1. Gameplay
Now, I saved the best for last. Gameplay is the most important part of any game, save a more interactive adventure like The Walking Dead . Even if a game doesn't have outstanding gameplay, it can still be amazing. Look at
Uncharted. Look at any Valve game. They aren't exceptionally fun but still very well received. While some games can do just fine with gameplay, all of those games have exceptional story telling and great graphics - something that a lot of RPG's do not have. Skyrim is literally two singing animations with some broken stealth mechanics and awkward magic vs. sword combat. The rather awful Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning had one of the worst combat systems I've seen in years, with the pausing between hits and terrible animations; Mass Effect 2 was a bit stiff and hard to control, but this was thankfully rectified in the final act of the saga, and The Witcher 2 has schizophrenic difficulty hidden within a rather adequate combat system. The truth is that a lot of role playing games are just not fun to play: control issues and techincal hindrances hold these games back from greatness. It's a shame, really. I love exploring in Skyrim, walking around the town or my custom modded farm and collecting crops. But the moment the fighting starts, I just want to curl up in a ball and cry. It's so awful. I don't understand the reason why seemingly all RPGs just leave out the playing part - it's so unfortunate. So there's the five biggest reason why the role playing genre isn't quite keeping up to the standards of a lot of modern genres. While I still love a good role play, whether it be romancing blue woman, picking potatoes or killing radroaches, some of these games boast some serious mediocrities.