Role-playing games are most closely related to books in the video game world. As a result, graphics are of little consequence in the genre. Go back and play FFVII and tell me it’s not a compelling game. Do the graphics look dated? Of course they do. But does it matter in the least? No way. A good story could be paired with graphics from 1987 and the game would still shine.

Without a story, the RPG means nothing. As a RPG players, we understand there will be a good amount of reading/controller setting down in order to let the story unfold. What make this practice go from unbearable to engrossing, is the story. I would say no genre relies on a single element of games more than RPGs do on stories – they’re that important.

Although the genre has been bogged down by the “save the world from an ancient evil” storyline over the years, it’s the liberties and augmentations writers take that make stories memorable. Almost every Final Fantasy has the same story – but deviations and twists make them unique in their own way. Most movies are this way too. There is almost no original plot out there anymore, but there is still a lot writers can do with old ones.