Is There Anybody Else Who Just Can't Get Into RPGs?

[Little Red Wagon Repairman]

I don't know if my attention span is too short or what but I can't seem to get into RPGs. I want to and own a few but things never work out. Even games like Zelda can be a bit too RPG'y for me. I think I'm more used to old arcade games and want to press the start button and begin shooting at things right away.

 

[FreeOnes_Adam]

I like em, but its been hard to find anything recent I like. They've gotten too anime-y for my tastes. I just completed Links Awakening, the remake on Switch. It was good. My favourite RPGs are old school now. Final Fantasy 5-7, Dragon Warrior, things like that.

They aren't for everyone, for sure. Like me, I can't get into first person shooters, although I do like Doom 2 and Doom 64. If we call Witcher 3 and RPG, thats one of my favourite games of all time.

 

[D-rock]

I think most RPGs lost their appeal when they started going away from turn based combat. After that a lot of them seemed more like adventure games with RPG elements than true RPGs. Some of the best ones of today are still good, but they aren't what they used to be.

I think part of how much somebody enjoys a good RPG is in how patient they are. Even a lot of the old school ones took dozens of hours to get through, and to be frank a lot of them can have insane amounts of grinding. Not modern online game levels of grinding, but still a lot. Even worse if it's the type of game where the grinding is almost mandatory to make it through the game. I can maybe see if somebody is the type of person that wants to get through a game in one night then RPGs won't be for them. I remember that being a problem way back when people still rented games from the video rental place, and it was hard to get through the RPGs before they had to be taken back.

Also a big part of what makes a good RPG good is the plot, and if a person isn't the type to care about that as much they might not have the appeal as a more casual game where you have fun running around blowing stuff up.

 

[tvstrip]

Have you tired mobile RPGs like Final Fantasy Brave Exvius? It's more grindy, but the grinding is limited by the F2P model, so it forces you to stop playing if you're not going to spend money on it. So it's perfect for short bursts and you don't need a long attention span to play it.

I think it's too broad to say generalize it as "RPG" though. JRPGs, western RPGs, action-RPG etc... the line is so burred these days.

In any case though, I agree it's the story/plot is one of the central elements - you can't be expected to dedicate hours to game if the story doesn't grip you enough to want to keep playing.

The other, possibly more important part for me is a world that immerses you, taking you into a world that you actually want to spend time in.

 

[Xombie3000]

It depends with me. I've played Super Mario RPG: Legend Of The Seven Stars for the SNES, Final Fantasy X on PS2, and was a huge World Of Warcraft player from vanilla all the way to Legion, and loved all of them so much. On the other hand, I've played countless other RPGs and just couldn't get either a handle or the feel of the game. I recently played Skyrim and just felt bored. I bought Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild over a year ago and played maybe 15 minutes of it and haven't touched it since.

I can't say I'm much of a gamer though. But yeah, sometimes when I do want to play a game, I'd rather press a button and just go sometimes without having to get in a huge deep storyline. I don't wanna say it's my attention span though. I'm a huge comic book geek, so sometimes I like to have storylines which stretch out a while.

 

[Little Red Wagon Repairman]

I like my Nintendo 3DS and I'd really like to be able to get into the Shin Megami Tensai and Persona stuffs. Anybody a fan? The clips are fun to watch.

 

[FreeOnes_Adam]

I like my Nintendo 3DS and I'd really like to be able to get into the Shin Megami Tensai and Persona stuffs. Anybody a fan? The clips are fun to watch.

Never played them but they are popular. I was curious about Bravely Default. They say that one was really good.

 

[Little Red Wagon Repairman]

I just committed myself financially to RPGs blowing way too much money on them.

Nintendo 3DS:
Shin Megami Tensei IV
Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse
Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2 Record Breaker
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers
Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright
Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest
Fire Emblem Awakening
Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
Fire Emblem Warriors
Bravely Default
Bravely Second: End Layer

Nintendo Switch:
Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster
Persona 5 Strikers
Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Bravely Default II

I wanted to pick up the Etrian Odyssey games but their 3DS prices were too high.

 

[FreeOnes_Adam]

I wanted to try Bravely Default (the first one) but by the time I went for it, I found out it was a pretty limited release. It was expensive, last time I checked.

 

[freeryan]

The south park games got me to like rpgs. Originally, rpgs bored the hell outta me but with the right characters, any genre can be fun.

 

[TheKurgan]

The lines between action, Western, and JRPGS are def blurred nowadays, but I find JRPGs particularly difficult to get into. Honestly, playing some of the classics like FFV (was originally released as FF3 in North America) went a long way toward helping me enjoy the genre. It seems like the story and setting had to be more immersive when the graphic technology was not as advanced as it is now.