Well, Mr. Necro here has been complaining about a debate so I'll start one.
Which type of RPG games are better? Midieval type (not necessarily magic) or futuristic?
I vote for midieval. Swords and bows are much nicer than blowing the crap out of your opponant with a huge rocket launcher. Its nicer game-play, and its not too flexible (in space, you can make up almost anything). Also, I really like magic.
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Fantasy, obviously-- but I don't want to get in to a personal argument with people, so I'm going to say that's just MY favourite.
But you also have to consider that it's the type of gameplay in some cases that makes the difference. If the plot works, you might get a mix of time periods like Chrono Trigger. But if not, some RPGs have a "good world" and a "bad world" that are similar-- and you can't quite get that in a Sci-Fi RPG.
Personally I enjoy a mix of the two Like in Final Fantasy III or Chrono Trigger kinda of a midevil-industrial society that still uses swords as well as guns. But i dont like games like Final Fantasy VII & VIII wich were full sci Fi but the main characters still used Swords? while everyone else used modern weponry.
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Medieval. No question about it. Although it might be interesting if you could incorporate the change from swords to guns........or even more interesting would be a highly advanced society that didn't have tech weapons.
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And so the problem remained; lots of people were mean, and most of them were miserable, even the ones with digital watches. Many were increasingly of the opinion that they had all made a big mistake in coming down from the trees in the first place. And some said that the trees had been a bad move and that no one should ever have left the oceans. - Douglass Adams
Actually, having a high tech society but you only have like handguns would be fun. I think the setting of an advanced society is cooler, but the fighting in a medieval world is funner.
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And so the problem remained; lots of people were mean, and most of them were miserable, even the ones with digital watches. Many were increasingly of the opinion that they had all made a big mistake in coming down from the trees in the first place. And some said that the trees had been a bad move and that no one should ever have left the oceans. - Douglass Adams
For RPGs, I'd have to say medieval. It's just more fun, because a gun is a gun (it should basically kill everyone you shoot), while swords, armor, bows, etc... just have more possibilities.
However, for simulations, sci-fi is better. It's cool to imagine the future regimes... 
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I prefer a hybrid. But more than that I prefer a well-done hybrid that does not over-emphasize some of the more standard elements (virtually clichéd at this point) of either fantasy or sci-fi mythos. Psionic powers in science fiction rpgs come to mind.
Not to say that psionic powers by themselves are an evil that needs to be blasted out of existance. In cases where they are overused or are there solely to provide an excuse for a contrived plot point they are more of a detriment than anything else. I used Psionic powers as an example, I'm sure you can insert dozens more such things.
FF6 was an excellent, excellent hybrid, merging both fantasy and technology realistic in the context of the world into something completely different. Even FF7 and FF8 were good examples though in a far lesser extent. The magical gaurdian forces and spells are both through backs to a fantasy world even though the game is set in a futuristic steam-punk atmosphere. And who can forget the awesome gunblade of Squall's in FF8? Merging both fantasy and technology in a compelling way.
Basically, I prefer a hybrid because it allows the designer to draw inspiration from a far deeper pool of ideas, stories, and mythos and in the end, for me, this translates directly into a deeper, more moving, game.
... at least if they focus on story and characters 
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------ Les -------
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Sci-Fi
runs away as stones, swords, and sharp objects are thrown at him
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Sci-Fi, A good CRPG version of the game Shadow Run would be immensely fun. Of course I also really enjoy the medievel settings as well.
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I'm with OF: Sci-Fi
(Powers up futuristic energy shield to block swords and arrows)
(shoots everyone in the room with high powered pulse rifle)
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What about a game where the earth is like it is right now, and you are a fischer price kid beating aliens with baseball bats? Sorry, too much earthbound. I usually prefer SciFi, it's differant, you don't usually get the same "rescue the gem from the goblins" missions. But any RPG that is well done wins no matter what genre it is. For voting purposes, SciFI.
-Yorick
Its 5-4-2 now, keep up the work.
As I said, I like fantasy better than Sci-Fi RPGs, but by a very slim margin. True, many of the quests are like "get the gem from the goblin" but mythical creatures have unlimited amounts of creativity. On the other hand, alien races can also have just as much...but the universe is so big...
As for you Mr. Necro... (though I hope this doesn't ruin the topic too much)
Avatara incinerates the necromicon with a giant lightning blast, causing the rifle to turn to molten slag on the ground. To his dismay, Avatara realizes the necromicon is immortal on his own turf. Avatara tempts the necromicon to come to Cythera to continue this, but to no avail. Avatara gives up and the stones and arrows stop.
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Quote
Originally posted by ~Magus~:
Another good question to go along with this is what type of game will YOU be making when Coldstone is released?
I can't answer that. I have no idea what is it like. Sure, there are screenshots, but that doesn't really help. Maybe if Ambrosia or Beenox put together a sample movie that briefly showed what can be done, some of the aspects of course, it could "enlighten" the rest of us as to what it will be like.
On the other hand, I know for sure I'll be making a few fantasy games. Maybe a science fiction one too...it depends on if I can do what I want to do with Sci-Fi games.
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Quote
Originally posted by Avatara:
Which type of RPG games are better? Midieval type (not necessarily magic) or futuristic?
While a sci-fi RPG can have its advantages, I prefer a fantasy RPG. In science fiction, basically everything could really happen, it's nice to lose yourself in a fantasy world. 
Quote
Originally posted by ~Magus~:
Another good question to go along with this is what type of game will YOU be making when Coldstone is released?
Well, if I can do what I want to with the Coldstone Game Editor, I will be releasing a fantasy RPG.
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I'm another fence-sitter. I prefer rpgs that have an emphasis on storyline as opposed to freeform meddling in things. This isn't to say that I like stringent "go here, do this" style rpgs, but having a central storyline is very important. I downloaded Cytheria the other night, it seems to fit this pretty well, something like Avernum/Exile teeters on the brink of being too freeform, Realmz is far too freeform for my tastes, and most recent Squaresoft releases lean too far on the go here, do this method.
My favorite games to date include Fallout, Ultima Underworld (yea, I know, it's for PC, but it runs under emulation...), Final Fantasy 3(us) and 5(jp), any Zelda except 2, Phantasy Star 1 and 4, Wasteland, Vagrant Story and Chrono-Trigger.
I think Fantasy is somewhat overdone and story conventions tend to get tedious (save the princess (yeah, I know Zelda is really bad here, but...), rescue the gem, etc), and rely too much on the form of the Epic to carry the story. Sci-Fi rpgs often don't seem very well thought-out. Fallout was for me a great example of what can be done without Epic, save-the-world aspirations.
But I say all of this without having made one myself yet 
FWIW, my first game will be in the fantasy genre. It's not going to be an Epic (which I think is very overdone, no saving the world for me) and I hope will also shift emphasis away from combat and inventory management and into puzzle-solving and creative thinking. I've been doing a lot of thinking about how to do this in this last week or so since the Ambrosia-Coldstone announcement.
OK, so to um, stay on topic, yeah, that's it, I like both, but only if they're done well.
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Why limit yourself? I'm tired of cliche medeival fantasy and SF games are so uniformly dark (from what I've seen) that I get depressed just looking at the packaging artwork. What about a game set in a sixteenth-century environment with fairy tale elements thrown in? Or how about something set in the nineteenth century within a steampunk universe? Or just create a fantasy world unlike anything ever imagined; it could be dreamlike and unpredictable, yet somehow coherent, like the worlds in MYST. There are so many cool settings for adventure in history, too; eighteenth century Venice, for instance. People walking around in masks, political intrigue, all sorts of good stuff. And if you want to throw in some magic or the supernatural, you can always work that in, too. I just think our imaginations have been constricted by popular culture. I grew up on Tolkien and the whole Celtic/medeival style of fantasy, but after a while it's time to move on to something a bit more original. (Maybe there are games out there that fit this criterion, I just haven't played that many RPGs).
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"honi soit qui mal y pense"
Does anybody know Dune?
A dune RPG would be cool. You have an advanced and complex society, but wars are fought with swords. (This is because there are shields that are impassable to all objects over a certain speed, making guns completely useless.)
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