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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 1559695" data-attributes="member: 2067">Yes. Especially when that 'closed rule set' is fundamentally flexible enough to be virtually open.  Got it in one. Case in point, one of those CRPG's, Final Fantasy II, had a great epic storyline about a deposed family and an evil empire and an epic war. But the gameplay was weak -- it relied for character advancement on a 'you get better at what you use' mechanic. Swing a sword, get better at it. Cast a spell, get better at it. Get hit, get better at taking damage. There were inherent flaws in this system, such as spells could only be cast a certain number of times per day (and thus would always lag behind swords and the like, which could be swung indefinately), and that you only got better at evading blows that you dodged (and since your dodging ability started out at 0, it almost never increased). This game suffers because of playability -- it's considered not one of the greats in the series. Similarly, Final Fantasy VIII was rejected by many because of it's spellcasting system, where the spells you knew were based on the monsters you encountered, and instead of filling up slots or costing points to cast, you just had a certain number of them that you could cast. These gameplay elements turned people off, despite really solid plots in both games.  I think the main things keeping D&D from being accepted by everyone is that, fundamentally, it requires people to sit in a room with little motion for 4+ hours, at least once a week. This is a time dedication, and a lot of inaction, simply for imagining yourself as Billy Badass in someone else's story. Something like Scrabble doesn't do that, and so it's more popular -- it's more approachable. Those who want more dramatics in their D&D aren't a big section of the market, or the designers of 3e would've followed in their footsteps, rather than designing it as a *game.*</blockquote>

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