The Big Four - a lucid and liberal forum poll

I don't think I could make this an official poll, the potential small variants would be overwhelming, but I think as a general discussion version of a poll, where personal description is more important than bullet-point, I could make something vaguely interesting.

We can discuss "what is an RPG" until the cows come home, but the actual reality of what games we're presented with and most likely demand tend to come from four grand categories:

The Blobber
The Long Zoom Isometric
The First Person/Close-up Third Person
The Looter/Grinder

So you can have turn based or real time Blobbers, but you can't have RTwP Blobbers (why would you...). You can have real time, turn based or RTwP isometric. You can have real time, RTwP and turn based First Person/CuTP. You can have all three again with Looters/Grinders - but generally speaking what happens is:

The Blobber = Turn Based
The Long Zoom Isometric = Real Time with Pause
The First Person/Close-up Third Person = Real Time
The Looter/Grinder = Real Time

Yes, I know, there's numerous exceptions to the rule, but if someone said they were going to make a new game and only gave you the initial descriptor of the format, such as the first list, what would automatically enter your head? What would your first question be? Example:

"I'm going to make a new Isometric RPG!"

"That's awesome, dude. Is it going to be RTwP, yes?"

To which the game maker has the three choices of answer:

1. "Yes, it's going to be RTwP."

"Awesome, sign me up" or "Oh gawd, I can't stand RTwP".

2. "No, It's going to be Real Time."

"Awesome, sign me up" or "Oh gawd, it's going to be really casual isn't it."

3. "No, it's going to be Turn Based."

"Awesome, sign me up" or "Oh gawd, it's going to be really fiddly and slow isn't it."

And by this time we've kind-of summed up the state of RPGs in the current marketplace, the four polarised divisions, each with their own most loyal of fans, which is then split into three sub-divisions of method of delivery. Each, again, with its own set of polarised loyal fans.

We might all think that we are fully liberal RPG players who are happy to embrace all forms of RPGs, but, in reality, most of us just stick to the specific make-up of the above categories that appeals to us most. And even by offering equal attention to all forms of RPG, it's still easy to spot which games make which people particularly and unusually happy.

There is more to this, much more, and there's countless slants to this situation, hence I'd like to open this debate up to further polling and discussion.

Which two combinations get you the most exited? Which combination feels, to you, like the "most real RPG"? and why?

(no 'correct' answers required or desired)

What's this "blobber" term? I saw somebody use it a couple of weeks ago but I don't think I ever heard it used for RPGs before that.

I personally do not stick to one type of RPG. My favorite style of RPG is always changing. I just like an RPG that gives me creative freedom to express myself with its game mechanics. That's all I really ask for.

So, be it blobber, RTwP, turn-based, isometric, first-person, whatever, I'm cool with it (if it has the proper RPG elements in tact).

If I were designing an RPG myself, I would make a first-person, RTwP game. Something with a system similar to Morrowind and Baldur's Gate, in first-person. There would also be party members but their AI would be their own, similar to how NWN does it. You would control one character and use the RTwP combat to dictate their combat. That combat combined with an open rule system that is complex and allows endless customization and possibilities (such as Morrowind and beyond), and it would be a game I would really like to play.

In short, Elder Scrolls meets Baldur's Gate. Someone Kickstart that.

My first crpg's were blobbers in the vain of the Wizardry series and Might and Magic series (my first crpg was Wizardry 1: PGotMO), and maybe its because back then in my younger years I enjoyed playing those series more than the isometric-type (except in dungeons) Ultima series, that I just can not really get into the Isometric/Overhead RTwP combat. Ive never really been able to put my finger on why though. I really enjoy blobbers much more. So I guess my choice would be first person with turn-based combat. My second choice would be iso / turn based, like D:OS or first person out of combat and isometric (or whatever you want to call the view) in combat, like Realms of Arkania. Im not a big fan of realtime combat at all, but deal with it for games like The Elder Scrolls or Diablo or something along those lines.

Zloth said:

What's this "blobber" term? I saw somebody use it a couple of weeks ago but I don't think I ever heard it used for RPGs before that.

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I heard the term first in the CRPG book project, actually. Must have been living under a rock. From the Dungeon Master article:

Players controlled a party of four characters that acted as a single “blob” (hence the term “blobber”).
(..) real-time first person party- and tile-based RPGs – aka “blobbers”.

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A picture from Wiz8 I found on the Codex Forums:



While your characters can be positioned, they are all in a Blob and move in unison, as a single entity.

As for the OP, what gets me excited most are all RPGs that let me play with my 3-4 standard characters (LMK+P). So from your Big Four I'd prefer The Blobber or
The Long Zoom Isometric.

In particular:

- party-based
- class-based (or at least appropriate specializations possible)
- turn-based or RTwP
- all custom characters (not pre-defined)

That said, I did also really enjoy single character games like Gothic, Mass Effect etc., so I'd say it depends on my mood.

Arhu said:

While your characters can be positioned, they are all in a Blob and move in unison, as a single entity.

Click to expand...

Oooohhh! OK, I get it, thanks.

Don't know that I favor any of them from a philosophical standpoint, but all my favorite RPGs are blobbers with a few first person games that would make my "top 10".

I've got my favorites within each of the "categories' of CRPGs you came up with. So I guess you can say I'm "equal oppportunity" when it comes to CRPGs.