Title: RPGs are for story? Since when?
Created: 2016-08-06
Edited: 2019-08-08
Author: zlg

Across the Internet and even in person, I find a lot of people claiming that 
RPGs are meant to be story-heavy and that's the main draw. Part of me wonders 
where that idea came from.

- - -

The original RPG could be considered Dungeons & Dragons or any similar
paper-and-pencil games where you adopt a persona and go on an adventure, with
a DM at the reins to guide you and your friends along. The core of those games
is not story, however; it's about _interacting with your friends_ in a made-up
world. The story, while being in the lime-light, is nothing compared to the
feeling of cooperating with your friends and vanquishing foes or telling
ridiculous stories because your bard is drunk as shit.

D&D and other paper-and-pencil RPGs have a huge focus on the battle system. Each 
race has strengths and weaknesses. Ditto for classes. Each class has skills, 
which have use inside and outside of battle. There are feats. If the game was 
not meant to have a deep level of combat or world interaction, none of that 
would be there! You'd just toss a few dice to decide damage and trade blows with 
no-name mooks.

Even the _original_ RPGs had battle systems, with depth and intrigue.

- - -

So let's spin this and put it into the intended medium (video games).

Some of the first RPGs, while possessing plenty of story, had a lot of combat
to fill up the game with things to do. Fetch quests and puzzles also added to
the longevity. The story helped compel you to go further, but most of the games
that became renowned (The Elder Scrolls, Ultima, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest,
etc) did so because their combat was fun and the world was interesting. In a
traditional turn-based RPG, you're going to be spending a good portion of your
time in combat. In series such as Golden Sun, there's plenty of story -- some
even complain at the amount of dialogue -- but mostly you're exploring, solving
puzzles, customizing your party, diving into dungeons, and fighting monsters.

This misconception of "RPG == story-heavy" is flat-out wrong. Some games such as
Crystalis are rather light on story. Castlevania 2 is another example. Zelda 2
as well. Others, like The Elder Scrolls, can go either way because there is tons
of story, but most of it's optional. The few games that are mostly story-based
have super-easy gameplay, or they're reclassified as another genre, ranging from
interactive fiction to point-and-click adventure to puzzle.

- - -

I think people need to really sit down and ask themselves how important the 
story is to RPGs as a genre. A quality RPG won't need a story to be fun.

If one wants story, they should play a visual novel, point-and-click adventure,
or text adventure. MUSHs are a good place to do role-playing that is expected to
be in-universe, while MUDs are for the battle- or adventure-oriented. Some even
have PvP aspects, which is a nice touch.