[BloodHecate]

There's been a lot of topics here and elsewhere that I might have expressed unorthodox opinions about the MMORPG, and I realized it's because I have a certain take that doesn't mesh well with the status quo. Some people want another Guild Wars, some people want another World of Warcraft, some people want Final Fantasy XI 2.0, some people want action combat like Tera and Blade & Soul offer.

What I want is the MMORPG status quo completely shattered. And fused with the strengths of several other genres.

I want the aesthetics and lore and "jRPGness" of something like Final Fantasy IV, Final Fantasy XI, Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, Seiken Denetsu 3, Tales of Symphonia, and so forth. In my MMORPG. Which mean anime and cute races and East Asian aesthetics you often get out of MMORPGs from Japan and South Korea.

With multi-linear gameplay added to a game-world. One where you can make decisions and it mean something. Kind of like Guild Wars 2 meets Star Wars: The Old Republic.

And basically I want Final Fantasy XI meets Final Fantasy IX meets Minecraft, Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon.

I know that MMORPGs are a sandbox game and even though I like jRPGs, I like sandbox games too and I would kind of like the best of both worlds. But what I'm frequently disappointed in is that MMORPGs still tend to follow a fairly strict multi-user dungeon formula which isn't my favourite kind of content. All of that stuff that I want to do tends to be done by NPCs. MMORPGs are supposed to permanently grab my attention. But it's hard for them to do that when a lot of games do that kind of content better. Believe me, I love Final Fantasy XI, and I like the MMORPG and especially the concept of it. But there's definitely more... out there...

A lot of these games are Social Simulation games or Construction games or unorthodox jRPGs. And... I want that. Why can't MMORPGs have less MUD content and more Social Game content. Is that really so bad? I apparently like sandbox games, too. But by that it means I want Harvest Moon or Recettear or Animal Crossing. Social Sim isn't a dirty word, is it? Every time I think about what is lacking and what I want, it's more Social Sim game type sandbox content. Stuff a lot of MMORPG players call a "side game". But why does it have to take a side role?

MMORPGs have a bit of this, and I think people like it. I hope as many like it as much as I do. But I want to build a house. I want to build other things. I want to use things other people have built, not just the developers.

Furthermore, I wish that roleplaying wasn't just a player created content completely unrelated to the game mechanics, and often, very little helped even by the game mechanics. I think this comes similar to the Social Sim game comparison and also jRPGs. It's hard to feel very immersed when my character is just a graphical avatar in a chat room and no reality or human condition. And only in character when interacting with a roleplaying guild on a roleplaying server. Many of whom only like to stay in character 2 hours a day because it doesn't facilitate them leveling very efficiently. You can hardly even consider my character canonically anything because while I roleplay and it doesn't affect gameplay. My character doesn't have a real canon family, alive or dead, even if I'm a roleplayer. No mother, father, brother, sister, wife or husband. They can't die, they can't be hungry. And I don't know about you, but that fact kills a little bit of the fun for me. At least Cloud and Squall have family. A bit of a messed up family situation, but still a family situation. And you'd never hear Lloyd or Genis is Tales of Symphonia say...
Lloyd: "lol genis u want to fight som mobs lol?"
Genis: "k"
Lloyd: "omg this loot I totly hav fodder 4 my weapon"
Genis: "grats"
No, that wouldn't happen. That would be stupid and nobody would buy Tales of Symphonia. But that's what happens in MMORPGs. It just all feels so shallow. People are talking about the last movie they watched or something in global because their character doesn't have family, it doesn't die, it has no character development, it has no canonical characterization, and it is meaningless. So the character is relegated to being dungeon crawler on an irc chat so that they can talk about movies and other stuff that doesn't have anything to do with the world while they fight mobs. That is so sad and there has to be something better than this.

I enjoy being a shopkeeper in Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale. Why not in an MMORPG. I like building. I like building houses and towers. I like farming crops. Feeding the animals, watering the crops. Why don't I do that in an MMORPG?

And why does everyone have to be the hero? Why can't we just be citizens of a world and have fun? Not everybody can be a hero. And not everybody should. I imagine my character as a bookworm with good magic skills. That's it. The most epic I would care about having is an important place in the library of kingdoms. So that if the heroes come by and need a special book or tome to help save the world, I'll know where to find it. Or I might be able to lend a hand casting powerful magic. But beyond that, no. I don't need to be the hero. Just the socially awkward bookworm mage character.


I've realized what I want in an MMORPG kind of exists and can exist. But that the genre is kind of in a paradigm. The game rewards levels and loot and gear. Not roleplaying. And what I want actually isn't what some people request. What I want isn't this MMORPG meets this MMORPG. And I don't actually need a very complicated explanation of what I want. I can actually just explain it with this game meets this game.

I don't want Final Fantasy XI or XIV with Guild Wars or Warcraft. I've figured it out. What I want is Final Fantasy XI meets Minecraft, Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon. With a little dash of Tales of Symphonia and Final Fantasy IX. This has to be possible and I want it. Does anyone else feel the same way?

I mean, it sounds so simple.

Alchemy pot:

Final Fantasy XI

Final Fantasy XIV

Little dash of Mabinogi for flavor

Animal Crossing equal serving

Harvest Moon equal serving

Minecraft

Little dash of Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy IX and Tales of Symphonia for flavor

Maybe just a tad of optional Rune Factory

Stir vigorously.

And voila! My new favourite MMORPG.

Am I the only one who wants this?

This post has been edited by BloodHecate: 29 January 2013 - 09:34 AM

[vellauno]

Based on your post (if you are still checking it) I would keep an eye on Archeage online, it is yet unreleased but may have a lot of the features you would like (I say MAY because for one, the story is not looking so hot from what I can see so far. Lots of sandbox, not much of that great storytelling).

Even more to keep an eye on is Blizzard's Project Titan. Lets just say a few of the devs talk too much for their own good and it is probably not something I should say, but their new Project Titan is not just a re-skinned WoW-clone MMO (not by a long shot), it has a whole lot of social sandbox and lore. Blizzard is still experimenting with what they want to put in the game and there are hints if you pay attention to especially what they are doing with the Battlenet infrastructure. Just trust me, I would keep a close eye on the next Blizzcon, since even if you don't like any current Blizzard games, Project Titan has NOTHING to do with their current games other than the Battle.net aspect.

And for the record, I agree with you. The standard formula needs to be recreated from scratch, but such a venture is always risky which is why Project Titan is what I will looking to the most since Blizzard has the funds and resources to research new gaming conventions. Mark my words, Blizzard will be the ones to reinvent the wheel again.

*edit* Ha ha, had to edit out a bit that probably breaks NDAs now that I think about it. Even the bit I wrote may be borderline. I wonder if mods can still go back and look at it =P Not like anyone reads this sub-forum anyways.

This post has been edited by vellauno: 03 December 2012 - 06:32 PM

[Jackel]

vellauno, on 03 December 2012 - 06:05 PM, said:

Based on your post (if you are still checking it) I would keep an eye on Archeage online, it is yet unreleased but may have a lot of the features you would like (I say MAY because for one, the story is not looking so hot from what I can see so far. Lots of sandbox, not much of that great storytelling).

Even more to keep an eye on is Blizzard's Project Titan. Lets just say a few of the devs talk too much for their own good and it is probably not something I should say, but their new Project Titan is not just a re-skinned WoW-clone MMO (not by a long shot), it has a whole lot of social sandbox and lore. Blizzard is still experimenting with what they want to put in the game and there are hints if you pay attention to especially what they are doing with the Battlenet infrastructure. Just trust me, I would keep a close eye on the next Blizzcon, since even if you don't like any current Blizzard games, Project Titan has NOTHING to do with their current games other than the Battle.net aspect.

And for the record, I agree with you. The standard formula needs to be recreated from scratch, but such a venture is always risky which is why Project Titan is what I will looking to the most since Blizzard has the funds and resources to research new gaming conventions. Mark my words, Blizzard will be the ones to reinvent the wheel again.

*edit* Ha ha, had to edit out a bit that probably breaks NDAs now that I think about it. Even the bit I wrote may be borderline. I wonder if mods can still go back and look at it =P Not like anyone reads this sub-forum anyways.

Oh we see everything... :)




Also.... http://massively.joy...ne-domain-name/ :)

[vellauno]

Quote

Oh we see everything... :)




Also.... http://massively.joy...ne-domain-name/ :)

I don't know the official name of Blizzard's new game(but I do know what Project Titan is a code word for which is the part I removed. Sneaky admin, could you read that part?). Based on what I do know about the game (I know the type of game it is and the setting only), I don't think the game Blackthorn has anything to do with Project Titan. That does not dismiss Blackstone as being part of project Titan though (because as I said, the info I do know does not include the official game name).

This post has been edited by vellauno: 03 December 2012 - 07:41 PM

[Jackel]

vellauno, on 03 December 2012 - 07:40 PM, said:

Sneaky admin, could you read that part?).

Not natively, no. We do have an Administrator Control panel but there's really no point in digging things up though.

You've never done anything wrong before and this certainly wasn't against the rules either. :)

Happy posting!

[BloodHecate]

vellauno, on 03 December 2012 - 06:05 PM, said:

Based on your post (if you are still checking it) I would keep an eye on Archeage online, it is yet unreleased but may have a lot of the features you would like (I say MAY because for one, the story is not looking so hot from what I can see so far. Lots of sandbox, not much of that great storytelling).

I did. Eventually..

I also noticed a typo or two to edit out of the original post.

Bad storytelling is a pretty big dealbreaker for me, sadly. In fact one of the things that makes me sad in MMORPGs is that I often have more fun talking to NPCs than players. Because NPCs don't seem to be aware they're in a fictional world. Even on a roleplayer server, players are typically going to be constantly shaking me out of my immersion with talk about "dps" this and "rng" that. Story quests and things like that are usually my break away from all the people and gives me a few minutes out of the game that day to actually make me feel like I'm in another world.

So story is very important and the more, the better. That being said, it is hard to squeeze a lot of story into a sandbox genre like the MMORPG. And a lot of good sandbox content is pretty nice, as well. Especially if it helps me to roleplay. Being able to do normal things other than just fight stuff in a dungeon like build or eat or swim goes a long way to my immersion and my ability to roleplay.

vellauno, on 03 December 2012 - 06:05 PM, said:

And for the record, I agree with you. The standard formula needs to be recreated from scratch, but such a venture is always risky which is why Project Titan is what I will looking to the most since Blizzard has the funds and resources to research new gaming conventions. Mark my words, Blizzard will be the ones to reinvent the wheel again.

My goodness. I'm relieved. I'm glad other people feel the same way.

I guess I can understand that people don't want to take risks. But I can't be the only one who has grown tired of the same method. There's only so many randomly spawning enemies I can fight before I start to think, "okay, what else is there to do". There must be millions of people who would be more interested in the genre if they switched it up a bit.

I doubt that Blizzard is ever going to give me that Final Fantasy feel I enjoy out of games like XIV. Or even just that Asian feel like Korean and Japanese companies alike do. But maybe they'll at least inspire the industry to move forward and innovate. To be honest, I'd much rather play an MMORPG that looked like a PlayStation game but had hugely innovative gameplay, than more of the same gameplay every other MMORPG has done.

This post has been edited by BloodHecate: 29 January 2013 - 09:29 AM