2014: Year of the RPG?

Never played Torment as I've heard the game part of it isn't so good but the story is and that doesn't appeal to me at all. As for the Obsidian KS, I'll wait and see as half their games tend to suck. Maybe Square will surprise me and release TWEWY2 or something and it will be year of the RPG.

Chances are that Obsidian can surprise you before Square does imo

where is The Stick of Truth btw?
 
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Oh, whatever. That game was all kinds of goodness.
 
I was semi-trolling of course, and X will be amazing for sure, but I'm always irked by "next year is going to be amazing, look at all the sequels coming out". The best experiences are always new experiences imo. Especially in story-heavy media.

Project Eternity and Torment: Tides of Numenera aren't sequels, specially PE.

PS: I don't give a crap about X :p
 
Never played Torment as I've heard the game part of it isn't so good but the story is and that doesn't appeal to me at all. As for the Obsidian KS, I'll wait and see as half their games tend to suck. Maybe Square will surprise me and release TWEWY2 or something and it will be year of the RPG.

Gameplay in Planescape is fine, but it's just that story, characters, atmosphere, music are all so fucking good. Missing out on it because gameplay is a little underwhelming would be a huge loss. Like, I only went through it last summer, and I didn't think it was possible for a game to have a plot that good.
 
yes, we get the point, many rpgs are being released every year (except apparently 2009)
At least for fans of isometric, party-based RPGs it's really different this time around. I think there are more of those being released in the 2013-2014 period than in the past 6 years combined.
 
I'm far more interested in this year's RPGs, baring delays (which seem somewhat likely).

Also, lol @ Torment 2 coming out in 2014.
 
Never played Torment as I've heard the game part of it isn't so good but the story is and that doesn't appeal to me at all. As for the Obsidian KS, I'll wait and see as half their games tend to suck. Maybe Square will surprise me and release TWEWY2 or something and it will be year of the RPG.
You should still give it a shot tbh. I recommend the game all the time, but I can't stand the terrible gameplay, but there are others who think it is just fine.I personally can't play RPGs just for story
 
You should still give it a shot tbh. I recommend the game all the time, but I can't stand the terrible gameplay, but there are others who think it is just fine.I personally can't play RPGs just for story

You never really need to do much with the combat and such though. I looked up a build before playing and just followed through with that. There are very few mandatory fights, and you can get through them fairly quickly even if you rely on luck. Yet the story is not even exaggerated, some of the things you discover both as part of the main quest and on side quests blows your fucking mind. If combat was necessary and always got in your way, that might be a problem, but you can play most of it like an adventure game..
 
You never really need to do much with the combat and such though. I looked up a build before playing and just followed through with that. There are very few mandatory fights, and you can get through them fairly quickly even if you rely on luck. Yet the story is not even exaggerated, some of the things you discover both as part of the main quest and on side quests blows your fucking mind. If combat was necessary and always got in your way, that might be a problem, but you can play most of it like an adventure game..

This sounds exactly like a game I wouldn't like. I'll keep ignoring Torment for the time being :P
 
I usually don't like making declarations saying something is going to be the "year of this," but just look at what RPGs are slated to come out in 2014:

The Witcher 3
Dark Souls II (probably)
Dragon Age III (probably. Can't be worse than DA2 right?)
Project Eternity
Another Bethesda game (possibly)
Versus XIII (lol)
X
Torment: Tides of Numenera

I'll add anything that I'm missing.

How about traditional JRPGs? I guess those are dead on consoles now. I wonder if it's because not enough people would buy them or because publishers just think that there isn't enough interest in the market.

Thanks god, at least the 3DS has proven to be an awesome platform for JRPGs.
 
How about traditional JRPGs? I guess those are dead on consoles now. I wonder if it's because not enough people would buy them or because publishers just think that there isn't enough interest in the market.

Thanks god, at least the 3DS has proven to be an awesome platform for JRPGs.

I've basically given up on console JRPGs, good ones are so few and far between. Perhaps the next Final Fantasy will come out in 2014, if they had started work on it before now. They already had the next-gen engine for a while too, and it worked on PC, and transitioned to the PS4 just fine. Though they seem to stray farther and farther away from traditional.

This sounds exactly like a game I wouldn't like. I'll keep ignoring Torment for the time being :P

Well the Torment 'sequel' will have more modernized gameplay anyways. It isn't based off the same systems, yet keeps the tone and direction of the original. I'd recommend keeping an eye on it at least.
 

The 2012 one looks bad now. That was one of the weakest RPG years in memory.

I remember most people giving RPG of the year awards to ME3 because they were like "well....fuck it. What else is there?"
 
I wish we'd get a Deus Ex/Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines style of RPG. Indie/KS projects are mostly limited to 2D and on "AAA" developers don't make those types of games anymore.
 
You should still give it a shot tbh. I recommend the game all the time, but I can't stand the terrible gameplay, but there are others who think it is just fine.I personally can't play RPGs just for story
I'm not really sure what's so terrible about Torment's gameplay.

First things first: dialogues in Torment are an active and substantial part of the "gameplay", like they are in Age of Decadence, not just "colorful background story".
Second point: when it comes to battles it's a tactical party-based RPG in real time with pause, in the same fashion of Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 (which I loved, especially the latter), just with a slightly clumsier interface (which ironically enough was originally intended as an "improvement" of BG's interface; it just didn't work very well).
 
It was the year of Risen for me.
And I saw Mario & Luigi came out that year, and it was the first official release of Dragon Quest V outside of Japan.
The 2012 one looks bad now. That was one of the weakest RPG years in memory.

I remember most people giving RPG of the year awards to ME3 because they were like "well....fuck it. What else is there?"
I think it was OK for JRPGs, there were worse years recently, but on average unless you count Xenoblade only ME3 came close to being that big RPG of the year, and even it seems a solid enough chunk of people who did count Xenoblade were disappointed, and if NoA hadn't been so lukewarm on bringing it out it would've been a solid 2011 candidate (no way could I have picked it over Dark Souls though, and the majority ran with Skyrim anyway.)

Actually, after '12 being kind of disappointing and already getting some great JRPGs with amazing Kickstarters it's easy to see why someone would be more optimistic for '13 and even '14. Come to think of it maybe 2014 should be called the year of the Kickstarter, especially if we are to assume games like Wasteland 2 get delayed.
 
You never really need to do much with the combat and such though. I looked up a build before playing and just followed through with that. There are very few mandatory fights, and you can get through them fairly quickly even if you rely on luck. Yet the story is not even exaggerated, some of the things you discover both as part of the main quest and on side quests blows your fucking mind. If combat was necessary and always got in your way, that might be a problem, but you can play most of it like an adventure game..
I know enough about it and played enough of the game to dismiss it. The amount of adventure games I have enjoyed I can count on one hand....and I played over 30 so sorry that doesn't appeal to me at all.
 
Yes, I never understood someone being super into JRPGs but hating WRPGs or vice versa. They are fairly different genres, but they certainly have a lot of overlap, mostly in focus.

What types of overlap between the 2 do you see? I'm asking because I love Japanese RPGs but it's the rare western RPG that captures my imagination.

Just because you are incredible narrow and closed-minded with your tastes doesn't mean others have to share your point of view.

Why is it so narrow if he isn't into western RPGs? Do I attack people for being narrow and closed minded if they aren't into FPS games?
 

Looking back at those, I do think it is extremely early to be revving up the hype train considering how many of those blew ass, came out years later, or not outside their home regions at all.
 
What types of overlap between the 2 do you see? I'm asking because I love Japanese RPGs but it's the rare western RPG that captures my imagination.

Well if I were to look at Hiroyuki Ito's(creator of every good final fantasy subsystem, director of FF6,9,12) quote that best defines what makes a JRPG for him:

"For me, the most important element of a RPG is the player feeling like they are taking the role of a character in a fully realised fantasy world. They can explore a vast world, visit various towns and dungeons, talk to numerous NPCs, customise the equipment and abilities of their character, collect a wide variety of items, battle many different types of monsters, and engage in optional side-quests and mini-games. The story and event scenes are also important, but they should be balanced with these aspects of RPG gameplay."

If you look at this as a quote from the perspective JRPG developer or WRPG developer, it is relevant to both. If you like one but not the other, you just may be more into ridiculous and over the top Japanese sort of plots, but core mechanics and focuses on character customization, character development and story exist in many games of both subgenres.

I don't 100% agree with the last part, since sometimes I can get by with a decent combat system as long as story is really interesting. (i.e Planescape)

I guess a lot of JRPGs are also more streamlined and have less customization options, but at their core the base ideas are the same.
 
Still the most underrated RPG known to man.

Perhaps the best exploration-RPG ever made.

And then they fucked everything up with Risen 2. I am still crying.

I remember when I thought "HOLY SHIT, RISEN + PIRATES" but look how that turned out. :(
 
Why is it so narrow if he isn't into western RPGs? Do I attack people for being narrow and closed minded if they aren't into FPS games?
I do.
I can't say I'm too fond of anyone being blatantly closed against any genre.
Personally, I always try to keep an open mind even about genres I have very moderate interest in.

Which doesn't mean I have to like everything. It simply means I will consider every genre as an option if the game is outstandingly good.

And to be honest, it's not surprising to me you are so ready to jump in his defense, as you are the very flagship of the closed-minded attitude on this forum.
Or you could prove me wrong and, you know, state for the thousandth time how you like just japanese games and nothing else.
 
I do.
I can't say I'm too fond of anyone being blatantly closed against any genre.
Personally, I always try to keep an open mind even about genres I have very moderate interest in.

Which doesn't mean I have to like everything. It simply means I will consider every genre as an option if the game is outstandingly good.

And to be honest, it's not surprising to me you are so ready to jump in his defense, as you are the very flagship of the closed-minded attitude on this forum.
Or you could prove me wrong and, you know, state for the thousandth time how you like just japanese games and nothing else.

I just think there is a weird double standard going on a lot of the times between western/eastern game fans, or PC/console game fans.. it's like its OK to vastly western and PC gaming but god forbid its the other way around. Hence why I am taking that guy's defense.

I'll admit I exaggerate my love for Japanese games and hatred for western games on this board. It's mainly due to the frustration at the industry-wide backlash towards Japanese games that's been going on for the last few years. There have been western games (yes, even western RPGs) that I've played and liked. Truthfully, I've been more open-minded towards the kind of games I played in the past (due to having more time and less options), but I won't immediately shut out a game based on its locale or genre.

Nor do I attack people for their preferences, unless my preferences are the ones getting attacked. I don't really care about what other people choose to play/do in their free time, as long as its not hurting anyone.
 
I'll admit I exaggerate my love for Japanese games and hatred for western games on this board. It's mainly due to the frustration at the industry-wide backlash towards Japanese games that's been going on for the last few years.

I don't like some of the negativity towards it, mostly ignorant comments about what Japanese games entail, but truthfully, for me great JRPGs have been very sparse this generation. I think over half the games I played last-gen were JRPGs, the PS2 had more high quality exclusive JRPGs than other 2 systems had all genres combined in my library. This generation, Tales is about the only series that continued from last gen that I cared about, and Graces wasn't that good anyways, Vesperia was cool though. Xenoblade was pretty sweet as well. Didn't find any of the Mistwalker ones to be great. Ni No Kuni is awesome, but just came out.

This gen it's mostly handheld ones, and even highly praised ones like Radiant Historia, I just can't get into, yet I can still play SNES,PS1 or PS2 JRPGs I missed for the first time and enjoy them, so I know it isn't my taste changing too much over time. I am mostly talking about traditional JRPGs specifically, not including stuff like Fire Emblem. Trails in the Sky was the only one I felt was console-tier, and that was originally a PC game...

WRPGs helped fill in that whole for me this generation, and I caught up on a lot of classics I missed.
 
I think this year has much more going for it right now in terms of RPGs. Two big surprise hits already (Ni no Kuni & Fire Emblem Awakening), and lots more RPGs in the pipeline.

The list you posted for 2014 doesn't interest me at all besides Versus, but hopefully the momentum building up this year will continue.
 
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