What is it about RPGs that make them so unbearable if they don't have gripping (or at least decent) stories? Is it the time investment - wanting something to keep you enthralled for those 40+ hours?
Pic related and Tales of Zestiria are the bane of me. They're gameplay is mostly fine (#FE's being incredibly fun and well-made), but fuck are their stories boring.
>>343384206
No story > good story > shit but forced story
t. fan of roguelikes and dungeon crawlers.
>>343384410
Fuck, you're right. But having no story only really meshes with shit like dungeon crawlers because they put such a greater focus on the gameplay and difficulty, and expect you to spend about 99% of your playtime in combat (at least, in regards to games like Etrian Odyssey).
>>343384206
That's pretty much it.
You're gonna be experiencing the gameplay and story of the game, dealing with the characters, getting to know their personalities, problems, and learning more about their world for around 40 to 100 hours. And a relatively lenghty chunk of those hours will be spent in dialogues and cutscenes.
If the themes and story don't go out of their way to be forced on you, you can still enjoy a game just fine, like for example something like Etrian Oddisey or older dungeon crawlers in general. But shit like this game is gonna be in your face at all times.
I mean, it's fine if you want to play it and if you find it fun. But I think that there are plenty of other older and interesting RPGs out there that would be more worthwhile than #FE.
>>343385162
Can you give some examples of worthwhile RPGs? I'm dropping #FE after about 20 hours.
I'm currently playing Trails of Cold Steel at the moment, and it's really captured this sense of "scale". Really enjoying it so far.
Many RPGs don't have compelling gameplay. Interesting character building, complicated mechanics, and perhaps even just fun combat but typically it's never as deep as a genre like fighting games or straight up action games. Add to it RPGs tend to have very long run times you spend hours upon hours doing the same gameplay over and over again. Specifically turn-based JRPGs can get bad about it since it sometimes encourages grinding and battles tend to be slower paced.
So when you spend sometimes 30 to 100 hours doing the same gameplay which is only "decent" you better hope you have something else that supports the experience. Often times that's a well made world, story, characters, or other aspect. So when you don't have any of that the whole experience is pretty shitty.
TL;DR RPGs don't have the best gameplay and if the story or world isn't interesting on top of it you're left with a mediocre game that goes on for a long time.
>>343384206
I play RPGs primarily for the gameplay. A good story is obviously a good thing, but it's not essential.
They're lengthy, slow paced games and few of them have the kind of engaging and challenging gameplay necessary to maintain your attention on gameplay alone.
Lost Odyssey is nearly perfect.
Xenoblade Chronicles X it's another example of this. The devs put their efforts on the gameplay and sidequests (which give you great world building on the different cultures on the planet) but the story was barebones aside from chapter 5When you find out you're a robotand chapter 12 which is the ending. And look at the prequel. The gameplay is slower but the story is more richer with good characterization. But we have to see that jrpgs have lower budget than AAA titles so it's harder to balance a good narrative and gameplay without cutting corners
>>343384206
I don't really care about the story itself but unlikeable characters kill the game for me. #FE is alright.
It's in the name. Role-playing game. If the game's story is not doing a good job putting you into the role, then you have less fun. RPGs are the one genre of video games where story really does matter.
>>343384206
Japanese RPGs are not RPGs and they are all universally trash
