Do you like the older RPG systems better than the newer ones?

[Morty]

To be fair it made sense in Dragon Age because the original computer game did that (and it did that because D&D was a big influence). But considering how Blue Rose reduced the class-based limitations, and then Modern AGE just dropped them altogether, Fantasy AGE really shouldn't have gone with them.

And it doesn't work all that well for the video game, either. It's just worse in the tabletop one.

The sad thing is, with the Abilities/Talent setup, Fantasy AGE could have been really good if it hadn't tried to copy D&D. If they'd gone classless, had a core racial selection other than 'human/elf/dwarf/handling/gnome/orc', and maybe more fully embraced the science fantasy aspects of Titansgrave it would have stood out quite a bit more*. As it is my experience of the official forums involves being told that it's completely different to D&D and please ignore all similarities and the clear line of descent.

Yeah, it's a "we're not D&D, pinkie swear" kind of thing.

Some players really like those restrictions (class, etc), so... who am I to judge?

But the gut reaction that they're something RPG systems need to grow out of is hard for me to keep in check.

Classes have their purpose, as do restrictions. But the warrior/mage/rogue chestnut just has none of the potential benefits of classes. "Warrior", "mage" or "rogue" aren't archetypes, roles or niches. So all it accomplishes is making sure every fight-oriented character has to be a big, dumb door-opener with heavy armor and big weapons, while those who want to have a bit more finesse or skill are pushed towards the "thief" baggage and restricted in how they can fight.

I used to outright despise them, but that's softened significantly - though the combination of classes and levels is still something I look at very skeptically. There's a role for them, and while that role has previously not really interested me I've seen some stuff recently involving really cool archetype emulation that would be tricky to pull off in a classless system without a lot of work.

I think a way to start is to make sure they give more than they take away. If classes are meant to let you play out archetypes, that doesn't mean they should plot out your advancement from Day One. I also agree that levels are responsible for a lot of the problems that classes get flak for. Classes have their use, but I really don't think levels do.