Why do you play RPG's? No, really, why?

[Elemental_wanamingo]

Turn based also kinda hides the stupidity of the ai better. In fps games it is easy to spot the patterns in the ai behaviour and often times they just blindly charge at you. Not only is it repeating and breaks the immersion a bit but it also forces me always to make a choise. Whether to try to ignore the ai issues and just play the way game seems to expect you to. Or just abuse the ai weaknesses to max just because it can make a challenging bit of gameplay super easy.

Well I don't see how turn based combat can hide poor AI design. If an enemy is blindly charging at me he will look pretty foolish whether he is doing it in turn based mode or in real time.

I think the difference is that in rpgs charging at opponents to hit them makes sense. If you play melee character you need to get close to hit them. Just like sitting still and shooting at targets farther away makes sense. If you can put out lots of damage just by sitting in the open while avoiding lots of incoming damage then it can be sometimes good use of action points. Just like running behind cover and sitting there and shooting for the rest of the battle makes sense. You have cover which makes it easier to dodge attacks while being able to invest all action points into attacking in each turn. Because the combat is so primitive and there really aren't any more options than those three then it is pretty easy to make the ai do those 3 things.

Also the way I'm not personally in control also makes the combat seem more challenging and real than it is. In fps games you can just dodge bunch of attacks by using the wasd keys. Even if I took my character from the first level and went against the end boss of the fps game I could probably at least kite the boss pretty effectively. Just move and use cover and the ai is happy to fail. In rpgs you can't do that because you are not in control. When you shoot a weapon you throw a dice. You can't aim yourself. Similarly when you get shot the game rolls a dice. You can't wasd out of the way. If your character has poor dodge skills you get hit. A lot of fps gameplay is about baiting the ai to do stupid thing and then killing them because they always do the stupid thing. In rpg all the moves are already stupid so the way the ai plays doesn't really stand out.

A simple thing like a zombie can be easily pretty effective in rpg. Even if it is slow it will hit you usually at least once per turn unless you spend lots of ap running away. In fps games zombies are always hilariously easy to avoid. Just press wasd and the zombie never gets close enough because he is just too slow. In rpg there is no slow. Things move certain amount. Not at certain speed.

 

[naossano]

- I prefer turn-based or/and isometric combats, exploration, and mouse based interface. Play a lot of simulation/RTS games as well. Or board games, which are usually turn-based.
- I love a good world and/or a good story.
- I like when there are actual C & C but those things are too rare, and sometimes too *in your face*.
- I like the trope of a party of adventurers banting and facing challenges together. I like progressively recruiting them. And i like doing some playthrough in which they progressively die.
- Not playing them for the graphics, but some of them, like Shadowrun or Underrail look really impressive, better than some 4K stuff. It is more a matter of design than tools.

 

[k0syak]

Crush those pixels.
See them driven before you.
Hear the lamentations of their pixels.

 

[Daedalos]

The story above else is quite important.

I've played dozen of games with great story, with so-so, combat, mechanics and what not, but all that was reasonably tolerable, because the story, writing and so on was so great.

Similarly, if a game has really shitty story and writing, it's quite hard for me to get properly invested into the game, eventhough it might have great combat, mechanics and all that stuff.

Other than that, it's the turn-based iso for me, the char build and progression and of course also the combat, that I love about AR PEE GEES

Also, the escapism option should really be removed, I mean, don't we all fucking escape from something? Isn't that kind of the point of hobbies and interests?, to lose yourself in them and forget about everything else? It's nothing specific related to just RPGs, so it's kind of self-evident, but whateva.

 

[Chainsaw Gutsfuck]

A lot of fps gameplay is about baiting the ai to do stupid thing and then killing them because they always do the stupid thing.

Sounds like you never played an FPS with good AI. I recommend you the first FEAR.
In any case, a shooter can be challenging even with simplistic AI. See Doom for example.

In rpg all the moves are already stupid so the way the ai plays doesn't really stand out.

If you are trying to show the superiority of RPGs here you are doing it wrong.

 

[Caleb462]

Why I play RPGs can be filed under tacit knowledge, and thus, I can't explain it to you. Sorry!

https://www.amazon.com/Tacit-Dimension-Michael-Polanyi/dp/0226672980

 

[Leitz]

Because it's the only game genre that resembles life (seriously).

 

[Sentinel]

Because it's the only genre that takes real life/history and transports them to fantasy settings with a twist where I can escape to and make my choices, almost start anew. For that, the story and setting are immensely important and I value them above all else. Your RPG can have shit combat and gameplay (as pretty much every great RPG does), but if the story, C&C and character building is on point, I don't give a fuck, I can overlook those flaws.

That and Chris Avellone's stories and characters. Guess I can forget about this one though.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

For the supreme reason to do it: to vicariously live through cool adventures and experiences via your avatar in an alternate version of reality. This is what makes the medium so awesome, the ability to bring the book or movie experience to life. To actively experience it.

Other genres can also do this, action-adventure games and MMORPGs in particular, but overall, cRPGs are still the best way to do this.

 

[TC Jr]

RPGs are the only genre where I ideally can think of 3+ different characters/playstyles and play each of them without feeling the game was solely focused on one way.

Apart from Sims and some strategy games, most games treat you like a idiot going from a-b-c-d...

Turn based isn't a deal breaker but I do prefer it obviously as AI in real time is too easy to exploit.

 

[Fenris 2.0]

Combat. Looting. Leveling (and the Possibility to have interesting Builds).
Edit: And fuck this gay Earth.

 

[veskoandroid]

Because it's the only genre that takes real life/history and transports them to fantasy settings with a twist where I can escape to and make my choices, almost start anew. For that, the story and setting are immensely important and I value them above all else. Your RPG can have shit combat and gameplay (as pretty much every great RPG does), but if the story, C&C and character building is on point, I don't give a fuck, I can overlook those flaws.

That and Chris Avellone's stories and characters. Guess I can forget about this one though.

Lol funny you mentioned that, I'm just playing Jeanne D Arc, fits your description.

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