Which RPGs would you recommend to someone who is new to the genre?

[Spirit]

Here is a loaded question for you; which RPGs would you recommend to someone new to the genre?

How would you begin, would you ask them if they favoured story over gameplay mechanics?

Would you ask them about tone or style?

Or would you just give them a list of things to try?

What would be on that list for a newcomer?

 

[Castle]

It does depend on a variety of factors, but in general role playing games are not a genre for tenderfoots. Due to their mechanical complexity, they're a genre you dive in to and you either sink or swim.

But let's consider the factors:

Are we talking about JRPGs or western role playing games? There's a big difference. Obviously JRPGs are going to have a lower barrier to entry for the uninitiated.

Are we talking about story focused role playing games or rule focused role playing games? Games based on Dungeons and Dragons rule sets like Baldur's Gate and rpgs with mechanical complexity like Pillars of Eternity or The Elder Scrolls: Daggerfall are going to take a long time to learn. Story based games with minimal mechanical complexity to the rule set like The Witcher 3 and Skyrim are going to be easier for casual audiences to accept. RPGs with a heavy focus on visceral combat like Diablo and other A(ction)RPGs with their simple rules and constant positive feedback loop are also going to be more welcoming to casual players.

For my part, I would recommend Fallout: New Vegas as a good entry point for new players. New Vegas is also a solid testament to the RPG genre. It has depth of complexity without being archaic or difficult to learn. It allows for actual role playing (You know? The whole playing of a role thing that so many "role playing" games seem to miss) without setting players up for choosing the "wrong" role for their character. It also features a solid narrative set in one of video gaming's most unique original settings that can serve as a poignant entry point to any gamer to better appreciate the culture of video games. New Vegas may not have aged well but I wouldn't say it has aged poorly. It's just too bad it takes buckets of fairy dust, a meteor shower's worth of shooting stars and the hopes and dreams of an entire nation's preadolescent population to keep running for more than a few minutes. But that's a technical fault with the program's engineering that has nothing to do with the nature of the game.

 

[DekuNut]

Final Fantasy II

 

[DekuNut]

... that was a joke. Don't play FF2 without knowing what youre getting into

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

Bring them on friends, pretty sure I'm the inspiration behind this thread!

I think I'd like a balance of story and gameplay mechanics.

Idk about tone, I don't want a complete light hearted game, I know that.

 

[the8thark]

Here is a loaded question for you; which RPGs would you recommend to someone new to the genre?

Before I would recommend them any game I would talk to them about what an RPG is.

Are you up for a 40+ hour game with potentally some grind?
Are you ok woth repetative turn based combat or do you only want more action oriented combat? The caveat here is almost all games do have some repetition in them.
Do you really want to invest the mental energy into trying to understand some indepth stories that can get very messy at times with no clear direction?
Are you ok with games with references to Japanese culture in them?
Do you only like realistiuc styled games or are you ok with games that are not realistic atall and don't take themselves too seriously?
Do you like retro styled games or will you only play modern looking 3D games?

All questions I would ask to narrow down what type of RPG that the person ( possibly @Spiritual Mask Salesman ) would actually like to play.

@Castle

You say "Obviously JRPGs are going to have a lower barrier to entry for the uninitiated" However you recommend as a first RPG Fallout-New Vegas developed by Obsidian Entertainment and Bethesda. Both US developers and New Vegas is very much a western style RPG.
That is a little contradictory.

 

[Castle]

You say "Obviously JRPGs are going to have a lower barrier to entry for the uninitiated" However you recommend as a first RPG Fallout-New Vegas developed by Obsidian Entertainment and Bethesda. Both US developers and New Vegas is very much a western style RPG.
That is a little contradictory.

Good observation!

Answer: I don't consider JRPGs to be role playing games.

 

[DekuNut]

Good observation!

Answer: I don't consider JRPGs to be role playing games.

 

[Castle]

Japanese roleplaying games are different than western role playing games. Who knew???

Just because you call something a thing doesn't mean it is that thing.

By definition a roleplaying game allows the player to play a role. Duh, right? No, it's not that simple. The player must be able to adopt a role and play that role as they would choose to. It's method acting. The game needs to be able to provide the player agency to play their role within the context of the scenario. Western role playing games do this by allowing players to choose their skills and class and to tailor the game experience based on what the player's character is good at. WRPGs also commonly provide the player a means to affect the story through player choice and change the narrative to reflect the consequences of the player's actions.

Even in a game like The Witcher where you are handed the role of a preestablished character - not just a witcher but a specific witcher - the game still allows you to choose your own story based on what actions you make as Geralt and even tailor your play style by choosing Geralt's fighting style.

In JRPGs, players have no agency. The characters they are given are all preestablished and tend to level up with little or no input from the player. Each character has their own voice, their own personality and will make their own decisions throughout the story with no input from the player. The story will play out the same way every time and players will have no say in how it does.

Some JRPGs are less J and more WRPG than others. Some Final Fantasy games feature the job system which in my opinion is the most robust class system ever devised for a role playing game. Other JRPGs do allow players to change the story based on their decisions or even feature silent protagonists that help to create player agency with the character a bit even if the player still has no form of expression through their character.

But while in the west roleplaying games are based on pen and paper role playing games like dungeons and dragons and seek to emulate the tabletop roleplaying experience as closely as possible, JRPGs are still all descendants of Dragon Quest, which itself was inspired by the Ultima and Wizardry games that were popular in the west, but which stripped out the western role playing experience until only the combat and the visuals were left. Every "role playing" game produced in Japan from then on were essentially Dragon Quest clones, similar to how first person shooters are essentially Doom clones. JRPGs followed DraQue's formula which removed everything that makes a roleplaying game about playing a role.

So, if someone asks me "Which RPG would you recommend to someone new to the genre?" I am going to recommend a role playing game. Japanese Role Playing Games are something different. For that I would recommend Dragon Quest simply because it was the progenitor of the JRPG or Xenoblade Chronicles because I like it.

 

[Cfrock]

@DekuNut I don't want to put words into his mouth, but I imagine my feelings on this point aren't a million miles away from @Castle's.

Western RPGs are very heavily focused on the idea of character creation and development through story. The player will have a hand in what the main character looks like, their name, their background, and their skill set. In most, the player gets to decide what motivates the character and has the freedom to interact with other characters according to a player-assigned personality. The player gets to decide who the main character is, how they became that person, what they choose to do in the world the inhabit, and how that will affect and change them.

Most Japanese RPGs feature a predetermined character. Some will give the player the ability to alter how that character looks, but they will almost always have a name, a personality, a linear story, and all of their choices will be dictated by the plot and not by the player themselves. The player will mainly have influence over the main character's skill set, but outside of that JRPGs don't give players the freedom to create their own characters and inhabit them.

I don't say any of this to imply JRPGs are bad, just that they differ in the most fundamental aspect of what I feel an RPG actually is, what specifically makes RPGs distinct from other games: the ability to create a fictional character of my own and live a life as them, from major narrative choices right down to how I talk to people. JRPGs don't offer that. If I have to play as Rex, the happy-go-lucky dragonrider, or I have to play as Takeshi, the brooding war veteran, then I'm not role playing. You may as well say Gears of War is an RPG because you 'play the role' of Marcus Fenix. JRPGs are more similar to third-person action games than to RPGs, since they offer so little room to actually role play.

 

[A Link In Time]

I know very little about the RPG genre. It is not a genre I played a lot of growing up. I honestly couldn't give many examples for the questions posed above.

So my recommendations would be limited to only the small selection of RPGs I've played. Seeing as how I've never played Final Fantasy, the mother of all RPGs, I'd probably ultimately recommend talking to someone else about RPG recommendations.

I think Pokémon is as entry level as you can get in an RPG. The concept of turn based battles and types giving certain advantages and disadvantages is easy for a new player to grasp. Let's Go has simplified the formula even more for new players.

Mario & Luigi is another franchise I would recommend. Being able to dodge or reflect your opponent's attacks in combat makes it a lot easier to navigate through battles.

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

there, we're good

 

[Fierce_Deity]

I'd start them off with Final Fantasy VI or Chrono Trigger. They contain the basics of RPGs, don't have a complicated learning curve, and have engaging stories.

 

[Farore's Chosen]

Golden Sun series comes to mind. Earthbound is also good.
Final Fantasy series too.

 

[Ninja]

JRPG I would recommend Final Fantasy X as a fantastic story. The game is easy to learn, and the tones are a mix of light and dark. I love the game so much I’ve purchased every single version and remaster of the game. Tons of relay value too.

Action RPG, perhaps Kingdom Hearts.