History MediaNotes / WesternRPG

A decade into the Bronze Age, a curious phenomenon occurred in the genre: a growing number of RPG developers, both old guard and new blood, began tackling an almost forgotten market niche between AAA and {{Arthouse Game}}s -- the medium-budget, PC-only "B titles" a.k.a. "AA games". This flavor of WesternRPG seemed to have died off (the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stxVBJem3Rs Jeff Vogel phenomenon]] notwithstanding) before being rediscovered thanks to the emergence of affordable game tech and new business models. The term "Renaissance" was coined for this movement because the vast majority of such [=RPGs=] are (often explicit) throwbacks to the Golden and Silver Ages and set out to marry the gameplay and story ideas of the older games with modern advances in video game technology and gameplay design.

Beyond these, the success of ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsI'' (whose PC version also came out in 2012) had likely been a powerful wake-up call to Western RPG creators and a major factor in the advent of the Western RPG Renaissance. Although developed in Japan, this game combined many of the Western design sensibilities with a challenge level typical for [=JRPGs=] but rarely seen in the West since the Silver Age and enjoyed great popularity with audiences on both sides of the Pacific and the Atlantic.

Basically, everything between the release of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' in 1974 and the rise of the ''VideoGame/{{Ultima}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Wizardry}}'' series in the early 80s. In this era, programming geeks fed the ''D&D'' ruleset into their [[UsefulNotes/MainframesAndMinicomputers mainframes]] and implemented [[TextParser text-based interfaces]] for players to interact with, producing the {{Ur Example}}s of the genre like, ''VideoGame/{{dnd}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Dungeon}}''. The very first computer RPG ever created is [[http://crpgaddict.blogspot.com/2011/12/earliest-cprgs.html commonly thought]] to have been ''m199h'' (1974), whose source code has unfortunately been [[MissingEpisode lost to time]]. This period is crucial to understanding the difference between [[TabletopRPG pen-and-paper role-playing]] and role-playing ''video'' games: while the classic ''D&D''-style RP is one part number crunching, one part freeform make-believe, and one part nerdy get-together, its video game implementations have, from the very beginning, been all about the numbers.

TheEighties were the time when the RPG genre (alongside {{Adventure Game}}s) dominated the PC gaming market, breezing even past MediaNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983 with hardly a scratch. 2D graphics, annual releases, and LongRunner series were in vogue (in fact, the genre still owes its longest series to this era), and [=RPGs=] regularly pushed the boundaries of contemporary gaming technology. That is not to say that all games from this era were flawless. Low production costs (compared to later periods) let developers produce many an uninspired and buggy hackjob and get away with it -- at least, until the market grew saturated and they became a contributing factor in the following Dark Age. However, thanks to the NostalgiaFilter, this period's highlights are far better remembered today than its lows.

The Golden Age came to an end in the [[TheNineties mid-90s]] due to a combination of factors. The likely main reason was the failure of the leading studios to keep up with the advances of video game technology (new storage tech like the CD, [[VideoGame3DLeap 3D graphics]], full-motion video, voice acting, etc.) and the ever-mounting development costs that came with them. As a result, the Western RPG market was filled by derivative, half-baked products[[note]](to name a few: ''Daemonsgate'', ''Menzoberranzan'', ''Birthright'', ''Descent to Undermountain''...)[[/note]], while the big series of the Golden Age frustrated their fans with extended {{Sequel Gap}}s. Some, like ''Quest for Glory'', managed to wrap up satisfactorily when they finally delivered, but others, like ''Ultima'' and ''Might and Magic'', met rather ignoble ends.[[note]]The ''M&M'' series had actually [[HopeSpot looked like]] it weathered the storm when ''VI'' released in 1998 (five years after ''V'') to rave reviews and good sales, but the following two games couldn't keep the pace and NWC folded soon after releasing the [[ObviousBeta largely unfinished]] ''IX''.[[/note]] SSI lost the ''D&D'' license to Interplay and went out of business after 1995, and ''Wizardry 8'' (2001) would ultimately become the SwanSong of the Golden Age.

Bronze Age Western [=RPGs=] were characterized by MultiPlatform releases, [[ActionRPG action-oriented combat]], fully voiced dialogue, and extensive usage of in-engine cutscenes. Multiplayer, commonplace during the Silver Age, [[MisbegottenMultiplayerMode went out of favor]] concurrently with the rise of [=MMORPGs=] -- at least, until ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' ([=BioWare=], 2012) found [[https://www.engadget.com/2012/05/04/how-mass-effect-3s-role-playing-roots-empowers-the-multiplayer/ a way]] to make it cool again and ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSin'' (Larian, 2014) turned it completely on its ear -- but it's not to say that the genre didn't make any use of online capabilities: DownloadableContent was pioneered by ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'' (Bethesda, 2006) and quickly picked up on by other developers, while the aforementioned ''Mass Effect 3'' multiplayer popularized LootBoxes in premium-priced games. On the bright side, the AAA industry has polished and codified a lot of the usability and interface features that many players have come to expect from a modern RPG, while others have called it "[[UsefulNotes/PCVsConsole dumbing down for consoles]]".

* '''Engine''': Self-produced, UsefulNotes/{{Unity}}, or Unreal Engine 4 (post-2015).

TheEighties were the time when the RPG genre (alongside {{Adventure Game}}s) dominated the PC gaming market, breezing even past UsefulNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983 with hardly a scratch. 2D graphics, annual releases, and LongRunner series were in vogue (in fact, the genre still owes its longest series to this era), and [=RPGs=] regularly pushed the boundaries of contemporary gaming technology. That is not to say that all games from this era were flawless. Low production costs (compared to later periods) let developers produce many an uninspired and buggy hackjob and get away with it -- at least, until the market grew saturated and they became a contributing factor in the following Dark Age. However, thanks to the NostalgiaFilter, this period's highlights are far better remembered today than its lows.

* '''Distribution''': Digital multi-channel, commonly including UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}, Website/GogDotCom, and other DRM-free distributors.

* ''VideoGame/{{Wasteland 2}}'' (2014). A throwback and sequel to the Golden Age post-apocalyptic classic ''VideoGame/{{Wasteland}}'' and, by extension, to the original ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' games (which codified the Silver Age), Kickstarted by former Creator/InterplayEntertainment [[Creator/InXileEntertainment veterans]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Wasteland}}'' (Interplay, 1988): The game that would inspire ''VideoGame/{{Fallout|1}}'' a decade later.

The genre emerged from the turmoil of the Dark Ages in the late 1996-early 1997 with a double-punch combo of Creator/{{Blizzard|Entertainment}}'s ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'' and Interplay's ''VideoGame/{{Fallout|1}}'', both of which shaped the following Silver Age considerably. Gone were the Golden Age's crazy ScienceFantasy antics -- style consistency was now the order of things; LongRunner series were out, replaced by duologies and trilogies; instead of entire player-created parties of old, the games now focused on lone {{featureless|Protagonist}} [[PlayerCharacter player avatars]]; TurnBasedCombat was phased out in favor of real time ([[RealTimeWithPause with pause]]); StoryBranching and plot-altering choices became a norm, as did the VirtualPaperDoll trope for playable characters. Overall, the developers have adapted to the new technology standards, extended the development cycles, and upped the production values, but the full 3D leap would wait until the TurnOfTheMillennium (while IsometricProjection ruled the field in the meantime).

* ''VideoGame/{{Underrail}}'' (2015). A throwback to Silver Age classics like ''VideoGame/Fallout1'', ''VideoGame/{{Arcanum|OfSteamworksAndMagickObscura}}'' and ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'', self-funded by an indie dev studio from Serbia. Often seen as a spiritual successor to ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}}''.

* ''VideoGame/{{Underrail}}'' (2015). A throwback to Silver Age classics like ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Arcanum|OfSteamworksAndMagickObscura}}'' and ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'', self-funded by an indie dev studio from Serbia. Often seen as a spiritual successor to ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}}''.

A decade into the Bronze Age, a curious phenomenon occurred in the genre: a growing number of RPG developers, both old guard and new blood, began tackling an almost forgotten market niche between AAA and {{Arthouse Game}}s -- the medium-budget, PC-only "B titles". This flavor of WesternRPG seemed to have died off (the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stxVBJem3Rs Jeff Vogel phenomenon]] notwithstanding) before being rediscovered thanks to the emergence of affordable game tech and new business models. The term "Renaissance" was coined for this movement because the vast majority of such [=RPGs=] are (often explicit) throwbacks to the Golden and Silver Ages and set out to marry the gameplay and story ideas of the older games with modern advances in video game technology and gameplay design.

Bronze Age Western [=RPGs=] were characterized by MultiPlatform releases, [[ActionRPG action-oriented combat]], fully voiced dialogue, and extensive usage of in-engine cutscenes. Multiplayer, commonplace during the Silver Age, [[MisbegottenMultiplayerMode went out of favor]] concurrently with the rise of [=MMORPGs=] -- at least, until ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' ([=BioWare=], 2012) found [[https://www.engadget.com/2012/05/04/how-mass-effect-3s-role-playing-roots-empowers-the-multiplayer/ a way]] to make it cool again (and accidentally, to popularize LootBoxes in premium-priced games) and ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSin'' (Larian, 2014) turned it completely on its ear -- but it's not to say that the genre didn't make any use of online capabilities: DownloadableContent was pioneered by ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'' (Bethesda, 2006) and quickly picked up on by other developers. On the bright side, the AAA industry has polished and codified a lot of the usability and interface features that many players have come to expect from a modern RPG, while others have called it "[[UsefulNotes/PCVsConsole dumbing down for consoles]]".

The Golden Age came to an end in the [[TheNineties mid-90s]] due to a combination of factors. The likely main reason was the failure of the leading studios to keep up with the advances of video game technology (new storage tech like the CD, [[VideoGame3DLeap 3D graphics]], full-motion video, voice acting, etc.) and the ever-mounting development costs that came with them. As a result, the Western RPG market was filled by derivative, half-baked products[[note]](to name a few: ''Daemonsgate'', ''Menzoberranzan'', ''Birthright'', ''Descent to Undermountain''...)[[/note]], while the big series of the Golden Age frustrated their fans with extended {{Sequel Gap}}s. Some, like ''Quest for Glory'', managed to wrap up satisfactorily when they finally delivered, but others, like ''Ultima'' and ''Might and Magic'', met rather ignoble ends.[[note]]The ''M&M'' series had actually [[HopeSpot looked like]] it weathered the storm when ''VI'' released in 1998 (five years after ''V'') to rave reviews and good sales, but the following two games couldn't keep the pace and NWC folded soon after releasing the [[ObviousBeta largely unfinished]] ''IX''.[[/note]] SSI lost the ''D&D'' license and went out of business after 1995, and ''Wizardry 8'' (2001) would ultimately become the SwanSong of the Golden Age.

* VideoGame/GoldBox (SSI, 1988–1993): '''The''' ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' adaptation of the Golden Age. Not so much a single series as an anthology of smaller series running on the same engine.

TheEighties were the time when the RPG genre (alongside {{Adventure Game}}s) dominated the PC gaming market, breezing even past UsefulNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983 with hardly a scratch. 2D graphics, annual releases, and LongRunner series were in vogue (in fact, the genre still owes its longest series to this era), and [=RPGs=] regularly pushed the boundaries of contemporary gaming technology. That is not to say that all games from this era were flawless. Low production costs (compared to later periods) let developers produce [[SturgeonsLaw many an uninspired and buggy hackjob]] and get away with it -- at least, until the market grew saturated and they became a contributing factor in the following Dark Age. However, thanks to the NostalgiaFilter, this period's highlights are far better remembered today than its lows.

The Golden Age came to an end in the [[TheNineties mid-90s]] due to a combination of factors. The likely main reason was the failure of the leading studios to keep up with the advances of video game technology (new storage tech like the CD, [[VideoGame3DLeap 3D graphics]], full-motion video, voice acting, etc.) and the ever-mounting development costs that came with them. As a result, the Western RPG market was filled by derivative, half-baked products[[note]](to name a few: ''Daemonsgate'', ''Menzoberranzan'', ''Birthright'', ''Descent to Undermountain''...)[[/note]], while the big series of the Golden Age frustrated their fans with extended {{Sequel Gap}}s. Some, like ''Quest for Glory'', managed to wrap up satisfactorily when they finally delivered, but others, like ''Ultima'' and ''Might and Magic'', met rather ignoble ends.[[note]]The ''[=M&M=]'' series had actually [[HopeSpot looked like]] it weathered the storm when ''VI'' released in 1998 (five years after ''V'') to rave reviews and good sales, but the following two games couldn't keep the pace and NWC folded soon after releasing ''IX''.[[/note]] SSI lost the ''D&D'' license and went out of business after 1995, and ''Wizardry 8'' (2001) would ultimately become the SwanSong of the Golden Age.

The Golden Age came to an end in the [[TheNineties mid-90s]] due to a combination of factors. The likely main reason was the failure of the leading studios to keep up with the advances of video game technology (new storage tech like the CD, [[VideoGame3DLeap 3D graphics]], full-motion video, voice acting, etc.) and the ever-mounting development costs that came with them. As a result, the Western RPG market was filled by derivative, half-baked products[[note]](to name a few: ''Daemonsgate'', ''Menzoberranzan'', ''Birthright'', ''Descent to Undermountain''...)[[/note]], while the big series of the Golden Age frustrated their fans with extended {{Sequel Gap}}s. Some, like ''Quest for Glory'', managed to wrap up satisfactorily when they finally delivered, but others, like ''Ultima'' and ''Might & Magic'', met rather ignoble ends. SSI lost the ''D&D'' license and went out of business after 1995, and ''Wizardry 8'' (2001) would ultimately become the SwanSong of the Golden Age.

Bronze Age Western [=RPGs=] were characterized by MultiPlatform releases, [[ActionRPG action-oriented combat]], fully voiced dialogue, and extensive usage of in-engine cutscenes. Multiplayer, commonplace during the Silver Age, [[MisbegottenMultiplayerMode went out of favor]] concurrently with the rise of [=MMORPGs=] -- at least, until ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' ([=BioWare=], 2012) found [[https://www.engadget.com/2012/05/04/how-mass-effect-3s-role-playing-roots-empowers-the-multiplayer/ a way]] to make it cool again (and accidentally, to popularize LootBoxes in premium-priced games) and ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSin'' (Larian, 2014) turned it completely on its ear -- but it's not to say that the genre didn't make any use of online capabilities: DownloadableContent was pioneered by ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'' (Bethesda, 2006) and quickly picked up on by other developers. On the bright side, the AAA industry has polished and codified a lot of the usability and interface features that many players have come to expect from a modern RPG ([[Main/FanDumb others]] prefer to call it "[[UsefulNotes/PCVsConsole dumbing down for consoles]]").

* ''VideoGame/SentinelWorldsIFutureMagic'' (Karl Buiter, 1988): One of first {{Space Opera|s}} to come out of the subgenre[[note]]''VideoGame/StarFlight'' (Binary Systems, 1986) came out two years prior[[/note]].

* ''VideoGame/SentinelWorldsIFutureMagic'' (Karl Buiter, 1988): One of (if not the) first SpaceOpera game to come out of the subgenre.

!!!The Primordial Era of WesternRPG (1975–1980)

Basically, everything between the release of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' in 1974 and the rise of the ''VideoGame/{{Ultima}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Wizardry}}'' series in the early 80s. In this era, programming geeks fed the ''D&D'' ruleset into their [[UsefulNotes/MainframesAndMinicomputers mainframes]] and implemented [[TextParser text-based interfaces]] for players to interact with, producing the {{Ur Example}}s of the genre like ''VideoGame/{{dnd}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Dungeon}}''. This period is crucial to understanding the difference between [[TabletopRPG pen-and-paper role-playing]] and role-playing ''video'' games: while the classic ''D&D''-style RP is one part number crunching, one part freeform make-believe, and one part nerdy get-together, its video game implementations have, from the very beginning, been all about the numbers.