In this age of multi-million dollar franchises, yearly sequels and rehashed mechanics, it’s amazing to see a game like Dark Souls II. Which is why we believe there are two ways it could go: It could either lead to a new renaissance of dungeon crawler RPGs, or establish yet another yearly sequel franchise.

The first point is somewhat debatable. After all, with games like Dragon’s Dogma from Capcom and Etrian Odyssey from Atlus doing good business, some could argue that the dungeon crawler RPG is already very much in resurgence. Coupled with the upcoming The Elder Scrolls Online and it’s hard to argue that a game like Dark Souls II could impact the trend even more.

However, when we look back at military shooters, there were several of them prior to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. The momentous success of the game prompted the infamous sequel Modern Warfare 2, and the success of that helped propel an influx in yearly sequels and “contemporary” military shooters.

Suddenly everyone wanted their game to be set in the present rather than during World War II. Set pieces became the new gameplay. It was insane. It still is, if games like Black Ops 2 and the upcoming Battlefield 4 are any indication.

If Dark Souls II achieved that level of success – moving even higher than the original – than there’s very little doubt that a fair number of pretenders will follow. It’s how From Software handles the transition from then onwards – will it stick to being the modest dungeon crawling RPG that fans know and love? Or will the developer – maybe even the publisher Namco Bandai – whore it out for the benefit of making it rain?

As it stands, even if Dark Souls did become a yearly franchise, would that be a bad thing? Already plenty of people are talking about how the combat for the original is perfect and shouldn’t be altered. Even if From Software made only minor changes, this would allow them to spend more time concentrating on creating new content such as quests, settings, enemies and other new features.

Even if it expanded into several other areas aside from the dungeon crawler genre, it would prove beneficial. After all, even the cult-classic Persona series had a very successful fighting game off-shoot with Persona 4 Arena.

The overall success of a yearly Dark Souls would actually hold two benefits: One, by prompting more independent and smaller developers to step up and offer their own take on the RPG genre, providing some freshness and unique gameplay. Two, by simple virtue of the fact that it will allow bigger companies to take notice and work to create better games.

A genre like this isn’t easy to game and caters to a very specific kind of gamers. That being said, that market would expand if Dark Souls II became the smash hit or lead up to the so-called smash hit that would cement the franchise’s yearly push and spin-offs. However, it’s a specific gameplay style that even in the worse circumstances of dumbing down is still quite fun to play.

Of course, this all boils down to the success of the sequel. It could very well sell millions of units and From Software would just hunker down and take another few years to deliver a sequel. Nonetheless, if the franchise indeed becomes bigger, it does offer a unique point of discussion on the whole practice of yearly sequels.

After all, if done competently, who wouldn’t love to play a new Dark Souls each year?

RPGs are something that have a nice audience nowadays, but it’s just a matter of one game to reignite the fire back in the people. 2013 may be the swansong year for the PS3 and 360 as we look forward to the next gen consoles. Hopefully, these RPGs sets a trend that follows into the next gen and beyond. 2013 looks set to be a good year for the RPG, and here are ten reasons why.

Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more news and updates.

Then MMOs came along. The genre truly exploded with Everquest, but it was World of Warcraft that took it to nearly cataclysmic levels. Suddenly, it was the dominant game on the PC, and arguably across all platforms at the time. If you ever spoke of PC gaming, most people assumed you were talking about WoW. However, on consoles, the focus had shifted. Suddenly, RPGs weren’t all about Final Fantasy. Other JRPG licenses started blooming, like the Tales series, which actually saw a resurgence thanks to it’s now action-heavy gameplay and anime-like story presentation.

Square-Enix had actually begun experimenting quite a bit with it’s core franchise, besides involving itself in the American/UK development side of things as well. Bethesda had effectively cast a Meteor of its own with Oblivion, which captured the hearts and minds of would be role-players everywhere. The game’s intricate detailing and character customisation, along with it’s huge, richly developed world, insured plenty of awards and accolades. Bioware left it’s D&D roots and created the Mass Effect series. Turn-based strategy RPGs were suddenly popular again. Side-scrolling 2D action RPGs like Odin’s Sphere even had their time in the spotlight.

However, flash forward to now. What are the RPGs that come to mind now? Well, there’s another Final Fantasy coming up, this one continuing the vein of cinematic excellence and watered-down gameplay that began with Final Fantasy XII. But that’s a very general statement. FFXII actually featured a Gambit System that made random encounters less tedious as the computer automated everything. The game world was still huge and open-ended. But the seeds had been planted, for better or worse (hint: It turned out to be for the worse).

World of Warcraft is still in the news, as it’s next expansion pack Mists of Pandaria draws near. Bioware is still working on Mass Effect, with talks of another game being developed for the same universe. Tales games are still popular and heavily anime centric. We’ve still got side-scrolling RPGs. Tower defence is a big thing these days. In the midst of it all, it feels like the RPG industry has settled into a very, very comfortable groove – one it seemingly has no intention of rousing itself out of.

Oh, we’ve got oodles of variety among different genres, for sure. But when you consider how many of these games are working off the mechanics established several years ago, till this day, it’s a bit worrying. Where did the innovation go? And no, we’re not talking Fable: The Journey, which is supposed to be Kinect based role-playing (on a side-note: Peter Molyneux before Black and White? Where’d he disappear?).

Perhaps the only real example of a developer trying to push forward with a base it established long ago was Bioware with Dragon Age: Origins – which was meant to be a spiritual successor to the Baldur’s Gate series – and they eventually bungled that with the sequel. Maybe Gearbox with Borderlands, which is an impressive fusion of first person shooter and RPG. We’d name Bioshock as well, but let’s face it, System Shock 2 has it beat.

You could complain that other genres haven’t seen much innovation either. You could make sweeping generalizations along the lines of, “Shooters still make you shoot things. Sports games are the same yearly updates. Third person action titles are all Devil May Cry clones. Adventure games are still about adventuring.” And you may be right, since titles like FIFA and NHL still operate on the exact same mechanics, which have been tweaked and enhanced with a fresh coat of graphical paint year in and year out.

But honestly, think of games like Vanquish and Bayonetta. Resident Evil underwent a massive transformation just recently, and despite it’s reported shoddiness, at least Capcom wanted to try something new. How about Portal 1 and 2? Quantum Conundrum? And the very nature of the adventure game’s resurgence is amazing, because a decade ago, it was written off as dead. Even Max Payne changed. Batman: Arkham City, Heavy Rain, Okami, Hotel Dusk, Phoenix Wright, Professor Layton – the list goes on.

The occasional atypical RPG has come along but nothing that’s really been a major game changer. As awesome as Skyrim maybe, it’s still an Elder Scrolls title like Morrowind and Oblivion.

It’s hard to imagine where the genre can go from here, and while the future isn’t necessarily grim on gameplay experiences. Borderlands 2 and Diablo 3 are a blast to play, and Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII won’t sink the Square-Enix ship (one would hope). But that one new title that will break convention and go on to inspire other big-name games to do the same is yet to come.

Franchises like Pokemon, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Grand Theft Auto, and more recently, Mass Effect and Assassin’s Creed have become synonymous with the word “addictive.” Addictive means the ability a game (in this case) has to hook you to it so badly that one cannot stop but thinking about going back to the game and keep on playing it. Very few games can claim to be addictive in true sense of the words. And those that do have that attribute are very tough to put down, and stick out in our memories for very prolonged periods of time.

As an ode to all those games that have kept me hooked for countless of hours and have made me come back to them to get some more of  the best of their parts, you have this feature, listing out the 10 Most Addictive Games This Generation.

BUT BEFORE WE BEGIN, I’d like to bring to your notice that this list concerns only this generation, so games only on the PSP, DS, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii and post 2004 PC games can be featured in this list. Also, addictiveness varies with each person’s opinion, so I’m pretty sure that most of you will disagree with the placements, or the choices in general, of this list. Anyway, I hope you enjoy. Sit back, relax, and tell us what you think of the list in the comments section below.

10. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty

Countless hours have been spent on this game, both online and off. The single player campaign offers a really fun and addictive bunch of hours of gameplay, and the online competitive multiplayer is probably the most played multiplayer component in any RTS in the past few years. And I’m not even counting the number of times players (me included) have played the Random Map and other various single player modes. That this game is addictive is a no-brainer, and so is it being featured on this list.

9. Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

A Grand Theft Auto game on an Addictive Games List is a no-brainer, even if it’s a handheld iteration of the franchise- and not a console one- we’re talking about. The very nature of the game makes the player come back to Liberty City for more- an entire city spread out before you, and you can do countless amount of stuff- race, steal cars, explore the city, destroy surveillance cameras, complete missions and side missions, buy houses, kill people and cops for no reason at all, trade drugs, play through the countless mini games in the game and then some more. Liberty City in Chinatown Wars is expansive as hell, and feels more open and free than that of GTA IV, even if it is lacking in an entire island.

8. World of Warcraft

By this time, most- if not all- of us have experienced the magical addictiveness of World of Warcraft, a game released back in 2004, that cemented Blizzard’s position as one of the top developers in the industry. World of Warcraft probably is the best MMORPG to have been released till date, and even franchises like Final Fantasy haven’t been able to dethrone it (especially not Final Fantasy XIV). While it may look outdated sometimes, it still has the same level of quality that addicted us, and still has us hooked, so many years ago.

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