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Console By Genre Debate #7: Which is the Best Console for Playing RPGs From the 7th Generation?


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Console By Genre Debate #7: Which is the Best Console for Playing RPGs From the 7th Generation?   

15 members have voted

  1. 1. Console By Genre Debate #7: Which is the Best Console for Playing RPGs From the 7th Generation?

    • Microsoft Xbox360
      3
    • Sony Playstation 3
      10
    • Nintendo Wii
      2


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The seventh generation of home video game consoles began on November 22, 2005, with the release of Microsoft's Xbox 360 home console. This was followed by the release of Sony Computer Entertainment's PlayStation 3 on November 17, 2006 and Nintendo's Wii on November 19, 2006, the following year. -Wikipedia

A role-playing video game (commonly referred to as simply a role-playing game or an RPG as well as a computer role-playing game or a CRPG) is a video game genre where the player controls the actions of a character (and/or several party members) immersed in some well-defined world.

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360/PS have all the multiplats. I don’t even know what’s on Wii without looking it up. Xenoblade and the supremely disappointing Super Paper Mario? And a long list of B-listers that’s sure to follow this post.

Disgaea 3 is like the only exclusive RPG that I can remember playing, or Demons’ Souls I guess too. PS3 for me I guess.

Edited by DefaultGen
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Considering PS3 and X360 have largely the same lineup of games it really comes down to the few exclusives.

So I guess it's Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon, Last Remnant, Infinite Undiscovery and Eternal Sonata versus.... Folklore, Drakengard 3 and Disgaea?
Hell, Xbox 360 wins on Lost Odyssey alone.

I'd be interested in hearing the arguments of people who favored the PS3 over X360.

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Editorials Team · Posted
8 hours ago, Sumez said:

Considering PS3 and X360 have largely the same lineup of games it really comes down to the few exclusives.

So I guess it's Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon, Last Remnant, Infinite Undiscovery and Eternal Sonata versus.... Folklore, Drakengard 3 and Disgaea?
Hell, Xbox 360 wins on Lost Odyssey alone.

I'd be interested in hearing the arguments of people who favored the PS3 over X360.

Eternal Sonata was on both systems (in the US at least)

PS3 had a ton of JRPGs (Ateliers, Tales, Neptunias) but I don't know if any of them are something to write home about.

And I guess some Personas

360 also had the Fables

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It was an average gen for RPGs on consoles, a few stand outs though, and if we included handhelds the 3DS killed it.

Lost Odyssey is a great game but PS3 had a few more exclusives that haven’t yet been mentioned like Dragon’s Crown, Odin Sphere remake, demon’s souls, Ni No Kuni and Trails of Cold Steel 1&2.

I’m currently playing ToCS for my backlog challenge and I think those games and demon’s souls make it better than Xbox and Wii by a long mile.

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7 minutes ago, Sumez said:

Are Assassin's Creed, Yakuza, or the new Spider-Man game RPGs? I'm kind of unsure where you think the distinction lies.

No, no for all but the current one, and no. Yakuza is closer to being one because some sources consider Shenmue to be one. But in reality it's an Action-Adventure game with action RPG-like elements.

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Definitely Sony's PlayStation 3.

Microsoft's Xbox 360 had potential because they were doing exclusives with Mistwalker. But in the end their mistakes only had them see any major sales in Japan be tied to Blue Dragon. Any remaining exclusives were more popular in both North America and Europe, but none of them were really RPG or JRPG titles you could not already find for the PS3.

Nintendo's Wii was the first to have any Dragon Ques exclusives. But the 25th Anniversary Collection was just a re-port of the Famicom and Super Famicom titles, with Dragon Quest X eventually being ported over to PC, Wii U, 3DS, PlayStation 4, and the Switch. And the last two worth mentioning are both Xenoblade Chronicles and Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. The rest are either niche in their own way or also had ports (or enhanced ports) that include the PS3.

And finally Sony's PlayStation 3. Because of both bad timing and interest in Home, I missed out on a good number of RPGs and JRPGs for this console. But I can say is that this console had the best selection for this generation, with this rivaling even the DS when it comes to my means of choosing a system that offers any JRPG that interests me.

Outside that Sony's PlayStation Portable had a few good JRPGs. But the ones worth suggesting at Japan exclusives. 😩

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3 hours ago, FenrirZero said:

But in reality it's an Action-Adventure game with action RPG-like elements.

Isn't that what Demon's Souls is? In fact, isn't that what all of the games I mentioned are.

The problem here is that most modern games have a lot of "RPG elements" to them. They have interactions with NPC characters, they have free exploration, they have EXP and level up, they have equippable gear and consumable items. It makes it so hard to make a distinction that I figure it's pointless to look at anthing out of what's undeniably a "pure RPG".

A lot of people look at it like if the game relies acquiring on EXP to level up and keep up with the areas you're going to visit in the game as a primary progression mechanic. But that would definitely rule out all of the Souls games, as all of them are perfectly beatable on Level 1, Demon's Souls especially so. You'll still need to upgrade your weapons of course, but so does God of War.

This is of course a bit of a nuanced discussion, and to some extent kinda subjective, maybe worthy of its own thread, even though it's already been done to death 😄 

Edited by Sumez
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@Sumez Character skills and progression in Demon's Souls is a lot more in line with RPG systems than a simple skill tree you see in a lot of modern Action-Adventure games.

Many rpgs can be completed with low level runs.  Mother can be beaten running from pretty much every encounter, there are few bosses or spots that force you to fight.  Disco Elysium has no physical combat.   Many table top games focus around sneaking past, talking your way out of situations, or otherwise avoiding combat.  Role-playing isn't about gated progression via grinding.

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2 minutes ago, Sumez said:

Sure, I'll believe that, and I probably agree. But then, what is role-playing about, which Demon's Souls fulfills?? You sure as hell don't talk your way around bosses 😄 

Character skills and progression in Demon's Souls is a lot more in line with RPG systems than a simple skill tree you see in a lot of modern Action-Adventure games.

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9 hours ago, Sumez said:

Isn't that what Demon's Souls is? In fact, isn't that what all of the games I mentioned are.

The problem here is that most modern games have a lot of "RPG elements" to them. They have interactions with NPC characters, they have free exploration, they have EXP and level up, they have equippable gear and consumable items. It makes it so hard to make a distinction that I figure it's pointless to look at anthing out of what's undeniably a "pure RPG".

A lot of people look at it like if the game relies acquiring on EXP to level up and keep up with the areas you're going to visit in the game as a primary progression mechanic. But that would definitely rule out all of the Souls games, as all of them are perfectly beatable on Level 1, Demon's Souls especially so. You'll still need to upgrade your weapons of course, but so does God of War.

This is of course a bit of a nuanced discussion, and to some extent kinda subjective, maybe worthy of its own thread, even though it's already been done to death 😄 

The difference between an Action-Adventure game and an Action-RPG is easy to differentiate. In the end it is no different than knowing the difference between a (post-Toei's Spider-Man) super sentai series and a kaiju series. Which, ironically, has a chance of me finding a similar argument to yours. 😅

Action = Real-time combat that requires some level of skill to defeat your opponents. Both equipment upgrades and skill upgrades are often found in this type of game series. [Example(s): River City Ransom, Metroid]

Adventure = Role-playing experiences without the means of playing an actual RPG. Talking to NPCs and/or obtaining equipment to complete a task is fundamental, even if both are not offered. [Example(s): Myst, King's Quest]

Roleplaying Game (RPG) = Stats are required to properly use select equipment, be a select class and/or race, or some other type of requirement the series offers. [Example(s): Bloodborne, Elder Scrolls]

In the end both Spider-Man and Yakuza (pre-Like a Dragon) use currency to get a select skill, buy a product, or even both. But neither have mechanics that separate it from their "Adventure" elements.

As with my experiences with both tabletop and computer RPGs, if you do not have the skills the RPG mechanics that the Souls series offer tend to be helpful. 😅

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I went with 360.  Because of Mass Effect.  The only RPG I cared about in that generation.  Yeah, it got released later to other consoles, but it will always be a 360 trilogy to me.  The Elder Scrolls also seemed to run better on 360 than on the PS3.

And as I have posted in other threads, I don't like JRPGs at all.  All WRPGs for me.  🙂

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I'm going PS3. Wii has some good old school style rpgs and not to mention Xenoblade and Fire Emblem. 360 has some bangers too, as well as the best Tales of... Game of the gen. PS3 just has the numbers, though.

That being said, I really enjoy the Wii lineup of rpgs, though as a gen, it's pretty weak.

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On 1/18/2021 at 12:02 PM, Reed Rothchild said:

Eternal Sonata was on both systems (in the US at least)

PS3 had a ton of JRPGs (Ateliers, Tales, Neptunias) but I don't know if any of them are something to write home about.

And I guess some Personas

360 also had the Fables

Well, PS3 also had the superior version of Tales of Vesperia, though you had to wait for the HD remaster to get it in English, and even then they have new dialogue which somewhat clashes with the old stuff (since it was translated and recorded years later and without the main voice actor).

 

I feel like if you want 7th gen RPGs then you should probably get all three, because no one 7th gen console will really deliver a lot in this genre. Wii would probably be last in terms of numbers, and PS3 would be first so long as you enjoy niche stuff, particularly in the anime otaku world. Also, buy a DS and a PSP. They had all the games that were really worth playing that gen IMO.

On 1/20/2021 at 3:40 PM, Reed Rothchild said:

Is Zelda an action RPG?

*runs away*

According to the japanese box for Ocarina of Time, yes it is! 😄 Though really, if games like Hydlide and Dragon Slayer are cornerstones of the console RPG, then why is Zelda not included? I think it's just as much of an action RPG as, say, Seiken Densetsu, and unless you say that Seiken Densetsu series isn't an RPG series, I think you have to accept that Zelda is one as well.

The debate over what exactly *is* an RPG is one that has gone on ever since Ultima and Wizardry. My understanding of original D&D was that it wasn't even that much about roleplaying so much as it was playing your own character in a situation. That alone was the novelty compared to wargaming, where you'd be handling a bunch of faceless soldiers in large battles. It seems that the acting and theatrics came about as a necessity for how to differentiate the games vs computer RPGs. I mean, if you were playing Wizardry, then you were basically playing the same thing as a tabletop dungeon crawl, just probably the tabletop still had more finesse available to the player on how to do things, but the computer game could do more complex simulations, more quickly, and you could play it alone too. Then you get to Japan, which took the core concepts of how the early wizardry/ultima games worked and translated it as best they could to machines with comparably limited support for input and text display, and it makes sense that games like Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy came out of it. That whole thing is too complicated for me to say I know full well what happened though, and I'd rather see others discuss it anyway.

My own toe dip into RPGs seems to suggest that variety of playstyle and options, along with a way to uniquely define playthroughs compared to one another, is a crucial element. Of course that is still something that happens in a lot of games, so maybe it is the story? TBH I feel like much of what has made genres unique over the years has been blurred, due to game makers experimenting and finding things that work for game X or Y.

Maybe the best way to describe an RPG vs another game is that RPGs allow you to choose to be a normal person as opposed to being some kind of nutjob who runs around slaughtering things, and still lets you play the game that way and doesn't affect you negatively for doing so. I mean, does that mean that pacifist runs of Doom means that Doom is also an RPG? I don't know, at that point you could just as well argue that challenge runs of a single-player game are no different from puzzle games. It seems that genre titles exist basically to help us easily discuss games we like, and when you seriously analyze them in the abstract, the distinctions start to become very blurred.

 

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