Putting the 'role' back in role-playing games since 2002.
Donate to Codex
Good Old Games
  • Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.

    "This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.

Why do bad RPGs still exist?

Tavernking

Don't believe his lies
Developer
Joined
Sep 1, 2017
Messages
1,216
Location
Australia
I don't understand why everyone doesn't make open world first person RPGs? Skyrim is the most popular RPG ever but not many people try to recreate it? Why are they making other stuff when it's been proven that games like Skyrim sell the most copies? If your game doesn't have a vast open world to explore, hundreds of hours of campaign story mode, state of the art visuals and quality voice acting for every line, I won't greenlight it. Sorry for the rant I just had to put this out there
 

mfkndggrfll

Learned
Shitposter Bethestard
Joined
Mar 21, 2018
Messages
546
I don't understand why everyone doesn't make open world first person RPGs? Skyrim is the most popular RPG ever but not many people try to recreate it? Why are they making other stuff when it's been proven that games like Skyrim sell the most copies? If your game doesn't have a vast open world to explore, hundreds of hours of campaign story mode, state of the art visuals and quality voice acting for every line, I won't greenlight it. Sorry for the rant I just had to put this out there

Probably something related to the amount of ressources required and the fact that you can sell shovelware on Steam for 15-20 USD a pop if you are able to give your game a nice presentation.
 

Giauz Ragnacock

Scholar
Joined
Jul 16, 2011
Messages
502
If your game doesn't have a vast open world to explore, hundreds of hours of campaign story mode, state of the art visuals and quality voice acting for every line, I won't greenlight it. Sorry for the rant I just had to put this out there

All that stuff is super expensive. Plus, those things are not necessarilly needed if you have other well-done and much cheaper presentation hooks. People have been making some really impressive pixel-graphics lately that give people an awesome iconic feel. Just because a game itself took a lot of hard and expensive man-hours to make doesn't mean it scratches an itch with the Codex's most prolific players
(Skyrim......< 66_ ).
 

Tavernking

Don't believe his lies
Developer
Joined
Sep 1, 2017
Messages
1,216
Location
Australia
I don't understand why everyone doesn't make open world first person RPGs? Skyrim is the most popular RPG ever but not many people try to recreate it? Why are they making other stuff when it's been proven that games like Skyrim sell the most copies? If your game doesn't have a vast open world to explore, hundreds of hours of campaign story mode, state of the art visuals and quality voice acting for every line, I won't greenlight it. Sorry for the rant I just had to put this out there

Probably something related to the amount of ressources required and the fact that you can sell shovelware on Steam for 15-20 USD a pop if you are able to give your game a nice presentation.
If your game doesn't have a vast open world to explore, hundreds of hours of campaign story mode, state of the art visuals and quality voice acting for every line, I won't greenlight it. Sorry for the rant I just had to put this out there

All that stuff is super expensive. Plus, those things are not necessarilly needed if you have other well-done and much cheaper presentation hooks. People have been making some really impressive pixel-graphics lately that give people an awesome iconic feel. Just because a game itself took a lot of hard and expensive man-hours to make doesn't mean it scratches an itch with the Codex's most prolific players
(Skyrim......< 66_ ).

Get a loan?
 

Morkar Left

Guest
Because bad people still exist. It's never the rpg, it's always the people behind it!
 

vonAchdorf

Arcane
Joined
Sep 20, 2014
Messages
13,465
I don't understand why everyone doesn't make open world first person RPGs? Skyrim is the most popular RPG ever but not many people try to recreate it? Why are they making other stuff when it's been proven that games like Skyrim sell the most copies? If your game doesn't have a vast open world to explore, hundreds of hours of campaign story mode, state of the art visuals and quality voice acting for every line, I won't greenlight it. Sorry for the rant I just had to put this out there

Skyrim did prove that you neither need state of the art visuals nor quality voice acting.
 

Lyric Suite

Converting to Islam
Joined
Mar 23, 2006
Messages
56,164
It's a good question has far as money making is concerned for companies. We don't have to approve, it's just a fact that the Skyrim formula is immensely lucrative and nobody is copying it, which is a bit bizarre.
 

Drowed

Arcane
Joined
Dec 28, 2011
Messages
1,676
Location
Core City
I don't understand why everyone doesn't make open world first person RPGs?

mystery2.png
 

Falksi

Arcane
Joined
Feb 14, 2017
Messages
10,538
Location
Nottingham
If Morrowind & Gothic 2 were like the Compass & the Nail, Skyrim would be the Fidget Spinner.
 

Shinji

Savant
Joined
Jan 10, 2017
Messages
313
It's a good question has far as money making is concerned for companies. We don't have to approve, it's just a fact that the Skyrim formula is immensely lucrative and nobody is copying it, which is a bit bizarre.

There could be many reasons, such as:
  • Time to Market: some companies have very strict release schedules, and want projects to be completed in 1 to 2 years. If you look at Bethesda and Rockstar, they usually release fewer games per generation than EA or Ubisoft, but these games usually have more content and replayability in comparison.
  • Personnel: these projects require a lot of people. Warhorse Studios took 4 to 5 years with a team of around 80+ people to develop Kingdom Come Deliverance.
  • Money: obvious reasons
Also, some developers don't want (and don't need) to create open worlds RPGs in the same way (e.g. Mount & Blade Warband is an open world RPG that abstracts away world exploration with its overworld map, only highlighting the important locations )
 

DalekFlay

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Oct 5, 2010
Messages
14,118
Location
New Vegas
Ignoring the "what is good" question, it is somewhat surprising to me that big pubs like Activision don't try and copy Skyrim's success. I guess they just feel it's too risky, given the large costs and difficulties involved. Even Bethesda is being slapped on the hand a bit by the market lately with Dishonored 2 and Prey selling much less than expected (not RPGs, but really good games).
 

Bohrain

Liturgist
Patron
Joined
Aug 10, 2016
Messages
1,442
Location
norf
My team has the sexiest and deadliest waifus you can recruit.
It does boggle my mind how come other companies don't do first person open world RPG's. Third person Ubisoft-style open world games seem to get a lot of funding, but maybe the suits deem fantasy RPG's too risky unless it's an established IP?
 
Joined
Dec 17, 2013
Messages
5,103
Skyrim, as utter shit as it is, had tremendous influence on other companies deciding to go open world.

Why do you think Witcher 3 was open world when the first 2 games in the series weren't? Kingdom Come: Deliverance was inspired by Skyrim's inaptitude. Mass Effect: Andromeda and Dragon Age: Inqusition anyone? Bethesda's financial success with Elder Scrolls open world formula also led them to license Fallout and turn it into an open world franchise from 3 onward, as well as eventually lead to Fallout: New Vegas.

You can also see the open world RPG mania spreading to consoles more recently with games like Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Ghost of Tsushima.

Pretty much anyone with resouces to do an open world RPG is now doing it. There is nothing wrong with that, as open world RPGs are the holy grail of the genre, but the problem is, much like Bethesda, most studios have little talent to produce something good.
 

DalekFlay

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Oct 5, 2010
Messages
14,118
Location
New Vegas
So basically they are copying it, but they're doing it in third-person because "consuls" or whatever. Skyrim had third-person too of course, but it sucked. Maybe some insanely high number of console players used it though. That would be why there's so much whinging about Cyberpunk.
 

Falksi

Arcane
Joined
Feb 14, 2017
Messages
10,538
Location
Nottingham
Skyrim, as utter shit as it is, had tremendous influence on other companies deciding to go open world.

Why do you think Witcher 3 was open world when the first 2 games in the series weren't? Kingdom Come: Deliverance was inspired by Skyrim's inaptitude. Mass Effect: Andromeda and Dragon Age: Inqusition anyone? Bethesda's financial success with Elder Scrolls open world formula also led them to license Fallout and turn it into an open world franchise from 3 onward, as well as eventually lead to Fallout: New Vegas.

You can also see the open world RPG mania spreading to consoles more recently with games like Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Ghost of Tsushima.

Pretty much anyone with resouces to do an open world RPG is now doing it. There is nothing wrong with that, as open world RPGs are the holy grail of the genre, but the problem is, much like Bethesda, most studios have little talent to produce something good.

Seeing Skyrim & all the post Skyrim games, such as Witcher 3, try to copy the open world formula is like watching modern day rock bands try and be the next big thing. Neither of those modern trends get that the fact the original's were so good because, as well as being innovative & fresh at the time, they were also done with some element of experimentation, care, and with a far less formulaic approach.
 

Tigranes

Arcane
Joined
Jan 8, 2009
Messages
10,350
It's a good question has far as money making is concerned for companies. We don't have to approve, it's just a fact that the Skyrim formula is immensely lucrative and nobody is copying it, which is a bit bizarre.

People tried with shit like Amalur, Two Worlds and Arcania, and failed, no? Those games were mediocre and sold mediocre/bad for various reasons, and maybe it told devs that Skyrim clones were not so easy to make a killing off.
 
Joined
Jan 14, 2018
Messages
50,754
Codex Year of the Donut
Skyrim, as utter shit as it is, had tremendous influence on other companies deciding to go open world.

Why do you think Witcher 3 was open world when the first 2 games in the series weren't? Kingdom Come: Deliverance was inspired by Skyrim's inaptitude. Mass Effect: Andromeda and Dragon Age: Inqusition anyone? Bethesda's financial success with Elder Scrolls open world formula also led them to license Fallout and turn it into an open world franchise from 3 onward, as well as eventually lead to Fallout: New Vegas.

You can also see the open world RPG mania spreading to consoles more recently with games like Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Ghost of Tsushima.

Pretty much anyone with resouces to do an open world RPG is now doing it. There is nothing wrong with that, as open world RPGs are the holy grail of the genre, but the problem is, much like Bethesda, most studios have little talent to produce something good.
dragon age inquisition isn't "open world", it's "empty world"
the maps are filled with absolutely nothing
 

Lyric Suite

Converting to Islam
Joined
Mar 23, 2006
Messages
56,164
It's a good question has far as money making is concerned for companies. We don't have to approve, it's just a fact that the Skyrim formula is immensely lucrative and nobody is copying it, which is a bit bizarre.

People tried with shit like Amalur, Two Worlds and Arcania, and failed, no? Those games were mediocre and sold mediocre/bad for various reasons, and maybe it told devs that Skyrim clones were not so easy to make a killing off.

Were those games really like Skyrim? Both Amalur and Two Worlds were third person from what i remember, which already disqualifies them. I don't even remember what the fuck Arcania looked like.

One possibility is that modern devs simply don't get it. Bethesda was a PC gaming company and the original Elder Scrolls followed an old school design philosophy which was more about simulation than anything else, following on the heels of stuff like Ultima Underworld. It is quite clear that the attraction of Skyrim is the LARPing factor, which might be a foreign concept to people who seem to think games are all about the pew pew and nothing else. So many games are going open world thinking this is the secret of the success of Skyrim but fail because ultimately you are still pew pewing in an open area rather than an actual map. There's no LARPing, and no simulation of any kind.
 

As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.
Back
Top Bottom