well not for me, I never named them! I always liked their pokemon names, to me it added to their character

it IS weird that I do like pokemon!
but that's because pokemon took what was FUN about rpgs!
the gameplay is relatively linear, so you dont have that annoying element of missing damn important items that are put on random weird side quests.
The battling is simplistic and fun, nothing like final fantasy's epic long dull duels, even the final battles in the game dont last all that long but are intense and well...fun!
there's a lot of diversity and customisation in the game too

and yeah I still feel the core of the gameplay in pokemon is a little bit boring and repetitive but this game really did condense what was fun about the genre successfully

I'm with ya man, I can't stand RPG's
And As much as I love the characters, atmospherea, Stories, music and imagination behinde the Final Fantasy games(especially X), I just don't want to 'play' them. I mean look it how amazing and imaginitive FF X looks on the PS2....Yet i just can't get myself to play it because it's an RPG.

But I gotta admit, I did have a decent time with Parasite Eve on the PSX back in the day. but it was more than just your standard RPG, it had this sceince fiction horror element thrown in and the you could actually move around during combat and so on. Not to say it was a great game, it was mildy fun and I had a decent time with it, but it got boring neer the middle.

Anyways, Final Fantasy XIII for the PS3 looks amazing, but I doubt I'll want to actually play it. Kind of like alot of other games that visually look impressive that i dont care to play, Gears of War comes to mind, and maybe Call of Duty 4.
BioShock is another beautiful game that I just hate gameplay wise.

This is why you fail. Not all RPG's are story driven JRPGs

Oblivion for example is very action packed and is still an RPG. Don't generalise the genre due to different sub genres.

I think you are really being unfair due to my frank manner of speaking in the thread title?
Just because I speak in a frank and bold way about my opinion does not make it invalid, just because I didnt post it in a way to accommodate and please final fantasy fans does not change my point at all. You can even read my point in the opening post but ok if that's too hard I guess I will make it in a simplified manner:

1.RPGs (that I have played)=story over gameplay
2.gameplay=dull/repetitive...collecting stuff/long boring turn based battles/overly long cut scenes/lots of wandering around talking to people
3. other artforms including movies/literature are story based, but not tedious in this way

conclusion: gaming to me is about the pleasure of the gameplay experience, and to me on this level RPGs fail

Is that me 'simply stating' anything? I made points about the things I dislike about rpgs, geez you make out like I just made the thread title and posted nothing else?

again i've noticed a lot of reading what you want to read

my pokemon post also stated that I find the game boring/repetitive, but I enjoy playing because it took elements of the genre and simplified them to the point that it was less frustrating and more enjoyable. I still find it boring in many areas but to much less of an extreme because its implimentation of the gameplay elements of rpgs is uh...less extreme.
Mario RPGs and it's sequels are another example of games which took the formula and dumbed it down in a nice enjoyable manner.
Also, I am mainly talking about final fantasy and games similar to it, as this is my main experience with the genre. I can accept there may be games which do not have the elements that I dislike about RPGs I've played.

Personally I've always enjoyed the gameplay of rpg's. Turn base battling is just one great strategy rush when you get up to one of the larger then life opponents. Grinding can be fun too if you just accept the fact that it's a must for pretty much every rpg. I honestly love the mixture between great story telling and turn base battling gameplay. I won't say the same for action rpg's though. They tend to annoy the hell out of me.

There's no reason why Mr Pink can't say his opinion. I myself love RPG's but as mentioned already, it's got to have a good story. If it's a game that has no real consequence and is just complex for no real reason than I won't pick it up. The characters and story have to intrigue me, and as Link said, RPG's are like novels.

I have more fun experiencing plot twists and character development through an RPG than a novel.

wow I cant believe you are the same person who posted the 'rules' for this forum

let's have a look

'Hey guys, just letting you know, this is a place for:

- Rants (Positive or Negative)
- Reviews about... anything really
- Voicing your Opinion about a Subject (IE. Maybe politics or something.)'

I did....all 3 of those things?
I ranted about the genre, I reviewed the elements I disliked, and I voiced my overall opinion. I did everything I thought this forum was about, do I need a 'purpose' in posting other than to express my opinion?
if you want to know if I had a purpose, I wanted people to discuss the points I made, which they have done, and the only thing that I think makes this thread bad is when people (like you just now) divert from the discussion.

making the exact same points in a different manner seems to be more related to aesthetics than my actual contributions in my 'rant'

I think the fact my post did have some food for discussion and content is more important than having some smarmy posting style without content

you should focus on what I actually said, as the rest is just my posting style, people made points in reaction to what I said too, you're making out like they just randomly started talking about rpgs.

I really dont like this sort of fascism on message boards where staff members just love to abuse their power and try and enforce their views on what makes a good post on members.

I should have freedom to express my view how I want to, especially in a forum devoted to ranting called 'the soap box'

all YOU have done as a member and contributor is detract from the discussion with your long rant about ME

at least I got people talking about rpgs

oh god?!?

depressing.

dude I know exactly what you mean, I cant tell you how many times Ive spent 20 + hours playing everquest because time just melts away watching the exp bar fill up - for the record I am so happy I quit that game

Once again, for the millionth time I'll say this.
Sure the graphics, art direction, presentation and sound are all fantastic....but sorry to say, the gameplay is anything but. It's bland, generic, the combat is terrible, the environments start to become repetetive since they start to look all the same and are most of the time just downright confusing....And the thing is, I actually forced myself to beat it and I did....although I wantedd to throw in the towl once i was in the middle of the second level based on pure boredum.

Overall, it's overrated....Its a one trick superficial pony....Once you get past its atmosphere and beauty, you're left with a repetitive boring FPS. Once you've played the first 2 levels, you've pretty much seen everything Rapture has to offer.

RPGs can have great combat system. Go look at KoTOR. That game lets you have fights in real time and it isn't turn based. Go look at Oblivion, its full of action.

Ahem actually the game give the illusion of Real time gameplay but is still running on turnbased conventions.

I.E You swing

He swings

Maybe if BioShock had Wii Remote IR controls I would of liked it better(but that's a cheap shot, since the PS3/360 can't offer it because they both have traditional controllers), Since Metroid Prime 3 offered fantastic FPS controls, although not perfect. But close, and imo(although not quite as accurate 'yet') is far more fun and innovative than keyboard/mouse and dual analog. I guess that was one of the problems I had with BioShock, going from the fresh, fun, realistic and innovative Wii Remote IR FPS controls to 'dual Analog' which feels terrible and dated in comparison.

Anyways, BioShock just didn't do it for me, I expected the gameplay to be better and more deep....I'm not talking about all the different types of plasmids, items and so on that you can get...I mean the game could of had all the weapons, items in the world and it still wouldn't of made it better...Reason being is because the combat is so dull that it just doesn't even matter. A Defense / Block or Counter button would of been awesome, and would of made all the difference for example...And the ability to blow limbs ect off would of been great and more satisfing, and to have realistic physics, sorta like in Resident Evil 4, how you can pop an enemie in the knee, and they'd stumble and fall to the ground...In BioShock, those rules dont apply, the game play feels extremely dated....I mean you can shoot a splicer in the head with a shot gun, but all you'll get is a gooey splash of blood and some blood on his face...see what i mean?

And for the record, the last single player game I had an amazing time with has to go to Resident Evil 4 for the GCN.It was amazing at the time, and requires alot of skill gameplay wise which is why it has fantastic replay value for an RE game. Even though these are different types of game, RE4 blows away BS in the skill department, not to mention it's physics are more advanced and it's flat out more fun.

Also Super Mario Galaxy and Metroid Prime 3 were also fantastic games....
And as far as the 360 goes, i have a feeling Soul Calibur IV will be the first game I actually buy for the system