I have seen the future of D&D4e...
...and it is the JRPG*.
I've been playing Tales of Vesperia lately, and as I get further into the game I've increasingly become aware of how closely it (and many of its JRPG ilk) fits some of the Fourth Edition tropes:
- A Points-of-Light setting where there are pockets of civilization surrounded by dangerous wilderness (and in ToV, this is a major focus of the plot).
- Ruins of past civilizations containing little-understood magic treasures.
- Dungeons that have puzzles that must be solved/devices that must be operated to complete the task at hand (skill challenges, anyone?).
- Monsters always attack in groups, save for the rare solo boss monster. Even major NPC fights have weaker minions running around and distracting you from the elite leader.
- Magical damage is divided into elemental subtypes, including radiantlight and necroticdarkness.
- Combat is tactical, with movement, placement, combos, knockdown effects, and status effects being major factors.
- Characters have clearly-defined roles, and have named, repeatable attacks/powers to reinforce those roles.
On that last note, I can even guess the D&D4e classes of each character:
- Yuri (the male protagonist) is a straight-up Fighter, advancing into the Swordmaster paragon path
- Estelle (the female protagonist) is a Cleric, advancing into something healing-related (or the Radiant Servant, if that's unavailable)
- Rita is a Wizard through-and-through, advancing into a Battle Mage
- Karol is a Fighter with the Warrior of the Wild multiclass feat, possibly taking Ranger as his second class (and trained in Thievery as well).
- Raven is a Ranger (who manages to fight with bows and dual-wield) with the Sneak of Shadows multiclass feat, advancing into the Master Infiltrator paragon path
- Judith is (and I'm guessing here; haven't seen much of her) another straight-up Fighter, going Kensei and focusing on the spear/polearms
In all honesty, playing this game makes me see just as many elements of JRPGs (or at least those of the Tales series) in 4th Edition as I see elements borrowed from MMOs like World of Warcraft. The fact that JRPGs are mostly focused on telling a story (albeit one that admittedly doesn't vary much at a fundamental level from JRPG to JRPG) reassures me you can easily have 4e-style combat and not lose any of the roleplaying or storytelling from past editions. If anything, ToV is inspiring me to try running a 4e campaign set in Terca Lumireis (the world of ToV) or something directly inspired by it. I think that there are some interesting opportunities for adventure there, and with some tweaking and twisting to make it my own, it sounds like something I'd like to run.
* Japanese Role Playing Game, for those who are don't know the acronym.
I've been playing Tales of Vesperia lately, and as I get further into the game I've increasingly become aware of how closely it (and many of its JRPG ilk) fits some of the Fourth Edition tropes:
- A Points-of-Light setting where there are pockets of civilization surrounded by dangerous wilderness (and in ToV, this is a major focus of the plot).
- Ruins of past civilizations containing little-understood magic treasures.
- Dungeons that have puzzles that must be solved/devices that must be operated to complete the task at hand (skill challenges, anyone?).
- Monsters always attack in groups, save for the rare solo boss monster. Even major NPC fights have weaker minions running around and distracting you from the elite leader.
- Magical damage is divided into elemental subtypes, including radiantlight and necroticdarkness.
- Combat is tactical, with movement, placement, combos, knockdown effects, and status effects being major factors.
- Characters have clearly-defined roles, and have named, repeatable attacks/powers to reinforce those roles.
On that last note, I can even guess the D&D4e classes of each character:
- Yuri (the male protagonist) is a straight-up Fighter, advancing into the Swordmaster paragon path
- Estelle (the female protagonist) is a Cleric, advancing into something healing-related (or the Radiant Servant, if that's unavailable)
- Rita is a Wizard through-and-through, advancing into a Battle Mage
- Karol is a Fighter with the Warrior of the Wild multiclass feat, possibly taking Ranger as his second class (and trained in Thievery as well).
- Raven is a Ranger (who manages to fight with bows and dual-wield) with the Sneak of Shadows multiclass feat, advancing into the Master Infiltrator paragon path
- Judith is (and I'm guessing here; haven't seen much of her) another straight-up Fighter, going Kensei and focusing on the spear/polearms
In all honesty, playing this game makes me see just as many elements of JRPGs (or at least those of the Tales series) in 4th Edition as I see elements borrowed from MMOs like World of Warcraft. The fact that JRPGs are mostly focused on telling a story (albeit one that admittedly doesn't vary much at a fundamental level from JRPG to JRPG) reassures me you can easily have 4e-style combat and not lose any of the roleplaying or storytelling from past editions. If anything, ToV is inspiring me to try running a 4e campaign set in Terca Lumireis (the world of ToV) or something directly inspired by it. I think that there are some interesting opportunities for adventure there, and with some tweaking and twisting to make it my own, it sounds like something I'd like to run.
* Japanese Role Playing Game, for those who are don't know the acronym.