What makes an RPG Good

[101MUDman101]

Hello all, while I have been working on my 2D Engine I have been coming up with some ideas for a 2D RPG a bit like the FF series. I was looking for some ideas on what makes an RPG good?

• - Storyline?
  - SFX?
  - Music?
  - Art
  - AI?
  - Quests?

What else makes games like Secret of Mana and Chrono Trigger so awesome!?

[dandymcgee]

Personally, I would prioritize something like this:

- Reliable software, fun game idea
- Art
- Music
- SFX
- Storyline
- Quests
- AI

I'm sure everyone values these a little differently. For story-reliant game ideas I would move Storyline between Art and Music. (A game with only reliable software / art / storyline has potential to be great). It's so low because not all games need a good story to be fun.

[101MUDman101]

Personally, I would prioritize something like this:

- Reliable software, fun game idea
- Art
- Music
- SFX
- Storyline
- Quests
- AI

I'm sure everyone values these a little differently. For story-reliant game ideas I would move Storyline between Art and Music. (A game with only reliable software / art / storyline has potential to be great). It's so low because not all games need a good story to be fun.

Good priority list :D Though one could argue that they are all important as if your game has terrible quests you may be put off. I guess are all equally important?

[dandymcgee]

Good priority list :D Though one could argue that they are all important as if your game has terrible quests you may be put off. I guess are all equally important?

If you are talking about a great RPG, then I would say most of these are important. But in general, a good game does not need any form of quests, storyline, or even sound effects to be great. The genre and individuality of the game makes a huge difference in how you prioritize.

[101MUDman101]

Good priority list :D Though one could argue that they are all important as if your game has terrible quests you may be put off. I guess are all equally important?

If you are talking about a great RPG, then I would say most of these are important. But in general, a good game does not need any form of quests, storyline, or even sound effects to be great. The genre and individuality of the game makes a huge difference in how you prioritize.

Wise words you have

[bbguimaraes]

I'm sure it varies greatly from person to person, but all RPG fans I know like a really deep story, that sense of epicness that unveils as the player progresses through the game. That I think is most important, obviously if we're talking RPGs. I can totaly live with that bizarre Golden Sun world map, because the rest of the game is really wonderful (maybe that's not the best example, because the rest of the graphics in the game are really awesome, but that's what came up with).


unrelated comment

101MUDman101, since alive is not external, you can't override the increment and decrement operators for int's, intelligence and sociallife are not references to alive and you can't have any others from the fragment you show, I'm sorry to inform you you have been gifted with an eternal life of infinity-approaching intelligence and negative-infinity-going approaching life.

[superLED]

For me, a great RPG takes you to a different world to explore and to know more about it. And having a great motivation to continue playing/fulfilling the main quest; Your hometown has been conquered by an evil wizard. If done correctly, you will think of the town as your own IRL town, and the desire to save it/play the game is bigger. Then it feels like it's more personal.
Music adds much to the atmosphere. Good sad music when something's sad etc.
NPCs with a personality makes the game more realistic, and you will bond to the game more.

Like the Zelda: TWW game. When my sister was kidnapped by Ganon, I really had the desire to save her. Along the way, I was attached to the world itself, and I had another reason to continue playing; to save the beautiful world that I had been exploring for a long time. The music, the people I met.. everything was a buffer to the motivation.
(I know that the Zelda-series isn't a RPG-type game, in the classical from, but I just put it up there as an example)

[CC Ricers]

For me, a very good, compelling story and/or battle system. Without both of these I would have a hard time keeping interest. I've read someone say "straight-laced RPGs are boring as hell." Honestly, I would have to agree, there's nothing really more to it than clicking through menus unless you add your own twist to the way you fight enemies or have a motive or interest in the story to keep progressing.

Even more than programming the game, I think the biggest challenge to develop a good RPG is coming up with all the content. Holy crap, is making a bunch of content for an RPG so intimidating. That's why I believe you have to have the ability to write a good story, witty dialogue, well, designed quests and dungeons. You have to make a bunch of maps, place many NPCs, write dialogue for all of them, write dialogue for your characters, and make sure they all fit with the context of your actions and the story. Making a basic engine would be the first step, but then you would have to dedicate more hours to making the content, and a few less to refining your engine.

[101MUDman101]

Though you could say that the old Pokemon Series didn't really have any compelling storyline, though the graphics were great. Also It made you keep on playing be giving you a sense of accomplishment by levelling up your pokemon through your journey. Though the econemy system was messed up as when you got far in the game you ended up with so much money!. I think the thing that made it was the massive world and great battle system!

[101MUDman101]

I'm sure it varies greatly from person to person, but all RPG fans I know like a really deep story, that sense of epicness that unveils as the player progresses through the game. That I think is most important, obviously if we're talking RPGs. I can totaly live with that bizarre Golden Sun world map, because the rest of the game is really wonderful (maybe that's not the best example, because the rest of the graphics in the game are really awesome, but that's what came up with).


unrelated comment

101MUDman101, since alive is not external, you can't override the increment and decrement operators for int's, intelligence and sociallife are not references to alive and you can't have any others from the fragment you show, I'm sorry to inform you you have been gifted with an eternal life of infinity-approaching intelligence and negative-infinity-going approaching life.

Ah Ah, but you have to remeber once my intelligence reaches a certain number it will go all wappy and probably crash my life

[bbguimaraes]

Ah Ah, but you have to remeber once my intelligence reaches a certain number it will go all wappy and probably crash my life

Now that I think about it, because of how integers are stored in most computers, you'd probably have an eternal life of intelligence increasing until the maximum value, then going to the minimum negative value, and increasing again, and so on. And the opposite for social life. I guess we'd have to check God's computer specifications, though.

[101MUDman101]

Im sure god has an epic rig, I'm thinking 16 core i7 64GB RAM, 4K Display, 4 Nvidia 580 GTX's and the whole thing overclocked and cooled with liquid nitrogen + 1000 Exobyte Hardrive

[bbguimaraes]

You know when something just sticks to your mind and won't let go until you figure it out?

Code: Select all

#define bool Gotcha

class Gotcha {
    public:
        Gotcha(int) {}
        operator int() { return 0; }
};

int main() {
    bool alive = true;

    while(alive)
        return 1;

    return 0;
}

[dandymcgee]

Im sure god has an epic rig, I'm thinking 16 core i7 64GB RAM, 4K Display, 4 Nvidia 580 GTX's and the whole thing overclocked and cooled with liquid nitrogen + 1000 Exobyte Hardrive

What? God obviously uses quantum computing.

[101MUDman101]

Or Or. God uses the universe as a computer, everytime something moves a metre it gives god 1GHz. That would mean that god's computer speed would be approximately 10^82 GHz based on everything in the observable universe.