Through the Lens: Video Games - Game Design Theory - page 107

Role-Playing Games

Examples: Final Fantasy , Fallout , Ultima , Mass Effect, , Wizardry

In almost every game you literally play a role. In fact, playing a role—or
having agency in the world of the game—is kind of what makes a system
interactive to begin with. When speaking about the genre of role-playing
games, though, I'm referring specifically to games that are heavily themat-
ic and story-laden with leveling up, inventories, parties, and usually, turn-
based combat. As you can tell, I think that there's a lot wrong with RPGs,
and some of the suggestions I make next to improve them may cause them
to no longer be RPGs. But first, a little background is in order.
In many ways, the RPG genre is one of the most important genres
in video-game history. For one thing, video games owe their existence
in large part to Dungeons & Dragons players who used that game as an
inspiration to create many of the world's first computer games. Further,
the complicated statistical systems and large amounts of bookkeeping in
RPGs really exploit the digital platform, since these elements would oth-
erwise have to be done by hand. The computer made RPGs much easier
to play than they ever were before!
But RPGs (and D&D before them) are also prime culprits in video
games becoming fantasy simulators. Almost everybody loves fantasy,
and further, fantasy is something we understand. Games are abstract
and hard to fully comprehend, but put me in a dungeon with a sword
and a shield and let me fight a dragon, and what don't you get? RPGs
became the adult equivalents of playing cops and robbers or house—a
way for people to explore fantasy worlds. That aside, however, most early
RPGs were largely hack 'n' slash dungeon crawlers. Most of them were
somewhat hard to understand, requiring a thorough reading of manuals
and other documentation, and usually involved lots of hot keys. Many of
them were crushingly difficult as well.
RPGs originated during the 1970s and 1980s in the United States,
largely because the United States was the world's leader in computer
technology then. But by the 1990s Japan had begun its contributions to
the genre as well. The JRPGs have their own distinct take on the genre,
putting a very strong focus on presentation. They have some really fan-
tastic music—the Final Fantasy , Dragon Quest , Saga Frontier , and Moth-
er series are all known worldwide for the music. Chrono Trigger was fa-
mous for its artwork by Akira Toriyama, the artist from the Dragon Ball
anime/manga series. They also put a very strong focus on a completely
linear story, and are highly playable, requiring only a small amount of
instruction to play, in part because they are played on consoles like the
NES. Today, all RPGs are very story-based, and while the US RPG has