I’d like to welcome you all to my 1st column of the new year. For the this week’s look back, I’d like to take a look back at one of my favorite sub-genres, the jrpg. From a very young age these digital tales have been a big staple of my gaming life. I 1st started playing with every jrpg fan’s main crack, final fantasy and dragon quest, back when it was dragon warrior. When these 1st hit the old nes, I was awe struck. There wasn’t a gaming experience that quite captured that magic as child way back when. Role playing games back then were relegated to dusty basements and sessions of d&d. Games with table top style, immersive game play didn’t exist at that time. American developers a that time didn’t see video games as a story telling medium. Japan would soon change that very statement. Square Soft and Enix before they merged would make 2 titles that would revolution gaming and establish a genre of games that would be story driven instead of the mostly action/platformer games of the day.
Over the years my collection has seen many great titles come and go. Many of which did includes various entries from the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest series. In the 16 bit era I was introduced to new titles such as, Lufia, Terranigma, Secret of Evermore, and the classic Chrono Trigger to name a few. It was really during the ps1 era that I really started going balls to the wall with the jrpg and rpg genre in general. That era began a golden time for the jrpg. That was the golden standard for the market in the late 90′s early 2000′s. That’s also when I started getting into Diablo and Baulder’s Gate, 2 of the finer western style rpg’s of their day. I still have many of those games from those golden days, which stand as a testament to how well stories could be told in an epic way and feel epic to match. Sadly though rpg’s went threw a fade phase. There was a time when it was cool to be main stream and like Skies of Arcadia or Rouge Galaxy (Amazing I still have a dreamcast). Those days been long since gone as far as gaming trends trends.
The current generations of consoles came out and the hardware allowed for games that could never have been dreamed of even as close as a year before the 1st xbox 360′s came out. You could create a entire expansive, yet self contained universe inside one game. This is when we see a shift in what rpg’s could be. Before titles wrpg’s were subjugated to the pc dungeon. Now existed consoles that could handle the data load of a pc. I remember playing fallout on the pc at a friend’s house and thought this is cool but the story isn’t as good as say persona 3. Well something happened this generation that got American companies to start telling actual stories with their games. And not just liner stories like games from the past. Now we as gamers heard the term sandbox and open world being thrown around for the 1st time on a console and the birth of the wrpg as it’s own sub-genre. This is when I began to feel the way the wind was blowing.
Mass Effect made me a convert to the the other side. For so long I was hard core jrpg and nothing would change that. Then I began to see in titles like Blue Dragon and Magna Carta 2, we’ve done these stories and character types to death. After awhile you can only see the same brooding, androgynous protagonist, or the big boobed fan service girl before you get burned out. So many characters in modern jrpg’s get to be really annoying (Vanille being a huge example). What was once fun and quirky is now just cliche and boring. If I don’t have a reason to invest my time and emotions into the characters or story, then what reason do I have to play someone’s game, much less buy it. Mass Effect changed the game (pun intended) for me in ways I not thought possible.
I saw in Mass Effect that a game can tell a story, be epic and still be fun. Another thing that won me over on wrpg’s is the factor of replayability. Jrpg’s have a very finite replay value, especially in this day and age of the cheap ass gamer. Games are expensive and with limited funds, used and bargain bin games have become a big reality. You have to decide if you can wait on that new release of Final Fantasy or if it’s good enough to but right now. I now as a cheap ass gamer, have to look at a game and see if it is going to be worth my money and my time. Content is king here, not just quantity but also quality. What is gonna keep me coming back to this game and not shelve it after 10 hours? What will keep me holding onto this game instead of trading in twards something better? Mass Effect anwsered with “how about each time you play being a different experience.” I thought, “ok so how are you going to pull that off?”
Being able to create an experience totally yours is something that had been lacking in console gaming for a long time, especially in rpgs. One thing in table top rpgs that made them fun was creating a character that was yours. Something born of your own imagination, and forethought. Their entire history is dependent on what ever you decide and not something spit at you with a set path and history. Also in this series the choices your character makes affect what happens in the later sequels. We’ve seen this before in series like .//hack, but very limited in the choices and scope. Those games were more about where character’s level and stats were more than choice. Here we have seen your Shepard grow based on the decisions you made. Every person’s experience will be different. It’s something that I’ll admit at 1st I was apprehensive about going in but once you get your feet wet, you’ll wonder why more rpg’s aren’t like this. That was my 1st thought when I started and now I’m a full convert. I still like jrpgs and see their place in the world, they just don’t have the presence they once did. Good titles in the jrpg barrel are becoming few and far between since now more people are playing wrpgs now that Americans have shown, yes we too can tell an epic, compelling story. Japan has some great titles we’ll likely never see. But that is also part of the shift. I think it can be said jrpgs had a crash similar to the comic book crash of the 90′s.
Amazing that a new Final Fantasy title came out this week that I won’t be getting till maybe it hit the bin and even then it’s a big if. Instead I have my collector edition of me3 coming. I think this will lead into my last sort of rant in this in which we breifly compare what you get. Bioware has been pumping out the pre release dlc for me3 and alot of it free. FFXIII-2 has a little and you have to pay for all of it. Nothing to intice you, just hand over the cash and like it. FF has a new bow, preorder omega character and lighting (yes you will have to pay out extra for lightning). ME yes has alot of paid and pre order paid dlc, but also has plenty of free stuff also. Items from the Kingdoms of Amalur demo and even some from facebook. There isn’t even a comparison in the collector editions. FF charges the $80 price tag for the game and a soundtrack, that’s it. ME3 is loaded with a ton of extras. Ironicly, last collectors edition this good I saw was the lunar series on ps1.
As always these are my options and your free to agree or disagree. This mainly is my own story on how I came from a hardcore jrpg fan to a player of wrpgs. Now I’m off to loot more stuff in skyrim. (Yes finally made guild master).
