Justifying RPGs

A forum for non-Suikoden related topics.
Quing
Posts: 131
Joined: Sun Mar 11, 2007 3:28 pm

Re: Justifying RPGs

Post by Quing »

I disagree. I think that it is entirely fair to compare books and games. In terms of story, I think that we should hold the same standards for games that we do for books, and I think that Suikoden is one of the few RPGs that lives up to those standards. It might be different if in RPGs we really were role playing the characters. However, the genre of RPGs as a whole contains very few games where the player has any influence over the direction the plot takes at all. Certainly Suikoden doesn't allow the player any sort of choice most of the time. And I think that that's a fine thing as long as we hold RPGs to the same standards that we hold books to story-wise. Because Suikoden and many other RPGs like it are in the business of telling stories. So I think that we should hold the artists responsible just as accountable for the quality of their stories as we hold the artists responsible for stories in other media. Of course, maybe I'm simply being picky. Maybe I want Tolkien where everyone else wants Terry Brooks. And if video games are simply a form of entertainment rather than an art form, then I suppose that my pickiness is meaningless. But I like to think that RPGs have some redeeming artistic quality.
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