Strolling down the road in a brand new, unfamiliar town, taking in the sights, you stop in front of a pleasant-looking house. Lovely big oak door, ruby red slate tiles, stone brickwork stained by sunlight and mud. It's quaint and cosy, the idyllic village house, perhaps home to a young mother who's just returned home from the local item shop.
You walk up to the door. Do you knock? Shout? Leave the residents alone? Of course not – you just walk right in, barge into the kitchen, and start shuffling through the shelves. And what do you find? Ah, yes, 50 gold pieces.
Perfect . One of the most absurd things you can do in an RPG isn't defeating a god or summoning giant creatures from beyond the heavens. It's the ability to waltz into some random person's house and go through all of their stuff for some coins, a few items, or maybe even a piece of armour.
Oh, and everyone is totally okay with you doing this, too — or, at the very least, they don't have a clue. Playing Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake this holiday season has reminded me of just how silly, but also how fun, taking people’s stuff can be. It’s totally antithetical to the main message of these games – the idea that you, this great hero, who has just saved the town of Norvik from a sleeping curse, or rescued the pepper merchant’s daughter from Baharata, can just go around purloining items from people’s houses is just weird.
And, worse, I don’t feel guilty! It plays into that RPG power fantasy that RPGs. You c.
