western RPGs

Max pointed to me to this interesting article on western rpgs on Moby Games:
The world of Western RPGs
I wish there were more though… i find one i like every two years or so… and that lasts me for like a month… i wish i had at least 4 a year… I have nothing against epic stories… but it’s only in these types of RPGs do i see the true gianormous potential of games even partially fulfilled: to stop being movies/books and become branching stories with choices and paths…

"B-but, killing monsters is the fundamental element of RPGs!" No, it is not. Many RPGs have been only about exploration, quite a few about skills and stuff, and currently RPGs are pretty much about choices and consequences since outside from the RPG genre no one really deals with this area of game design.

I wish RPGs would remember what their name means: ROLE playing games… games in which you play a role, you identify with a fictional character, you live her/his life… you have the chance to experience things outside your daily realm, things outside our real life possibilities, choices and consequences, settings and problems that delight & challenge your imagination…