Console RPGs: A small analysis

[Tinker Gnome]

Okay, I am bored, and have nothing else to do.

I have noticed that many video game RPGs, most notably the Final Fantasy series are more character driven the world driven. The fact that they can go into a store and buy wepaons that are just slightly more powerful than the ones they bought in the last town is not important. What is important is the characters relationships with each other. Where as other world bother to set up a working economy of sorts. Most video game RPGs do not, because, they are more character driven.

I am sorry if this sounds like senseless drivel, but I just felt like posting this.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Moved to Software.

-Hyp.
(Moderator)

 

[LightPhoenix]

To continue on the drivel...

There are two major reasons I feel this is.

The first is due to the limited size of games on consoles. Unlike a computer, games are contrained in size by their media, and since the biggest push in any game it seems nowadays is graphics, that takes up the vast majority of space. That means less space for stuff like a large world. So the best way to develop a console-RPG is by starting with the story and building only what you need.

The other factor is the increasing tendancy for console RPGs to devalue player decisions and basically make the game an interactive movie. Character decisions require space, but I personally don't feel that with today's media you can have at least one major branch in a story. Unfortunately companies like Square and Enix don't tend to agree. And hence we have a game like FFX, which is pretty much an interactive movie on it's own.

 

[drothgery]

Media size was definitely a constraint in earlier generations of consoles, but once they moved to optical media (with the PlayStation), it's become much less of a concern. With CD media, cut-scene heavy RPGs tended to use multiple CDs.

The Xbox and PS2 use DVD media, and I don't think I've ever seen a 9-CD PC game (or really, a 10-CD PC game; in a multi-disk game, the core game engine is usually on every CD). The GameCube's mini-DVDs are capable of holding 3 CDs worth of data. And I think it's still possible to write a multi-disk game, it's just that no one has done it.

 

[myrdden]

The GameCube's mini-DVDs are capable of holding 3 CDs worth of data.

Really? Wow...I wondered how much those little things could hold.

 

[Ranger REG]

GC can play DVD now?

 

[drothgery]

GC can play DVD now?

No, but it's only because the tray isn't big enough (well, and there's no playback software, but that's not a big problem). GameCube disk's are just 3" DVDs.

 

[Ranger REG]

I see.

So, how long before we will see a flood of DVD-ROM games in the entertainment software market, taking advantage of the 4 GB data capacity?

 

[drothgery]

I see.

So, how long before we will see a flood of DVD-ROM games in the entertainment software market, taking advantage of the 4 GB data capacity?

It's a chicken & egg situation, there. There needs to be a good DVD-only title or two to drive DVD-ROM drive sales (and make them standard on OEM PCs) to the poiint where they're ubiquitous, and no one wants to make a DVD-only game until everyone has DVD-ROM drives. Windows still fits on one CD, and so does Office, so it's not like any non-game product is going to drive the transition.

Right now, the money a publisher would save by going single DVD-ROM instead of multi-CD probably doesn't come close to what they'd lose in sales by going DVD-only.

 

[drothgery]

Really? Wow...I wondered how much those little things could hold.

Well, closer to two and half CDs, really; they hold about 1.5 GB.