I am writing a JRPG Engine using Flashpunk over at my site, and was pondering on where to go with it, or better, how to make use of it. I'm not very thrilled with making a traditional game adhering to genre standards, so I'll share with you some of my thoughts on RPG design in general. It's all loosely related to my previous post on non-linearity.
As I see it when playing the common RPGs out there today (Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age, Fallout 3), I find the main philosophies of RPG design: Bethesdas open-world games, the Bioware RPGs and JRPGs.
Open-World a la Bethesda
In the former, you are thrown into a vast world that you can explore and discover at your own pace and go almost anywhere you want. The main appeal of those games is the initial feeling of pure awesomeness of being able to adventure around in a different world.
Bethesda is very good at creating worlds that have a distinct feel oozing from the design of the world - from the textures to the proportions to the way characters talk to you to the quests. I've recently played Fallout 3 like a mad man. It took me something like 4 days of playing to get over the fascination of the Capital Wasteland.
It's mind blowing what those guys made with the franchise level-design wise. There is just so much to do and to go to, a feeling of mystique around every building and area. I loved it. Then the ugly feeling started creeping over me that I had when playing Morrowind and Oblivion. Disillusionment.
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