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Computer role-playing game

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Computer role-playing games (CRPGs), often shortened to simply (RPGs), are a type of video or computer game that uses traditional gameplay elements found in pen-and-paper role-playing games. The term "CRPG" is more often used when referring to titles made for personal computers, as opposed to video game consoles. RPGs as a video game genre include a wide range of gameplay styles and engines. Gameplay elements strongly associated with RPGs, such as statistical character development, have been widely adapted to other video game genres.

Overview

File:FinalFantasyTacticsAdvanceGBAScreenshot.jpg
An RPG 'status screen' as seen in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

CRPGs, in general, are derived from pen and paper-based role-playing games (RPGs) such as Dungeons & Dragons. Characters in these games are always assigned a variety of attributes such as hit points. These attributes are traditionally displayed as a numeric value to the player instead of a simpler abstract graphical representation, such as bars and meters, favored by video games in general. CRPGs also borrow the narrative structure of pen and paper RPGs. The stories featured usually involve a group of characters (a party) who have joined forces in order to accomplish a mission or quest. Along the way, the adventurers must face a great number of challenges and enemies (usually monsters inspired by science fiction and classic mythology). A sample character from Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is illustrated here. The screen shows the character's name, portrait, level (LV), current/maximum hitpoints (HP), and current/maximum magic points (MP).

Character development

Through the course of a game, players are allowed to choose how they want to improve their character's (or party's) performance in terms of attributes, skills, special abilities, and equipment. These improvements are given as rewards for overcoming challenges and achieving goals. The conditions that need to be met in order to earn these rewards may vary; some games are focused on defeating enemies, while others emphasize completion of the quests. The amount of freedom players are given when choosing what to improve also varies by game; some allow highly detailed and specialized customizations (known as "builds"), while others automate the process almost entirely. In many games, players are allowed to name and create the concept of their characters, as opposed to playing the role of a pre-defined protagonist (like in most Final Fantasy games). When creating a character from scratch, players might be able to choose their race. Players choose a character class or profession (a.k.a. "job") that defines the focus of their training in different aptitudes such as weapons mastery, social skills, spell-casting, and stealth. Some games allow characters to advance in more than one of these professions, but this usually carries some form of disadvantage in order to maintain game balance.

Additionally, two different systems of rewarding the player characters for solving the tasks in the game can be set apart: the experience system and the training system. The former was adopted from PnP role-playing games, most notably, Dungeons & Dragons, and emphasizes receiving "experience points" (by winning battles, performing class-specific activities, and completing quests), which are then "invested" by the player into the necessary skills. The second system was first introduced in Final Fantasy II), and emphasizes developing the character's skills by using them - meaning that if a character wields a sword for some time, he or she will become proficient with it. This system was later used in the The Elder Scrolls series, as well as the Dungeon Siege series.

Both character development systems have their advantages and disadvantages. The experience system allows more flexibility and fairness in rewarding the completed tasks, but is generally unrealistic, since it is, for example, theoretically possible to develop a character's warrior skills without ever actually using them in game. The training system does not imply any reward for the completed quests, except a material one, assuming that the character trained his or her skills while working towards the set goals. However, such systems tend to over-simplification (as seen in Dungeon Siege) and are often considered a step away from classical CRPGs towards action-RPG genre. An important note about the character development system is that despite its obvious importance, it should not become the central element of the game, pushing the plot, the setting, and the characters themselves to the background.

Setting and genres

The term "genre" is commonly used to classify a CRPG's story setting. Most CRPGs are set in a fictional high fantasy world. Others feature elements from space opera and pulp science fiction; most merge elements from all those previously mentioned. Very few games take place in historic or modern settings.

Characters in CRPGs often travel long distances or navigate through complex and maze-like locations in order to accomplish their goals; thus, many use a system of maps to help the player navigate through the game world. Starting with Akalabeth, these games feature characters moving on more than one two-dimensional (2-D) map. When the player-character in that game entered a dungeon, the viewpoint shifted from a top-down 2-D view of the world to a first-person 3-D view of a maze. Some games feature maps that must be viewed on their own separate screen, while others feature an automap that is always visible during normal gameplay. These maps commonly keep track of a character's current location and important destinations. Although these maps generally make navigation easier for the player, some games limit the visibility of the map intentionally to provide additional challenge.

Encounters

In most CRPGs, a system of "random encounters" is employed whenever the player characters wander around in dangerous places, such as enemy strongholds or the savage wilderness. At random intervals, usually when the characters are moving, an encounter occurs spontaneously. An encounter may be benign in nature, such as finding a friendly non-player character or a wandering merchant, or it may be hostile, such as being spotted by a group of enemies or walking into a trap. Encounters are more often hostile than benign. By encountering and defeating enemies, the group of characters may be rewarded with loot and experience points, just as in many pen and paper RPGs. Participating in random encounters repeatedly for the sake of amassing these rewards is referred to as grinding. Enemy characters featured in random encounters rarely have any impact on the story. Some games, instead of using a traditional random encounter system, generate the characters from a random encounter on the screen before the player is forced to interact with them. This way, the player is able to better prepare for the encounter or avoid it altogether (if possible).

Some encounters in CRPGs are not random; they happen automatically when the player reaches a certain point in the story. These encounters are usually important events and may be foreshadowed in some way. The vast majority of these non-random encounters are "bosses", enemy characters of importance who are always more difficult to defeat than any common random encounter. Other scripted encounters may include unavoidable guards, characters seeking the player's attention, or incidents that are critical to the story. Like most video games, CRPGs feature a climactic final encounter, after which the game soon reaches its conclusion.

Combat

Almost every CRPG features combat as one of the main challenges to the player. A good portion of these games are spent avoiding, preparing for, or carrying out fights. Combat is carried out in either turn-based or real-time modes. In a turn-based system, only one character may act at a time; all other characters remain still, with a few exceptions that involve the use of special abilities. The order in which the characters act is usually based on a system that depends on the characters' attributes. Active Time Battle and Conditional Turn-Based Battle System are examples of popular turn-based systems. In real-time mode, there are no turn restrictions and characters may act at any time. A variant of this mode called real-time with pause allows the player to pause the game and issue orders to all characters under his/her control; when the game is un-paused, all characters follow the orders they were given.

History

File:Akalabeth dungeon.png
Richard Garriott's Akalabeth from 1980 is considered to be one of the first graphical CRPGs not hosted on PLATO.

Role-playing video games began in 1975 as an offshoot of early university mainframe computer text RPGs on PDP-10 and Unix-based computers, starting with Dungeon and graphical RPGs on the PLATO System, pedit5 and dnd, themselves inspired by paper-and-pencil role-playing games. Other influences during this period were text adventures, Multiple-User Dungeons (MUDs) and roguelike games. Some of the first graphical CRPGs after pedit5 and dnd, were orthanc, avathar (later renamed avatar), oubliette, baradur, emprise, bnd, sorcery, moria, and dndworld, all of which were developed and became widely popular on PLATO during the latter 1970s, in large part due to PLATO's speed, fast graphics, nationwide network of terminals, and large number of players with access to those terminals. These were followed by (but did not always lead directly to) games on other platforms, such as Akalabeth (1980) (which gave rise to the well-known Ultima series), and Wizardry.

These early Ultima and Wizardry games are perhaps the largest influence on the later console RPG games that are now popular. Many innovations of Ultima III: Exodus (1983) eventually became standards of almost all RPGs in both the console market (if somewhat simplified to fit the gamepad) and the personal computer market. Later Dungeon Master (1987) introduced realtime gameplay and several user-interface innovations, such as direct manipulation of objects and the environment with the mouse, to first-person CRPGs.

The earliest console RPG was the Intellivision title AD&D Treasure of Tarmin (1982). Much later, in 1986, Enix made the NES title Dragon Quest (video game) (called Dragon Warrior in North America and would remain that way until the 8th game in the series). This was followed shortly by ports of the computer RPGs Wizardry and Ultima III, and by Final Fantasy (1987) by Squaresoft. Both of these games proved popular and spawned a series of sequels. Both game series remain popular today, Final Fantasy more so in North America, and Dragon Quest in Japan.

Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy both borrowed heavily from Ultima. For example, leveling up and saving must be done by speaking to the king in Dragon Quest, and in order to rest and get healed, the characters must visit the king (Dragon Quest) or stay the night at an inn (both games). The games are played in a top-down perspective, much like the Ultima games, as well. The combat style in Dragon Quest was borrowed from another series from the personal computer market, the Wizardry games.

Modern games

File:Warcraft 3 Humans fight Orcs screenshot.jpg
Warcraft III blends CRPG and real-time strategy elements.

The first CRPGs offered a single player experience. The popularity of multiplayer modes in these games rose sharply during the mid-1990s. Diablo (1996) was one of the games that heavily influenced this boost in popularity. It combined CRPG and action game elements, and featured an Internet multiplayer mode that allowed up to four players to enter the same world and fight monsters, trade items, or fight against each other. MMORPGs introduced huge worlds with open-ended gameplay and thousands of interactive characters (both player and computer-controlled).

In 1997, a new Internet fad began. Influenced by console RPGs, a large group of young programmers and aficionados began creating and sharing independent CRPG games, based mostly on the gameplay and style of the older SNES and Sega Genesis games. The majority of such games owe to simplistic software development kits such as the Japanese RPG Maker series.

A steadily increasing number of non-RPG video games have adopted aspects traditionally seen in RPGs, such as experience point systems, equipment management, and choices in dialogue. The blending of these elements with a number of different game engines and gameplay styles have created a myriad of hybrid game categories. These hybrid games are commonly formed by mixing popular gameplay elements featured in other genres, such as first-person shooters, platformers, and real-time strategy games.

The best-selling CRPG series worldwide is Pokémon. It has sold over 91 million units across 11 different titles as of 2004. The second and third best-selling series worldwide are Square Enix's Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, respectively. As of 2006, Final Fantasy has sold 60 million units, while Dragon Warrior has sold over 35 million units[1].

Cultural differences

Due to cultural differences between developer companies based on their country of origin, two main trends or "families" of digital RPGs exist. Each follows a certain pattern in terms of art style, storyline, and game mechanics.


Western (American/European)

File:Fallout 01.jpg
Fallout, one of the most highly acclaimed Western RPGs

One family of digital RPGs is the Western (American/European) family, with Baldur's Gate, Fallout, Planescape: Torment, The Elder Scrolls and Neverwinter Nights as good examples, but also including older games like the Gold Box series. The vast majority of CRPGs made for personal computers belong to this family. These games frequently employ dark and serious fantasy settings. The personalities of the characters are more varied than those of their Japanese counterparts and avoid any real absolutes in morality. The stories featured often deal with ancient struggles for power that never end with a total victory for any given faction. The races featured in most of western-style fantasy CRPGs are based on the many characters that J. R. R. Tolkien wrote about, such as dwarves, orcs, and elves. These CRPGs are often based directly on the rules and settings of pen and paper game systems (Dungeons and Dragons being the most common), sometimes even displaying die rolls and other game mechanics normally hidden from players' eyes.

Level advancement in western RPGs is usually not as fast as in eastern RPGs, due to lower level (or experience point) limits which in some games can be as low as level 6-8; a practice unheard of in the Japanese game market. Many western games also incorporate skill-based character progression on top of a level-based system. Within a skill-based progression system, players invest experience or some other progression points into specific skills and abilities in order to specialize their characters for a particular style of play.

Japanese (East Asian)

File:Lunar sssc screenshot.jpg
Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete screenshot, a typical Japanese cRPG

The other family is the Japanese family of graphical RPGs with the Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, Phantasy Star, Suikoden, Grandia and the Lunar series as clear examples. These games are commonly colorful and bright. Although these games tend to employ high fantasy settings, they barely adhere to concepts derived from European folklore and traditions. Instead, their primary source of inspiration is Japanese comics (Manga) and animation (Anime). Fantasy/science-fiction hybrid settings are very common, examples include the popular Star Ocean and Final Fantasy series. The characters in these games are designed in the same style as in Anime and usually carry light-hearted tones. The storyline in these games often involves an epic, ultimate battle between the forces of good and evil, and the player's characters always end up fighting for a good cause. Character races tend to be limited to humans. It is also rare to be able to actually choose your character's race. In those cases when the player is given a choice, traditional Tolkien races such as elves, dwarves, and halflings are usually not included, in favor of particular races suited to the specific game's setting. Pen and paper-derived rules systems, such as Dungeons & Dragons d20, have never been directly implemented into these games. Japanese developers tend to create new (but similar) systems for every single game. Most games use a level-based advancement system with little customization involved. All characters start at level 1 and usually may not go further than level 99.

A slight variation of this family exists in Korea, Taiwan and other neighboring areas. The mechanics (i.e. combat and class/job selection) of this family of games is largely the same as the Japanese one. Differences lie in the graphics and plot. These games use a different, Chinese-influenced art style and the storyline is told with a Wuxia style inspired by novels. One famous example is Sword of Xuan Yuan.


Comparisons

A fundamental difference between Western RPGs and Japanese RPGs is the way the games' stories are structured. Western style RPGs often allow the player to make moral and/or strategic choices when solving many problems relevant to the whole story, thus making them less linear. Japanese style RPGs are usually more strict and the player's choices usually have little or no effect on the outcome of the plot, although a fair number of exceptions exist. A good example of a Japanese RPG with a fairly open and non-linear storyline is Romancing SaGa; it has become well-known in Japan because of that reason.

Other comparisons:

  • Death is almost always the final solution employed by the protagonists to prevent the antagonists from achieving their goals, often after reason fails.
  • In many games, mostly from the Japanese family, the protagonist (only the protagonist) never speaks, although it is implied that he/she somehow communicates with the rest of the cast. One reason for this could be so that the player (who most likely chose a name for the character at the beginning) can have a greater sense of immersion in the role.
  • While female characters in fighting games are notorious for being faster than males but less powerful, women in RPGs of both families regularly have the potential to become just as capable at offense as their counterparts; limitations regarding a character's performance are usually determined by their class/profession and race. That being said, female characters in RPGs are commonly typecast as healers and magicians while male characters play the roles of front line warriors and martial artists. Games that feature character creation (the vast majority being western) tend to move away from these stereotypes and often reverse them. For example, in Dungeons and Dragons games males and females usually have no difference beyond appearance and gender-specific interactives, with all abilities and skills equal.
  • In most Japanese RPGs, the four Greek Primordial Elements are incorporated into the game's setting. Any spell, item, or creature may be associated with one or more of these elements. Fire may be considered strong or weak against Water, depending on the situation; the same relation applies to Air and Earth. Ice/frost/cold are sometimes considered to be separate from Water, but their relation to Fire is unchanged. In addition to these, Lightning is in most cases included as a fifth element. Additional "elements" (energy types in most cases) are often introduced as well, such as light and darkness, as well as more radical "para-elements" such as acid, poison, and spirit. In contrast, the combination of the Five "elements" (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water) is rarely seen in CRPGs, while the Bagua combination (Heaven, Earth, Fire, Water, Wind, Mountain, Lightning, Marsh) remains unheard of. Western RPGs rarely incorporate these elemental systems as an important part of their setting; instead, they focus on systems that classify weapons by damage type, such as "piercing", "slashing", "bludgeoning", and "magical". In these games, a weapon's effectiveness depends heavily on the target that it is used on; piercing weapons may work well against fleshy targets, but not against a gelatinous cube, for example.
  • Both families commonly feature a variety of "status effects" that may affect characters during battles. These usually come into play when special powers and abilities (such as spells) are used. Some of these provide a character an advantage (boosted attributes, defensive barriers, regeneration) and are commonly referred to as buffs. Others hinder the character (decreased attributes, incapacitation, disease, loss of control) and are called debuffs.
  • In Japanese RPGs, it is common for lead characters of opposite sex who are seen interacting early on to end up romantically involved or implied to be so in the future. The first game to make the characters fall in love or drift apart based on the play style of the user was Treasures of the Savage Frontier (1992). Western RPGs rarely feature such dramatic relationships between main characters, although there are some notable recent exceptions such as Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
  • The main heroes of Japanese CRPGs are almost always warriors (i.e. not healers or wizards) wielding swords (i.e. not spears or staves). In most American CRPGs, character creation allows players to choose their main hero's class and weapons, resulting in more variety. (It should be noted, however, that if a European CRPG has a sequel or some form of "official ending", a Warrior is typically said to be the one who did it. While not a pure CRPG, the game Diablo 2 has the Warrior be the one who defeated Diablo in the first game, although the player has to fight all three "former heros" during the course of the game.)

Criticisms

CRPGs often face rejection by pen-and-paper (PnP) gamers who play them. A common reason for this is the view that most CRPGs focus on combat and statistical character management instead of storytelling and deep character development. This trend is called powergaming. Many PnP gamers also feel that it is inaccurate to use the term "role-playing game" to describe games in which the player cannot always act on their desired intentions or influence the setting in many important ways. In CRPGs, players are mostly limited to making tactical decisions for a relatively small variety of situations.

These are common criticisms of simulated realities in general. A virtual world can create the illusion of freedom in terms of choice and motion, but players in even the most free-form CRPG must, by necessity, play within the limited world created by the game's authors. PnP gamer critics, being used to having no such pre-defined limitations, find themselves unsatisfied with the experience provided in CRPGs.

The definition of "RPG elements" in games has been blurred over time, and many gamers debate on whether some games should be labeled as RPGs or not. Some say that only games that provide a true freedom of choice and actions can be considered as RPGs. Although current technical limitations may not allow CRPGs to be as open-ended and free as PnP games, numerous games allow for considerable variation in their content delivery. Also, many of these games' graphic engines make them easily modified by enthusiasts, who with their own variations and ideas may build their own home-grown setting and stories and add new graphical content. Some games such as Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption and Neverwinter Nights have built-in "storytelling" multiplayer modes which provide one player all the functions of a Game Master.

Variant terminology

Because pencil and paper RPGs were known first in the U.S.A. (CRPGs were derived from them), computer RPGs were later given the abbreviation CRPG as they increased in popularity to avoid confusing them. In Japan, however, video game RPGs became widely popular first, so the term "RPG" (in the Latin alphabet) is used for them primarily, while the PnP versions have been cited under the retronym "PRPG". Outside Japan, console RPGs are frequently referred to as "JRPG".

Occasionally, a distinction is made between console RPGs and those played on a personal computer (PC). In these cases, the abbreviation "CRPG" is used to refer solely to the console role-playing games. This distinction is made in part because most console RPGs are made by or follow asian RPG trends and most computer RPGs are made by or follow western RPG trends. Differences regarding interface and hardware capabilities are also important because of their impact on the way a game is experienced. In RPGs that have been made for both consoles and PCs (or ported later from one to the other), it is common to observe significant differences between both versions.

CRPGs that feature complex, squad-based, and usually Turn-Based combat systems are known as Tactical RPGs, and may be abbreviated as "TRPGs". Some prefer to call them "Strategic RPGs", thus they may also be referred to as "SRPGs" instead. They are often considered to be Real-time tactics or Turn-based tactics rather than CRPGs, or a hybrid between them.

Chronology of CRPGs

Note: These are not complete lists of all computer or console RPGs, but a list of some of the most significant, influential or well-regarded CRPGs of all time. A number of titles which were initially released for Windows were later ported to the Macintosh or to console platforms. Likewise, a number of console-specific RPGs were later ported to other consoles or to the IBM PC.

Chronology of computer RPGs

File:Wizardry1.png
Wizardry was one of the earliest graphical computer role-playing games, debuting on the Apple II in 1981.

Chronology of console RPGs

See Chronology of console role-playing games for a comprehensive list.

List of companies

Below is a list of game developers who specialize in or have created notable digital role-playing games.

See also

Independent CRPG websites

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