Breaking the barriers: Do RPGs have unbreakable limits?

by Shawn Bruckner 

Many who have written editorials to RPGamer have ended up referring to the "impossibility" of breaking certain "limits" within the design of RPGs. Many of these articles have argued that there are "tradeoffs" between different elements of RPGs. For example, Jeffrey Lloyd Heatherly claims that non-linearity is the source of challenge, thus inferring that a linear game must lack challenge. The examples he presents do show this trend, but I must point out that Final Fantasy Tactics seemed quite linear to me, more so that Final Fantasy VII, and I noticed that it maintained a higher level of challenge.

As gamers and as designers, we cannot walk into the trap of believing that any two elements of an RPG are so intertwined with each other that the remaining elements have little or no effect on them. The fact is that every element of a RPG has an effect, while not always significant, on all of the other elements. In Final Fantasy Tactics, the gameplay made the game harder because of the added challenge of movement in battle. In fact, the linearity allowed higher difficulty because there were very few optional elements which allowed you to gain strength between battles. If you needed higher strength, you had to go back and level up.

Remember Final Fantasy VI's non-linearity in the World of Ruin. Would anyone truly classify that as difficult? Maybe it was at first, but in order to encourage non-linearity, it seemed very much like the concept of progressive difficulty was all but destroyed. Walking into the caves of Mount Zozo to find Cyan offered enemies of similar strength to walking into the mansion in Jidoor to find Relm. And all this time, you continue to gain strength. Non-linearity far from guarantees higher difficulty.

In the end, it is important to look at the individual elements first, and only after that, look at how they interconnect. In contrast to what Josh Fletcher says, it is perfectly possible to create a game with high interactivity, great graphics and full-motion video sequence, and still offer a movie or novel-quality storyline. The only reason we haven't seen it: You'd either need a decade or more with a developing team the size of Final Fantasy VII's, or you'd need two years with a developing team fives times as big. (Imagine the mess in trying to organize that.)

RPGs are truly limited by only four things (that I can think of, anyway). One of the simplest two is time. Even a giant like Square is not going to sit profitless for a decade while they develop a RPG which will be the true ultimate RPG. The other is the size and organization of the developing team. The organization is important, of course, because ten unorganized designers will accomplish less than one single designer who has planned well: A larger designing team does not automatically guarantee a better game. The difference is that the team of ten is capable of so much more than the single designer. The next simplest limiting factor is technology, and this applies mostly to graphical, sound, and music issues, and really requires no explanation.

The last limiting factor comes in making sure that enough of each important element is in the game. The fact is, a game is not an RPG without a story, or at least a world in which the player can create one. Further examples show that a game is dependent upon linear plot elements. By linear plot elements, I am referring to any single part of a plot. For example, in Final Fantasy VI, while you had no requirement to find Cyan and you could do so at any time after receiving the Falcon, the story in going out to find him and how he reacted once you found him is a linear plot element. Non-linear plots are bulit up of linear elements, and thus in a truly technical and nit-picky sense, linearity must be a part of any good RPG.

But, designers truly have no limits in improving, or it would be better to say, experimenting with, these important elements. And these elements can successfully find middle ground and compromise which gamers can be partially satisfied with. After all, no one is ever completely satisfied when they must compromise, but it is possible to give most gamers elements which they like.

To truly show this, I will now offer some compromises which can be used in some of the biggest debates we have been seeing.

Linear/Non-linear debate

Many of you recognize me as a defender of the linear plot. While I still defend it, I recognize its flaws, just as I see the value and appeal in non-linearity and recognize its flaws. The linear plot offers little interactivity, while the non-linear plot offers little driving force and intense drama. It may seem like the two cannot be accomplished together, but it really isn't as impossible as it seems.

The important thing is in realizing that the non-linear plot is still made up of linear elements. The key is to interconnect them in some way. What the supporters of non-linear plots really want is an ability to affect the story, and the choice to do things which linear RPGs simply do not allow. For example, when the Empire conquered South Figaro in Final Fantasy VI, you had to try to leave. If I had a choice, I would have tried to liberate the town.

The simple fact is that you can draw a very good non-linear plot structure by using a flowchart. Once you understand how a flowchart works, you should be to understand how it can be used to link several linear plot elements together in non-linear ways, and offer a visual as to which options you may be denying the players. And, with the non-linear plot truly becoming a plethora of possible linear plots, you have found a way to exploit the strengths of both, while minimizing the weaknesses of each.

The Difficulty Debate

With this one, I will only refer you to a previous article of mine: "The Difficulty Factor: How difficult do you want it?" It speaks about a system I call a "variable difficulty system" which offers a choice for players. True, it still does not offer complete satisfaction, but it does come much closer than having a single difficulty setting.

However, some of the debates may not have a compromise. The specific one I am speaking of is the debate over enhanced graphics. Those who support enhanced graphics like the added sense of reality and immersion that they offer. Those who oppose them believe it is harder to place oneself into the roles of a character, thus subtracting from the role-playing experience. As of yet, I have not been able to come up with a truly valuable compromise. The only solution I can think of is to use the improved graphics while offering more involved role-playing elements, like a non-linear plot.

The best solution may be to take a step back and create a main character with some of the characteristics of Crono in Chrono Trigger, and add even more role-playing elements. Crono didn't speak, which made it far easier for you to imagine Crono as having a personality similar to your own. This could be supplemented by creating a character customizable by the player, and by using a non-linear plot with this character's actions as a trigger for many events.

Besides the few limits I mentioned, there are no limits for the creative designer. Thus, we gamers should never behave as if there are any, and we should never "concede" the impossibility of anything in RPG design. It is true, there will probably never be a RPG that will offer us complete satisfaction without any moment of disappointment, and as gamers, we must accept that. [Ed: To quote the cliche, you can't please all of the people all of the time, which is what much of the recent arguments over preferences and disappointments regarding game elements in RPGs (or entire RPGs themselves) boils down to.] Gamers are just too different, and designers are gamers too. However, we should never accept that there are strictly defined rules which dictate that certain elements are trade-offs to one another. We should never accept that a game cannot have every element be more good than bad. To do so is the same as when people 500 years ago accepted that the world was flat. Or that the speed of sound was a speed limit we could never break.

Accept that no RPG will be perfect, but never believe that RPGs cannot get closer. Remember, you can always get closer to infinity, although you cannot truly reach it. It doesn't mean that you should give up on it.