In my opinion story is by far the number 1 most important thing that makes a great rpg. Not super-realistic Skyrim graphics or super-worked gameplay (even though these factors indeed play a necesary part in any great game) but a good immersive story where players can have the complete freedom to invite whatever roleplaying desires that best fit in with their version of the story. Basically, game designers who give players the right to fully morph the past, present, and future of their story is quite frankly very important in rp because that IS the definition of roleplay.
The whole point of roleplaying is that players take their own personalities and their thoughts or feelings in rl and replace all that with their characters mental attitudes and personality. So how could you fit this into the story? Good fantasy game stories should be no different than reading a book where you walk through the portal of imagination and fantastic wonder. I'd like to look at the past version first where I use fallout as an example. In Fallout you got to start off with your main character as a child and you acted the way you felt like acting with no consequences to yourself except for the ones that you feel in the game. This I thought was about near brilliant as what I mentioned above. Playing your character as a child or being able to participate in some part of his earlier life before the big bang begins is a great way for the player to develop a big connection to his character because it adds to the effects of the present and future which therefore makes it extremely more enjoyable and fun for everyone! Maybe you acted like a jerk as child (lol I know I did because I like playing a kind of a villainous, selfish character) and you treated everyone like crap. After that is when you design your real characters facial appearance and make him look how you envisioned him...like a freaking badass but this comes in a different way in everyone's mind.
Now people in the present will dislike you because you chose to act like a jerk which can also have small impacts on the present and future state of the game. Now the present part is of course where you get to play the story of your character's life. Everything depends on this: your decisions, your actions, who you really are and who you choose to be is what greatly impacts the ending of the story. So since I chose to act like a stupid brat of a child maybe I decide to myself "hmm I feel ashamed of how I acted and want everyone to forgive me for my misbehavior", so you decide to be a good or neutral character at this point. Now you decide to make good decisions but at times maybe you feel the temptation to do a little evil every now and then. This can result in a neutral and chaotic character because you are proving to everyone as well as yourself that you don't fully care about the law 'in your heart" because you enjoy doing a little evil and curing your own temptations when they arise just because it's how your character is and you find great fun and joy when you pretend to be such a character.
Now after you have beaten the story and conquered evil ( or good) what happens now? We'll this can be up to you or up to the game developers. You can continue to live out your life in the rpg world you so enjoy and continue doing good or evil.Or maybe you decide to yourself that this is the end for my character and he gets ambushed by deathclaws at some point, very effectively ending his life. Or in the case to where game developers allowed you to play a past experience of your character they will allow you to play the future of your character as well. They release a whole ton of expansion packs that start out depending on the actions your character made in the main story.
These rp ideas everyone is what I believe in my heart that makes great rp games. Being able to figuratively write out your own story in any way possible is what makes a great roleplaying game imo and game developers whom allow the players to experience these points in their character visually can really bring out the roleplay in fantasy role-playing games.
So I'm curious as to what everyone elses opinion is on what it takes to make a great rpg?
The whole point of roleplaying is that players take their own personalities and their thoughts or feelings in rl and replace all that with their characters mental attitudes and personality. So how could you fit this into the story? Good fantasy game stories should be no different than reading a book where you walk through the portal of imagination and fantastic wonder. I'd like to look at the past version first where I use fallout as an example. In Fallout you got to start off with your main character as a child and you acted the way you felt like acting with no consequences to yourself except for the ones that you feel in the game. This I thought was about near brilliant as what I mentioned above. Playing your character as a child or being able to participate in some part of his earlier life before the big bang begins is a great way for the player to develop a big connection to his character because it adds to the effects of the present and future which therefore makes it extremely more enjoyable and fun for everyone! Maybe you acted like a jerk as child (lol I know I did because I like playing a kind of a villainous, selfish character) and you treated everyone like crap. After that is when you design your real characters facial appearance and make him look how you envisioned him...like a freaking badass but this comes in a different way in everyone's mind.
Now people in the present will dislike you because you chose to act like a jerk which can also have small impacts on the present and future state of the game. Now the present part is of course where you get to play the story of your character's life. Everything depends on this: your decisions, your actions, who you really are and who you choose to be is what greatly impacts the ending of the story. So since I chose to act like a stupid brat of a child maybe I decide to myself "hmm I feel ashamed of how I acted and want everyone to forgive me for my misbehavior", so you decide to be a good or neutral character at this point. Now you decide to make good decisions but at times maybe you feel the temptation to do a little evil every now and then. This can result in a neutral and chaotic character because you are proving to everyone as well as yourself that you don't fully care about the law 'in your heart" because you enjoy doing a little evil and curing your own temptations when they arise just because it's how your character is and you find great fun and joy when you pretend to be such a character.
Now after you have beaten the story and conquered evil ( or good) what happens now? We'll this can be up to you or up to the game developers. You can continue to live out your life in the rpg world you so enjoy and continue doing good or evil.Or maybe you decide to yourself that this is the end for my character and he gets ambushed by deathclaws at some point, very effectively ending his life. Or in the case to where game developers allowed you to play a past experience of your character they will allow you to play the future of your character as well. They release a whole ton of expansion packs that start out depending on the actions your character made in the main story.
These rp ideas everyone is what I believe in my heart that makes great rp games. Being able to figuratively write out your own story in any way possible is what makes a great roleplaying game imo and game developers whom allow the players to experience these points in their character visually can really bring out the roleplay in fantasy role-playing games.
So I'm curious as to what everyone elses opinion is on what it takes to make a great rpg?