Little Things of Importance in RPGs

by Vincent Oliver

I’d like to think I’m a seasoned RPGamer. As such I find myself having a rather unappreciative attitude toward the little things in RPG’s that have nothing to do with the story. I’m thinking of the things like the World Map, the battle system, side quests, even the in town experience. And so with no delay we’ll move on to the explanation.

There’s already been an editorial on the world map, which was very well done by Bobby Skelton back in 6/23/03. I won’t go too far into detail, but there’s some thing to be said about walking around the world and looking at the scenery. Having an immense world map helps to add a bit of realism to a game. Even in the new classic, Final Fantasy Tactics, having a world map would have made the game very different. This is also even proven in the difference between Arc the Lad 1 & 2. This example also proves my next point.

The in Town experience is an unappreciated detail as well. In Arc 1 much the same as in FF tactics there was no town to walk around in and talk to NPC’s, this swallowed the experience of the games a little. How ever in Arc 2 you could walk around in town and see the people the developers took the time to create. Even the classic Cliché of stealing the hard earned or valued heirlooms of the towns people while seeing what’s new and deciding if you want to save the town from the crazed Werewolf that ravages the town at night. As well with the in town are the side quests.

Side quests, the little distractions to lengthen game play and show off sub-plots though not so much under-appreciated by all are by many. The most recent example for side quests is also the difference between Arc 1&2. Side quests like the plot of Clouds past with Zak in FF7 are always fun and enjoyable, they help to deepen the game while not forcing you to care at all about them. Also from FF7 was the hard side quest of fighting a secret boss to get a hidden character.

The last point leads to my final point of under appreciated game elements, this being the battle system. In an older game, Legend of Legaia, the game it self was not the best ever but the battle system was very fun to play with being that you could string together combinations for special moves and absorb enemies for magic. As well a battle system that isn’t typical it fun to have too. This can be shown in Secret of Mana with its live action battle system.

On a final note I’d hope that this will help you appreciate your games more than you used to, and if you already did, then good for you. And I encourage anyone who disagrees or would like to expand my idea to write in and enjoy his or her games.