I just can't get into RPG's

[Insomniator]

Does anyone else feel like this?

I don't have the time or desire to learn all the intricacies... I can't play the game long enough to get into the story anymore. I beat FF7-10 100% and knew everything about those games back in middle school and HS. Now though I just don't care... I can't tell if its the games or me. I just loaded up the Witcher 2 and there is so much crap... I'll never play long enough to learn it all. I have Skyrim and Kingdoms of Amalur installed but I'm not sure if I even want to bother. I DID beat Mass Effect 1-3... those were much simpler games however + it was a sci fi setting instead of the past.

I played ~45 minutes of the Witcher 2 and thought to myself the entire time, I'd rather just be playing Dota 2 or SC2 online. No story, just instant competition.

 

[ImpulsE69]

Big difference between FF7-10 and Witcher. They aren't even the same genre as far as I'm concerned. I couldn't get into Witcher games or really Mass Effect either, but still love JRPGish games (which is what FF7-10 are). Thing is, there are very few of those types of games released on PC.

 

[BSim500]

Depends on the RPG. The "heavy" ones have always had a fairly steep learning curve. OTOH, games like Torchlight are fairly "jump in and play".

 

[Anteaus]

I'm in the same boat. I prefer the shorter, more story driven RPGs like Mass Effect and Dragon Age. I just don't have the time to play games that require more than 15-20 hours of gameplay.

 

[Arsinek]

I'm in the same boat. I prefer the shorter, more story driven RPGs like Mass Effect and Dragon Age. I just don't have the time to play games that require more than 15-20 hours of gameplay.

What do you mean "require more than 15-20 hours of gameplay"?

Required to do what?

 

[Morbus]

Well, considering RPGs are, in their essence, meant for nerds (I'm one myself), it's only natural that most people don't like them.

Of course there's plenty of action/adventure/strategy games that pass as RPGs these days, so many people claim they like RPGs, but if you don't like stuff like Fallout (1 and 2), Planescape or Darklands, you don't really like RPGs.

TL;DR don't bother with RPGs, honestly. It's for interested people only.

 

[frozentundra123456]

RPGs are one of my favorite genres, but sometimes I am put off by a steep learning curve.

I loved Dragon Age, KOTOR 1, NWN 1 and 2, Skyrim and to a lesser extent, Oblivion.

OTOH, I tried both Witcher games and could not get into either one. I sort of forced myself to play W2 until I got the the battle with the Karyn and just gave up. I wasnt really enjoying the game enough to frustrate myself over and over trying to beat that boss. Not to mention I hated the QTEs with a passion.

I do think that after a while, I got burnt out on RPGs, in that ultimately they are all kind of the same and the feeling is there that I have done all this before and it lacks the excitement of the first few times.

I am looking forward to DA Inquisition and the new Mordor RPG though, and a new elder scrolls game if they bring out a single player one. I got Kingdoms of Amalur on the Steam sale recently, and have mixed feelings about it. I was enjoying it, but the quests just keep piling up. I have such a huge number of side quests now that it almost seems like too many, like they just put them into the game to see how many they could think of, or to just extend the gameplay with no real point to it.

 

[rivethead]

I'm in the same boat. I prefer the shorter, more story driven RPGs like Mass Effect and Dragon Age. I just don't have the time to play games that require more than 15-20 hours of gameplay.

You finished DA:O in 15-20 hours? Damn, you must have skipped all the side quests, conversations, and cut scenes.

Hell I spent 15-20 hours just talking to Morrigan and Leliana trying to get them to take off their clothes.....

 

[CPA]

Glad to see I'm not the only one, OP. I read through the recent Dragon Age 3 thread and thought "hey, I'm going to start back up DA1. Game sounds awesome". Started it and closed it in 30 minutes. Went and played Smite.

I've been trying to figure out for the last couple months why a game other than instant competition can't hold my attention more than thirty minutes and I think it's just because I'm getting older and my interests are somewhere else.

 

[Anteaus]

What do you mean "require more than 15-20 hours of gameplay"?

Required to do what?

I just mean games in which the main storyline can be completed in less than 20 hours. I'm not counting DLC and whatnot. I'm am not a completionist. I'm not saying I won't play longer games, only that I'm more likely to abandon it down the road. I tend to leave content on the table unless it's an exceptional situation.

Dragon Age is actually a short game compared to the likes of Skyrim.

 

[nurturedhate]

edited

 

[sweenish]

Not every genre is for every person, and the RPG is probably the most varied genre in terms of storytelling, mechanics, and overall presentation.

Over-generalizing like saying it's only for nerds is a fallacy. Different games speak to different people. My wife's most hardcore game a few months ago was Plants vs. Zombies and Bejeweled 3. Her current FO3 character is way tougher than mine ever was. She loves that game. She likely won't play Ni No Kuni or The Witcher 2 or Baldur's Gate or Diablo III.

If the OP doesn't like the genre anymore, it's for personal reasons/growth directions, not something anyone here can hope to quantify and evangelize.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Glad to see I'm not the only one, OP. I read through the recent Dragon Age 3 thread and thought "hey, I'm going to start back up DA1. Game sounds awesome". Started it and closed it in 30 minutes. Went and played Smite.

I've been trying to figure out for the last couple months why a game other than instant competition can't hold my attention more than thirty minutes and I think it's just because I'm getting older and my interests are somewhere else.

I had just the opposite experience. I just finished the Awakenings expansion to DAO after getting it on a steam sale, and really enjoyed it. I kept saying to myself that I had forgotten how much I enjoyed Bioware games before they sold out to EA and started making mmos.

I have to say though that I imported my mage from the base game so I had a ready made powerful character. It took me 20 hours to finish this expansion. If someone finished the base game in 20 hours, I think they missed a lot.

 

[SlitheryDee]

There are some RPGs that I like a lot. I played Skyrim for almost 150 hours. Had a badass character with maxed out everything by the end of the game. Same with Fallout 3. I played both Darksiders games for around 100 hours each as well.

Games like The Witcher or pretty much all the Bioware RPGs I can't seem to get into. I also can't do JRPGs anymore. Anything that puts an emphasis on grinding to gain levels to progress in the game is out for me now. I get bored with that immediately.

I think with games like Skyrim, I never felt like I was grinding because I was always doing something. There was always a mission or piece of loot I was going after. My character always felt like he was getting stronger. I was fascinated by every new location that popped up on my map, and I ended up exploring almost every one of them. Near the beginning of the game, when I was really supposed to be going somewhere to learn my first shout or something, I ended up getting sidetracked by a cave that I saw on my map. When I got to that cave I noticed more nearby locations to explore, so I checked all of them out. Each one lead me somewhere else until I found I had spent something like 20 hours of game time just clearing out locations and had revealed most of the world map. I enjoyed every minute of this for some reason. By the time I got back to the main story my character was ridiculously powerful for that part of the game and I breezed through it easily. Skyrim just has whatever it is that gets me deep into an RPG.

I'm not sure what's wrong with The Witcher and the bioware games. For some reason I can't make myself get invested in them. The stories don't interest me, and the combat systems are just a little too frustrating for me to enjoy I guess.

 

[amddude]

You might like Fallout

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I'm the same I have been enjoying fallout new vegas

 

[Arsinek]

I just mean games in which the main storyline can be completed in less than 20 hours. I'm not counting DLC and whatnot. I'm am not a completionist. I'm not saying I won't play longer games, only that I'm more likely to abandon it down the road. I tend to leave content on the table unless it's an exceptional situation.

Dragon Age is actually a short game compared to the likes of Skyrim.

Ah, so youre not counting mmo's?

 

[artemicion]

Personal pet peeve of mine with some RPG's is that they require too much investment to get immersed in the lore. I tried playing Shin Megami Tensei 4 for awhile and I had to try too hard to remember what all the spells did, because they had weird names, like "agi" were fire spells, "bufu" were ice spells, "zio" were lightning spells . . . I'd rather they had more understandable names (like fire, ice, lightning).

Same thing with Final Fantasy 13. Opening dialogue was all "fal'cie" this, "l'cie" that, Pulse, Cocoon, other gobbledygook . . . after about 2 hours I was just like, f this, I'm not even sure if these words are people, places, things, etc.

On top of that, it seems like a lot of RPGs are suffering from bloat, with each new franchise or sequel trying to come up with some new, overly complicated twist on how to level, progress, battle, etc. while retaining a lot of the features from past RPGs.

Anyway, not trying to imply that any of this is objectively good or bad. Just saying as a grown man without enough time to fully immerse myself into these games, it's just not an enjoyable experience. Much easier to stick with the simpler and familiar games.

 

[Insomniator]

You might like Fallout

I've finished fall out 3 and by the end never wanted to see that game or environment ever again. I think I only finished it because the combat was cool.

 

[SMOGZINN]

Does anyone else feel like this?

I don't have the time or desire to learn all the intricacies... I'd rather just be playing Dota 2 or SC2 online.

Dota2 and SC2 have a lot of intricacies. If you think they don't then you are one of the reasons I can't play those games.

Personally I can't play DOTA2 type games with PUGS. To me it feels a lot like pulling nose hairs. Each time someone does something stupid a single tear rolls down my cheek. By the end of an hour my keyboard is wet and I can't type anymore.

I am much happier spending that hour playing a RPG where I control all the characters. Who cares if it takes me 4 months to play one game if I enjoyed every minute of it.

 

[lilrayray69]

I've heard so many people say great things about games likes The Witcher and Dark Souls, but whenever I try to play them I just can't get into it. I end up closing it in an hour and never go back. Personally I prefer fast paced combat and I'm not a huge fan of games with classes and points systems for attributes and whatnot.

 

[artemicion]

Dota2 and SC2 have a lot of intricacies. If you think they don't then you are one of the reasons I can't play those games.

Personally I can't play DOTA2 type games with PUGS. To me it feels a lot like pulling nose hairs. Each time someone does something stupid a single tear rolls down my cheek. By the end of an hour my keyboard is wet and I can't type anymore.

I am much happier spending that hour playing a RPG where I control all the characters. Who cares if it takes me 4 months to play one game if I enjoyed every minute of it.

LOL. Players like you are the reason why I could never get into DOTA 2. Played single player tutorial for about thirty minutes, saw how overwhelming the number of options, classes and items there were + knew how newb unfriendly the game community is = just walk away.

 

[desura]

If you think about it, any game that has a character and storyline is an RPG.

So for instance, I consider Halo to be an RPG. I consider Call of Duty an RPG.

 

[nurturedhate]

If you think about it, any game that has a character and storyline is an RPG.

So for instance, I consider Halo to be an RPG. I consider Call of Duty an RPG.

By that logic pacman, galaga and monopoly are RPG's along wiht basically every game ever... thinking... maybe not solitaire.

 

[Red Storm]

If you think about it, any game that has a character and storyline is an RPG.

So for instance, I consider Halo to be an RPG. I consider Call of Duty an RPG.

That's fine if you do, but the majority of gamers do not and so they don't.