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General discussionDo any language independent turn-based RPGs exist?(34 posts)(34 posts)
(34 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted March 12, 2016
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tinyE: You know your medications. :P
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sunshinecorp: Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll...
XD I take it for depression. I'm not exactly living a rock & roll lifestyle. :P
Posted March 12, 2016
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sunshinecorp: Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll...
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tinyE: XD I take it for depression. I'm not exactly living a rock & roll lifestyle. :P
Well, it's never too late to start.
Posted March 12, 2016
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tinyE: I guess Sim-Speak is also technically a language.
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snowkatt: sims can be played with out ( much) language but its not an rpg
Cant speak for the latest. But the two I played (original 1st PC Sims & Sims3 on Nintendo DS) are better RPGs than i.e. Diablo.

Not being labeled such by its creator does not mean that a game can hit more RPG milestones than some games which are called RPGs. (i.e. Saints Row 2 & 3).
Posted March 12, 2016
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snowkatt: sims can be played with out ( much) language but its not an rpg
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anothername: Cant speak for the latest. But the two I played (original 1st PC Sims & Sims3 on Nintendo DS) are better RPGs than i.e. Diablo.
Well, I still have to see someone categorizing the first Diablo as an RPG ;)
Some might call that an "ARPG", but it is just a bit of slang to actually say "Hack’n’Slash" and has nothing to do with actual RPG…
Posted March 12, 2016
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dtgreene: I am curious as to whether any game exists with these properties:
1. The game is a turn-based RPG, complete with selecting actions from menus.
2. The game is language independent; it is never necessary to read or listen to any text in any language to fully enjoy the game.

An example of a language independent game would be the original Super Mario Bros.; aside from the number of players and the small amount of text at the end of a world, there isn't any text you have to read. However, that game is definitely *not* turn-based, and I don't think any reasonable person would call it an RPG, either.

For purposes of this topic, cutscenes are OK, *provided* they don't use text or spoken dialogue.
mmm, I don't have any examples for an RPG but a good example of story-driven language-less game was "Brothers : Tale Of Two Sons".

But in itself, I quite like your concept, I might think on that for a future game project ;)
Posted March 12, 2016
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anothername: Cant speak for the latest. But the two I played (original 1st PC Sims & Sims3 on Nintendo DS) are better RPGs than i.e. Diablo.
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vv221: Well, I still have to see someone categorizing the first Diablo as an RPG ;)
Some might call that an "ARPG", but it is just a bit of slang to actually say "Hack’n’Slash" and has nothing to do with actual RPG…
"Everybody" does (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diablo_%28video_game%29)

I know what you mean and I agree. Its a slasher with some traditional RPG elements. But as soon as a game has a char with stats like Strength, Dex & Con in it it gets some form of RPG label regardless how one-dimensional the game is in playing the role of a character.
Posted March 12, 2016
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vv221: Well, I still have to see someone categorizing the first Diablo as an RPG ;)
Some might call that an "ARPG", but it is just a bit of slang to actually say "Hack’n’Slash" and has nothing to do with actual RPG…
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anothername: "Everybody" does (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diablo_%28video_game%29)
Yeah, you’re right… But I actually don’t care ;)
I don’t need Wikipedia to tell me what I’m actually playing, especially when it’s through such nonsense than "action role-playing hack and slash video game" (an "ARPH&SVG"?!).
Posted March 12, 2016
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anothername: "Everybody" does (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diablo_%28video_game%29)
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vv221: Yeah, you’re right… But I actually don’t care ;)
I don’t need Wikipedia to tell me what I’m actually playing, especially when it’s through such nonsense than "action role-playing hack and slash video game" (an "ARPH&SVG"?!).
Heretic! ;)

As said, totally agree. :)
Posted March 12, 2016
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anothername: "Everybody" does (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diablo_%28video_game%29)
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vv221: Yeah, you’re right… But I actually don’t care ;)
I don’t need Wikipedia to tell me what I’m actually playing, especially when it’s through such nonsense than "action role-playing hack and slash video game" (an "ARPH&SVG"?!).
Hmm, might be fun to read the adventures of two friends:
Arbitrarily redundant plunger hero and Smoochy vendor guy/girl (depending on what the author thinks works best).
Post edited March 12, 2016 by Maighstir
Posted March 12, 2016
I see the advantage of language independent games, if so many grumpy gamers refuse to accept commonly used terms and prefer to use their own words. ;)
Posted March 12, 2016
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Leroux: I see the advantage of language independent games, if so many grumpy gamers refuse to accept commonly used terms and prefer to use their own words. ;)
I fully agree with you! What’s the point of calling "Role-Playing Game" a game without any opportunity for role-playing? ;P
Let’s burn the grumpy gamers who put "RPG" labels on everything!!

Uh… Wait…
I think I missed something here…
Posted March 12, 2016
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Leroux: I see the advantage of language independent games, if so many grumpy gamers refuse to accept commonly used terms and prefer to use their own words. ;)
I can't speak for OP but one advantage of a language independent game is that it would be more direct and less complicated (but not necessarily lackding depth) to which we would perceive nature with our senses. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be that many games that utilize this and that one game that was recommended seemed to be primarily a roguelike (a hard one at that).
Posted March 13, 2016
This might be Treasure of Tarmin, which doesn`t require you to read any ingame text afaik.

[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Dungeons_%26_Dragons:_Treasure_of_Tarmin]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Dungeons_%26_Dragons:_Treasure_of_Tarmin[/url]

However, it requires the player to know the meaning of the three-way score (something like your stats and described in the English manual) as well as the meaning of the keypad commands, so the player should be familiar with the basics of the game (I think it`s not that hard to figure out, even if you don`t know any English).
Fun fact described in the manual: If you want to know how many food units you have, press a button and you`ll hear a number of clicks. You`ll need to count the number of the clicks to determinate how much food you have. The same mechanic is used, to count your arrows.
Post edited March 13, 2016 by Pixelion
Posted March 13, 2016
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Nirth: I can't speak for OP but one advantage of a language independent game is that it would be more direct and less complicated (but not necessarily lackding depth) to which we would perceive nature with our senses. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be that many games that utilize this and that one game that was recommended seemed to be primarily a roguelike (a hard one at that).
I would assume that this is due to two reasons:

First, the genre of RPGs is generally associated with story-telling. There aren't that many turn-based RPGs that completely focus on mechanics to begin with, and if they do, like Aarklash Legacy, for example, they are criticized for the lack of story. Sure, some RPGs, especially the older ones from the 80's, offer more combat than interesting story, but they have story elements regardless. Naturally, it's a lot more difficult to tell stories without words (it's possible and I know a couple of adventure games that do it, but those aren't the epic stories you expect in CRPGs, and in those games the designers fully concentrate on the story aspects). So I'm not surprised that the recommendation from above is a Roguelike and not a classical CRPG, because Roguelikes already are the definition of a turn-based RPG that's independent of story (in the sense that it doesn't need one and seldom offers an elaborate one). From there it's a comparatively small step to not using language, if it wasn't for the second aspect ....

... which is that the more intricate the RPG mechanics are, the higher the need to explain them with words. Sure, you can use symbols for Strength, Armor, Attack etc. but you couldn't describe abstract and complicated concepts like e.g. THAC0. And even if you could depict with symbols what kind of weapon a specific item is or what effect a certain spells has, in a tactical game players would probably want to know more about how they actually work in detail, they'd want more info then "this is a hammer" and "this spell casts a fireball".

Anyway, I just now remembered there is a freeware RPGMaker game in which you were playing a young lion, and even though I haven't really played it for long, I recall that you'd communicate with the other animals only by universal symbols in speech bubbles. I don't know though how the typical JRPG menu combat was handled, I'd suspect that it had words regardless. And sadly I can't remember the game's name either ...

EDIT:
I found the game, but apparantly it does use language in menus and later on even in dialogues a lot, so it doesn't qualify. Anyway, just in case anyone was interested in it, it's free for download here:

Leo & Leah: A Lion's Love Story (or on GameJolt)
Post edited March 13, 2016 by Leroux
Posted March 13, 2016
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Leroux: Sure, you can use symbols for Strength, Armor, Attack etc. but you couldn't describe abstract and complicated concepts like e.g. THAC0.
I never understood the point of having THAC0 to begin with. I was quite relieved when I played Planescape Torment that there was an option in one of those unofficial patches to make it more digestible or rational for modern gamers. Anyway, I'm sure similar systems could be simplified without leaving out the needed depth for a CRPG although it would probably require more work and it would be a risky project that's for sure.

This thread kind of gave me inspiration to want to create a RPG light game where there's no text or voice, only body language, symbols and people's actions as communication. I think I'll suggest it to a friend who's graduating from a Computer Science program specializing in video gaming this spring.
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Community
General discussionDo any language independent turn-based RPGs exist?(34 posts)(34 posts)
(34 posts)