General News - 10 Years of RPG Trends

Myrthos

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RPGamer did some digging and created an article where they show the trends in RPGs over the last 10 years.
Most of us have a general understanding of what is happening in the RPG world, but many of the trends that were identified didn't cross my mind prior to this analysis. For instance, I could have sworn there were more western RPGs and fewer JRPGs on the market, but western RPGs have simply become more high profile in North America and more JRPGs are moving to new platforms. Also, while it was clear that there have been fewer RPGs on console platforms since the heyday of the PlayStation 2, I wouldn't have assumed that portable systems were starting to lose traction. And while it's clear that the mobile market is looking like the new frontier for RPG releases, this release trend shouldn't be terribly surprising or tremendously upsetting. A substantial amount of the population owns a smartphone of some type, and with more uniform development specs and low publishing fees, RPGs can be far cheaper to develop and release on mobile platforms than they ever could be on consoles or portables. The development process is so favorable on mobile platforms that even inexperienced developers can get in on the action
More information.
 
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One "trend" I noticed today while browsing through upcoming games and released games of 2012 is...

Where the heck are all the RPGs????

I went through 5 pages of games and found one or two RPGs. It seems like every genre of game is being released except RPGs.

I'm talking about consoles by the way. It just seems like the consoles are getting nothing in terms of new RPGs.

I have enough of a backlog to keep me busy, but still, I'd like to see some new RPGs on the console to get excited for. But I do have to say, Xbox Live Arcade has been a pleasant surprise, with games like Crimson Alliance, R.A.W., Torchlight and a couple others I haven't been able to try yet.

So I can't really complain. Oh, and Sacred 3 is coming in 2013 :). So I Have that to look forward to!
 
Everyone is waiting for the next gen of consoles to arrive. You can rest assured that Bethesda, BioWare, CD Project et al. are all in possession of PS4/X720 dev kits and heavily slaving away on Elder Scrolls VI (and/or Fallout 4), Dragon Age 3 and The Witcher 3. Plus a myriad of other games/RPGs in development for the next gen right now.
The new consoles probably won't be out before the holiday season 2013 so most of 2013 will indeed be pretty lacking of any real highlights.
 
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Good! Time to reduce my backlog a little!
 
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Next gen consoles should appear in 2014.
But Moriendor is correct - everyone is "saving" their flagship for that moment.

In a way it's not bad, as it will mean that ports to PC won't look and feel like crap. On the other hand, it's not good as we'll see only some rare titles released in the meantime, and only if they were planned already as a PC release.

There are also a few things that could or simply will happen with consoles.

First is CD/DVD/BR techonology and retail market… Will those nearfuture games be released on optic media or we're moving ono cheap USB flashdrives? It's already happening, an example is compass USB flashdrive with kickstarted Meriweather. Smaller size of USB flashdrive means less size of the retail package and that means - less costs. Classic printed manuals are already removed (or distributed as a PDF file) so no problem there.

Classic DRM that can be avoided (on some consoles) or cracked by other means will perhaps be completely removed in favor of currently popular (among publishers, not among players) always online for singleplayer games which means next gen consoles will probably support everything on internet which then means "facebooking" and crappy Zynga games plus smartphone junk are coming also to consoles. Is that bad? Actually, it's not. Once a person get's enough of that crap (gets too old for that shit), he will move to some really good stuff which means buying really good RPGs and keeping devs busy.

Also don't be surprised if the standard feature of consoles is wireless rubber (foldable, yup) bluetooth keyboard with integrated battery. I have one myself (I bought it to be able to drop a huge e-mail if needed on iPhone while not near PC) and it works with just about anything. All you need on that "anything" is integrated bluetooth or USB port where you'll plug an USBkey with bluetooth. And the most important thing about this gadget is that it's - cheap. If you want I can post a few shots of the one I use. Which means that insisting on gamepad/joystick interface in just every console game will become unnecessary.

The price of SSD was ment to drop 6 months ago, but it didn't happen. However it simply has to happen in next 12 months, and a console without SSD shouldn't be possible. What does this mean? That the rudimentary gamesave systems on consoles will evolve into a decent savegame systems that are not restricted with maximum filesize.

In any case, being patient next year and waiting for 2014 releases should be fruitful in the end. If we want only quality stuff and not clones of a bad game.
 
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Also don't be surprised if the standard feature of consoles is wireless rubber (foldable, yup) bluetooth keyboard with integrated battery. I have one myself (I bought it to be able to drop a huge e-mail if needed on iPhone while not near PC) and it works with just about anything. All you need on that "anything" is integrated bluetooth or USB port where you'll plug an USBkey with bluetooth. And the most important thing about this gadget is that it's - cheap. If you want I can post a few shots of the one I use. Which means that insisting on gamepad/joystick interface in just every console game will become unnecessary.

I would like to see a shot :) One issue with consoles is no keyboard. This might create better interface and more options to consoles which, in turn, could be good for PC versions.
 
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Okay here are three shots I've made with my iPhone on my workplace when I received it and massmailed (spammed) to the other collegues who got thrilled instantly.
As you can see it has it's own plastic "can" to be kept in. :)

That keyboard model is available on Amazon, I got it from DealExtreme (china site) with some other stuff I ordered (prices are about the same, but I got free shipment on the package).

If needed I can show how it looks like when using it with iPhone and PC, but that won't be so fast - my batteries on photo are dead and I can't make a video to upload without it. I could use the webcamera, but that'd be a torment. :)
 

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the next gen console is here - tablets and smartphones. that's where all the focus is right now.

I just found out that Red Eagle just tried to kickstart a TSG based on Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series (just before he died he gave the company a good tongue lashing after not paying their artists). It failed miserably. They chose to make the game "a surprise".

Regardless, with the economy the way it is running a loss leader like the first two years of a console is not a smart investment. Nintendo's Wii U is a surprise hit (to most of us). Their ability to market old technology has been a huge cost saver. They now have something on the market akin to the XBox and people are snatching it up in droves this Christmas.
 
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Okay here are three shots I've made with my iPhone on my workplace when I received it and massmailed (spammed) to the other collegues who got thrilled instantly.
As you can see it has it's own plastic "can" to be kept in. :)

That keyboard model is available on Amazon, I got it from DealExtreme (china site) with some other stuff I ordered (prices are about the same, but I got free shipment on the package).

If needed I can show how it looks like when using it with iPhone and PC, but that won't be so fast - my batteries on photo are dead and I can't make a video to upload without it. I could use the webcamera, but that'd be a torment. :)

Thanks, that is pretty cool. I will check it out ... wonder if it would work for the Ipad at work .. if it works for Iphone I imagine it would.
 
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iPads and such are the future of gaming. Consoles are on the way out, and have been a while. The PC will probably remain about where it is, since most development is done on PCs anyway. The RPG genre? I don't even know what that means, anymore. Games like Saints Row 2 play more like RPGs than games that call themselves RPGs, and do much else besides. Even the story telling modes are nearly identical except the silly dialog trees are dispensed with. Big loss? It's getting old talking about trends in a genre that for all intents and purposes is dead. But this is an RPG forum so we have to pretend that's not so, don't we?
 
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iPads and such are the future of gaming. Consoles are on the way out, and have been a while. The PC will probably remain about where it is, since most development is done on PCs anyway. The RPG genre? I don't even know what that means, anymore. Games like Saints Row 2 play more like RPGs than games that call themselves RPGs, and do much else besides. Even the story telling modes are nearly identical except the silly dialog trees are dispensed with. Big loss? It's getting old talking about trends in a genre that for all intents and purposes is dead. But this is an RPG forum so we have to pretend that's not so, don't we?

Your entitled to your oipion but pleases spare me on what makes an rpg. We will never come to an agreement on internet forums.Remember the golden rule of the internet. Im right and your wrong.:p

Im having fun with the current offerings and see no lack of Rpg's in site for the next two years.

joxer-
I wouldn't mind a console like that. Just make it more poweful than the iPAD and we have a deal.:)
 
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Your entitled to your oipion but pleases spare me on what makes an rpg. We will never come to an agreement on internet forums.
Of course you will - as soon as you both realize that my definition is the right one! ;)

An interesting article. It confirms what I've been seeing on my poor little XBox downstairs. The few (IMHO) good RPGs that come out for XBox also come out for PC. Lost Odyssey was a mighty long time ago now...
 
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Couchpotato, people used to know what RPGs were. The fact that they don't anymore is part of the problem :)

To me, the newer sandbox games are providing more of what I expect from an RPG than the interactive movie genre. And, I'm having fun with them. I don't really understand how anyone expects to sell a game that's got nothing but cutscene story telling in it as an RPG when any genre can add that to whatever its core gameplay is. Seems a loser of an idea. What made RPGs unique in the past was depth and complexity.
 
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Couchpotato, people used to know what RPGs were. The fact that they don't anymore is part of the problem :)

To me, the newer sandbox games are providing more of what I expect from an RPG than the interactive movie genre. And, I'm having fun with them. I don't really understand how anyone expects to sell a game that's got nothing but cutscene story telling in it as an RPG when any genre can add that to whatever its core gameplay is. Seems a loser of an idea. What made RPGs unique in the past was depth and complexity.

It's quite simple times change. Kickstarter might give us some of that old feeling but it's gone. I quite bitching and moaning and just played what came out. Try it it works.

I play more than just rpg's so for me there is no lack of games. Just don't get me started on the over saturated reused fps games, and lack of rts games now.:)
 
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joxer-
I wouldn't mind a console like that. Just make it more poweful than the iPAD and we have a deal.:)
Sorry, it's hard to believe a sizeable SSD will be a part of tablets or smartphones ever… But who knows.
In any case you're on the right track. nVidia's next gen SoC chip will render all today's consoles useless. Just one small chip. My sis in law has HTC one x with Tegra 3 and I was surprised what that baby can do. Now next chip, and this is not a leak but a plan, should be 6 times faster. Six. And the one planned for 2014? 20 times faster. Yes, twenty.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tegra
According to leak, those specs are just "pessimistic" projections so we should see even better performance. Apple's A5X will be a tough opponent and it's no surprise nVidia is very careful. If nothing has changed, Apple still holds the market and if you're going to compete with the king, you have to make something bloody awsome to dethrone Apple.
For those who care here is a test one vs another:
http://gizmodo.com/5893970/ipad-test-notes-speed-versus-tegra-3
Time will tell what happens in 2014.

But then we return to the thread title. The RPG trend is?
No story endless mobrespawn RPGs? Definetly, every year, a dozens of those appear, on all platforms, of different quality though but still you just can't say RPG genre is dead.
Epic RPGs? Y'know, those that can't be played by a retarded monkey. Um… Well.. Hell yes! Every year we get at least one, last year we had three that were not PC exclusives but also on consoles! You can't run them on tablets though. Yet. :)
 
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What an awful article…

Everyone is waiting for the next gen of consoles to arrive.

Which is yet another trend … ;)

The trend of the so-called "Action-RPGs" as the overwhelming sub-genre has been confirmed. Thank you very much to the people over there at RPGamer ! ;)

The graphics are good-looking as well.

The only thing I'm against is this "worldwide releases vs. not released in NA" chart, because it doesn't show that most JRPGs aren't published in Europe, either.
Which means that this chart is very NA-centric.

And the report doesn't mention MMORPGs much at all.
 
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Sorry, it's hard to believe a sizeable SSD will be a part of tablets or smartphones ever… But who knows.

Why would tablets/smartphones need a sizeable SSD? The flash memory is performing very well and these devices are not made for mass storage purposes and likely never will be with the growing popularity of non-local mass storage (a.k.a cloud storage).

In any case you're on the right track. nVidia's next gen SoC chip will render all today's consoles useless.
With all due respect for your noticeable enthusiasm on the subject but that is an extremely bold claim ;) .

According to leak, those specs are just "pessimistic" projections so we should see even better performance. Apple's A5X will be a tough opponent…
The current 4th gen iPad already has an Apple A6X and it has not taken over the world yet ;) . By the way the Gizmodo article you linked to was back from March and with Apple's strategy to release a new gen every six months we'll probably be at A7X in spring 2013.
Generally, we need to remember with mobile CPUs/GPUs that it's all about the best compromise between performance and power consumption. People want their mobile devices to run on battery for hours on end. No one (not even nVidia) can do Voodoo magic and pack supreme graphical performance on a SoC while still keeping battery life way up there.
When we are talking "top performance" on a mobile device then what we mean is that you can scroll down on a website without hiccups and watch YouTube vids without stuttering at 720p or maybe even 1080p on a sunny day. We are certainly not talking current gen console-grade gaming performance though. Not by a long shot.

The price of SSD was ment to drop 6 months ago, but it didn't happen.
Well, that's simply not true at all… let's take a look at some of the popular models and their Euro pricing in the past six months (source: Geizhals.at):

- Samsung 830 (256GB): June 2012 = ~€195 —> December 2012 = ~€150
- Crucial m4 (256GB): June 2012 = ~€185 —> December 2012 = ~€150
- Intel 520 (250GB): June 2012 = ~€305 —> December 2012 = ~€209
- Plextor m5 Pro (256GB): August 2012 = ~€240 —> December 2012 = ~€209
- Corsair Neutron (240GB): August 2012 = ~€240 —> December 2012 = ~€192

Also:

- SSD prices continue to plunge
- SSD prices plummeted nearly 50% in the past year (article from June 2012)
- SSD prices are low - and they'll get lower
- SSD prices tumbling fast - lowest in three years now
 
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I play all my RPG's on the PC, there are so many RPG's to play that I doubt I'll ever run out of good games. :)

Daniel.
 
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