This Quarter Could Be The Best Yet For RPG's

Trendy Gamers: The second quarter of 2012 may very be the best in a long time for RPG’s. After a sluggish start on the role-playing front, this generation of consoles has finally gotten its act together. While the past seven years have seen gamers forced to wait for months at times between decent RPG releases, the Spring and Summer of 2012 look to more than make up for the past droughts.

[Dante112]

Gonna be hitting Xenoblade Chronicles hard over my brother's house.

[Chitown71291]

Dude there has "almost" been no good RPGS this generation

[_Aarix_]

Agreed. My last favorite rpgs i played was fallout and lost odyssey. We need more rpgs and less shooters. We have a shooter for everything now.

[Canary]

There have been a ton. Maybe not on home consoles, but handhelds have seen a huge number of top-tier RPGs.

And who the hell thinks this Game of Thrones RPG will be anything more than vaguely mediocre? Even if the mechanics were well done, it'd still be too horridly constrained by the limited source material it covers for the story to have much meat to it.

[Captain Qwark 9]

lost odyssey
demon souls
dark souls
dragon age origins
mass effect 1/3
star ocean 4 ( may be solo here but i enjoyed it a lot )
the witcher 2

to name a few, im sure there are plenty more i havent played.

there may not be nearly as many as ps2 days no doubt, but there are still plenty and demon/dark souls are without question 2 of the best ever

[Chitown71291]

Hence why I put "almost" in quotations to put emphasis on it. I was comparing it to last generation.....

Last Generation: Kingdom Hearts 1&2 , Final Fantasy X,Final Fantasy XII Disgaea , Dark Cloud, Dark Chronicle, Xenosaga, Star Ocean....just to name a few from last gen......This gen has been lacking in that area imo......

[Reibooi]

In my opinion there have been just as many good RPG's this gen as there were last gen the only big difference is that we have not seen a Kingdom Hearts game and the only Final Fantasy we have seen everyone hated.

But those 2 aside there have been plenty of great and new RPG's like Valkyria Chronicles, Xenoblade, Last Story, Folklore, Disgaea 3 and 4, Lost Odyssey, Dark Souls, Demon souls, Tales of Vesperia, Eternal Sonata and so on and so forth and that list isn't even counting the Atelier series which has seen 3 or 4 games this gen and the more middle of the road games like Trinity Universe and Hyper Dimension Neptunia and it also doesn't take into account western RPG's. So yeah there have been tons of great RPG's

[Bleucrunch]

@ AArix...this gen has been all about shooters...last gen was more action/adventure and RPGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG's... .Hopefully the next wave of consoles makes more RPG's

[GamePodunk]

Yeah, April is definitely going to be all about Xenoblade for me; a friend in Europe was telling me she put more than 100 hours into that game. Can't wait!

[TrendyGamers]

I heard that it took 60 hours to beat, so having over 40 hours of sidequests is just an added bonus.

[limewax]

Those extra 40 hours probably wont cover all sidequests anyway, not to mention all the extra monsters to go beat. Seriously its a fantastic game. Even designed so multiple playthroughs are a little more tempting. I hope it renews some faith in the JRPG for the US since the last good one was probably Lost Odyssey

[icewater85]

I liked Tales of Vesperia more than Lost Odyssey and I'm currently playing Tales of Graces f now. But i have played many RPG's both the east and west that I really like but, I tend to like games most people don't.

[Stinky_Fish]

I do not like this article. To much senseless generalization

"Xenoblade proves that the traditional JRPG can adopt modern gameplay elements and still stand out as a viable and exciting genre."

This isnt traditional, it adopts the ff 12 mmo single player style battle system. Rpgs from japan have been thriving this gen, over 200, its always been exciting and viable, we dont need this kind of sensationalism.

And they just ignore, disgaea 3......

game of thrones is confirmed shovel ware, risen 2 is just not good, dragon dogma is not an rpg

and darkstalkers is NOT AN RPG..............

And no mention of gungir.................I mean come on

@ below

I apologize, I had fighting games on the brain..........

Oh and why no mention of fire emblem and kingdom hearts? both games comeing out this quarter

This was a really great quarter for rpgs graces f, devil survivor 2, 13-2, suikoden psp, beyond the L, tales of graces, and more

[NovusTerminus]

I think you mean Darksiders...

[BringingTheThunder]

I also think you mean Gungnir.

And you mentioned Tales of Graces f twice and half those games you mentioned arent coming to North America until later.

[Stealth2k]

I assume it was mentioned twice to make a point. And it doesnt matter when they come to north america........

other games missing are inazuma eleven 2 which is releasing in europe soon

and atelier arland 3

In terms of localizations with fire emblem, ninokuni, tales of xillia, pokemon black white 2, agarest 2, REXX, class of heroes 2, growlanser, legisticia, mugen souls, kingdom hearts, paper mario

all coming before the end of the year this is the best end of gen year for localizations ever

[kevnb]

risen 2 is going to be great atleast on pc, risen 1 and the first three gothic games rocked too. PC gaming is different than console gaming, some of these more pc styled games should only be played on pc.

[VirtualSamadhi]

You mean a great time for tradition jRPG "ADVENTURE" games? Yeah, it is. My RPG period was when Dark Souls and Skyrim released within a single quarter. I don't consider jRPG's with linear features within the realm of the Gary Gygax RPG genre at all. Nor am I impressed by all these sensationalist articles by marketing folk whose eyes boggle everytime someone flashes them a quarter.

[Stinky_Fish]

Did you take your meds today?

rpgs made in japan are just as much rpgs as rpgs made in the west.......lack of linearity is not a requirement, and really no rpg has any meaningful choices............

chill

[kevnb]

there was some that did, not so much anymore.

[Saladfax]

Western RPGs and JRPGs *are* two different genres. Similar in some fashions, yes, each with their own style, tropes, and audience.

Nothing wrong with either, it's just a strange example of two different regions coming up with their own ideas of a relatively similar concept.

[VirtualSamadhi]

Disagree, as jRPG's (the "RPG" in the title is deceptive) do not follow the rules laid down by Gary Gygax over a decade or several ago. They are semi-linear adventure games with a role already defined for you.

[RedDead]

Go to bethesda forums. Ask how many people see Skyrim as an Action adventure or an RPG.

[specialguest]

Skyrim and other recent WRPG are not even true RPGs. All of the core rules and elements that makes an RPG are gone. The game is more of an action adventure game set in an open world with "sandbox" type of gameplay.

There's a thread explaining more in detail of why it's not an RPG. http://www.escapistmagazine...

[LightofDarkness]

I believe there were other more insightful points made in that thread that point to Skyrim being a more "pure" form of RPG than Mass Effect or Final Fantasy games.

Role-playing just means changing one's behaviour to fill or adopt a role. That just means that the game needs to allow for the player to determine what that role may be as openly as possible and allow them to fill it immersively and successfully. Bethesda RPGs do this better than almost any other. You are NOT limited to one character class, race, play-style or story. You adopt the role of YOUR character as YOU see fit in a setting and loose guiding narrative forged by the story/dungeon master, just like the old pen and paper RPGs.

In essence, RPGs are generally like playing pretend, where at the start you say "I want to be a..." and just go for it.

The first Final Fantasy did this, but it was somewhat dropped as the series went on (until XII with its IZJS, which is why I maintain it's one of my favourite FF games despite the crying fanboys).

That's why COD and other such games aren't RPGs. You are a marine, you will shoot the terrorists and the story is set in stone. If COD were to be a true RPG, it would have to let you choose to be a marine, terrorist, engineer, spy, arms dealer etc.; let you talk your way or sneak your way out of confrontations, buy and sell goods, define your own skills and allow you to make various in-game story choices that affect the narrative in myriad ways.

RPGs DO NOT have to follow D&D rules to be considered RP. LaRPing existed long before D&D.

[VirtualSamadhi]

I actually agree completely, but they are far more akin to RPG's, in the sense that you get to define your character, than games such as Final Fantasy, where the role is already defined. The lack of meaningful choices is disappointing compared to games from the 1980's and early 90's, but it is the best we get nowadays, and at least allows some freedom of choice, both when roaming, and when stat-building, as well as the wonderful joys of dungeon crawling, a D&D specialty. jRPG's, on the other hand, while definitely a meaningful genre, define choices for you, and by definition, come across as some of the world's most technical screensavers.

[FunAndGun]

I'm here for the Khaleesi

[bobrea]

People seem to forget that the Witcher 2 has already been out for a year. It's an awesome game, but not new

[deep_fried_bum_cake]

It's not that people forget, it's that it's a game which people who don't game on the PC haven't had the chance to experience, therefore it is a new game to them.

[enfestid]

Pretty sure the quarter that includes Diablo III wins by default.