brad Pitt and music by.... some big orchestra or some douche like Jeremy Soule. And not everything needs to be an open world.... Open worlds are pretty essential for games that involve driving or flying planes or anything very fast. But when I am trudging around on foot or a horse, there is nothing wrong with spending a few hours in an area and the crossing a loading screen for 10 seconds that brings me another few hours of gameplay. Open World would be preferable but the problem is that it is so expensive, and also it often comes at the detriment of the game. Again talking about EQ... but that game had no open world, just zones. But every one was very memorable and very distinctive. No two zones were the same and they had their own personalities. And it is so much cheaper to make a game like that, and yet it can be more fun to play. When I enjoy a game with a budget of $2 like Legend of Grimrock more than I enjoy a game with a budget of $2 billion like Dragon Age Inquisition, something is very fucked up with the situation.
7) Fantasy music is done to death and so cliched, and it is also far too American. It has trumpets and battle drums too much, and soppy strings and twinkly piano in touching bullshit moments. The problem is that every movie is American, every TV show, and almost every game, and when they are all sound the same, it is really bad... Maybe it only bothers me because I am a musician and am into this sort of thing, but once you notice how everything is the same, it becomes infuriating. Then you get some weird little game from Poland or some far away place and it sounds COMPLETELY different. It is like a breath of fresh air.
8) There is more but it is late.
