Wednesday, March 19, 2008
The Essential 20 Japanese RPGs
GamaSutra has a large (21-page!) discussion of Japanese RPGs, including 20 of the most influential or stand-out examples of the genre. Interestingly enough, they mash three Final Fantasy games together to make a single entry.
A Japanese RPG Primer: The Essential 20
Fortunately, it includes a little bit of history and genesis of the subgenre:
"The gap between Western and Japanese RPGs is so huge that they sometimes don't even seem like they belong in the same genre. Western RPGs usually concentrate on open-ended gameplay, with a "go anywhere, do anything" mentality.Enjoy!
"Japanese RPGs concentrate on narrative and battle systems, being more eager to tell a story than let the gamer play a role. However, Japanese RPGs didn't just appear out of nowhere -- as their roots lie heavily in early American computer RPGs of the 80s.
"Two of the most popular games back in the day were Ultima and Wizardry. Although all had followings amongst hardcore Japanese gamers, they were a little bit too uninviting for your average console owners, whose ages skewed a bit younger. Yuji Horii, a developer at Enix, decided to take on an interesting experiment.
"By combing the overhead exploration aspects of Ultima (the third and fourth games, specifically) and the first person, menu-based battle system of Wizardry, a new game was born: Dragon Quest."
Labels: Mainstream Games, Roleplaying Games
- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 11:45 AM (Permalink)
Comments:
Links to this post:
<< Home
Not a bad list, but it's missing Vagrant Story. What a dark, original, and occasionally hauntingly beautiful game that is. I find the dusty disc and start up a new game on VS probably once a year or so, though I've only beaten it once.
I'd also add Final Fantasy Tactics to that list, assuming strat-RPGs are allowed.
It's a sin that Square hasn't set up sequels to those two (Tactics Advance doesn't count!).
I'd also add Final Fantasy Tactics to that list, assuming strat-RPGs are allowed.
It's a sin that Square hasn't set up sequels to those two (Tactics Advance doesn't count!).
Yes, FFT certainly deserved its place on that list. There were also several others who deserved their place, and several on there that just didn't seem to belong. Most notably FF XII. That combat system bores me to tears, and when combat is the key gameplay feature, there just isn't much left for me to do.
They did mention Vagrant Story in the article, at least.
It's always hard doing a list like that, because there are always worthy games that get missed or bumped.
I really begin to regret not grabbing Suikoden II - the price of even used copies is high (last time I checked). I played the first one - it was my introduction to jRPGs, and I thought it was brilliant.
I second the opinion on FF XII. I haven't finished it - I got about 10 hours in and lost interest.
It's always hard doing a list like that, because there are always worthy games that get missed or bumped.
I really begin to regret not grabbing Suikoden II - the price of even used copies is high (last time I checked). I played the first one - it was my introduction to jRPGs, and I thought it was brilliant.
I second the opinion on FF XII. I haven't finished it - I got about 10 hours in and lost interest.
I'm definitely more attracted to the open-ended RPGs. That is the main reason I liked FFVII so much, and why I don't care for any of its successors. It's like FFVII was the one where they experimented with allowing the player to explore a bit. Then they decided not to continue in that vein.
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
<< Home
