Scifi RPG's - Why aren't there more of them?

Yes, I have been following Underrail, and I think it looks great, but I am a big Fallout fan . Now we have Shadowrun, Wasteland 2, and Cyberpunk in the works, so while not all strictly scifi, they are at least breaking from the Tolkein-esque fantasy norm I'm looking forward to Tides of Numenera for that same reason.

I like variety myself but have no problem playing how do people call it Tolkein-esque fantasy. Never get tired of elves or dragons or even orcs never.

Simple solution start your own indie company and make your own. The big publishers aren't interested. I know I want more steampunk but alas that's not going to happen any time soon either.

.. because fantasy is superior and we can relate to it better.

Originally Posted by xSamhainx
.. because fantasy is superior and we can relate to it better.

There's a perspective that Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror form the vertices of a triangular domain space that includes all of these sub-genres. Thus your Star Wars setting lies perhaps mid-way between Hard Sci-Fi and Pure Fantasy with some elements of supernatural horror. In this perspective, there's no black and white genres: only shades of gray.

Stating a preference for fantasy merely expresses a bias for one corner of this spectrum. Perhaps with time the mind of a pure fantasy fan will open and learn to enjoy a more diverse taste in themes, just as one enjoys pop as a youth then later learn to appreciate the entire breadth of musical taste.

I can no longer stand the Star Wars universe. Bad films, bad Cartoon Network spinoff, annoying advertising (of show + Lego games/kits and other ridiculous products). Totally mind numbing bombardment. Star Wars Angry Birds? My kids don't even like it anymore. They just won't give up!

Thankfully I haven't been exposed to all that franchise abuse on the kiddie channels.

The movies themselves were pretty good franchise abuse.

There wouldn't have been any Star Wars without the first movie.

Maybe not necessarily Sci-fi but since this is the only setting I can see accommodating something like that, is there any sci-fi (action) RPG (besides KOTOR) that features a water based world, in the spirit of the planet Manaan of KOTOR1?

Since seeing the Dust and Water (Oasis) artwork from T:ToN, I've been wanting to be play in and be immersed in an environment that was built with the imagination running completely free, that wasn't burdened by a need to appear gritty or realistic. Fantasy, steampunk, contemporary or post apoc are unlikely to have that kind of beauty so I can only think of the Mass Effects which I'd be willing to get into, despite their shortcomings, if they actually made use of such scenery and not limit it to half a dozen pretty corridors.
NonRPG ideas are also welcome.

Originally Posted by Thrasher
There wouldn't have been any Star Wars without the first movie.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess he was referring to the second (crap) trilogy.

As far as Sci-fi RPGs go, I'd like to see a crpg similar to the first Mass Effect but with a greater emphasis on exploration.

Yeah, probably so. That limb is pretty sturdy.

Lol yup.

I watched all six movies during Easter, and I have to say there's a lot of silly crap that makes no sense in the original trilogy as well. Storm troopers are completely laughable, ewoks are as silly as Jar-Jar any day of the week and the fact that the death star - a space station as big as a small moon - was blown up by a couple of torpedos shot into a two meter hole is mindnumbingly stupid. And that's just the tip of the ice berg.

The truth is, none of the star wars movies has a good script. The Han Solo + Leia romance is terrible. Honestly. Yes, Padme + Anakin is probably even worse, but both cases are so bad they make most game romances seem solid, and that's saying something. Speaking of Leia and Padme: They probably have the thickest plot armor I've ever seen. They're practically standing out in the open again and again without ever being hit by anything.

At any rate, my point is: It was never about great dialogues or deep characters. It's about the setting, and I still love the setting. The Jedi vs Sith, the Force, the different species and planets and what not. I think it's fantastic.

All that being said, there is one thing in the new trilogy that makes it worse than the original, and it's not the dialogue or plot holes or characters, as they're pretty much equally bad. It is.. *drumroll*.. midichlorians. Holy Moses that one is bad. You can just do a midichlorians blood count to determine how strong someone is in the Force? Really? That's a setting breaker right there.

I prefer to simply ignore that scene and the existance of midichlorians whenever I read, watch or play anything star wars.

Albion anyone ? Background wise it was very rich and the gameplay was very innovative. I think it's on GoG now but I'm not quite sure about that. Well I just checked and no, it's not listed on GoG but it should ! Would love to play it again.

Albion is the best "sci-fi" RPG IMHO, on the other hand it is using the fantasy approach anyway. Since you come to a primitive world.

I think Sci-Fi is really hard and costly to do, and also how can you make a battle-system that makes sense for an RPG ?

It is definitely harder to make good sci-fi, as stuff actually needs to make sense. Also, due to our own technological evolution, sci-fi tends to get out-dated very fast as we keep getting more and more advanced stuff long before space flight between solar systems is available. Just look at smart phones - our current smart phones are more high tech than communication devices in most sci-fi settings, yet space flight is hardly getting anywhere. The same goes for computers, networks, etc.

Originally Posted by JDR13
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As far as Sci-fi RPGs go, I'd like to see a crpg similar to the first Mass Effect but with a greater emphasis on exploration.

I would love that.
More than any other game idea ever.

C

There was alot to like about Mass Effect. Stronger exploration absolutely. Missed opportunities there. For example: when you map traveled from A->B they could have interrupted the transit with an NPC dialog that a deep space signal had been detected. Then discover a giant derelict ship to kick off exploration, discovery and combat, perhaps leading to a "find point of alien origin" subquest. Basically, something interesting!

I think there are plenty of Scifi fans and the success of the Star Citizen Kickstarter showed that with over 8 million raised, means there are plenty of people itching for a game in this genre.

So, are there's anything new in this genre in development or planned to be kickstarted? For some reason scifi films are doing very well but the games and in particularly RPGs have so few deviations from the fantasy norm. Anything at all?