What, to you, makes the best RPG?




Posted by Xenos

Mainly, I'm all for storyline and gameplay--I don't care too much about difficulty or battle systems, unless it's annoying me.




Posted by Vampnagel P. Wingpire

Definitely storyline and gameplay. In depth characters, and music also play a large role, for me. Throw in time travel and it's good.




Posted by Meru

In a good RPG, there is a numerous amount of aspects. The storyline is one of these definate things. If it's too based on drama and who's kissing who, I lose all interest in the RPG whatsoever. It must be a well developed storyline, so it is understandable to a point where you don't fall asleep nor get lost. Also needed for an RPG is a battle system. Not to simple to master, but not overly mind rattling. And keep it basic. The most complex you should go is in the junctioning system in FFVIII. And the gameplay and puzzles should be difficult, as to unlock more storyline should take effort. However, whenever I play and RPG, it never matters what kind of graphics they had (Geez, I'm a huge Legend of Dragoon fan, and I dealt with Albert's see-through cape and Rose's moving clothes. And with the lego charactors). As long as the game had sufficient enough storyline, graphics never took away from gameplay. If the RPG is terrible, they better make it pretty to look at. Or else, I found a new frizbee for my dog.




Posted by Dusty_Engel

To me the Rpg has to be addicting where you dont want to sleep you just want to keep playing it. it has to have a good storyline surronded by great characters in the game. The battle system has to be well organized, to me i dont like just going around all over the place and killing enemies. it just has a well organized game that takes a good 60+ hours to beat to me.




Posted by Philsdad

For me, what makes a great RPG is that it should be FUN. That's it. Why or how it is fun, is different in every RPG. The Suikoden series is great because it had some very interesting storylines, with very memorable characters. It also had a lot of other cool aspects like being able to search for 108 comrades. The games in the Wizardry series all pretty much had bland storylines, and no actual characters other than what you create. However, they are just as fun as Suikodens, as they have a ton of other fun aspects. Hours and hours of searching dungeons, and making maps to try and find your way through, tons of cool weapons and treasures to find etc. A game like FF3(6) for SNES was awesome because it had pretty neat characters, and an awesome battle/esper system. Bahamut Lagoon was very fun, due to many factors: cool storyline, indepth challening battle system, and being able to breed dragons. Then there are other non traditional RPGs like Uncharted Waters 2, in which you can sail and explore the entire world, and it is so non linear, that you can complete the game in many different ways, for tons of replay value. You get the picture. Not every RPG is going to have a good story, or good characters, or an innovative battle system, but what it lacks in those departments, it can truly shine in others. That is why I don't have a standard set of criteria to judge; rather if the game is fun and enjoyable, whatever the reason, then I'll like it.




Posted by Aioros

[COLOR=Yellow]For all RPG's, it comes down to the story. If you're not interested from the get-go, you're going to be skipping through a bunch of dialogue until you get to the next battle. Traditional RPG's are basically interactive books, so if the story is not good, then the game is not worth playing.[/COLOR]




Posted by Fiindil

good RPG's IMO

Good story line, unlinear gameplay, interesting NPC's, funky items and stuff, not too many special moves and crap as they're just useless fluff most of the time.....albeit overpowered fluff but still, they spoil a game if you have to use special moves all the time, like in the FF series, at least my experience of it anyway




Posted by Legend Saber

The game must have a good storyline, a deep and involving battle system, graphics that at the very least allow myself to be lost in the world, music that isn't annoying as hell, and enough replay value to keep me interested for at least a year or so. That's what makes a great RPG, but I'll play anything with a deep story that gets me interested. Deep battle systems are important as well.




Posted by sephiroth_theunborn

A great story line, Graphics, character with an depth history of there life like why there are apart of the story and great voice acting.




Posted by Cloudstud

Well obviously the story. But the thing that does it for me is variety. I like a game that is no linear and allows you to experience it how you want to. I love side quests and bonuses. Character customization is also very important. I love the feeling of totally maxing out my characters with all their skills completely leveled up and them all having their ultimate weapons. Star ocean 3 is a pretty good example of this. Plus in that game you have a lot of variety. Futureistic and medevil times, that is pretty cool. You also have so much more to do than the main game. I love games like that.




Posted by inuyasha kicks

very deep story line, good deep charectars who actually look and act cool, long, an addicting battle system that makes level training fun. It cant be to cliche like i secretley love you and she does too and then they just break out and start makin out. the only game like that i liked was ffx.




Posted by Map42892

dont care for the graphics, but you got to have a good story line and characters. if you dont like the main character, you wont like the game.




Posted by Riku

in depth story with deep charectars that all are developed, a new never before played by me battle system, cool looking charectars, long game, 60 hours to beat, and most of all no gay charectars like cait sith. *** i hated him.




Posted by streak101

a good long storyline with customizable characters. the storylines ***da have to go down 2 roads maybe evil and good. the characters have to b as customizable as can b. the RPG HAS 2 b really long so that when u beat it u can not get bored.



cause and effect: :flame: :devil: tob continued: :sniper: :bowser:
:gas: *pikachu*




Posted by karn

the story line,graphics,level system and battle system.i like a rpg which can last a while and can get me hooked.




Posted by Jak Pattinson

yeah, me too. a decent rpg for me would have to include a great storyline, very cool effects and it'd have to be super long to. i wouldn't care about the graphics or gameplay much, but if that interefered with makenig the effects cool, i would change my mind. a great rpg is nothing if it isn't fun to play either. enjoyment = cool.




Posted by Sean Fury

A good storyline is a definite must, because if you aren't interested (at least a little bit) in what's happening to your character's lives, than why should you really care about playing the game? Example: In Final Fantasy VII, if instead of showing all the details behind Cloud and Sephiroth's lives and pasts, would you really go into that final battle thinking, "Wow, I really want to beat Sephiroth's ***" or would you go into it thinking something more like, "Wow, ths was a waste of life."

Graphics aren't nesscarily needed in an RPG game, as long as the storyline and plot, and fun-factor of the game make up for it. Such as Final Fantasy 7 and 8.

Sound is an important thing to me, especially the music, not just voices or sound-effects. Music plays a key-role in setting the mood for a game, and if the creators just put no time or effort into making sure the music was truly what it should be, than you'd go through the game with your volume on mute and what fun is that? Sound effects are important too, you don't want to constantly hear a bullet being shot when your characters takes a step, or the knife music from Psycho when your character opens a door. No, you want normal and constant sounds. Final Fantasy VII and VIII are the best examples for good music, Nobuo Uematsu is a brillant man.

Length, the length of an RPG is another important factor for me, because if the game has a great storyline and the characters are fun, and even the graphics are great, if the game is only three hours long of play (not including side-quests), than what's the point of wasting a good three hours? I like RPGs that span over 20+ hours, and if it's any shorter than that, I expect to be entertained by many FMVs and good sidequests.*cough*FFX*cough*

That's it really. If I missed anything, let me know.




Posted by TagginDragin

If the storyline does not get your attention, then you better have very good graphics and a very simple yet interesting battle system, with very in-depth Attacks and magic, with several unique commands to make it a stand out a little.




Posted by El Capitan

A story that you want more while playing the game and makes you think after you beat the game. Also very interesting characters, an awesome core of characters that mix in together perfectly makes a great RPG.




Posted by Demonblade

I think one of the essential keys to making a truly enjoyable storyline is creating an antagonist that the player can truly hate. Hate is the emotion that fuels the fire of /interest for me at least. I have to say that FF7/8 did this the best in my opinion. Also, along with that, you must have a character that you can at least identify yourself with. Now, many rpgs have such characters, but the one mistake they make is not allowing the player to actually get to know the character more personally, because many a times the character that i most identify myself with isnt the main character at all. I like the star ocean manner of battling because you can choose what character you would like to be, which makes the game very enjoyable. As for complexity, i think star ocean also did it about right, along with ff7/8. For me, graphics dont have to be the greatest, just as long as they arent horrendous for thier time. Because if the creators of the game dont show that they took pride in how thier game looks, how can one believe that they take any pride at all in how it plays.

Anyways, ill probably expand on this topic in the future, but these are a few things that make a good rpg IMO




Posted by Vampire Slayer

Story line is really important. I also like it when the world that the game takes place in seems real. Character depth. I like the characters to have a background that seems real and you can believe that life went on in the world before the game.