I am. I love RPGs and the whole idea of developing and improving a character over time, but why must they always (or nearly always) be centered around wizards, elves, dragons, etc? I guess the short answer is because that's what sells. Still, it bugs me. There are countless fictional works as well as historical events that could provide compelling material for an RPG, yet developers invariably turn to fantasy settings. Your thoughts?

By the way, sorry if this question has been asked time and time again--I was too lazy to do a search plus I like to hear myself type.

Not to sound like an idiot, but how come I can't see my poll anymore, nor the results? Have I somehow been banned because my poll was so lame?

I agree that the ones set in the present day or future are relatively uncommon next to their fantasy-setting kin, but I wouldn't say I'm sick of the Fantasy ones. I've got NwN2: Mask of the Betrayer on my desk here, waiting for me to install it once I'm done with this semester's university assignments, for example. Just because something is somewhat more common, doesn't necessarily make it tiresome or bad.

With titles out there like Fallout, Deus Ex, Mass Effect and KoToR, I think that sci-fi based RPGs more than stand up for themselves. Hell, most of the Final Fantasy games count as sci-fi, what with all the airships and what have you. Either that or steampunk, which is almost as awesome.

I tend to like a more modern or quasi-future RPG than either fantasy or sci-fi. Give me something like Bloodlines over dragons or spaceships any day.

- J

I like original and great settings, unfortunately DUngeons and Dragons settings arent orignal or great. But never-the-less i still enjoy a good fantasy setting, se Jade Empire or FFXII.

I don't mind fantasy, but I can get sick of high fantasy sometimes. So we all agree that Tolkien did some great things with fantasy (well I don't but moving on...). Stop fellating him and do something new. I will make love to the first good RPG developer who signs China Mieville's Bas Lag setting.

Although i HATE Japanese RPGs, i will give "The World ends with you" for the DS a try, just because of that. A unique Setting that is not Fantasy in a classic Sense.

While i like good classic Fantasy ONCE IN A WHILE, most of the time it is just something that i don't find that interesting. And even the Final Fantasy Settings don't do it for me (the theme and style of Final Fantasy 7 was kinda compelling, but the rest...)

..I also usually just see the end of an RPG if it is Sci-Fi (Mass Effect) or something, well, modern (Bloodlines)

The way I see it is that the common 'fantasy' setting is already thought out and one generally knows what you need to include in order to have a successful 'fantasy' setting. It is similar to EA's sports games, they have the groundwork already built for them so all they have to do is add the extras. However I think there has been a general trend for the upper class of RPGs to lean away from normal fantasy into other areas, as the posters stated above me, Mass Effect, Jade Empire, KOTOR, and even the Final Fantasy series has developed in an opposite direction then normal fantasy.

Now I enjoy fantasy based RPGs, to a degree, I'm not looking for extremely radical changes in the settings as that could back fire in a developer's face and would cause more publishers to shy away from such settings.

This is one of the reasons why I like Final Fantasy. The fantasy in each FF game isn't a generic rip off of Tolkien or D&D. There are common threads that connect the games, such as Airships and the like, but each game usually has its own style of fantasy, that by and large outdoes anything by Bethesda in terms of imagination.

Final Fantasy is the last bit of Fantasy that isn't done, done and done to death. Yes, there's almost nothing new in a Final Fantasy but they just mix together various aspects and it's pretty likely you'll find your thing in there.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.57245#432602

If you got the time, read my review for FF CC RoF for the NDS. It reunited me with two long lost friends - handheld gaming and sleep deprivation

Nevah!

What else are you gonna base it around? An RPG basedaround Accountants and Politicians?

im not. but that's because im hyped about fable 2

Indigo_Dingo:
What else are you gonna base it around? An RPG basedaround Accountants and Politicians?

Just like FPSes can only be set in WW2.

I could go for some more Sci-Fi or Sci-Fi/Fantasy cross RPGs...

I'd LOVE a remake of Albion, maybe a FF-Style linear Shadowrun game, and some sort of Babylon 5 space RPG. Dibs on the name Kosh.

Saskwach:

Indigo_Dingo:
What else are you gonna base it around? An RPG basedaround Accountants and Politicians?

Just like FPSes can only be set in WW2.

Or deep space. Or a cunning blend of the two, with a storyline thats incredibly deep, detailed and enthralling.

Deep space is fantasy for the record. Since we've never been there.

Yeah it's ridiculous, people just love those "cookie cutter" stories I guess, I mean, even Sci-Fi RPGs are the same crap, sure the "races" may be a bit different, but, the only "Sci-Fi" that I think is unique, is Warhammer 40K - I mean, that is the grittiest, most chaotic Sci-Fi setting ever, while other Sci-Fi things are just "lasers, pew pew, boom" - it's like for some reason because it's the future, everything must be "better", even war..

Wait, this is a topic about Fantasy...hehe, sorry about that, here's my view on fantasy.

You can still be "unique" and have those "Fantasy elements" like wizards and dragons, you don't have to revamp or redo everything, you can still have the same settings, and be unique, but man, it's like Fantasy and Sci-Fi's majority of..well..anything (except books I guess) is just "cookie cutter" versions of itself.

RPG's were born in fantasy, so it's to be expected that the majority of RPG's are set there. Also a lot of RPG's implement magic, which you need a fantasy or a fantasy hybrid setting to do that. I don't mind seeing scifi RPG's or modern RPG's. My favorite setting is probably steampunk but there's still nothing like magic when you need supernatural abilities that don't need scientific explanations.

squirrelman42:
RPG's were born in fantasy, so it's to be expected that the majority of RPG's are set there. Also a lot of RPG's implement magic, which you need a fantasy or a fantasy hybrid setting to do that. I don't mind seeing scifi RPG's or modern RPG's. My favorite setting is probably steampunk but there's still nothing like magic when you need supernatural abilities that don't need scientific explanations.

Best way to explain away any plot hole, inconsistency in the game world, or other sheer phenomenon?

"It's MAGIC!" Or "a wizard did it," take your pick.

Anyways, I do like classical fantasy setting things, so no, I'm not sick of the genre. Not that I won't pick up a sci-fi setting or something else of the like, it's just where my likes are centered on. However, that's not to say I enjoy getting the same "cookie-cutter" game every single time. Fantasy pretty much indicates you can do whatever your mind can come up with...so why should we keep coming back to the same conventions? Why not replace the standard "elves" with a people made up entirely of vines? It's fantasy, it doesn't have to make logical sense.

Of course, there's the whole issue with companies taking risks on new IP's, but that's another story.

Well, I'd vote but I can't see the poll. I'll vote any way, I love fantasy based RPG's. I won't go into a long explanation of why, I just love fantasy. (dragons rule)

I want to see more steampunk RPGs

No, just sick of all the Tolkien, D&D, and kids' anime that are practically required in every fantasy RPG by law at this point.

Indigo_Dingo:

Saskwach:

Indigo_Dingo:
What else are you gonna base it around? An RPG basedaround Accountants and Politicians?

Just like FPSes can only be set in WW2.

Or deep space. Or a cunning blend of the two, with a storyline thats incredibly deep, detailed and enthralling.

It's the year 2020. Nazi Accountants are Plotting to take over the world with the Mind Control Lasers hidden on their Orbital Banking Satellites. Only you can stop them...

I don't mind fantasy settings as long as they have something interesting to offer.

Morrowind's setting offered a whole civilization and culture that was fascinating and different from what I'd seen before. Unlike, say, Oblivion.

And fantasy settings are popular because you (yes, YOU) won't pay money to play an RPG character with no special magical/technoloical powers. CRPGs are based on advancement, and you would get bored if you could only use experience points to improve mundane, non magi-technological skills.

I could answer simply yes or no to the question so i will: Yes i'm sick of fantasy based RPG's. If there was a more logical fantasy game i think we'd all enjoy it.

What would you rather have than medieval or sci-fi as the basis of your ideal RPG? I cant remember any where you level up. You could count GTA San Andreas when he has to work out but hardly.

Stupid Idea:
Here's a game pitch. Modern day, you're an employee that works in a cubical. your life goes to shit and you turn it around by hunting criminals like drug dealers, smugglers, renegades. You're only kinda like batman. how the hell would you level up tho?

mwhite67:
I want to see more steampunk RPGs

Ditto.

I love fantasy gaming but I there haven't been enough steampunk rpgs for me.
My p&p group has been playing Iron Kingdoms for DnD and it's pretty decent.

Here's a simple explanation for why fantasy is the norm for an RPG setting. People do not go from having no combat experience to being able to kill gods with their little finger in less than a year (or at all for that matter), so you just can't have the standard RPG formula without having magical powers or items involved. If you have a character with a reasonable power scale than he has to get better over time some other way, usually through acquiring mundane equipment like guns and armor (In which case you're more likely to be playing an action game), or through a system where the character gets more skilled at what he does over time, but not so much as to be unrealistic. The best example of an RPG setting I can think of with believable, non-magical growth is Shadowrun, if you only count the characters in the setting that DON'T have magic. Basically, while I may get tired of the fantasy settings sometimes, I know that they're pretty much unavoidable in an RPG with classic, power leveling growth. If you want something different you'll have to either play the few RPGs out there with a fantasy setting different from the norm or play a different style of adventure game altogether.

The only non-fantasy RPG I have played is Deus Ex. Ok, its not a convential RPG with all of its first-person malarkey, but it has all the other prerequisites of a good RPG, such as an excellent story, tactically challenging gameplay and cutscenes galore!!!

EDIT:

Oh yeah, my brother recommends anything from Bioware. How could I forget about them!

Not even a little bit, but I'd still like to see some other settings.

While I am not sick of fantasy RPGs, I am sick of fantasy worlds which look exactly like the historical medieval time periode despite the existance of monsters, magic and superpowered heroes, coupled with "Aeries Dies" effects (Abilities, like ressurecting dead people, work in combat but outside of it they don't work because the plot requires them not to). Such things should impact how the society looks and works and not be tacked on mindlessly.

But as such a world would look very not like Lord of the Rings and likely would not appeal to the mass market such a game will likely never exist. As a substitute give me modern, or better science-fiction rpgs.

The reason, in my opinion, why you see exponentially more fantasy-based settings than modern/future settings is because execution is easier to pull off. Thanks to Lord of the Rings, Dungeons & Dragons and things like it, nothing can considered outlandish. The magic-users-bent-on-summoning-the-prince-of-all-demons-onto-the-prime-material-plane-to-erradicate-all-life-and-build-a-factory-out-of-orphan-bones-to-make-cupcakes-filled-with-the-essence-of-pure-evil plot is fair game in elf land fantasy but not so kosher in any other setting.

hell4raizer:

Stupid Idea:
Here's a game pitch. Modern day, you're an employee that works in a cubical. your life goes to shit and you turn it around by hunting criminals like drug dealers, smugglers, renegades. You're only kinda like batman. how the hell would you level up tho?

Although proposed as a "Stupid Idea," I quote this because, unfortunately, throwing away a cliched fantasy setting often means picking up some other over-the-top cliched setting. I'm not saying fantasy settings are better or worse than modern settings (or future settings), I'm not even saying over-the-top settings are bad (all the time), but that there has to be something extraordinary about the setting or the plot or the main character because otherwise it's normal life.

I kind of forgot where I was going with all this but, in short, I'm only sick of games that are in a fantasy setting for the sake of being in a fantasy setting. If it's fun to play and has a compelling story, I'll fight as many elves, ogres and dragons as the developers will throw at me.

Or criminals, drug dealers, smugglers or renegades.

Bringing up the "Aeries Dies" effect just reminded me of something even more nonsensical. I gave Baten Kaitos a try recently, and one of the first things we find out about the main character is that he has wings. Ok, I can accept that. Now I walk outside the village for the first time into the forest. The moment I start walking along the path I run into the usual logs, rocks, small gaps, and other such things that RPG characters can't seem to be able to climb over. THE MAIN. CHARACTER. HAS. WINGS. It's not like he has any trouble flying either, he spends most of his time during random battles in the air. I ended up laughing so hard over watching the main character fail to get over a knee-high log that I couldn't play anymore. It's not like the game was preventing me from going outside the screen either, these things were purposefully put on the path to make me do puzzle stuff to get around them.

Are there any good RPG video games in which the player gets no access to magic, Force, dark matter or whatever Japanese Tiger Form fighting they want to call it?

I agree with the general sentiment above that traditional RPG requires not only a certain level of disbelief suspension, but also a compelling reason to stop actually living normal life and playing the game. I think the reason so many RPGs happen in Sci-Fi/Fantasy settings is twofold:

1) In traditional RPGs, you gain experience by doing things, like lifting rocks to increase your strength, or basically killing things to increase fighting ability or spellcasting or whatever. In modern times, without the presence of evil aliens, there really aren't ways to gain experience in non-boring ways. Running around killing animals is a good way to star as the villain in an early-90s disney rip-off film, or at least get assaulted by PETA. Also, doing menial tasks to increase strength and whatnot can get boring, which leads me to my next point.

2) RPGs, for me at least, are all about Escapism, and well, role-playing. I like it better when I can become a character in a world different from my own, otherwise, in my opinion, playing said game would be an utter waste of time, (more so than it already might be). For instance, if I was playing a non-fantasy/sci-fi RPG, and my character wanted to get good at playing guitar, I might grind some guitar lessons, or I might stop playing the game, purchase a guitar, and learn for myself. Luckily for me, I happen to like (good) Sci-Fi and Fantasy quite a bit. If you don't, now might be a good time to enter the game-development industry and make your own games, because with the exception of over-done war games, that might be your best bet.