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Woow. It really says a lot about how people feel about RPGs when there are around 130 posts of pure, relentless problems and issues people have with the genre.

Oh well, if you excuse me I'm going to go slay dragons, be stopped by wooden doors, accomplish a task totally unimportant to my main goal given to me by a nameless villager by running back and forth and back again across the land to earn hypothetical experience points and magically increase my magic capabilities, although I didn't actually use magic whatsoever in doing the quest, for some strange reason be physically incapable of wearing robes or leather, get my Attack Longevity increased by 32,049(it's only at 8,735 so far) and maybe upgrade my Fart Counseling skill a bit by grinding some goblins for about a day or two, sell all my items to a merchant and not actually get anymore money from them because for some reason, they lost all ability to have other customers, almost get killed in front of careless city guards daydreaming about warm ale and arrows in their knees, have people ask me a question only to not allow me to choose the other answer because they keep suggesting I go along with the other one, lose one of my 2 arrows I used on an enemy because accidentally I aimed a bit into the plane of nonexistence on the first one, carry 7 broadswords and 9 breastplates, but not be able to carry just another one, like 9 is too much, as well as developing super abilities but still having to advance normal ones, run normally one second but then pick up a dagger and become unable to move, save a town from a dragon ravaging and destroying the whole thing and only get about 92 gold coins afterward, and in general not actually have any real consistency across anything I do or anyone I meet :D
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Supereor: Woow. It really says a lot about how people feel about RPGs when there are around 130 posts of pure, relentless problems and issues people have with the genre.

Oh well, if you excuse me I'm going to go *do stuff*
Oh, I love my RPGs, and I'm sure most of the people in this thread do as well. I'll be right there with you slaying dragons and whatnot.

But that won't stop me from poking fun at all the silly bits :P
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Dischord: There are only 2 things that bother me about RPG's:

(1) If they are good, I immediately want to buy another one to repeat the experience.

(2) If they are bad, I immediately want to buy another one to get the bad taste out of my mouth.
This is precisely how I feel about sweets. Go figure.
Somehow just noticed this posts only now...

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El_Caz: Percentages.

"Adds 6% more damage", "your speed is increased by 4%" and all of those things are just tiny boosts that add up to already existing traits that tweak a few numbers in the background. You hardly ever notice the change unless you manage to equip a bunch of stuff that increases a specific percentage by a whole bunch or if you load a very old save file and compare what you have now with what you had back when you started.

I love getting a new skill that has an actual new animation and specific use that's immediately noticeable. When you get a flamesword or something with high stats against undead (and you can tell the obvious difference from attacking with your new sword than with your old one) or a new spin move or attack or escape move that makes it look all flashy, useful and worthwhile.

This minor tidbit annoys me a bit: carrying something that you think is useful but you never know if you'll use it. Like the aforementioned flamesword against undead...while you're playing in a lush green forest and all your enemies are living animals. Will you get to find undead down the road? Dunno, so better keep it in your stash. Woops, inventory full, should I drop it? Ok, not using it so I'll drop it and use this lifesteal sword or whatever. *walks half the map* Huh, What's this? A gateway into the underworld...
A heavy +1 to you sir - this is a major pet peeve of mine. I think the percentages mechanic could be done better, like say +25%, +50%, +100%, or even higher instead of the incrementally-small-percentages. Make me believe that I am getting some major additional punch rather than feeling like I am just being thrown a bone from the developers.


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Darilon: I dislike how everything in the world revolves around you. It is rare for an npc to mention something unrelated to the heroes. They always seem to talk about your past deeds or future ones. I realise that everything *does* revolve around the player but I feel most games could hide it better.
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Daedalus1138: You know what would be cool? If, in an open-world RPG like Oblivion or Skyrim, there was one or more other "heroes" that go around doing things. For example, they could do quests that would also be available to your character. Of course, if they do them, they would no longer be available to you. But that way, the world wouldn't really revolve around you. Instead of NPCs always talking about you, they could talk about these other heroes. And if you do want the world to revolve around you and these other heroes are stealing your thunder, you could try teaming up with them or killing them.
If you are into the genre and have the ability to get them DRM-free (GOG used to carry them but not anymore as of this posting), you could get the Space Ranger games. The world (galaxy) is teeming with other AI players who do things that cause the news ticker to mention them.

In an actual RPG though, I suspect the mechanic would be hard to implement without breaking immersion, as there are (in theory) only so many "cool" items in the game world, and if the same item keeps getting stolen or retrieved... The loot would have to be some kind of randomly-generated loot in the vein of the loot drops for Diablo 2....


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jjsimp: The worthless NPC's that have no information to pass. Developers please stop giving every NPC something to say. If there is no point in talking to that NPC, I should not be able to talk to that NPC. Save me the five seconds per filler NPC. My favorite games BG1&2 are big into that and it irks me every time I play those wonderful games.

Inventory systems that can't group scrolls together or gems together, but yet I can carry 30 Two-Handed Swords. Still looking at BG1&2.

Once completing a sidequest, not being able to find who I originally got the quest from.

Having a cool character in your party, but being stuck carrying along their weak and annoying significant other.

Filler junk in my inventory...All the books, rocks, potions that have no reason to be in your inventory, but you are too afraid to get rid of it in case somewhere down the line it is important. Thinking of BG with the rotten ore, all the books on shelves, and the liquid that was poured on the ore....I kept that stuff with me for a long time the first play through.
Yeah, all of those aspects of BG bothered me too (except the packaged-deal NPC's). If I am going to have a limited inventory and no place to store unlimited items, then yes the game world should not have a lot of filler or useless items; if anything, they should disappear after the relevant quest they go with has ended or has passed the chapter where it could be ended.

In an open world game like TES, such filler junk is okay as one has a place one can keep them (your in-game house once you acquire it), but a game like BG suffers having that. The books part drives me nuts as I am one who will collect books in RPG's, but in a game like BG it is pointless. I have no house with a shelf to display the collection on...
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jackster79: A heavy +1 to you sir - this is a major pet peeve of mine. I think the percentages mechanic could be done better, like say +25%, +50%, +100%, or even higher instead of the incrementally-small-percentages. Make me believe that I am getting some major additional punch rather than feeling like I am just being thrown a bone from the developers.
Path of Exile does that extremely well actually.
- no need to change weapons for different enemies (like maces for skeletons or magical/blessed weapons for ghosts/demons or magical creatures)
- carrying lot of armours/weapons to sell if you want to earn some money
- to simple and boring combat systems (e.g. clicking the enemy to death)
- no resting
- no disadvantages (e.g. piercing weapons useless against skeletons)
- no swimming at all; invisible map borders
- no use of money except for buying weapons/armours/spells
- not paying for leveling
- lots and lots of items (weapons/armours etc.) without any noticeable difference ingame

So far that's all I can think of now.
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jackster79: A heavy +1 to you sir - this is a major pet peeve of mine. I think the percentages mechanic could be done better, like say +25%, +50%, +100%, or even higher instead of the incrementally-small-percentages. Make me believe that I am getting some major additional punch rather than feeling like I am just being thrown a bone from the developers.
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Fenixp: Path of Exile does that extremely well actually.
Hmmm.... will need to give that one a closer look. Thanks!
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viperfdl: - not paying for leveling .
Care to give an explanation? What games require you to purchase experience/the level up-sequence or did I misunderstand you?
I hate that in RPGs, magic is so boring. Fireballs...boring.. Lightning...boring. I would love to see spells in RPGs that let a mage devour someone's soul or turn someone into a hideous monster or summon a creature that can smash a city with his left foot. Who cares if they are overpowered...let a mage be overpowered...if he is high level enough. I want to see a game that lets a mage summon hundreds of undead at once...not like 3 or 4 skeletons.
Post edited December 22, 2013 by monkeydelarge
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monkeydelarge: I hate that in RPGs, magic is so boring. I would love to see spells in RPGs that let a mage devour someone's soul or turn someone into a hideous monster or summon a creature that can smash a city with his left foot. Who cars if they are overpowered...let a mage be overpowered...if he is high level enough. I want to see a game that lets a mage summon hundreds of undead at once...not like 3 or 4 skeletons.
Have you tried Two Worlds II? The magic system in that is one of the neatest ones I've seen yet.
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monkeydelarge: I hate that in RPGs, magic is so boring. I would love to see spells in RPGs that let a mage devour someone's soul or turn someone into a hideous monster or summon a creature that can smash a city with his left foot. Who cars if they are overpowered...let a mage be overpowered...if he is high level enough. I want to see a game that lets a mage summon hundreds of undead at once...not like 3 or 4 skeletons.
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Melhelix: Have you tried Two Worlds II? The magic system in that is one of the neatest ones I've seen yet.
No. I want to though. I will buy it in the future when I have more money. One thing I like about Japanese RPGs is they don't make magic...boring(I was talking about Western RPGs before).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvErgY6HpX8
Post edited December 21, 2013 by monkeydelarge
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viperfdl: - not paying for leveling .
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Nirth: Care to give an explanation? What games require you to purchase experience/the level up-sequence or did I misunderstand you?
He might be talking about things like Might and Magic which require you to purchase "training" for the next level with gold. So you get all the experience points to hit the next level, then track down a trainer and pay them in gold to level you up. It helps give gold a purpose instead of just rattling around your inventory.

Edit:

A lot of games also have it so even if the character's class levels aren't purchased, training skills is. Avernum, Geneforge, the Book of Eschalon, etc. In those, leveling is just acquiring experience, but you can go see a trainer and get say your Bow skill from 5 to 6 with gold.
Post edited December 21, 2013 by Melhelix
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monkeydelarge: I hate that in RPGs, magic is so boring. Fireballs...boring.. Lightning...boring. I would love to see spells in RPGs that let a mage devour someone's soul or turn someone into a hideous monster or summon a creature that can smash a city with his left foot. Who cars if they are overpowered...let a mage be overpowered...if he is high level enough. I want to see a game that lets a mage summon hundreds of undead at once...not like 3 or 4 skeletons.
Have you played Morrowind? I never actually got that far into the game myself because i encountered some bugs that got me stuck, but i've heard it has a really neat spellcrafting system.
Grinding, tedious, tedious grinding..
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monkeydelarge: I hate that in RPGs, magic is so boring. Fireballs...boring.. Lightning...boring. I would love to see spells in RPGs that let a mage devour someone's soul or turn someone into a hideous monster or summon a creature that can smash a city with his left foot. Who cars if they are overpowered...let a mage be overpowered...if he is high level enough. I want to see a game that lets a mage summon hundreds of undead at once...not like 3 or 4 skeletons.
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FoxySage: Have you played Morrowind? I never actually got that far into the game myself because i encountered some bugs that got me stuck, but i've heard it has a really neat spellcrafting system.
It truly does.