Meaningful choices in a story I care about
“What? Why’s he doing that? He should have gone the other way-” “No! Don’t choose her, she’s evil!”
Ever found yourself shouting those kind of things at a movie or TV programme? In a good video game, you should be able to make these kind of decisions yourself, to change your character’s story. This is especially applicable to RPGs, where you can quite easily get sucked in and become your character. A good story in an RPG should allow you to make these choices and for the impacts of your decisions to become obvious as the game progresses.
Choice can manifest itself in several ways. First, in open-world RPGs, the simple choice of the direction in which to explore is exhilarating. Should I follow the main quest, do a side quest, or just wander through the wilderness? The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim does this well. You can earn your fortune through the main storyline, clearing out dungeons, or even becoming a smith, woodcutter, or miner. Secondly, as mentioned above, having a choice of playstyle is a great way of doing this. In Bastion, choosing your weapons dictates your playstyle, but all are viable in most situations – it’s up to you how you play.
Lastly, in RPGs with a smaller, more linear world (DA: O, and to some extent MMOs like, Star Wars: The Old Republic and Guild Wars 2, for example); choice may be presented through dialogue options. At a basic level, you can choose whether to respond kindly, coldly, or like a tool. On some occasions, a character’s fate rests in your hands. Do you forgive them or kill them? It is this kind of choice that I particularly relish. I love stepping into my character’s shoes. My first DA:O character was a wimp of an elf. Whenever I could, I’d choose the dialogue option that represented her fearfulness. Later on, my battle-hardened elf lost the cowardly edge and became naive, trusting all and remaining clueless and bewildered about Alistair’s romantic advances, making him more miserable than ever. The thing I love about Origins is that I can create a character that’s the complete opposite of my elf; perhaps a brute of a dwarf, with more swagger than Jagger (my apologies, that was a reference to a Cher Lloyd song), who’s a serial womaniser with a ruthless streak.
I cannot stress how much value increased player choice can add to an RPG. It changes games from having the feeling of ‘being on rails’ to becoming something like a sandbox, where the world is of your own making. Every modern RPG should strive to give players choice in many ways within the game.
Smooth integration of combat with story, user interface (UI) and the overall experience
Now I bring up my biggest bug-bear with Skyrim – the combat. Sure, the animation quality is good and the magic system is a huge improvement on Oblivion, but most of the time it feels like you’re not fighting against giants or wolves or dragons – you’re fighting against the UI. Want to swap weapons? Use the ‘quick’ select menu, pausing the combat. Want to drink a potion that isn’t on your ‘quick’ select menu? Go to your main inventory menu, attempt to find the correct potion through all your items that are only sorted alphabetically, then at last, drink. That might only take five seconds once you’re used to it, but five seconds is an age when there’s a mammoth bearing down on you. All urgency is lost from combat. If you’ve never played Skyrim, this video gives you some idea of what it’s like, but in truth, it’s being kind. Although it is more difficult to get a smooth, unobtrusive inventory system in a console game (especially with a game like Skyrim where there are hundreds of different items), there really is no excuse for not improving the UI for the PC version. Oblivion let you bind weapons and spells to the number keys and sort items by weight or value – why doesn’t Skyrim? A PC game should not have to rely on mods to provide a more enjoyable experience.
A similar problem with RPGs is the integration of story with overall gameplay. A well-made cutscene is impressive, and certainly makes you pay attention to the story, but too often we see games which rely solely on cutscenes to tell the story. Shouldn’t I be experiencing the story, rather than having it spoon-fed to me? Bioware’s RPGs are well known for their interactive conversations. In DA:O, a character usually says a couple of sentences, then you’re presented with a choice in how to respond. You can cut short the conversation at any point, or you can delve deeper into the story, and possibly be rewarded for it. Equally effective are narrated RPGs. Bastion does this perfectly – a gruff narrator tells the story as you play, and, even better, his narration changes in response to your performance. If you do well he’ll tell you. Fall off the edge of the world, and he’ll make some wry comment about it. In the Trine games, the story is told through a mixture of short cutscenes, narration, and discussion between the three characters as you are playing. ‘Banter’ between NPCs conveys the story, lets you know about their relationships, and adds to the feeling of a living world. It can often add humour and light relief to even the darkest of situations.
In an RPG, story might not always come first, but it is important. I love games that make it feel like I’m living the story, writing it, rather than treading along a path that’s already been marked out for me. Having a clumsy, awkward combat system or frequent cutscenes getting in the way of story can ruin a game.
Replayability
An RPG can all have the different paths in the world, with thousands of choices and storyline branches, but if the game is not fun, there is no reason why anyone would want to play through it again.
Making a game fun is easier said than done, but for me I think it comes down to a good ratio between time, effort and reward. I’m quite happy to grind through some tedious, if tricky gameplay as long as I get a good reward at the end of it. Whether it’s better gear, a cosmetic reward or even the next snippet of story, as long as it’s interesting and worthwhile then there is some sense of accomplishment. It’s also important that player skill is rewarded – through higher rewards, hard-to-reach areas, or achievements.
Enjoyment is also enhanced through a game’s aesthetics. I’m not talking about graphics – I’m talking about art-style, and how well it fits with the tone of the game. Limbo, Guild Wars 2 and Bastion all get this spot on. A good soundtrack has the same effect. If I can enjoy the music and appreciate the art-style, I’m more than happy to go back and play through again to experience them.
Replayability ultimately depends upon all the other factors I’ve mentioned in this post and many more.
So, what is the perfect RPG?
For me, there must be a compelling story that is the primary focus of the game. The story should branch and change to reflect my character and their decisions. Ideally I’d like to adventure with a couple of companions, whether NPCs or other players. The world does not need to be huge, but it needs to contain a wealth of imaginative, original content. It needs to feel like there is depth to the world and consequences to my decisions. Finally, use music and art and story and voiceover and whatever else you can think of to get an emotional response out of me, the player. I don’t want it to feel like I’m playing the game – I want to become that character from the moment I open the game right up until I hit the Esc key.
Combat does not have to be, and in my opinion should not be, the focus of modern RPGs. It should not make or break a game. Maybe I’m just old fashioned, but an RPG should first and foremost be about telling a story, one that I can at least partially alter.
This post might read like a love-letter to Morrowind, Dragon Age: Origins and Bastion, but I still haven’t found the perfect RPG. Those three games come closest, but I’m looking for that one game to get it exactly right. Any game developers out there want to help me out?
Photos: Josh Nealey, Bethesda Softworks, Bioware/EA/Lucas Arts, ArenaNet/NCSoft, Supergiant Games
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