OLD SCHOOL RPG's do you think too many of todays games are too much into presentation and not story/gameplay?

Question

I mean real old school gamers. Im not trying to be a complainer, but it seems like rpg's are wayy too easy these days. My roomate borrowed my ff12 and almost ahd the entire game beat in 4 days. Now I know ff games are easy but this is getting ridiclous folks . I dont know I think all this started with final fantasy 7 but it seems after that a lot of story telling and game play took a back seat to graphics.
Case in point star ocean 3. Man I loved 2 and thought it didnt get enough credit but 3 while looks better, the gameplay and story just didnt do it for me. It seems like todays rpg's arent met for this generation.
I wish companies will admit this and start making rps for todays consumers and some for old schoolers.
I got a lot of young kids bragging how great they are at RPG's but refuse to play phantasy star 1, 2 ,or 3... At least 3 wasnt that hard folks.... What is your opinion of rpg's today? Too easy for the masses or just old timers not knowing the times?

guess not many role players on yahoo answers

i NEED TO REPHRASE MY QUESTION, maybe i should ask has gameplay suffered a lot in RPG's since FF7 came out. I liked FF7, But I feel that was the beginning of the end WITH PRESENTATION OVER GAMEPLAY.

Answer 1

phantasy star III... lol! i think i beat it, but that was a LONG time ago. phantasy star IV was much better, not only graphics, but story, but psII was great as well

actually, for me, "storyline" games, games that focused terrifically on the storyline, such as Illusion of Gaia, Final Fantasy IV, Lufia II, and Chrono Trigger.. they all happened in the same era, and our age played a rather large role, as well. i imagine you're around my age (25), and these games were out during a time that we could play and understand it well, and it was NEW.

older games that were great RPGs didn't have much storylines either. like the first final fantasy. it was a great game, i love it, but if you look at it from a blind perspective, it's rather... ordinary. four elements, fighting the earth, monsters from mythology, weapons and armaments from old folk tales...

dragon warrior. all of them were magnificent, surprisingly, the first and the second had more of a story to them. the third... if you went to the right place, the story proceeded, but there was guesswork in where to go. i would go where the monsters got stronger. the next city will tell you the next dungeon, etc. IV was more of the same, but had an excellent throwback to the first game.

i feel that FFVII was a start to the downgrading of RPGs, and not many since then have held my interest very long. if you do a search on yahoo answers for "final fantasy suck" you'll find my question that asks why FFVII sucks so bad, with my points on it. they went with the graphics... and it felt like, to me, there didn't seem to be much more room for either a story, or something to make the game fun. they focused so much on the beginning, and i feel that if it was always in a city-like setting, and never hit the world map, it would have been SO much better. because as soon as you get to the world map, it feels like a different game, and starts going RPG-Bland, as i like to call it

as well, there isn't too much story left, it seems. with all the cliches about what an RPG includes, it all seems to have been done. it's usually a teenage boy with no parents, who wields a sword. there are obviously exceptions, one of which i'll go into next (fei). it's just like the book stores. go into one, and look in the fantasy (from sci-fi, but not space age) section. about 80% of them are arthurian legend, it seems.

sometimes getting too much story does ruin a game. take xenogears. great story. i wish there was a DVD (and there probably is..) because the gameplay is terrible. battles happen too often, and mastering your moves gets finished way too fast. which leaves the fights as boring copies of the last fight, and you get bored to death. because they made the game out of a story, rather than "ALONG" with a story.

there are several games that have held my interest though, with decent gameplay. disgaea and la pucelle have decent storylines. if you don't get sucked into leveling too much, which you don't truely need to beat the games, the storylines are decent, and gameplay mechanics work well. zelda games, being action/adventure are always the same story, same items, but new, cool ways to do it, so that's good. harvest moon has hardly any story to speak of, but gameplay is decent enough til you get bored.

pokemon games, for all that they are designed for kids, have decent storylines, mechanics that work well, and hardly any errors. mario rpg games, like paper mario, partners in time, and superstar saga are more great picks

other than that, get a super nintendo, most of the best games were for that. you already have a gameboy, i'd imagine, as you mention phantasy star I. that's the current best RPG system

Answer 2

That is because RPGs AREN'T RPGs, they are ADVENTURE games. I like the old fashioned ones, like Dragon Quest 8 on PS2. Blue Dragon on the 360 was looking kinda good by the write up in Game Informer a few months back. I think Square/Enix took Final Fantasy on the ADVENTURE path and kept Dragon Quest on the RPG path. You should try Dragon Quest 8, it still had the old story line and that to it. Espically good because it was still the old random battle system. It was a game you put HOURS into. That was just the STORY that took some time. There was a little side thing of the Monster Battle Arena that keeps you busy if you want to play around with as well. Now Star Ocean:Til the end of time, wasn't really my style of game to be honest. I just didn't get into it enough. It wasn't a bad game though really, just seemed like the bigger idea was really about the side thing like building up your skills to make your own weapons and such.

Answer 3

Have you tried The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion?

I think it does a great job with the rpg/storyline element. Plus, I guarantee you wont be able to go through all the quests in the game in just 4 days.

Answer 4

You couldn't possibly be any more right. RPG's, or any game these days, absolutely suck. People are too caught up with "graphics." They don't realize that it doesn't matter what the stupid game looks like as long as it's fun. Case in point: PAC-MAN, DONKEY KONG, SUPER MARIO BROTHERS, THE LEGEND OF ZELDA, hell even PONG. RPG's in general are suffering the most though.

TAKE NOTICE IDIOTS OF THE WORLD.
GAMEPLAY > GRAPHICS
GRAPHICS < GAMEPLAY

GAMEPLAY
---------------
GRAPHICS

Gameplay beats graphics every single time.

Answer 5

There are actually quite a few. The problem is finding ones worth playing.