Even though I grew up with an Atari (yes, I'm that old, but I was only like 3 or so when my parents bought it) and my brother had an NES, my first console was the PlayStation and the game that kept me up all night for weeks on end was Final Fantasy VII. I would sometimes go to school without having slept at all. For me, an avid book reader, it was like being the main character in a book, experiencing the plot unfold around me.
It's been over 10 years since then, and no other RPG has lived up to that experience for me, but the RPG is still my game of choice. Ever since the advent of the MMORPG, though, I feel that this genre has taken a different turn. Games like the Morrowind series have a very massive world, but a loose storyline with literally hundreds of sidequests. Others, like Fable, have a much more direct storyline, but still allow you to wander around a bit. But I haven't emotionally invested in those characters like I did in FFVII. I literally cried for days when Aeris died. (Don't laugh)
I've played WoW, FF Online, and other MMORPG's and enjoyed them, but sometimes I just want to be anti-social and get lost in the world of a traditional RPG. But after being disappointed, yet again, by the latest installment of the Final Fantasy series, I'm wondering if the days of the traditional single-player RPG are numbered.

tbh mmorpgs arent as fun as rpgs online, however, theres are some mmorpgs i like, so it really depends on the game, but tbh i love multiplayer so ya :\

The main selling point of an MMORPG is the social interactions possible. Unlike single-player RPG's, virtually anything can happen due to the human factor. Things can get quite unpredictable, which is a good thing for a lot of gamers. Also, for a good MMORPG, the game could very well never end, with admins and the development team working on releasing new maps, monsters, weapons, items, quests or spells all the time. You can join a clan, raid a tower, go PKing, make new friends, heck, even some games allow you to marry online!

The main advantage of a single-player RPG is that you don't have to pay to play it. Sure, you'd shell out cash initially but, after that, you can play all you want without spending for anything more than electricity. Now, it might not be a big thing for broadband users like a lot of people but for dialup users like me (Don't ask why I'm still on dialup; it's a long story) it can be a bother. Also, many a person so immersed into an MMORPG has cursed at the fatal effects of network problems. One minute, you're charging up the ultimate spell, a fluke and a few moments later, your character is dead, surrounded by the loot you've taken quite a while to collect. Frustrating, isn't it?

In any case, both have their pros and cons. I don't think any of the two, RPG's and MMORPG's are bound to be phased out anytime soon

I would allso agree. I have not found a worthy rpg game in years. Mmorpg's lack charachter(spelling?) atachment but give a friendship avialibility. Though with an rpg it's easy to get atached to your character( just like final fantasy 7 and 8)most rpg's come to an end. Mmorpg's don't end, but can get boring if you get waaaaay to strong or cheat or do all the quests. Leme list off some good rpg games and some flaws

Final fantasy games- good plot! usualy well thought out. But can be frustrating as it comes to an end. The ff games are very unflawed besides the fact that olny one person cna play it at a time.

Morrow wind- a long game. And you can do any thing you want , and then continue the plot. The game is not to deeped into your charachter though.

Runescape- this game need's to get their stuff together. There new updates have made a lot of people angry. It's nice how you can combine so many skills to be good. But there are so many flaws it would take me an hour to list em all.

Diablo2(exp). Good game. A bit short. But insain fun. Can be single or multi. Cheating or no cheating. Sweet armour and plot. The plot is more aboout diablo and baal then the hero. There is a part 3? I dunno. But there should be. This game was fun and kept you thinking on how to be awsome for hours.

Dragon fable/ adventure quest-you are a hero in the game. The game lastlong. The plot is there. But is so messed around with it stinks. That and if you go questing. When you level. They do to so you must allways have the best every thing. Which is boring to get and takes time, work and bordum. Dragon fable has a tad bit better indepth on plot. But dosn't let you go of to far. You must buy the full version of both to realy do good on it.

Shining force 2/1- for all you noob's out there. That is sega gold gamin. This game had a plot that will make you cry. It was fun and all.Had no flaws beside you being angry a good game is over.



I would say rpg's would be best played by your self on the game. Maby 2 player would be cool. But just have a friend sharing playing the game wiht you if you wana"go online".

Haha. I'm an anti-social type of person by nature, not because of the RPG/MMORPG thing (although I play MMORPG/RPG's quite often). But wow, crying when Aeris died in Disc One o_O. I never really got TOO absorbed in the game, as I'm more "finish it then go back later and do the sidequests if I think the game is relatively fun" for an RPG or for a MMORPG I tend to start fresh rather than play my old characters when I haven't played it for a while.

That being said, I don't really think Single Player RPGs and the like would really die out anytime soon (I'm looking forward to the New Final Fantasy on the PS3 and I'm pretty sure alot of other people are looking forward to playing that too eh). There have been some pretty amazing RPGs which I prefer over the MMORPG type of games but they tend to have a shorter playing life than MMORPG since MMORPGs are basically "you can never win" and it keeps playing over and over again. They also tend to be a bit costly.

MMORPGs, the thing I have against them is it seems like all hack n slash, and in the case of Diablo, only a few 'master' goals like defeating Baal and Diablo. The fact that people do Baal and Diablo runs is enough display of insanity. What's the ultimate goal of an mmorpg? To have the highest level, have the best items, it's all a display of 'hey, look at what I got'. If your friend dies in the game, he'll just respawn. There's no sense of loss and heart-ache that can come from playing out an RPG like Final Fantasy 7. The replay value isn't quite there, but makes a good plot line.

What we need are MMOFPS (massive multiplayer online first person shooters). I'm not talking about hopping into a 'round' and hoping your team wins. I'm talking about a game that could strengthen what a clan stands for. A clan could gain control of territory and recruit more players that can either defend the territory when they're online or seek out new territories to conquer. An actual war with resources. Farm land for food. And the consequences of razing a village to get to the enemy. A balance of survival. It would be like starcraft or warcraft where a new clan has to find a remote piece of land to build on and hope not to be found or join an existing clan and buildings have to be built, skills mastered. All in first-person though. It could be more complex than just going around shooting people. Your character could raise in ranks and become protected and harder to assassinate. Maybe it's too crazy of an idea.

If I were to make an mmorpg and had unlimited funds to pay people to make it, it'd be a virtual medieval world. Everyone has a job, and a war would take actual planning and cooperation of many people, spies could exist. It'd be up to people to catch liars, can't be everywhere at once so your job is your job. You could choose peace and serenity in the virtual world, and possibly forced into slavery, etc by other players in different positions. How you choose to lead your life in the virtual medieval world may not be entirely up to you. Players looking to build a city would be able to, or they could choose to be nomadic. All walks of life, real people behind each character and jobs to do, the cooperation of everybody to build something great or take over something great. THAT would be a great mmorpg. It'd be boring, if you think the sims to be boring. Things would take time to develop, it'd be exciting to be in the middle of a villager revolt. Anything could happen. People that rise or get voted to power face collecting taxes and recruiting & paying people for doing jobs like policing the citizens, etc.

Maybe an mmofps with a viscious non-terrestrial threat that just happens to be everywhere and not always in view. Can still shoot each other, but when hordes of this threat (on a scale we've only seen in movies) appear, people aren't going to be shooting each other! People will be able to boast their kill counts and weapons, more than just a set of weapons. This would be a pointless shoot em up mmofps, but fun none the less.

I keep reading what I say and none of it makes much sense, so I'm just going to post this reply anyway.

This post has been edited by adrianator: Apr 21 2008, 10:53 AM