well i personally think that the issue is that simulationism is no longer cool.
I mean what were the last big budget simulationist RPG? Daggerfall?
Right now theres Dwarf fortress and Rimworld which doesnt have an RPG mode and Mount and Blade is probably the closest you get.

i had high hopes for Everquest Next, but then it got canceled.
Oblivion at least tried, Skyrim took a step back, not a big fallout fan but knowing Bethesda it probably isnt any better.
Simulating a world is in my opinion something to work towards.

Right now, it doesnt work well, but it already creates cool stuff.
Developers already realized that players consume content much faster than its created, and that emergent gameplay will always rule supreme.
Thus the new (non tripple A) trend towards open world crafting multiplayer, letting players create their own stories.
But those worlds are only player driven.

I think the next big revolution, which Everquest Next tried to do, is to make the AI proactive. Make a world that can exit without the players (but maybe one that is doomed, there goes a cool premise for an RPG, have a compleltey simulated fantasy world that will absoluteley be destroyed if you dont stop it, and you got a complete free hand on how you choose to stop the uncoming desaster, id play that)

And then put it together.
thats the great RPG dream i think. Play In a world rather than through it.
a world that exists on its own, that dynamically reacts to you.
Where not only players create content for you, but the AI aswell.:


THe problem is, the tiny little baby steps in that direction? They dont do a lot, they are not impressive and thats why the market doesnt move towards it.
But if you put enaugh effort and several iterations of games into this idea, you could create something far more impressive than any hand crafted RPG.

Or partly handcrafted. I think procedual generation is a dead end.
Ideally, developers would hand crat a world that can live on itself, with a set history, created to be interresting and beautifull, and then send the world on its path.
It mixes the best of hand crafted worlds with the best of emergent gameplay.

its the far future of RPGs, i hope i live to see it

EDIT: on a note: i think those developers who actually attempt this sort of game, are too preoccupied with realism.
Having more depth and more systems allow for more hijinks and cool stuff to happen, however, simulation shouldnt be in the way of good gameplay.
A simulated world, should simulate a world on the parameters that make a good game.
For example, a good , not realistic, combat system.
Also the focus is too much on simulating the creation of items from a gorillion of materials, rather than simulating the interplay between AI individuals, and diversifying their descision making process

Last edited by Sordak; 21/07/19 03:20 PM.