Traditional RPGs, or newer RPGs with varying systems?

[Leon 55]

Ok, so lately I have sat down and played around 6 different RPG games; 3 from the past, and 3 from more modern times. The games are:

 

Final Fantasy

Dragon Warrior

Wizardry II: Knight of Diamonds

 

FFXII

Legend of Alon Dar

Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land

 

As you can tell, some of these games are in series, and the others, well, 1 is, and the other isnt.

Now, I was curious as to which you find more invoking to play. Do you prefer the original 'level to gain skills' way, or the more (and becoming rapidly redundant) 'customize your characters' way?

 

In my opinion, I find your traditional RPGs are coming more and more scarce, and it is increasingly harder to find a decent RPG centered around story over gameplay. However, others seem to find the newer RPGs to be more fun simply because they are 'different'. I was curious as to where people stand. I personally stand on the ground that the traditional RPG is superior, simply because it would take a captivating story to make a decent game. I mean, who are you to tell 5-8 different characters what to do? THey are their own characters, and they should develop their own ways, and not how the players feel they should.

[Guest Hellfire Dragon]

Well I like both traditional and the newer RPG's. The traditional ones do have some good story's but after a while (say 7-8 hours) they seem to get a bit boring and that's when I play a newer RPG say the latest FF, I once played that for 11 hours and 53 minutes straight. So it really depends on what I want to play at the time I pick up a game, if I want a good story or some good gameplay. So in short, I play both.

[Kadski 0]

I likem traditional RPGs, especially (Prepares to be flamed) the original pokemon games!

[Maph 0]

I should warn you that you should pay more attention to the post dates. What you've done is considered necro-posting, and is against the rules, but while we're on the subject; I prefer newer RPGs to older ones. I really don't see where you guys are getting the notion that older games have better story, and newer ones have better gameplay. The original Final Fantasy barely had a plot. You were just strung about collecting crystals for no apparent reason. If you really look at it, story lines are developing to be much better than they used to be.

 

FF XII is filled with political intrigue, and the characters are each their own person. In FF I your characters didn't even have any lines. They were brainless automatons who's only purpose is to kill things.

 

Now I've never played the original Dragon Quest (Dragon Warrior outside of Japan), but I have played Dragon Quest 8, almost to completion, and I keep hearing it's the most in depth, and story driven in the series. Now, by my standards DQ8 is really light on story and character development, but it all really works with the style of game. That being said I can't even imagine how possibly predictable and lackluster the story of DQ1 would be.

 

There are aspects of every RPG that I like. Old and new. There are also those that I don't (save a few really good ones). I can say without a doubt though that most new RPGs are better than most old ones in gameplay, and story.

[Leon 55]

The reason I prefer the traditional is yes, the storylines seem sparce, and the characters with little development to them, but you must look at it from the flip-side.

 

They had little memory back then to store information on. (8-bit games were notoriously short, for the most part.) And they were the foundation of what we see now as an RPG. When the original idea of the 'Airship' or the elemental crystals came upon in the first Final Fantasy, it was revolutionary! Now, you use them and you are 'cliche' (By the way, if you ever want the story to Final Fantasy, read the instruction manual.)

 

Nowadays, I see everything put into graphics and gameplay. Some have decent stories, but for the most part, don't catch the attention of the player.