Namco Bandai helping to create textbooks with RPG elements

"We're sorry, but you need the Ice Rod to access this chapter on multiplying compound fractions."

I expect in game puzzles for future generations to be outrageously difficult...

YES!! I'm two levels away from maximus stats, just need to grind a little more and-

A BOSS TEST APPEARS, SUBJECT: CALCULAS

Damn, I suck at this, gonna need my mage for this...

*check party*

....WHAT DO YOU MEAN, SHE GRADUATED A YEAR AGO?!!

I would love this at my school. This would have made me love math eleven years earlier.

Wild ADVANCED ALGEBRA appeared!

->ATTACK
-->LONG DIVISION
-->MULTIPLE STEP EQUATIONS
-->POINT GRAPHING
-->CALCULUS

Spambot, HUUUUUUURM.

...What?

Don't even know what...

I don't...

What the Hell do you MEAN the Japanese don't know what RPG's are?!

Final Fantasy
Dragon Quest
Mother/Earthbound
Kingdom Hearts
Pokemon
Golden Sun
Paper Mario

Shall I go on?

Those aren't real RPG's, they are Adventure games with RPG elements thrown in. You want to know what real RPG's are? Let's see, Elder Scrolls, Mass Effect, KOTOR, Neverwinter Nights, Baldur's Gate, Fallout and more. I do have to give credit to Dragon Quest though, Yuji Horii knows wtf he's doing.

Tmac....

Is that you?

Funny how he says the ACTUAL RPGs are just adventure games with RPG elements, then he lists some FPS/adventure games with RPG elements tacked on. Morons are so cute sometimes. xD

His opinion is right and ours is wrong.

Because RPG's have to be exactly like Dungeon's and Dragons to be RPG's.

Sorry, but playing a role is too vague. You do that in every game.

Making decisions is also too vague. You do that in many open ended games.

Changing the story is too vague, because most games have a plot that is still a main part of the game (I cannot speak for Baulder's Gate, I have yet to play this gem).

As far as I'm concerned, an RPG can be anything with an epic story, stat building, some types of choices, side quests, leveling, and stat manipulation on a decently complex level (moreso than a perk that raises bullet damage slightly).

DnD just has the leisure of allowing the users to create the content, because a lot of it involves imagination. Games don't have that, at least, none of the RPG's you named have that. Not without modifying the game. Hell, there are role playing maps in Starcraft that are probably more like RPG's than Mass Effect will ever be, if you want to talk about RPG in the more true role-playing sense.

So, just remember, your opinion is obviously right, despite never even backing anything you said up.

Shoot, I need a bridge to get across this cliff. Looks like I'll need to go back to the geometry chapter for some supplies.

Students will no longer have to cram before a test the next day.

Just grind for a few hours and you should be on a high enough level for the exam.

Japan: Your party has reached China! What would you like to do?

A. Rape
B. Pillage
C. Kill
D. Torture
E. Never admit to it
F. All of the above

Japan: F

The Japanese can make one hell of an RPG, but they can't write a correct textbook for shit.

I don't have to explain myself. Even Japanese agree that what they call RPG's aren't even RPG's anymore. I've been in the game for a long time to know what's what. RPG's weren't originated in Japan, they were originated in the United States. Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest was derived from an American game (DnD).

As time went on, the concept of the RPG in Japan was skewered, manipulated and modified into what we know today. JRPG's, which is a genre all in it's own, aren't even RPG's in the traditional sense of the genre. JRPG is actually an outdated term because we don't even know what to call them anymore.

New generation Japanese developers don't even know what an RPG is anymore, hence we get games like FFXIII that throw out many traditional elements in order to make a new kind of game. It's not exactly an RPG game. Even the developer himself said it's not an RPG game.

I don't mind being downvoted. I don't expect that someone actually knows the history behind these games and what these games are about, etc. I'm not the only one who feels this way. WRPG developers such as Bioware seem to be on the same wavelength as I am.

Reward based learning is never beneficial in the long run. The moment the reward is removed the individual immediately loses motivation. The child learns to look for a reward rather than learning a proper work ethic.
This is a bad idea.

lets hope they dont have the FFX script which launches random battles

After 2849 random battles in a row
screen shatters*
DADADADADADA...
*Tidus --> Flee*

-two steps later-

*screen shatters*
DADADADADADADADAAAA....

GRAAAAGH!!!

I think this is pretty darn clever.

This is pretty awesome for the kids that (like RPG's &) will be using them.

I can just imagine the new breed of Otakus collecting mathematical textbooks, at-least they will be smart as a result (hopefully).

Little boy, do us all a favor and get your head out of your @ss.

Japan knows a hell of a lot more about RPGs than America ever will. For every bad JRPG that gets released, we follow up with several god-awful ones.

Even if RPGs did start here with the lame pos you call DnD, Japan has done much, much more for the genre, improving and revolutionizing it substantially over the years.

It's good that you don't mind getting down-voted, (even though the fact you pointed that out at all means you do,) because that's what's going to happen.

You are wrong. Every post you've made here is wrong, and that is not opinion, that is fact. Anyone who says something as daft as "Japanese don't even know what RPG's are" just makes me laugh constantly.

Go ahead and retaliate, btw. I'd love to keep laughing at your ignorance. There's nothing funnier than people who pretend to know what they're talking about, yet clearly don't.

Daniel Erickson, is that you?

This might be a good initiative, considering how boring and uninteresting textbooks are. I think this will greatly appeal to our video-game loving kids nowadays.

How is Mass Effect more RPG than FFXIII? Oh I dunno, maybe because Mass Effect ACTUALLY HAS ROLE PLAYING IN IT???? FF13 has NONE. FFXIII is not an RPG, *their own developer even said it's not an RPG.* Dragon Quest IX is an RPG, but NOT FFXIII.

It's not widely known, but old-timers know that FF and DQ took certain elements of the RPG that they liked and made their own interpretation of it. They did not take all of the elements. Over time, these elements were lost and forgotten. In this generation, most JRPG's all follow the same blueprint as the original DQ and FF.

Why is it that JRPG's cant' ever evolve their game? My opinion is that they simply stayed within the confines of what they know and improved on that, rather than do something new. That's why we see lots of new different battle systems but the way the game progresses is just about the same.

@chrisredfield31: Ok, you seem to be confused about what "role playing" can mean. So, look at it this way: let's take say...Hamlet. You know what those actors do? They *play roles*. They do not get to make decisions about whether Ophelia drowns or whether Hamlet stabs Laertes. It happens because the script is written that way, but they are still playing those roles.

Likewise, in a game, just because you don't get to make story-altering decisions doesn't mean you're not playing a role. A role-playing at its very core game simply requires you assume the role of a character or small group of characters and experience the story and world that is laid before them. There may be various paths that are open, allowing for multiple storylines for you to experience, but that is not a requirement. In FFXIII, you are put into the roles of the members of the resistance movement and you experience the story of their escape and battles against the people in power.

Multiple storylines do not make an RPG, they simply add replay value. Just because *you* don't like the fact that many JRPGs are linear doesn't mean they are not RPGs at their core.

@TristanElf: I know exactly what you are talking about, but I don't agree with it. These are role playing GAMES, not MOVIES. So I like to take control of my characters storylines and how each battle turns out depending on how I built him/her.

Again, going back to FFXIII, this isn't even an RPG anymore. They took the role out of roleplaying in all sense of the word. In JRPG's, the only "role" playing we had left was to take command of a character they already written for us and we could develop their battle-side but in FFXIII, we can't because all of that is predetermined. The only thing that you do is hold X to pour points into a single line until everything is maxed out.

People seem to think that RPG is a loosely defined term and I don't agree with that at all. If that's true, then games like Call of Duty (of which FF13 drew inspiration) and Assassin's Creed are RPG's. After all, AC2 does have shops, in-game currency, side-quests, character development, etc. AC2 nearly fits everything of what an RPG consists of.

Back to what I said about JRPG's not being RPG's. I'm talking the traditional sense of the genre. Even though newer RPG's such as Alpha Protocol, Mass Effect, Borderlands contain different gameplay systems, these games retain classic RPG structure. For instance Alpha Protocol is 3rd person espionage, ME is 3rd person shooter, Borderlands is FPS, they all follow the traditional RPG setup. You have a character profile that you make, decide how to play the combat system, there is some sort of free world and/or exploration, you make choices on how to develop your character, perform main and sidequests, has an Experience/Level system, and so on, so forth.

I read a lot of these comments and people seem to equate the battle system with the RPG and dismiss ME, Oblivion and other games simply because it isn't the combat system like the Japanese make it. That's not correct at all. Combat systems can be different and it can still be an RPG. Zelda focuses on real-time action but yet it's an RPG.

Remember that RPG's came from America, not Japan. The western world has explored different ways to play the traditional game while Japan has figured out different ways to play the battle system. My point in all of this, was for people to see that Japan has forgotten what the traditional game is all about. JRPG's as we call them, aren't even in the same class as other RPG's, but instead, it's own genre.

I may have put JRPG's down hard, but I feel that their newer generation developers don't even know what they're doing anymore. Even if all they choose to go on is JRPG's, they at least follow what has been advanced throughout the years. They don't even do that. Japanese are notorious for being stuck in their ways. Let's look at FFXIII again, you know in Tales and Star Ocean games, you press L and R to switch characters? There was opportunity to put this into FFXIII and work out perfectly but they didn't. This feature was a Japanese invention among console games and it's even commonly known.

My conclusion is that WRPG's and JRPG's are two different genres. WRPG's follow more of the traditional format from the original RPG and JRPGs branched off and used certain elements of the traditional format. My original comment, and my opinion, is that WRPG's follow the traditional RPG format and is why I consider them RPG's. JRPG's however, have taken away and changed so many things that, to me, doesn't resemble what I think an RPG is anymore. FFXIII as an example again, its more closer to Call of Duty, in that it's like a movie and you follow a cast of characters. It's not like playing an RPG game anymore. You guys remember FF6 and 7? Those were RPG's. FFXIII's game segments are just that, a game (developer also commented saying this) FFXIII's story sequences is like a movie, in fact if you put all the sequences together, it IS a movie. Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, DQ9 (both I've completed by the way) were more RPG than any other JRPG that was released this generation but then again, they were made by the original creators of the JRPG genre. The younger guys aren't even sticking to the blueprint created by them so why should I call them RPG's? They don't even follow the traditional format so it seems to me they are just making whatever they want in the hopes that it will stick.

That's actually a pretty good idea. Combine the benefits of education with the proven addictiveness of RPGs. I cannot think of anything that could more effectively motivate Japanese kids to learn. It'd probably work pretty well in the rest of the world, too, but they'd have to change the characters to look more surly and menacing and add blood splatters all over the place.

Wow, troll war. Chris Vs. Spaghettios!!! FIGHT-IT-OUT!! FIGHT-IT-OUT!!!!

@chrisredfield31

I agree with most of your points that games like ME, Borderlands, etc are classifiable as RPGs or RPG hybrids. Really I only take issue with this:

"I know exactly what you are talking about, but I don't agree with it. These are role playing GAMES, not MOVIES. So I like to take control of my characters storylines and how each battle turns out depending on how I built him/her."

It seems like you're basically basing your argument on the premise that "I like RPGs. I like this specific aspect of RPGs. I don't like how Game X handles this, therefore it doesn't count as an RPG." Which seems too subjective to give it full credence.

The fact of the matter is, the current generation of video games blurs lines between genres all the time. Most games outside of the sports genre defy a single-genre classification, but games like Inazuma Eleven even blur the lines there. Western RPGs and Japanese RPGs just emphasize different aspects of the RPG genre. WRPGs tend to emphasize free-roaming worlds while JRPGs tend to focus on the leveling and inventory/collections side of things. I feel like they are both validly RPGs, but they are by no means apples and apples.

You are Tmac. I know it.

@Tmac

If mass effect is an RPG because it has Role-Playing then every other game ever made is an RPG. You're going to have to be more specific.

An RPG textbook would be awesome. So much better than the dull crap we use now. I imagine it would go a long way towards getting students involved in...well, any subject, pretty much.

>>>It seems like you're basically basing your argument on the premise that "I like RPGs. I like this specific aspect of RPGs.>If mass effect is an RPG because it has Role-Playing then every other game ever made is an RPG. You're going to have to be more specific.