Comments

• GameByNight Hardware and Technology EditorMMORPG.COM Staff, Member RarePosts: 811

  October 2016

  Just popping in to add that it is just my luck bigger news breaks just after the article goes in for editing :-(
• cameltosis Member LegendaryPosts: 3,847

  October 2016

  I don't really feel like the style of combat (tab-target, action, point-and-click, pausing etc) has any impact on whether a game is an RPG or not. Each has its place and being an RPG is about more than just the combat system.
  
  That said, my concern with action combat is what you've highlighted - the lack of depth. I have yet to play a single action-combat game with any depth at all (to the combat), be it an adventure game or an RPG.
  
  With single-player RPGs or action adventure games, it's not too much of a problem because they are heavily scripted with a limited scope. You'll probably play for 30-50 hours, of which maybe 20% is actually spent fighting (the rest being travelling, inventory, quest reading etc). A shallow combat system is fine for that sort of time period.
  
  When you get to the larger RPGs and MMOs, that time period gets much larger. You go from maybe 10 hours of pure combat, to 100s of hours of combat. By sticking with action-combat (shallow), you might only be bored for 2 hours in a single player game, but 100s of hours in an MMO.
  
  
  That is the big issue, and one you haven't addressed. I agree that RPGs / MMOs can learn a lot from action-adventure games, but shallow combat means you learn it quickly and get bored quickly. It is not suitable for long term play and retention.

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• xelrah Member UncommonPosts: 40

  October 2016

  I'm happy about increased number of Diablo clones as of late. Especially so because D3 didn't do it for me. I also hope that this part of genre will move past minimal interaction between players (eg only small co-op) and embrace mmo side of things without sacrificing rest of things (because lets face it, they are not exactly most deep out of rpgs as it is already). But with korean trio on horizon one of them is bound to be at least decent, I hope?
• Kevan_f Member UncommonPosts: 65

  October 2016

  Nowadays, Rpg elements or rpg-lite are everywhere...Exp, levels, gear: see the division. It's just a trick for fake longevity.
  
  ...while RPG itselves are becoming rpg-lite. the right example is indeed dragon age, where pause is useless, and combat is action-oriented.
  
  diablo-like games? there are plenty. Except for d3..where loot is meaningless and is just a exp grinder.
  
  Strange things happening
  
• Warlyx Member EpicPosts: 3,368

  October 2016

  i miss ATB games :_( , the actual games that u play 1 heroe and have 4 IA controlled players make me sick , thats not fun at all ....i would prefer a solo aproach than anything like that , dunno who started all that but it needs to stop!
  
  
  
  
• eddieg50 Member UncommonPosts: 1,809

  October 2016

  I really cannot stand arpg games , totally mindless
• jonp200 Member UncommonPosts: 457

  October 2016

  Great observations and I agree. There is a nice breed of indie games looking back to the golden age of RPGs and many of the so called AAA titles are offering a decent experience as well. What isn't healthy now is the MMO space; not much innovation. More of a cash grab and same old same old than anything all that interesting, I'm finding most MMOs pretty lifeless. I'm not alone either based on how long people play; 2-3 months and the love affair is over off to the next release.

  Seaspite
  Playing ESO on my X-Box
  

  
  
• Shaigh Member EpicPosts: 2,150

  October 2016

  Good thing that there are smaller studios like obsidian, inxile, larian, harebrained among others that still go for classic RPG on PC when big studios like Bioware abandoned it in favor of action games made for console.

  Iselin: And the next person who says "but it's a business, they need to make money" can just go fuck yourself.
• Wizardry Member LegendaryPosts: 19,332

  October 2016 edited October 2016

  Of late there is a HUGE misunderstanding of what "ACTION" means.There has ALWAYS been some sort of action in a rpg,except MUDS of course.
  
  The combat is predominantly the action part.What i have seen pretty much 100% of the time is ACTION has been deemed as SPAM SPAM and more SPAM and it is NOT nor does it ever need to be to be called action.
  
  I have no idea what group of people or whom deemed that action needs to be SPAM.I do not endorse such a definition nor does it even make sense ...at all.
  By actual definition the term action is simply one performing a task or doing something,so as to not be sitting idle or sitting in a chair or afk etc etc.Even the phrase "exciting action"does not mean it needs to be SPAMMY,exciting can be interpreted differently by different people.
  
  So in other words,i detest ARPG's as they have been defined and i NEVER will or want to see any rpg go the route of arpg's.IMO Arpg's are not even quality games,they are CHEAP budget game designs,weather or not they are fun,obviously to some they are,to me they are just mindless no brainer dumb.

  Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
  
  
• kjempff Member RarePosts: 1,760

  October 2016

  It is not that you can't combine action and rpg and have both advanced combat mechanics and good rpg. But most games must decide what their core game is (what carries the game) - is it hack&slash with rpg elements or is it rpg with action combat, and that decision will usually result in a shallower version of the other.
  
  Personally, ever since Diablo2 I have been dreaming of a game that had isometric arpg combat but with real coop (ex: heals, buffs, tanking, crowd control, etc), AND a mmo like rpg environment (world, socializing, crafting, adventuring, etc)

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