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Western RPGs dying out?

Craigboy2

By Craigboy2
in Computer and Console

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Are Western RPGs dying out?  

41 members have voted

  1. 1. Are Western RPGs dying out?

    • Yes, there's bearly any left.
      13
    • No, the RPG genre isn't growing or dying.
      22
    • No, there's more RPG's than ever.
      6

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Dhruin

Dhruin

Posted
Posted

No, they won't ever "die" but we are in a terrible slump. There are some games with potential on the near-ish horizon: Oblivion, NWN2, The Witcher, Gothic 3 and beyond that Dragon Age, Divinity 3 and more. There should be something in that group for most fans.

 

Saying only Bethesda and Obsidian remain is both untrue and a little misleading. It wasn't that long ago that many fans thought the cRPG market was humming but much of it lead back to the Black Isle / BioWare Infinity Engine work...take that one engine away and how many cRPGs were left in that period? At any given point, there's only ever really been a handful of companies known as cRPG houses and unknowns would pop up and add their bit - perhaps in turn becoming known as a cRPG brand.

 

What is difficult to see is a middle market and that might hurt. I got an NPD breakdown by genre in 2001 that showed RPGs were 12% of the market - don't take that figure too seriously because I don't know their methodology for categorisation or strength of the titles released that year - but we all know cRPGs are a niche. As development costs rise to keep up with "next gen" visuals, this puts the squeeze on niche markets. In the foreseeable future, North America wil probably be limited to producing a handful of "blockbuster" or franchise AAA titles - Oblivion will sell a truckload, as will NWN2, but there won't be much of a second tier. These expensive titles will need to do whatever they need to achieve wide appeal, which means old-timer "hardcore" fans might be left a little cold at some of the compromises (in general, I'm not making a claim against NWN2 or whatever).

 

That leaves Europe/Eastern Europe/Russia where costs are lower to support the middle market and indies in the lower market. Here's a quote from Chris Bateman, who wrote the script for Kult/Heretic Kingdoms:

 

The thing is, there is still a place for games of all kinds - old school, inventive, abstract, 2D... whatever it is you want, there is a place for it. But it may not be in the mass market, and by extension, it may not be in AAA game development. The top end of the market is dominated by polish, technical excellence and licenses. The top end of the market must appeal to a wide breadth of play styles. It must hit a decent sized audience. As such, it is not a great place for new ideas. [...]

 

To the gaming hardcore, I say this: Don't expect the expensive top end games to continue to meet your needs forever. Play what you like in the high market, but don't disparage those games in the high market which aren't really meant for you. Keep your eyes instead on the low market - this is where the innovation will be - it's the only place that we can afford to be innovative.

 

...either we will need to play "cheaper" cRPGs (lower graphics, polish whatever) or accept the changes paid for by the casual gamer. I don't necessarily like that but it won't change unless the industry can find a way to deliver high-end polish and graphics on a smaller budget.

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Plano Skywalker

Plano Skywalker

Posted
Posted
Does he mean "Western RPG's" with like cowboys and stuff?

 

no, the original poster meant "Occidental", not Cowboys and Indians.

 

it is just that some of us would really like to see an American West cRPG....I agree that the 19th century is just a really good time period to have an RPG, whether it is Europe-based (can we say Sherlock Holmes?) or American West.

 

not quite modern and many human societies that are, shall we say, not "on the grid" yet.

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Diogo Ribeiro

Diogo Ribeiro

Posted
Posted
Of course, seeing a characters face whilst hearing a real actor say the lines makes it seem a lot deeper than if youre staring at a sprite and reading text

 

Appearances can be deceiving, though. How many games use 3D models and zoomed in model faces and use audio to carry out the lines, but the model's mouths are either out of synch or static? Immersion-breaker right there. On the other hand, there are some moments in videogames which use text to convey situations which are much more solid and evocative than most lines ever said by some voice actor.

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Darque

Darque

Posted
Posted
Of course, seeing a characters face whilst hearing a real actor say the lines makes it seem a lot deeper than if youre staring at a sprite and reading text

 

Appearances can be deceiving, though. How many games use 3D models and zoomed in model faces and use audio to carry out the lines, but the model's mouths are either out of synch or static? Immersion-breaker right there. On the other hand, there are some moments in videogames which use text to convey situations which are much more solid and evocative than most lines ever said by some voice actor.

 

That's becoming less and less of an issue I think.

 

Take Indigo Prophecy (yes, it is my current "is all" example :) ) the mouth movements to audio are almost perfect, very immersive.

 

Looking at Oblivion's movie, it looks like those will be close as well.

 

I think the time of text gaming is over :wacko:

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Gabrielle

Gabrielle

Posted
Posted (edited)
Why does it seem like my posts are disappearing sometimes..? Am I drunk?

 

I've noticed that the mods tend to get "creative" at times... without telling those who they delete about it.

Which is why some of the mods suck. Letting the little power thrown their way get to them.

 

Edit spelling errors. Guinness is starting to kick in. ;)

Edited by Gabrielle
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Haitoku

Haitoku

Posted
Posted

They probably won't ever die.

 

What genre has actually died? Not too many.

 

I don't think things will get better however, it seems like their peak has passed.

 

The main problem being Western RPGs are almost always tied to Computers. That market is almost exclusive to Shooters and Online games these days. So yeah, and since most PC RPG players, for whatever reason don't believe in consoles... Well, there is your answer.

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thepixiesrock

thepixiesrock

Posted
Posted (edited)
Edit spelling errors. Guinness is starting to kick in.  :huh:

 

It's nice that you pretend to be drinking when you misspell things, but you aren't fooling us.

Edited by thepixiesrock

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