What makes an RPG good?

[Fading]

To me, loads of things are really important. But it all depends on what kind of RPG you're playing. Action RPG or Turn Based RPG each have their own important things. I'll discuss Turn Based seeing as most people already said a few words about Action RPGs.

1) Uniqueness in gameplay. I like the standard RPGs, but they're getting old. It's so easy to level five levels higher then beat the crap out of an otherwise difficult boss. Bosses should be challenging at all times.

2) Story. You can say what you want about other games, but to a Turn Based RPG, the story is one of the most important things. It's what keeps you entertained in between long battles.

3) Characters. Characters need to be there. They have a reason for coming with you and that reason should be clear. They shouldn't join the main character out of the goodness of their heart without a back story or without a reason, that simply doesn't work. Also important is character development, which some RPGs seriously lack. People develop because of certain events. If you want to have realistic characters, they should have development. This should be for both sides. Bad guys shouldn't be bad because they are just bad, they need reasoning behind it.

4) Sound and music. Great sounds effects and an outstanding musical score turns the tide awkwardness to awesomeness.

5) Graphics. The graphics should match the gameplay and story you are going for. Like with sound and music, it helps in supporting the rest.

[lilsniffs3]

Gameplay: What use is a game if you can't play it? Is it fun? Is it effective? Have I played this already?

Story: Long games need stories. I never settle for an okay story anymore, I only settle for good. *cough*FF6*cough*

Replay Value: This doesn't neccessarily mean alternate endings, I mean like New Game +, getting that party member you didn't have time for, doing side quests, etc.

CHARACTERS!: No one likes the "badass guy with spiky hair and sword." I like newer things, like "A drug addict sent to jail but broken out due to an alien invasion, and uses explosives." That's off the top of my head, it's original. Also, CHARACTERS SHOULD HAVE BACK STORIES!!!

[HobomasterXXX]

Story: Long games need stories. I never settle for an okay story anymore, I only settle for good. *cough*FF6*cough*

It actually has a very good story, and in it's time, a lot of the things that were "cliche", or "overused" weren't at all.

[fruckert]

I think he was using that as his example for a "good" game.

[HobomasterXXX]

I think he was using that as his example for a "good" game.

Meh, coughing usually denotes defaming something, not the other way around.

[zuhane]

The whole stage concept in Thousand Year Door made it epic! With power coming from crowd appeal and the use of Stylish commands!

What makes it better is that the very fabrics of the game suddenly get messed up. One of the bosses eats your
audience for god's sake. I mean, what's better than that?

[zuhane]

Gameplay: What use is a game if you can't play it? Is it fun? Is it effective? Have I played this already?

Story: Long games need stories. I never settle for an okay story anymore, I only settle for good. *cough*FF6*cough*

Replay Value: This doesn't neccessarily mean alternate endings, I mean like New Game +, getting that party member you didn't have time for, doing side quests, etc.

CHARACTERS!: No one likes the "badass guy with spiky hair and sword." I like newer things, like "A drug addict sent to jail but broken out due to an alien invasion, and uses explosives." That's off the top of my head, it's original. Also, CHARACTERS SHOULD HAVE BACK STORIES!!!

Haha. My game features a patriotic Russian Bio-linguist, a cenile (drug addict?) old man and a traumatized, paranoid frog-like creature which can float!
I've devoted more time to funny scripts and analyzing what the characters are saying than anything else (apart from that ridiculously hard-to-make battle system.)

[Obvious Sock Account]

The usual.  Halfway decent plot, enjoyable gameplay, a well-established setting (Probably why I like the Forgotten Realms as much as I do) and the like.  Characters who have any personality at all, outside of a single emotion - usually impotent raeg - are pretty good too, says this observer.

Wait for it.

[MissingName]

a patriotic Russian Bio-linguist

Hahaha!  I'm learning Russian this year.

[DawnOfStefan]

Figured I'd make what time I have while I'm here with my input.

Battles: I usually prefer them to be turn-based. The whole ATB "think-fast" thing always screws me up. Some monsters can get more than one attack in and it can be overwhelming. The battle system should be unique, or at least semi-unique.

Storyline: Never really bothered me too much, but should be something at least decent.

Audio: I consider this category highly important. For example, say you need to grind to beat a tough boss. Guess what song you're going to hear over and over... That's right! The battle song! So the normal enemy battles (bosses too) should be good, but I prefer epic. It even helps to change the main battle theme as you progress through the game. If voices are used, make sure they aren't entirely annoying. This is a problem for some anime-themed games. I couldn't stand Rina from Luminous Arc 2 with her obnoxiously loud "LET'S DO OUR BEST!!"

Characters: This is also highly important in my view. (Non-RPG reference) In Warriors Orochi, it seems like every character had a theme, Ma Chao (JUSTICE!!), Kanetsugu (HONOR!!), Nagamasa (FAITH!!), etc... although that can be cool, giving every character something like that would get annoying. Some characters can be similar, but not exactly the same either. Luminous Arc 2 was good with character development (I think it was, anyway) with how they conversed and reacted to eachother... (Kaph is by far THE most epic character in that game)

I guess that's it for me. I'll add more if I think of something else.

[lilsniffs3]

Meh, coughing usually denotes defaming something, not the other way around.

I meant FF6 was good, but I see your point.

[fruckert]

The usual.  Halfway decent plot, enjoyable gameplay, a well-established setting (Probably why I like the Forgotten Realms as much as I do) and the like.  Characters who have any personality at all, outside of a single emotion - usually impotent raeg - are pretty good too, says this observer.

Wait for it.

O NO U DINT!
SKWAL IS TEH KULIST!
lolno

[HobomasterXXX]

O NO U DINT!
SKWAL IS TEH KULIST!
lolno

[MissingName]

Ahhh darn, I need to emulate through FF8 to get the picture I want.  (Squall facepalming)

[DarkestNight]

1.Character Customization for me is HUGE! It draws me in alot!

2.Storyline must be captivating, like the FF games. The problem with that is that once you know the story what fun is it? That happened to me with Crisis Core FFVII.

3.Worlds&Explorarion. I love the idea of go where you want, level up before moving on with the plot. Kingdom Hearts does that for me very much so.

4.Characters have to be lovable. Simple as that.

5.Difficulty curve must be gradual. I suck at games alot, but difficulty curves that are gradual are the best. Disgeae I can't play [or don't want to] because the difficulty curve was a brick wall.