What if there were more games where successive generations were central to the gameplay - where your time with each central figure is finite but the problem faced is presented as developing alongside your protagonists vice being a more "clear and present danger" problem?
Too often in my gaming adventures am I presented with the tried and true, "X happened ages ago during Y's time and now it's up to Z, descendent of Y, to stop it." Or, the other storyline-ism that I've grown accustomed to seeing, "I've been brewing this dastardly scheme for years and now you're powerless to stop it! Muah-hahaha!" But your plucky band of randomly assembled would-be heroes will save the world in 40~60 hours and approximately 7 days of "their world" time.
Nope. Not buying it.
Look, I understand and appreciate the methodology behind presenting a story that unfolds as previously described, and I genuinely like the vast majority of said stories, but what if? What if developers at Square Enix, Capcom, or whoever gave us adventures and quests that are so grand, so epic and long-lasting that it spanned multiple in-game generations AND conveyed that same feeling of complex, developing characters, truly rooted and grandiose problems, and purpose over time? Make a tale or two where I need to pass things on to the next generation of heroes - equipment, items, knowledge, maps, money, skills - where I must do these things and make enduring, foresight-driven plans of my own or severely limit my characters' development.
You mean we have to PLAN IN ADVANCE..? GASP! By our powers combined though...
Ponder this with me for just a few minutes...
A tale is crafted that convinces you that a problem is enduring and grand enough that it requires the culmination of efforts of generations of heroes, not just the rambling, disjointed deeds of a happenstance band of do-gooders...you would have stories that Felt as enduring and long-lasting as reading the Robert Jordan "Wheel of Time" series (may he rest in peace), dedication through developing drama, unity of effort that overcomes significant, time-spanning problems, and potential for truly developed characters, heck, families and generations of characters and all the tied-in supporting characters along the way...
It could be like playing Game of Thrones and its' entire backstory on your console of choice.
I get that not everyone wants this, and that it has been tried before, Record of Agarest War (meh) and Dragon Valor spring to mind immediately as examples for me, but neither one quite hit the mark, and I argue that neither example ever received critical acclaim.
Dragon Valor had the right idea...
It could be Legendary.
Cheers, and Thanks for taking the time to read my random ideas.
In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night...
