RPGs are known for their lore, depth, and rich options regarding playstyle and customization. While the genre has its share of staple mechanics you’ll frequently encounter, there are a number of features that deserve more attention. Specifically, players should have access to options that allow them to do as they please, be it for better or worse. That’s not necessarily suggesting you should be discouraged from committing certain actions or playing a particular way, but a good RPG should make you feel something and that your decisions/actions carry weight.
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5
Morale/sanity
Even the most hardened adventurers need respite
Some horror games include a sanity mechanic, which can make your character become weaker, hallucinate, or even die if it gets too low. While certain survival features such as stamina, hunger, etc. can be considered contentious in RPGs, keeping track of your character’s, or even party members’, sanity/morale can add another layer of complexity to your decisions.
Some of the best RPGs are the ones where your party members question, if not outright challenge, the decisions you make. If a party member is a righteous person, yet you do something abhorrent, it seems natural it would adversely affect their mental state, right? This can manifest as them being weaker in upcoming fights, questioning their loyalty to you, or even leaving if your actions disgust them enough.
The same thing applies to the main character as well. Darkest Dungeon had a great mechanic called Stress that accrued as you traversed dungeons. If you neglected treating it, it could mean the end for you and your companions.
Top RPGs that feature a morale/sanity system (or something similar)
- Darkest Dungeon
- Shadow Hearts
- World of Horror
- Baldur’s Gate 3
- Crusader Kings III
4
Permadeath
Your mistakes should have consequences
Source: Nintendo
Permadeath isn’t something every RPG can effectively use, but strategy RPGs often benefit from it. A game is at its finest when there are actual stakes regarding a fight or large-scale battle. In games with permadeath, it is excruciating when a character you really like dies, particularly in games like Fire Emblem where every character has a death quote before they disappear forever. However, that impact is exactly what an exceptional game does: it elicits emotion from you.
There is a balance to be sought with characters permanently dying, though. Most games featuring it offer an easier difficulty where companions don’t remain dead, and that is definitely good to have so as not to gatekeep people from playing. I think we’ve all been victims of an enemy hitting us with a 1% critical chance or a party member missing a 99% hit chance and dying. That being said, my most memorable play throughs in any Fire Emblem or XCOM run have been the ones where I just barely scraped by, and I’m sure other people know exactly what I mean.
Top RPGs that feature permadeath
- Fire Emblem series
- XCOM series
- Final Fantasy Tactics series
- Tactics Ogre: Reborn
- Valkyria Chronicles series
3
Being able to attack any NPC you meet
No one is safe
Source: Obsidian Entertainment
Though it has become more commonplace, open-ended RPGs should give you the option to attack any NPC in the game (with some exceptions, like children). This also extends to killing them, which could adversely affect side quests or even story missions. Naturally, such a mechanic would need to have limits in cases where players kill a plot-relevant NPC, such as what Grand Theft Auto does, but aside from that, the more freedom the better.
By no means does that suggest a game needs to be too punishing for assaulting NPCs. Admittedly, it can be funny attacking someone, knocking them out, and then seeing them pop back up a few seconds later like nothing happened. One of my favorite implementations of this system is Radiata Stories, a game where you can kick any character you run into and if you annoy them too much, they begin fighting you. You don’t lock yourself out of anything permanent by fighting these NPCs, and it’s entertaining to watch them react.
Top RPGs that allow you to attack anyone
- Divinity Original Sin 2
- Baldur’s Gate 3
- Fallout series
- Elder Scrolls series
- Souls series
2
Job system
Mix and match for near-infinite replayability
Source: Square Enix
One of the greatest qualities any RPG can possess is a profound degree of customization. This doesn’t just apply to your character/party’s appearance, but their abilities and the way they interact with one another. Many RPGs provide this kind of depth through a job system, which is typically a path of character growth where they can learn certain abilities and passives that they keep, even if they change jobs. As you can imagine, this provides an incredible amount of versatility regarding how a character plays.
Perhaps on one playthrough you’d like to create your own version of a paladin, so you combine the abilities of a healing class with the hardiness and heavy armor of a knight. Meanwhile, on the next, you make a magical thief who can cast illusions and possesses unparalleled mobility. These playthroughs end up having vastly different gameplay loops, not to mention that combat and quests can be handled in completely contrasting ways.
Top RPGs with a job system
- Final Fantasy Tactics series
- Tactics Ogre: Reborn
- Bravely Default series
- Octopath Traveler
- Fire Emblem series (post Awakening)
1
Death once MP hits 0
How does one even function with no mental power?
Source: Square Enix
Many RPGs have a resource aside from a character’s health to use abilities, which is often called Mental Points, or MP. The concept is that the more powerful the spell, the greater the strain it puts on the user, thus costing more MP. So, if an ability drains someone of their mental stamina, why do they not lose consciousness or perish when it hits zero? This makes sense logically, and it would introduce another layer of planning for players.
For instance, it could punish those who overuse magic or don’t adequately monitor their MP pool. Further, some enemies could deal MP damage, which would be devastating for characters with low maximum MP and mages who don’t manage MP efficiently. This weakness could also apply to opponents, resulting in players developing innovative strategies to deal with certain enemy types and even bosses, provided they have the capacity to deal sizable amounts of MP damage. Though controversial, Star Ocean: Till the End of Time had an MP death mechanic and I think the game was that much better for it.
Top RPGs that feature a mechanic where you die/faint when you have 0 MP
- Star Ocean: Till the End of Time
- RPG Maker series
Every playthrough should be memorable
The best games are the ones that leave a lasting impression on us long after our adventure ends. Though not every game in the RPG genre needs to feature what was listed above, those mechanics do make you think twice about the decisions you make in every playthrough. You’ll always remember the journey of a good RPG, but a great one will make you remember how you felt.
