John Sawyer, who comes from Obsidian Entertainment has indicated that Pillars of Eternity may not see another game being made because it did so badly in terms of sales. Sawyer has suggested that Obsidian may well be tempted to release any more games in the genre until they are able to find out why the game did so poorly. Obsidian released the Outer Worlds and they enjoyed quite a lot of commercial success that related to the franchise. The Outer Worlds is a very different game when you look at the Pillar series. The main reason for this is because the former is a first-person shooter.

The drop in sales between the two franchises could well indicate that there just isn’t as much desire for RPGs. It’s not fully clear that this is the case though because when you look at Divinity Original Sin 2, you will soon see that this was a huge commercial success and that other games sold very well.

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What happened?

The main issue with isometric RPGs is that Obsidian are putting a huge emphasis on combat and action roleplay and as a result, they are neglecting character development. When you have a first-person shooter, you will soon see that the focus doesn’t detract from the fun of the game in the same way that an isometric RPG does. FPS combat is way more satisfying when compared to an RPG.

The main issue that Obsidian games have is that they are relying on combat to prop up their fantasy characters and it shouldn’t be this way. Obsidian needs to realise that there is a need in the market that just isn’t being met. The Canadian iGaming market is growing because people want fast-paced fun games. 

Casino providers focus on meeting this need by releasing games that are quick to reward and easy to understand. People play shooting games because they want action, thrill and strategy. If you had a shooting game that relied almost entirely on stealth then it probably wouldn’t be much of a success. With RPGs, people want to have something they can sink into. 

They want a good story, a stunning world and the ability to customise and develop their character beyond superficial improvements. When Obsidian released their game, they made an RPG with a focus on shooting, and this really went against everything that the people wanted. Combat is typically the least exciting concept about an RPG, it’s slow and it is also driven by a lot of random stat rolls. 

The heart and soul of RPGs

When you play an RPG, you want to have a good interaction with the world. You also want to have a good relationship with your party as this is what draws people into the game. Pausing a game and casting a magical missile probably isn’t what most people see as being gripping combat. In the worlds that developers focus on creating, the characters found within need to capture your imagination. Obsidian have whittled away any hope of a story and they have also done away with character interaction as well. They have focused a lot on action gameplay and they have done this in an attempt to capture a much more general audience. They have tried to boost their sales but in doing this, they have caused themselves way more harm than good. They have taken away the best part.

Dragon Age

The deep roads that are in Dragon Age really are a fantastic example of how something can be frustrating in an RPG. The fighting in the game is very consistent and every step you take is filled with combat. This goes on for hours and hours, and people hate it. Even if you have a fantastic story and a fantastic character list, you need to know that if there is too much combat then you are essentially creating a barrier between those expositional moments. People are not going to progress the story sections and when a sequel comes out, they are not going to be interested. Most consumers are probably not aware of what they didn’t like about the game itself, they just know that they didn’t like it.

Developers will be left scratching their heads and wondering why the game did not resonate with them and they may wonder where they went wrong. Dungeons and Dragons is the basis of a lot of RPGs and it serves as a very heavy inspiration for the combat in the game Pillars.

It’s fun because you are playing it all with your friends but if you were on your own, you would soon find that you miss out on a lot of the social interaction. This is a huge part of the game and it’s what makes the game fun. If you do not have the characters or the dialogue, then you may find that the story does not resonate with the players and that it’s a bit like playing the Dungeons and Dragons game all on your own.

Outer Worlds

Outer Worlds is very enjoyable to the average player and when you look at Pillars of Eternity, you will see that you can easily flood the game with combat. It won’t slow down the pace of the narrative but when you look at the RPG, you will see that combat burns out easily because the combat is slow and arduous. If your combat is everywhere like it is in Pillars then you may even dread taking yet another step in the world.

At the end of the day, there are a lot of pacing issues in modern games. Even in FPS games, if you have relentless combat then this can bring about serious issues. Developers are burning people out and it’s not a good way to go. Doom is a bit of an exception. They had relentless combat in their game but at the end of the day, it was only 13 hours long. You could probably complete it in a few days if you want. A typical RPG contains around 50 hours of gameplay, so it’s not hard to see where RPG developers are going wrong,

RPGs aren’t dying out, but developers need to focus on what makes an RPG great if they want it to survive.

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