That Old JRPG Magic ...
Apparently Final Fantasy VII, that much game people either love or hate, has had over 100,000 downloads on the PSP since being released earlier this month. The linked article notes,

"Square Enix's seminal RPG -- now over a decade old -- has become something of a cultural icon to gamers, and it's generally associated with the era of more mainstream interest in Japanese RPGs in the U.S., as well as the rise of the PlayStation platform."

Having been there (and been a professional game developer at the time) back in the day, I remember what a shake-up it was when Square announced their next Final Fantasy game would be a Sony exclusive rather than for Nintendo. I had never played any jRPGs (Japanese RPGs) at that time - nor any console RPGs at all unless you count The Legend of Zelda (I kinda... don't). So the momentousness of the announcement was lost on me. I was a PC gamer, and I loved my PC RPGs. I really didn't get the geeky love for the obviously inferior console jRPGs with their poorly translated dialog, goofy deformed-looking characters and simplistic gameplay.

Then I played Suikoden and Final Fantasy VII. And I learned what those weird SNES fanboys had been talking about all that time. While my love of western PC RPGs of that era was unchanged, I found a newfound appreciation for these much more linear, angsty, story-heavy little melodramas.

And Final Fantasy VII was, for many, the turning point where the mainstream western gamers discovered the jRPG. I only beat the crowd by a couple of months.

But for me, while the two styles of games are generally pretty different (though they freely borrow from each other), I enjoy both. I don't know if that makes me weird, or puts me in a silent majority, for I more often hear from people who love one style and completely hate the other. For me - a good game is a good game.

On a side note, for those who might be curious or who missed out on playing Final Fantasy VII in the first place but don't really feel inclined to play through it now to see what you missed, there's a great retrospective on the game at gamespite entitled Final Fantasy VII: The Voice of the Planet which I really enjoyed. It endeavors to strip out over a decade of hype and hate, look past the technology of the era and peer instead more at the core of the game - the good and the bad. Particularly the good - as nobody goes ga-ga over the formerly lush background visuals anymore. The article contains an amusing analysis of the primary - and what made him stand out - which is worth quoting here:

"Cloud's journey of personal transformation -- from a badass loner mercenary to a babbling mental wreck, to the deconstruction of his entire self-fabricated persona, and eventually, to acceptance that it's not too bad just to be a regular guy who says things like `Let's mosey' -- is genuinely sympathetic. (Which makes it all the more a disgrace that the game's various sequels have thrown his development back to square one, for no reason but that badass loners sell.)"

Labels: retro, Roleplaying Games

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 9:34 AM (Permalink)