From the Arctic to Shibuya: RPG Settings

1UP’s RPG blog is offering up a piece that highlights the power of a game’s setting, particularly when it comes to the role-playing genre. Quite a few recognizable series are referenced, including The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Ultima, and Final Fantasy. A bit of what to expect:

RPGs have perhaps adhered more closely to the swords and sorcery model than other genres over the years. That holds true on both sides of the ocean, whether we’re talking about Elder Scrolls or Dragon Quest, Ultima Online or Lineage. Given that many RPG can trace their roots back to tabletop RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons, that’s perhaps not too surprising. But when an RPG begins to branch out and truly embrace its setting, I can’t help but take notice, because the results are often very interesting.

On one end of the spectrum we have Final Fantasy. Ultimately, this is a series built around swords and sorcery, and that holds true from the first game to the last. It doesn’t matter that there are guys with guns, because there are still powerful magicks and even more powerful godlike creatures lurking about. While the addition of technology changes a few things up, it’s still a series that wouldn’t be significantly different in terms of gameplay if it were dropped into a hard fantasy setting.

On the other end of the spectrum are games like The World Ends With You and Fallout, which would be fundamentally different games if taken out of their particular contexts.