Thread: XBox RPGs, the lack thereof

Off the top of my head, I would recommend Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and it's sequel. There is also Shenmue 2, but you really have to be an RPG fan to wade through the horrific FMV's to get to the superior gameplay.

Originally Posted by Zui Quan

Off the top of my head, I would recommend Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and it's sequel.

Star Wars huh? Never really figured it to be an RPG. There's character progression and what not? How does that work exactly?

It's done by the same developers as Jade Empire. Your character get to be a Jedi apprentice and through actions and dialogue you decide which path the character goes down, the Light or the Dark Side of the Force.

Have a look at the official site for KOTOR:
http://www.lucasarts.com/products/swkotor

Originally Posted by Zui Quan

It's done by the same developers as Jade Empire. Your character get to be a Jedi apprentice and through actions and dialogue you decide which path the character goes down, the Light or the Dark Side of the Force.

Sounds awesome! I loved Jade Empire. It had a lot of back-tracking and side quests, but it made the game a lot longer. Altogether it was only about 20-some hours of gameplay (nothing compared to the 80 I put into FFIX, when I had the PS2), but it was still a great game. My issue is solved. Thanks.

If you got an XBOX for RPGs, it's like buying a NES for shooter games. Look, while the XBOX has/had some great games, it lacked in the RPG market because of some very simple facts:

1. Squarenix didn't work on it, meaning it lost out on the Final Fantasy cashcrop.

2. Actually, most if not all Japanese RPG developers didn't like the XBOX. This is
primarily because Japan in and of itself did not like the XBOX, for whatever reason Bloomberg/Gamespot/A 12 year old gamer can speculate. Most agree it's because a mix of size, non-japanese oriented games, and underabundance of RPGs (Catch 22?)

3. The XBOX made developers feel like thye had to "Innovate", meaning they were less likely to make a typical console RPG.

So basically, everything above- KOTOR, Fable, etc- are all you're really gonna get.

I didn't get into RPGs until after I had the XBox. Then I stumbled across an easy-to-acquire PS2 which crapped out on me shortly after I finished FFIX. From then on, I was stuck on an RPG trip. Now, buying another PS2 is just not feesable. PS3's coming out shortly and I might as well just wait. What about XBox360? Anybody know if they're looking into expanding their RPG selection for that console?
I guess it would be doubted, since XBox is the way it is as far as RPGs go. I can't see them trying to reform back into classic RPG style games. I just don't understand why anyone would see it as a smart move to overlook RPGs. Haven't they been paying attention to the Final Fantasy movement?! Geez...

The Final Fantasy "movement" in the US is just a relatively small number of people in contrast to the huge numbers that buy the Madden NFL games, GTA, Halo, or even kiddy platfomers like the game version of <insert Disney movie here>.

For whatever cultural difference, RPG-style games are bigger in Japan, while FPS and intense action games are the hot-seller here.