IGN Poll Are oldskool RPG players still among us?

[Seif]

While this has more to do with RPG's in general it reminded me of the age old battle going on particularly on these pages.

I know I've been pretty vocal about feeling like all game-play has been streamlined away to blandness but I always thought I'm in the minority here.

See what I'm talking about by viewing the poll results.

AND before this get's into an IGN slam-fest these are IGN readers voting not the visitors of RPGfan.com or ZAM.com I think that makes a big difference.

The question of voice acting actually fits FF series well too. They started adding VO after XI but have never really managed to pull it off in a way that doesn't bring down the quality of the game as opposed to enhancing it. (FFX being the best example and XIII's melodramatic soap opera style acting)

Anyway don't take my word for it see the poll yourself.

http://wii.ign.com/articles/119/1195667p1.html

While reading that all I could think about was "Atlus totally gets this and that's why their games are almost always selling out. Nobody does those kind of games anymore!"

I hope they do another player's poll someday because some things that they're working on make me feel like they've lost the track of their own audience and are ignoring the voice of the community from the first player's poll.

[Cichy]

If you're looking for oldskool RPGers pick up a copy of Demons Souls now or wait till October 5th for Dark Souls.

[Seif]

If you're looking for oldskool RPGers pick up a copy of Demons Souls now or wait till October 5th for Dark Souls.

Isn't that also published by Atlus?

Anyway as much as I love being slapped around by Demons' Souls I don't think oldskool means hard at all.
I didn't fin any of the FF games hard. To me the oldskool in FF series was the fact that they rewarded exploring and the worlds encouraged exploration and side content was well developed rewarding you for looking around and doing things your own way. The new games don't tend to offer that much choice because just getting a high-def model walk properly costs so much that there isn't time to do anything with it before the release date arrives.

[Murugan]

While this has more to do with RPG's in general it reminded me of the age old battle going on particularly on these pages.

I know I've been pretty vocal about feeling like all game-play has been streamlined away to blandness but I always thought I'm in the minority here.

See what I'm talking about by viewing the poll results.

AND before this get's into an IGN slam-fest these are IGN readers voting not the visitors of RPGfan.com or ZAM.com I think that makes a big difference.

The question of voice acting actually fits FF series well too. They started adding VO after XI but have never really managed to pull it off in a way that doesn't bring down the quality of the game as opposed to enhancing it. (FFX being the best example and XIII's melodramatic soap opera style acting)

Anyway don't take my word for it see the poll yourself.

http://wii.ign.com/articles/119/1195667p1.html

While reading that all I could think about was "Atlus totally gets this and that's why their games are almost always selling out. Nobody does those kind of games anymore!"

I hope they do another player's poll someday because some things that they're working on make me feel like they've lost the track of their own audience and are ignoring the voice of the community from the first player's poll.

No voice acting is the least of what defines the old school RPG experience for me. It is all about leveling up, getting new skills, and: "slow", deliberate, and strategic combat styles. Decent stories and unique/interesting game worlds would be nice to see again as well.

[Gramul]

Should games like Pokemon retain random encounters?

Really, that depends on the type of game. Sense Pokemon appear in very specific areas, whereas in most RPG's they would appear anywhere on the overworld or in any dungeon, Pokemon has set environments where they can appear. The only problem is really the caves and seas, but they've adjusted the size of those areas to be more bearable.

But that really falls into a whole other topic. Bottom line, I'll take these on a game by game basis.

[KiriA500]

IGN

Stopped reading there.

[Konachibi]

I always kind of feel like FFXIV does have a little bit of that oldschool vibe lingering in it somewhere. RPGs nowadays tend to have all the voice acting and stuff but, at least from my experience of them, they tend to not feature that many story-driven cut-scenes, usually they save cut-scenes for action sequences. FFXIV does it's cut-scenes quite well and it reminds me a lot of the old Final Fantasy games.

You could also try out Eternal Sonata for ps3 and 360, that plays very much like the old style of RPG. And an excellent one to try is Resonance Of Fate, the battle system in that is superb, and the customisability of characters and weaponry feels so much more advanced than other RPGs.

I know what you mean about this 'modern age of RPG' though. Most RPGs now tend to have a camera focused behind your character and it follows you around which makes the game feel more like an action game than an RPG, and the plot of the game tends to happen as you're running around rather than through spectacular cut-scenes like back in the day. As good as games like Mass Effect, Magna Carta II, Elder Scrolls and Star Ocean may be, they just don't give the same RPG vibe that games like Legend Of Legaia, Final Fantasy 7-8-9 or Grandia gave.

[Esk]

I get a lot of the projects cross over and they have decided no matter what how it will be now.
But It would be nice to get polls between each patch based on what has changed and what they plan to change this time.

But as per the direction of the OP: Unfortunately atm were heading down a very middle of the road mmo direction.
I think we have an ideal platform atm to push forward and keep the classic harder RPG elements, but balance them with a more casual dip in an out feel for parts of the game.

I would kill to See more of the voice acting though, even my character having more sound effects when idle/failing a craft an fighting.
A lore book added where you can collect info on the game, history, charecters and monsters
The use of our ability to redo all cut scenes and story events for fun.

[AdvancedWind]

Yes, but keep Link quiet 57.71%

Hells yes: Let the people have their voices! 22.86%


.........whyyyyy

[quantumsaint]

Yes, but keep Link quiet 57.71%

Hells yes: Let the people have their voices! 22.86%


.........whyyyyy

Probably so we don't end up with a Metroid Other M situation where the entire fanbase detests the voice acting and personification of a character that some of them have cherished for over twenty years.