Thursday, September 11, 2008
JRPGs versus Western RPGs: Stuck In a Creative Rut?
Leigh Alexander has an article today on her blog about the problems facing Japanese videogames (specifically their RPGs) as compared to their western counterparts. Specifically, JRPGs seem to be locked in a creative rut, whereas Western games seem willing to redefine the genre every other week.
Sexy Videogameland: The Japanese Renaissance
She claims, "You can't really overhaul a JRPG. Change too much about the formula, and it wanders away from its genre. There are a limited number of ways its signature elements can be matched and remixed to create a new product... Now, think of the questions you need to ask yourself when you play a Western RPG. Lately, the first question I ask is, "how are they defining 'RPG' this time?" It's so much more difficult to define genre in Western games in general, these days."
But, as you can guess from the title, she doesn't expect this trend to continue forever, and explains reasons why. Admittedly, at least in gameplay, I thought Final Fantasy XII seemed to break from the mold. Not that I preferred it over the old systems, but I'm an old fuddy-duddy who likes a good turn-based RPG. Okay, I like a good action RPG, too, but the former can be really hard to find these days.
Labels: Game Design, Roleplaying Games
- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 1:02 PM (Permalink)
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Japanese RPG's do have some variance (though not the norm), but they rarely make it to the states. A lot of the problems with these variations is that they fail in an American Audience. Saga Frontier and Threads of Fate were breakaways from the mold years ago on the PS, but didn't grab big attention. An early PSP RPG called Popolocroise took a several key elements and really gave the jRPG an overhaul, it just fell short on good story. So really it seems like the market is holding it in place, somehow everyone in Japan seems to be content with what they have.
The Western RPG is facing its own dilema as you stated earlier. Every studio is constantly trying to make a name for itself by being innovative or revolutionary. To me this really stinks, because there are a lot of good games that I have yet to get enough of because they moved on to something else too quickly. I could have done with a Baulders Gate 3, but instead I got a NWN which made me decide to leave part 2 on the shelf. I could have done with another good Fallout RPG, but instead it looks I get a Fallout FPS (which actually does look like a fun FPS).
I really think there needs to be a happy medium here.
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The Western RPG is facing its own dilema as you stated earlier. Every studio is constantly trying to make a name for itself by being innovative or revolutionary. To me this really stinks, because there are a lot of good games that I have yet to get enough of because they moved on to something else too quickly. I could have done with a Baulders Gate 3, but instead I got a NWN which made me decide to leave part 2 on the shelf. I could have done with another good Fallout RPG, but instead it looks I get a Fallout FPS (which actually does look like a fun FPS).
I really think there needs to be a happy medium here.
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