While there are a ton of articles like this, most of which are low-effort, click-bait garbage, this at least makes a more compelling case by limitting it to RPGs. Maybe I’m just uninformed since I don’t generally like RPGs, but it seems like there have been a lot more quality RPGs released this year (esspecially in the “double A” budget class), and the two triple A releases both actually felt like a notable step forward (BG3 in design and content, Starfield in tech).
Starfield did nothing to advance tech
It begs the question, did anyone at Bethesda see No Man’s Sky?
Uh how did starfield advance techn in a big way? Pls do elaborate on that one, cause i didnt see it
More just that Bethesda is the biggest maker of Triple A RPGs and they’re finally updating the creation engine in a significant way. That said, to my knowledge, its still one of the more technically advanced RPGs (even if it doesn’t do much with that tech) and could hopefully at least work as a proof of concept to more ambitious developers.
its still one of the more technically advanced RPGs
so technologically advanced it didn’t have DSLR until a month in
Sorry, but Starfield is built on the spit and glue that is creation engine and it shows painfully
My point wasn’t that it was well made. It was that Bethesda is at least trying to update and expand their tech far beyond what they’ve been willing to commit to in the past. Compare the difference between their older games vs Fallout 76 vs Starfield. A lot more is clearly re-written and updated rather than just tacked on unlike their previous “updates”. The widespread use of procedural level generation, for example - something that wouldn’t have been possible before regardless of the amount of duct tape. To my knowledge, no one else is currently putting that much effort into trying new mechanics and tech in RPGs, and certainly not with a triple A budget. I guess you have something like Mount and Blade: Bannerlord, which is using their tech improvements to significantly increase scale and complexity of their battles, but thats a very different type of game, and I can’t think of anything else that is using newer tech to add to gameplay.
I can’t think of anything else that is using newer tech to add to gameplay
Oh you’re trolling, gotcha
Well, give me an example then. I acknowledge I don’t play many RPGs, so maybe I am missing something obvious, but I have seen almost no innovation in big RPGs esspecially when it comes to integrating it with gameplay. All the examples that come to mind are more at the edge of what is considered part of the genre, like Mount and Blade, or RDR2.
Creation Engine is a great engine for Bethesda style games, no doubt about that. But it is not a particularly innovative engine. The main innovation was just how moddable it was. It’s basically a pretty SQL database, with the formids being primary keys. (Have you ever screwed with xEdit? It’s so easy to mod!)
BUT that being said, widespread use of procgen was in Dagger Fall. Aside from a few key dungeons, everything was procedurally generated, and that was in 1996. Hell, I’d venture that it had better procgen, because they had roads. And before that, Rogue was procedurally generated. Procgen just isn’t an innovation.
I liked the year a lot. Quite satiated on that RPG scratch except for one item on the list. KOTOR is strangely absent from this time of great RPGs.
Of the games I played that came out this year, I would only classify BG3 and Rogue Trader as RPGs. I have a LOT of issues with the roleplay in BG3 (though I love it). I don’t feel like JRPGs that have little to no roleplaying aspect whatsoever should count within Role-Playing-Games, since I think some facilitation of roleplay should be provided. BG3’s class/race reactivity or Rogue Trader’s Dogmatic/Iconoclast/Heretic convictions fit this very well.
Well, that’s certainly one of the takes of all time.
Clearly this person didn’t actually play Sea of Stars. What’s next, Secret of Mana isn’t an RPG? A take of sorts!
Sorry for the bad take! I didn’t play many JRPGs or JRPG inspired games this year, as I usually find those more story led and have less room for roleplay. Does sea of stars actually have much roleplay? Or is it mostly combat/ability focused choice-making?
It’s ok, rereading your comment I see what you mean more about the roleplay aspect not being there. You aren’t wrong… I’d say the roleplaying in these style of games is mostly in which characters you use the most.
“Role playing games” is a pretty broad reaching term with many aspects. Some are just lighter on the choices or character customization is all. These games are more about the story and level/skill progression.
Sea of Stars definitely fits that mold you are talking about, not a ton of roleplaying in the making choices sense. It is a great game though, I’d say it’s my favorite of the year.
Makes sense! Yeah I have kind of slowed my roll on things that are JRPG or JRPG adjacent, probably from less time to play stuff mostly. I keep hearing how awesome Sea of Stars is though!
