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RPG Deals 4/3 – 4/9

By Russ | April 3, 2016 at 9:27 pm

Detraction!

I have no deals today; only rambling.

One of the big struggles in today’s multi-classed gaming structure – and by that I mean the absorption of the RPG genre into every other friggin’ game ever – is not only finding out what qualifies as an RPG before a game is released, but at what point does a game remain an RPG when so many elements typical of RPG’s have been stripped from the game. RPG seems to mean less of a player taking on a role in a world – areas which Western-RPGs excel at (Fallout, Elder Scrolls, ummm… their knock-offs) and more of any stat-based system where the stats can be influenced through levels, gear, traits, and other systems available to the player (Borderlands, The Division? shit, Resident Evil 6? Crap I would’t have played during the SNES era because of being an asshole). Japanese RPGs have gone another route, and RPGs tend to be interactive stories with slower systems, while still maintaining the above series of systems available to the player. It’s not what North America would consider an actual role-playing game, though. The role is predetermined, not open-ended (or at least with the illusion of openness). Yet many of us – especially users grown on consoles – hold the JRPG to the mental standard due to the prevalence dominance in the SNES/PSX era. Or Final Fantasy VII for some. And this mental image? Is subjective. Borderlands is an RPG, but it’s not what I would have considered in RPG up to the early-PS2 era.

All of this just means it’s hard to pick what is considered a RPG deal until I can spend some time researching the game or with the game. Which is why a lot of deals slip through my net.

Thanks for reading.

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