For me, an RPG becomes great when it has most of the following: The ability to change the playable character. Skill points when leveling up; active and passive perks are always a plus. A crafting system that doesn't feel like it was added last-minute. A visible change in equipment (either armor or weapons). A bestiary, especially if it includes interactive models of enemies. I know some of these won't interest a handful of people, but I would like to know what you like in an RPG.
One of the most important aspects for me is definitely the story. Sometimes I feel that most RPG's with no story that leave you in a "full open world" lack the ability to actually hold your interest for more than a week. I know there are some successful games that don't have a well structured story and make it to the top 5 most played games. Why do these games make it to the top? I believe it's because they have awesome gameplay. In my opinion the best games are the ones that combine a well written story with awesome gameplay. What do you think of those online RPGSswhere everyone looks just the same? I remember a terrible game for the PS1 where characters had no faces. Was this something the game company wanted to test? It looked a bit unfinished for sure.
Good question. Let's see: A solid story. That's first and foremost. I liken RPGs to reading a book, at least the first time through, and if the story sucks then I'm probably not interested. A quick battle system. I don't care that much how it's implemented so much as it's fast and fun. I can stand the occasional long battle, but I don't want to sit and fight common enemies for five minutes or more, over and over. That fact alone is one of the reasons I don't ever really want to play the Final Fantasy XIII series again, because the battles were all reeeeeally loooooong. A small-ish team. Six, maybe seven members seems ideal. Push the envelope much further than that and you risk cluttering recruitment. As much as I enjoyed Chrono Cross, it has WAAAAAAY too many useless characters. Agreed on the Bestiary. I love Bestiaries. Optional minigames. I don't tend to like forced minigames unless they're really fun. Which, often, they aren't. Side quests. They don't need to be absolutely everywhere, but I like being able to wander off the beaten path now and then. Some manner of choice. I tend to gravitate more towards games where the player can, to at least a small extent, dictate how they're going to play the game. That's probably why I like the Star Ocean series so much, because you can choose your permanent party most of the time.
I personally enjoy RPG's that have: * Replayability, different story path depending on which main character you chose (Seiken Densetsu 3 style) * Combo system. It's just cool when you can combine attacks to create a bigger, different one. * Characters evolve. Like when they change classes or transform into something more powerful. * If not an strategy game, I like its an action RPG (not turn based). * Ability to collect things as a side quest / side game. Or ability to recruit critters / monsters and or steal their abilities.
The main appeal for me with RPG is the fact that I'm playing the role of the protagonist. Anything that will help me immerse myself in the game is what makes me enjoy the game so much more, so: 1. Character creation. I love having a blank canvas and from there being able to create my player to my liking. The more options that will help my character unique, the more I appreciate that portion of the game. 2. Like @Player7 said, skill points and character progression. I love levelling up, I love fiddling with my skills and abilities, and making my character feel stronger in game. 3. Again, @Player7 you take the words right out of my mouth with a good solid crafting system. I want something where the crafting is important, where the time you invest into it will help you make stuff that's more valuable/powerful then at least most drops or purchases. 4. @SLTE, you nailed it when you said side quests, except I do want them everywhere, lol. I sometimes enjoy doing side missions more than I do the actual main story; most RPGs I play, I make a point of doing all of the side missions or I just don't feel like I've completed the game. I'm even a fan of collectibles, if you can believe that. 5. A good conversation system. I like Mass Effect and Dragon Age, especially when you can answer a certain way depending on how you want to play your character. I think ultimately, I want to feel like my choices matter. That's really the most important mechanic for me when it comes to RPGs.
-Story: I'm a sucker for stories in general. If it's good I'm hooked. -Fun play style: Doesn't need to be overly complicated- just fun. -Explorable world: None of this linear crap. I like poking around and finding interesting stuff. Exploration is fun. -Progression: Robust skills and upgrades of my choice -Likeable characters: I want NPCs I like. Easy rotation from a decent sized cast would be nice. -Choices: Various choices, various outcomes. -Character Creation: 50/50 on this. I like JRPGs with set characters and RPGs with play how I want characters. I'm alright with both types depending on how I feel.
Story is of course always super important, but the battle system is what makes or breaks RPG in my opinion. I prefer my RPGs to have a lot of depth to them. Games where how you approach boss battles is more important than how strong you are. Many Shin Megami Tensai games are good at this for example.
My priorities in order of importance: 1) Fun Gameplay (to make me even pick up the game it needs to have fun gameplay. Linear, repetitive, and overly-complex games have no place in my heart ) 2) Story and characters (to keep me playing it has to have an engaging story) 3) More than one character playable (though this can be forgiven if number 4 is done properly) 4) Ability to customize your characters (mainly gameplay customization and not character model changes) 5) Co-op or multiplayer (I freakin love playing with others) 6) Decision making (who doesn't like multiple endings or story changes?) 7) Customizing Character models (Its like playing dolls, except with killer warriors)
I generally like customizable characters as well, but as far as storytelling goes they tend to feel more generic and lacking in personality than characters with set opinions and dialogue. For that reason I think the only build-it-yourself hero I think I've ever really liked was Shepard, from Mass Effect, because he / she always had a hard-as-steel, driven personality, regardless of how you decided to proceed through the games.
Two things for me are key in a good RPG. The story has to be engaging alongside characters with interesting motivations or a chemistry so that their interactions are interesting. Second thing. A good combat system. Since this is the bulk of the game it has to be interesting, easy to understand that slowly adds more to it as the game progresses Games that do one or the other are good RPG's however the few that do both is what separates them from being good to being great
I would say the most significant part of an rpg for me is the immersion. If I can't forget everything I'm doing and just immerse myself in the game, it didn't really do its job. How we get to that point is up in the air, and that's where the innovation lives. I try not to force a game to be anything and just let myself be impressed with human creativity in whatever way the game has to offer.
It needs to have good characters, first and foremost. I'm not slogging through a 60+ hour game with a party full of unlikeable douchebags ever again, screw you Bioware. Next comes gameplay, then comes story. Immersive music is a must as well. As long as you don't sacrifice any of these in order to shoehorn in some "progressive" ideas about romance in video games, I'll probably think it's a good RPG.
It's got to have a good story, decent game play at least, and characters you can connect with. Music is also a large part, believe it or not, of having a good rpg.
1. The story, 2. The advancement system. I like games like Path of Exile where you have a huge amount of options available and you have incremental power advances mixed in with large boosts. 3. And most important. Combat. There is a sweet spot in games to where there is enough combat where it feels like a dangerous game, but not so much that each kill seems meaningless. I lean away from ARPGs for this reason. All combat should be meaningful.
It's actually kind of funny how true the point about music is. A solid soundtrack really sets the tone for an epic adventure, to the point that you don't realize just how important it is until you're playing an RPG with bad music. I've found a fair number of smaller Steam RPGs quite dull to play in large part because the BGM is utterly lacking in quality.
Crafting mechanics are different from game to game, so they got that right. I think in an RPG the story is crucial to the game, and if you can affect it by what you're doing in the game then it adds to the adventure (like The Witcher 3).
I think you've hit the nail right on the head. For me the most important element and what really draws me in is the skill upgrade system. If it's a good one and I like the upgrades I'll get with continued progress then I would willingly keep playing the game. Some games don't do this so well and it just becomes tedious after a while because I'm not really invested enough to spend my time on earning skill points. Also, those upgrades being visible is very essential too because if it's not done right then you won't feel the effects of the upgrades as fully as you should.
1. Story : Has to be engaging, and not something written half-heartedly. 2. Endless Progression : Once I start playing, I do not want the game to end in any way shape or form. 3. Social Connectivity: It should be such that I can play with my tribe or if I am alone, I can find people to team up with.
Haha, you know? I would have never thought of music being a requirement until you made me imagine an RPG with bad music. If the music was bad enough, I might be inclined to place it at the top of my list since everything else becomes unbearable (story, characters, gameplay) when there is a continuous barrage of bad music in the background.
