Computer role-playing games (CRPGs), often shortened to simply role-playing games (RPGs), are a type of video game that uses gameplay elements found in paper-and-pencil role-playing games.
CRPGs, in general, are derivative of paper-and-pencil based role-playing games (RPGs) such as Dungeons & Dragons;. For example, the vast majority of video-game RPGs assign various attributes to the characters, such as hit points (HP), magic points (MP), and levels. These games also tend to borrow the narrative structure of many paper-and-pencil RPGs; usually a group of heroes (a party) is sent on some sort of quest. Along the way, the adventurers face an endless barrage of enemies and monsters (often inspired by real-world mythology).
Video-game RPGs sometimes involve intricate plots and character development as characters advance through a large number of statistics, items and abilities. Players must usually choose which of several possible combinations of these things to acquire for their character in order to advance, and if possible, win the game.
CRPGs are sometimes frowned upon by PnP (pen-and-paper) players. There are several reasons for this, such as CRPGs tend to emphasise simply building a powerful character over the character's history and motivations. PnP players consider this powergaming as opposed to actually "role-playing."
The early Ultima games are perhaps the largest influence on the later console RPG games that are now popular. Many innovations of Ultima III: Exodus eventually became standards of almost all RPGs in both the console market (if somewhat simplified to fit the joystick) and the PC market.
The earliest console RPG was the NES title Dragon Quest (called Dragon Warrior in North America) (1986). This was followed shortly by Final Fantasy (1987) by Squaresoft. Both of these games proved popular and spawned a series of sequels. Both game series remain extremely popular today, Final Fantasy more so in North America, and Dragon Quest in Japan.
Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy both borrowed heavily from Ultima. For example, levelling up and saving must be done by speaking to the king in Dragon Quest, and in order to rest and get healed, the characters must visit the king (Dragon Quest) or stay the night at an inn (both games). The games are played in a top-down perspective, much like the Ultima games, as well. The combat style in Dragon Quest was borrowed from another PC-based series, the Wizardry games.
An interesting entry into the CRPG world is Pokemon (a.k.a. Pocket Monsters), a fairly simplistic set of games whose main innovation is the replacement of the party by creatures that can be captured, collected, and trained for beetle fighting. Its success has been phenomenal, leading to a huge industry with many spin-off products, including other games, cartoons, and endless merchandise.
In 1997, a new Internetfad began. Influenced by console RPGs, a large group of young programmers and aficionados began creating independent CRPG games, based mostly on the gameplay and style of the older SNES and Genesis games. The majority of such games owe to simplistic game development kits such as the Japanese RPG Maker series. This started the Independent RPG Video Games movement.
More recently, with the advent of games like Deus Ex and Warcraft 3, the idea of what it means to be a RPG has become blurred. Many apparently non-RPG games now feature aspects traditionally seen in RPGs, such as a skill system, experience, dilemmas, dialogue and so on. Meanwhile, many self-declared RPGs, such as the more recent Zelda games dispense altogether with traditional RPG aspects. This trend looks set to continue in the future.
One of the families is the Japanese family of graphical RPGs with the Final Fantasy, Phantasy Star, Grandia and the Lunar series as clear examples. These games are often more colorful and bright than their western counterparts and include the eastern inclination to mix fantasy with spirituality. The characters in these games are usually anime-style with personalities ranging from both extremes of the spectrum. The storyline often involves an epic and final battle between the forces of good and evil, with the player nearly always fighting for the forces of good. The character-races in these kind of games are usually limited to a selection of humans, beastmen/women, espers (somewhat like elementals from the Dungeons and Dragons universe), elves and androids. AD&D based systems among these games are very rare, at best. These games frequently use a level-based advancement with little customization involved, with level 1 as the basic level of power in the game and level 99 as the top.
The other family of graphical RPGs is the western one, with the Baldur's Gate, Diablo and Neverwinter Nights as good examples. These games are often more dark, almost gothic in design and art and the characters featuring in these games are rendered or drawn in a more realistic way according to western styles. The personalities of the characters are more varied than those of their Japanese counterparts, without any real absolutes in morality. The storyline too is often darker, with the main theme being usually an ongoing struggle, almost never ending with a total victory over whatever enemy is given. The character-races are diverse and usually inspired by the books written by Tolkien. These graphical RPGs usually base their statistics systems on the AD&D d20 system, as well, though it is not uncommon for something completely different to be used.
