IGN - CRPG's Are Back

Aubrielle

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IGN's Jack Forde discusses the RPG renaissance through the runaway success of Shadowrun Returns, Divinity: Original Sin, Baldur's Gate: EE, and more.

Thanks to Couch for tonight's news.


It has been a truly awesome last few years for fans of CRPG games. Since the release of the new and improved Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition in 2012, we have seen a major resurgence of interest in these type of games, and the trend shows no sign of stopping any time soon. Quality titles like Pillars of Eternity, Wasteland 2, Shadowrun Returns, and Divinity: Original Sin have breathed new life into the genre, and have proved beyond doubt that it still has a hell of a lot to offer. So, you may be asking yourself, what exactly is causing this rise in popularity, and why should you be excited about it? Well folks, allow me to explain.
More information.

More information.
 
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Oh it took 'em more than a year to discover "RPG renaissance" we were mentioning here all the time.

Yea yea… Actual stuff doesn't earn $ like advertising garbage like Destiny and endless DLC crap with articles.
 
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Reading the headline my reaction was "when did they left?"

I don't really agree with the "better than ever" though.


Also, I'm a bit surprised by all the RPG related editorials in the gaming press lately. It's weird. Is it an age thing? Like, all the people now writing for the gaming are in their early 30s and started playing games in the last golden age of RPGs (the Infinite Engine era)?
 
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Also, I'm a bit surprised by all the RPG related editorials in the gaming press lately. It's weird. Is it an age thing? Like, all the people now writing for the gaming are in their early 30s and started playing games in the last golden age of RPGs (the Infinite Engine era)?
Well that's me in a nutshell as I didn't play CRPGs till the mid 90's(Infinite Engine era). :biggrin:
 
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"Since the release of the new and improved Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition in 2012, we have seen a major resurgence of interest in these type of games"

This makes it sound like Baldur's Gate EE is in some way responsible for the "major resurgence" of RPGs, when it is actually more just a part of that resurgence, rather than the actual source of the resurgence.
 
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There was a shitty period for RPGs 2007-2012, something like that

Im glad we have an incline (Underrail, AoD, Shadowrun, Wasteland, Grimrock, Deus Ex, Divinity etc etc)
 
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Some people consider shooters with skill progression classic RPGs , they cannot separate incline and decline
 
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There was a shitty period for RPGs 2007-2012, something like that
2005-2013, I'd argue. 2004 was Bloodlines (Troika's last game), KoTOR 2, and Beyond Divinity, but after that it got very, very sparse. Including 2013 is easy - it was probably the worst year for RPGs ever.
 
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2005-2013, I'd argue. 2004 was Bloodlines (Troika's last game), KoTOR 2, and Beyond Divinity, but after that it got very, very sparse. Including 2013 is easy - it was probably the worst year for RPGs ever.

We were not starved for RPGs between 2010 and 2012 (Alpha Protocol, Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, The Witcher 2, Mass Effect 2/3, DX:HR and more).

2013 was barebone because many games (DAI, Wasteland 2, Divinity Original Sin, etc) were delayed to 2014 which means 2014 would have been very empty because a lot of 2014 games were delayed to 2015…

2006 was a packed year for RPGs (more than 2005): Oblivion, Neverwinter Night 2, Titan Quest, Gothic III, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, Two Worlds, couple of expansions and many console classics (Valkyria Profile, Ys, Disgaea, Monster Hunter sequels/ports to PS2 among many more).

The only thing that changed since 2012-2013 is that party-based, turn-based and isometric are coming back as game features…in Kickstarted games.
 
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We were not starved for RPGs between 2010 and 2012 (Alpha Protocol, Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, The Witcher 2, Mass Effect 2/3, DX:HR and more).

2013 was barebone because many games (DAI, Wasteland 2, Divinity Original Sin, etc) were delayed to 2014 which means 2014 would have been very empty because a lot of 2014 games were delayed to 2015…

2006 was a packed year for RPGs (more than 2005): Oblivion, Neverwinter Night 2, Titan Quest, Gothic III, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, Two Worlds, couple of expansions and many console classics (Valkyria Profile, Ys, Disgaea, Monster Hunter sequels/ports to PS2 among many more).

The only thing that changed since 2012-2013 is that party-based, turn-based and isometric are coming back as game features…in Kickstarted games.

You do understand we are talking about cRPGs while you are talking about who knows what?
 
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We were not starved for RPGs between 2010 and 2012 (Alpha Protocol, Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, The Witcher 2, Mass Effect 2/3, DX:HR and more).

2013 was barebone because many games (DAI, Wasteland 2, Divinity Original Sin, etc) were delayed to 2014 which means 2014 would have been very empty because a lot of 2014 games were delayed to 2015…

2006 was a packed year for RPGs (more than 2005): Oblivion, Neverwinter Night 2, Titan Quest, Gothic III, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, Two Worlds, couple of expansions and many console classics (Valkyria Profile, Ys, Disgaea, Monster Hunter sequels/ports to PS2 among many more).

The only thing that changed since 2012-2013 is that party-based, turn-based and isometric are coming back as game features…in Kickstarted games.

Pretty much this.

Video game RPGs were evolving further and further away from many of the c(omputer)RPG roots that I, personally, love, and these Kickstarter games brought many of those backs (notably, Shadowrun Returns, Wasteland 2 and Pillars of Eternity, for me.)

I would say that, POSSIBLY, a distinction could be between old school cRPGS (party based, stat heavy based, isometric) and both action RPGs (Diablo's, rapid clicking, loot-heavy kill-heavy level fests) and console-oriented RPGs (Mass Effects, anything with a single protagonist and over the shoulder or first person POV (whether you get a companion or two or not), arguably KotOR and Jade Empire helped really start this console-focused trend, though I'm sure I'm missing other of these types.)

And that's all ignoring jRPGs, of course, which never really went anywhere.
 
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I really never had a lull in computer role playing games because I could always fire up Might and Magic ones. Doesn't matter if I've played them twenty times before, a good game can always be replayed, hardly ever loses value for me. I do like all the new choices these days, but there are some older games that will never be deleted off my computer.
 
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And that's all ignoring jRPGs, of course, which never really went anywhere.

jRPGs are all migrating to mobile these days though...
 
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Carnifex has raised a really important point actually - the whole notion of an "RPG drought" is complete bollocks if one is open to the past and willing to play other games instead of obsessing over what is current and new.

There's so many undiscovered, untapped treasures to find out there and even for me, so many classics that I've yet to play. Thus, an RPG drought is more akin to a blind-sided self-imposed abstinence than a real drought.

And yes, cRPGs have never really left us…
 
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There was a real drought, but not of games, rather of good RPG values...there are always games
 
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There was a real drought, but not of games, rather of good RPG values…there are always games

I remember knights of the chalice feeling a bit like an oasis in the desert. :) there were good rpgs in that period, but sometimes I wanted a stat heavy turn based game and KotC is the only one I can remember now. I wonder what happened to the sequel...
 
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THis does annoy me too, CRPGS never left so how can they come back?

It's called clickbait. With a shitty site like IGN it is best to just ignore them and pretend they don't even exist.
 
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Although not a CRPG, I would argue Skyrim's launch was the start of the incline for RPGs all round: even though it's an amazing hiking simulator more so than RPG.

The first RPG to sell CoD type numbers, reminded the world that RPGs when done right can also make a boatload of cash.

Loving the current incline, playing Pillars at the moment, hitting a PST run after that and a replay of D:OS since I haven't tried the enhanced edition yet: it's a great time to be a RPG gamer.
 
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