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So you Wanna be a hero? Wanna be a star?May 13 '01 Write an essay on this topic.
Popular Products in PlayStation 2 Games
The Bottom Line Be the hero and immerse yourself in new worlds.
Background I could be fairly described as a hardcore role-playing gamer. I prefer role-playing games (RPGs) that are heavy on detail and consider the playing of an actual role very important in these games. I don’t mind one way or the about statistics and numbers in the game but want realism as much as possible. I guess the keyword here is immersion. I want to feel like the paladin fighting for justice as much as is possible. My favourite RPG types are classic fantasy but I’ll give anything a go. To put it simply a role-playing game (RPG) is a game in which you play out a role of some kind. That is, you ‘act’ as though you are someone else in some particular setting and take on the role of that person. You are the decision maker as the person so you decide what’s best for them. You can be kind and gentle or viscous and cruel. It’s all up to you for you are behaving as though you are that person. Thus you interact with the game world as that person. You might be a horsed paladin crusading for justice or a sneaky little thief trying to amass wealth. Perhaps even an alien stuck on earth, wondering how to get home. Clearly the possibilities are enormous. Why? So why would people play these games? Well part of the answer lies in the escape from reality we often desire. The same reason people often switch on the telly....so that you can ignore the world and focus on some other world. A world that’s illusion yet contains more fun. This is often used by people to ‘get away from it all’, i.e. reduce stress, and have fun or ‘holiday’. Yet RPGs are just one way to escape from reality. TV, the internet, holidays, other games and cinema are also used in this way. Why would RPGs be good enough to gain such a following? When playing RPGs you direct the actions of your persona in a very interactive world. By the nature of playing a role as though you were that person and the interactivity, RPGs are highly immersive. This immersion, which television is so weak at, allows you to escape from it all much more than could be achieved via TV. In other words it is more effective at allowing you to forget the real world around you. One other strength of RPGs is the richer detail of the created world. It makes it interesting by default since you are not accustomed to it like the real world and this leads to a very real sense of adventure and discovery in RPGs. There are also plenty of RPG players who appreciate a finely crafted world like fine art. They’re both illusion and yet so beautiful and cleverly done at times. But all this is neither here not there, really. The greatest advantage of RPGs is that it places you in the position of being a hero. A World Saver whom people learn to respect, love and cheer. Just think about the number of people who wanted to be John Wayne, Superman or some other hero figure? RPGs, by their very design, aid giving you the impression that you are that hero. Do you want to be a hero? Settings Most RPGs are set in either a first person perspective or an isometric third person perspective. As an example we normally see things in the first person perspective. This perspective improves game immersion because it is what we are used to in life. FPS games like doom and Quake are in this perspective. The third person perspective is like looking at a TV. You look at yourself from a ‘third’ person’s point of view. This perspective is better for easing tactical battle decisions. Approximately half of all RPGs focus on just one person, while the other half is constructed from a group of heroes called a party. These parties usually contain varied types of characters in order to maximise the skills available to the group as well as the chances of success in the quest and battles. The other main type of setting is the world type and focus. There are two primary ones as well as a smattering of more interesting non-standard ones. Far and away the most common is the ‘fantasy’ setting filled with gods, mages, mercenaries, swords and sorcery. Odd, often conflicting races populate the world and nations rise and fall in short order. You could think of it as medieval Europe with fantastic creatures and magic thrown in. The other main setting is sci-fi. Some kind of futuristic world where space travel is common and technology abounds. You’ll usually find robots, space ships, computers and energy weapons. Some fun settings are often not of these two. For example, one RPG I recall puts you in the position of Vietnam soldiers attempting to get out alive. In a real sense the Sims, which emulates real life, is also a role-playing game though it is normally identified as a simulation (sim) game. Finally there is the scope of the world presented to you. A lot of fantasy RPGs are ‘dungeon crawls’ where you are restricted to a cave-like labyrinth full of monsters, traps, locked doors and puzzles. This was common in older RPGs as it avoided practical difficulties in creating a more open world. Newer fantasy RPGs usually cover a whole region of the fantasy world, possibly covering more than one nation. There’s often cities and villages as well as open spaced wilderness and the odd dungeon or two for those who still crave the ‘dungeon crawl’. Similarly, the sci-fi games may have you restricted to crawling through a spaceship’s corridors or a more open world may be available. Mechanics Most RPG’s have a story and plot. You are often introduced to this story through a short video introduction and occasionally through the manual. The story is typically poor compared to most fantasy books but helps to improve the setting and give you some purpose and focus for the deeds you would undertake in the game. However, some good storylines do exist, in some cases superseding book quality. The vast majority of the stories are of an atypical epic fantasy formula. Something traumatic or eventful brings about the need for the hero to begin the quest. Usually limited advice on what to do is available or given. The hero has great adventures on the way becoming stronger and more aware of what is going on. Hints about an evil entity are peppered throughout mirroring the usual ultimate goal of destroying this entity. I hate to disappoint you, but I’ve just exposed some 50% of the plot of 90% of all RPGs in those 5 sentences. The rest of the details are what usually decides whether the story is bad or good. Being computer based, RPGs have the advantage of being able to be choice based, somewhat like those ‘choose your own adventure’ books. While the choices are there they are usually limited so that a linear storyline (i.e. no branched or multiple outcomes) occurs. Ultimately this is done so the creators can reduce costs and testing times. There are often optional side quests with their own mini goals and rewards. RPGs are created though the combination of many details, besides the basic graphics, sound and movement there are other systems whose mechanics are the core of what makes an RPG different from other games. Most RPGs have a complex character development system. To take a leaf from the most popular RPG system named Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (ADnD), the characters begin with some basic abilities represented by numbers. In ADnD the parameters include strength, dexterity, constitution, intelligence wisdom and charisma. Strength, for example, is important in terms of damage done to an opponent when striking them. Constitution determines how much damage you can take before you’re out of action. Some of these statistics are mainly for battle purposes but intelligence is often just used for determining the maximum number of spells you can cast in a given time. Even strength, which is heavily battle oriented, can be useful when trying to pry open doors. With these basic abilities are the two primarily important values of hit points/health or spell points/mana. The hit points how much damage you can take before death. At full you are completely healthy, if it runs out you usually die. Spell points are used up when you cast spells. Some spells use more than others. Healing and resting usually restore hit points. Obviously this common system has its shortcomings. It isn’t hard to believe that a single strike by a weapon could conceivably kill instantly and yet this rarely happens in RPGs. Also you are rarely penalised for reduced hit points. An injured character really should be weaker in some way than a healthy one but this is rarely present in RPGs. As you solve problems and kill opponents you will often gain experience. With enough experience you ‘level up’ allowing you to improve you characters abilities. For example you might be able to choose more spells to cast or new skills. You will usually gain hit points and spell points. This is also flawed. Real people don’t ‘level up’, rather they improve slowly and primarily in the skill area, not in terms of becoming more healthy. We also learn in the areas we practice not just select what we want to be good at. Some RPGs have successfully implemented a better system where if you swim more you learn to swim better etc. RPGs frequently include a monetary system allowing you to buy and sell useful goods. Fantasy ones will often include potions and a detailed magic system. Problems The storylines, as mentioned can often be sub par and too linear which restricts the depth of the role you can play. Some RPGs get carried away with overly powerful heroes or opponents and make the whole experience rather unbelievable….and then boring. Once immersion is suspended through disbelief, the value of the RPG drops. One cause of this is a poorly thought out magic system. The biggest problem is often realism. RPG designers put a lot of effort into making the world seem real and they succeed to this end quite well. However, mistakes and limitations are apparent in RPGs. A question to ask is “Is it feasible for me to do something but the game system prevents me from doing it?”. As a simple example you might have a high wooden fence with known enemies beyond. Can you hear them or view them without them noticing? Can you hurl something over the fence? Even burn it down or break it? Often the answers are no in RPGs. Although the game mechanics are improving all the time it is still very hard work to create a realistic word of sufficient depth. Another common problem is ‘convenience’. Dungeon master, one of the best RPGs made, suffered from this terribly. Objects you acquired were conveniently useful somewhere later in the dungeon. Keys were strewn about on the floor like hair in a salon. It just so happened you need every key you found and it also just so happened that the keys were for the door just around the corner. I ask you, would you leave your front door keys on the sidewalk in front of your house? No! The result, of course, was reduced immersion and reality. Other suspension of belief problems occur. As an example, one pet hate I have of some RPGs is the type of objects carried by opponents. I’ve seen killed rats drop gold and hunchbacked dwarves wear clothing that somehow fits a tall human. I do like the realism as it aids immersion in the game but an acceptable substitute is fun. No other substitute is good enough. One example where fun wins out over realism is magic. But a less obvious one is the amount you can carry in a backpack. Now I’m sorry, but Olympic weightlifters couldn’t carry some of the heavy metal armour and other equipment many RPGs let you get way with. Yet it’s more fun to keep all your stuff so I can let this sort of thing slip by. Would I like RPGs? One of the easiest ways to tell is to examine the sort of entertainment you usually like. I you read Conan comics or fantasy books, or like fantasy movies like the classic ‘Clash of the Titans’ you will probably like RPGs. Similarly if you read sci-fi books and enjoyed movies like ‘The Matrix’ or ‘Space Odyssey 2010’ you might like RPGs. In fact, enjoyment of any hero focused entertainment like ‘Indiana Jones’ makes it more likely you will enjoy RPGs. Trekkie’s or fans of other sci-fi or fantasy TV shows will probably also enjoy RPGs. You would also be more likely to enjoy RPGs if you watch TV and wish you could tell the hero what to do rather than watch them make their own decisions. Once you have read this article you will probably have a good idea if RPGs suit you. Since RPGs have a high level of involvement, if you are really get interested in shooting but no talking or interacting you will probably not enjoy RPGs and I would suggest First Person shooters (FPS) for you. Likewise, if you absolutely must have the very latest cool graphics and don’t care about anything else, I would suggest you look at flight simulators or FPS games. People who demand an excellent storyline should probably stick to books. However if you want to immerse yourself in an exciting new world with the ability to do what you want, an RPG is the best choice for you. Comments A short note about the ‘addiction’ of RPGs touted by several. RPGs do have an addiction level but it is of the same kind as addiction to radio, TV, movies, the internet or other game genres. If you like RPGs and can’t control your use of those other mediums then RPGs could well be ‘addictive’ for you. Otherwise, don’t worry about it. There are also ‘pencil and paper’ based RPGs that have a lot of the characteristics of the computer-based ones discussed here. The detail and degree of freedom can be higher due to direct real-time human management of the game but of course graphics and sound are missing.  |
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