Why Do RPGs Work? Part 2 – Progression

Starting an RPG is a massive undertaking for a gamer. While a 20 hour running time in almost any other genre is considered long, it is fairly short for any RPG made in the past 15 years, with games regularly reaching the 40, 50 or 60 hour mark. It probably won’t be a thrilling ride all the way through, either. Glacial beginnings and intermittent rough patches are practically hallmarks of the genre, while level grinding and sprawling, empty dungeons are merely commonplace.

So why play RPGs in the first place? In this series, Leviathyn looks at three different parts of what can work in a typical RPG structure, with three different games to demonstrate each one of them.