Dragon Age II and the Decline of the Old-school RPG

Editorials, articles and opinion pieces on Dragon Age II and its significance for the old school of RPG design abound, with IGN being the latest in serving us their opinion. Here’s a sampling:

Nowadays, it seems that gaming is experiencing somewhat of a RPG renaissance. The infamous addition of the perk system to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare’s competitive multiplayer came as a great surprise and, ultimately, a welcome addition. The ability to level up and unlock better, stronger gear was a critically-praised decision that won the admiration of gamers and critics alike. It enticed players away from the Halos and Gears of Wars that inhabited the gaming world back to Call of Duty, paving the way for it to become the biggest franchise in the world.

Following its success, the classic saying, “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” was never truer. All of a sudden the floodgates were opened and every man and his dog were racing to add RPG elements to their titles. Racers (Blur, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit), re-imagined classics (Hard Corps: Uprising) hell, even the franchises Call of Duty 4 usurped (Halo: Reach, Gears of War 3) rushed to implement the classic ideals of the RPG genre.

At the same time, however, traditional RPGs (Final Fantasy XIII and Alpha Protocol) were subject to critical scorn and divisive sales figures. It seemed that players wanted the elements of the genre, but not the games themselves. As it stands, on average the only games that achieved critical and commercial acclaim within the genre were those that diluted the classical role-playing elements to incredible extremes, such as Mass Effect 2. This is not a bad thing, as Mass Effect 2 is still arguably the greatest game of its generation. It is simply representative of a shift in the industry and consumer tastes.