The State of the RPG

The staff at Australian website Gameplayer has put together a six-page article featuring commentary from various RPG developers about where both Western and Eastern role-playing games are headed.

At the other end of the spectrum is the none-more Western Aliens-licensed RPG. It’s being published by SEGA and produced by Obsidian Entertainment, the guys behind Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: Sith Lords. An all-new adventure, it seems that Aliens RPG is more likely to be an action, rather than turn-based RPG, although there will certainly be some strategic element to the combat.

Think Aliens is a weird choice for an RPG? Lead designer Josh Sawyer doesn’t: (It’s always seemed like a perfect fit to me. Somebody has to make an RPG where the moment-to-moment gameplay is both visceral and fun.) Exploring a ruined space hulk or a ravaged planet stuffed with those acid-bleeding xenomorphs could undoubtedly be cool.

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The final RPG that’s got us excited is the upcoming Fallout 3, which should be out by the end of this year. The fact that this is a sequel to an ageing franchise that hasn’t had an entry in ten years shouldn’t matter this is Bethesda’s next project, and if Oblivion’s anything to go by, it’ll be a cracker. Expect jet-black humour and people juice everywhere the combat system will allow you to pause the action at any particular time and target specific body parts.

Howard fully expects Fallout 3 to push RPGs forward by (mixing genres and providing plenty of unique interactions) for the gamer. This could be a potential game of the year. And let’s not forget that there are also Elveon, Age of Conan, Too Human and Cry On waiting on the sidelines.

What should we expect after that – what’s the next next-gen RPG going to be like? Different, say the developers. (I think the whole RPG genre is changing rapidly,) says Molyneux. (For this reason I would describe Mass Effect as a true RPG game. But I predict that the RPGs we’ll be playing in five years time will be radically different from the RPG’s that we are playing today.)

Kaminagayoshi-san sees big changes afoot too. (RPGs are already successful in mixing different genres within the field, with action, FPS. the likes of Mass Effect have been extremely successful, but they have always concentrated on creating characters, creating storylines alongside their particular play styles. I’m certain we will find a new way to develop the J-RPG. If you can mix the developments of a story and character into a new type of gameplay, the J-RPG spirit will live on.)