Monday, October 12, 2009
How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the jRPG
My first game console was the Sony Playstation. The first one. After I'd graduated from college.
Unless you include a Coleco Telstar that we had as kids. We got to play tennis, hockey, OR handball (all Pong variants) before the thing died about nine months later. After that, my friends had consoles. The Ataris and Intellivisions. Later, the Nintendos. Meanwhile, I had computers. From my beloved Commodore 64, to my first DOS-based PC (386sx 16 mhz with 4 meg of RAM and a 40 meg hard drive!). So most of my gaming was enjoyed on computers.
And of course, as a Dungeons & Dragons fan, I was really into computer RPGs that tried to simulate the tabletop experience.
Because my access to consoles was limited, I never played any of the console RPGs (unless you count successive generations of The Legend of Zelda games, which I always thought of as action games with some minimal RPG elements rolled in). For me, it was all about the computer RPGs - the series like Ultima, Magic Candle, Might & Magic, Wizardry, Apshai, Eye of the Beholder, Realms of Arkania, the "Gold Box" D&D series, and so forth. No, I didn't play them all, but that was my universe, and if I didn't explore them personally I enjoyed them vicariously through friends and the pages of magazines. I was distantly aware of the Sega vs. Nintendo war, but I was more concerned about seeing a port of Dungeon Master from the Amiga to DOS. Yeah, it was ported to the SNES as well, but I was oblivious of this until years later.
My first "real" job out of college was - surprise! - making console video games. Suddenly I found myself having to spend some time getting a remedial education in console games. Since we were doing action games, discovering console RPGs was not part of my mandate. But some coworkers told me how much they enjoyed several RPGs from Japan (dubbed "jRPGs") - games like Chrono Trigger, The Secret of Mana, the Dragon Warrior (Dragon Quest in Japan), games, and Final Fantasy III (Final Fantasy VI in Japan, as only half of 'em made it to our shore).
Since my games were coming out on the Playstation, we bought ours on launch day, 9-9-95. Wow, that was a long time ago... Originally, everybody thought the Playstation was going to fail against the combined might of Sega and Nintendo. Just like the 3DO. But then the buzz shook the industry that Sony scored a coupe - they got the exclusive with Squaresoft's next Final Fantasy game. The Nintendo-exclusive series was coming the the Playstation, and that was a game changer.
What's the big deal, I wondered. So I figured it was time to figure out what these console RPGs were all about. So when the first RPGs for the Playstation started to trickle in, I decided to give them a try. Of course, they wouldn't be able to stack up against my western RPG favorites...
... or could they?
On the suggestion of a friend, I borrowed Suikoden, a newly-released RPG for the Playstation. It was supposed to be "different" in that you'd build an army (and a castle) to fight in tactical battles. Ah, cool, I liked strategy games...
Well, the tactical battles were little more than scripted games of Rock, Paper, Scissors. So that wasn't all that exciting. But overall, the game was delightful. We had a great time playing. I can't really remember much of the story today, but I remember I enjoyed it. So did my wife. Suikoden became our entertainment in the evening. I think my wife cross-stitched a bit too - but she was caught up in the story.
I was right in that the console jRPGs really couldn't be compared very well to Western computer RPGs. Maybe they weren't apples and oranges, but they were maybe apples and pears. They were very different in a lot of ways. But I developed a taste for 'em. After Suikoden, it was Wild Arms, and then Final Fantasy VII. And so forth and so on...
But I discovered that I could enjoy both the Japanese-style RPGs, and the traditional western RPGs I'd grown up with. I found I had no problem talking about Final Fantasy VII on one hand, and Baldur's Gate on the other. Peaceful coexistence was not only possible, but a heck of a lot of fun.
And that's how I came to appreciate games of the so-called "jRPG" style of games.
Over the last decade, I feel the two styles of cRPGs - once so distinct - have blended together more and more, borrowing concepts from each other and losing the distinction that was once so noticeable. Eastern RPGs are once again borrowing ideas from the west (they originally borrowed heavily from the very-western early Wizardry and Ultima games). And we have western developers emulating the character-and-story-heavy styles of jRPGs. And we have indie RPGs made by North American and European developers that are deliberately similar to the classic jRPGs of the 16-bit era.
Will we get to the point where there is no real distinction between "jRPGs" and "Western RPGs?" I don't foresee it, but I do see it becoming more of a broad, densely-populated spectrum rather than two distinct categories.
And as a fan of both styles, that sits very well with me.
Labels: retro, Roleplaying Games
- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 8:30 AM (Permalink)
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I'm also a fan of both branches of RPGs. I started out more with paper RPGs, then got into console (Japanese) RPGs and PC (western) RPGs about the same time, mostly on consoles. (I first played Ultima 3 on the NES.)
But, I think there are still some distinctions between the two. The main one that still remains is main character and party composition. In jRPGs, your main character is pre-determined: abilities, personality, often even the name. Other party members tend to be established characters as well, and they tend to form a more cohesive team.
Western RPGs tend to allow for a lot more customization, at least in the main character if not the whole party. Recently, we've seen games go kind of hybrid, allowing the main character to be fully customized but having other party members be pre-defined with interesting personalities. For example, Baldur's Gate allowed you to create your first character freely. Your potential party members are also not as cohesive: the D&D alignment system makes some characters natural opponents of each other.
As with most things involving games and definitions, things aren't quite so neatly divided. Ultima 3 had a fully configurable party like the Wizardry games, but Ultima 4 was more hybrid with the main character "replacing" one of the set cast. Later Ulima games had the generic "Avatar" main character with very well-established party members.
In general, I think there's still some interesting distinctions between these two branches. As you point out, the distinctions are getting blurry as they keep getting inspired by or borrowing elements form each other.
My thoughts.
But, I think there are still some distinctions between the two. The main one that still remains is main character and party composition. In jRPGs, your main character is pre-determined: abilities, personality, often even the name. Other party members tend to be established characters as well, and they tend to form a more cohesive team.
Western RPGs tend to allow for a lot more customization, at least in the main character if not the whole party. Recently, we've seen games go kind of hybrid, allowing the main character to be fully customized but having other party members be pre-defined with interesting personalities. For example, Baldur's Gate allowed you to create your first character freely. Your potential party members are also not as cohesive: the D&D alignment system makes some characters natural opponents of each other.
As with most things involving games and definitions, things aren't quite so neatly divided. Ultima 3 had a fully configurable party like the Wizardry games, but Ultima 4 was more hybrid with the main character "replacing" one of the set cast. Later Ulima games had the generic "Avatar" main character with very well-established party members.
In general, I think there's still some interesting distinctions between these two branches. As you point out, the distinctions are getting blurry as they keep getting inspired by or borrowing elements form each other.
My thoughts.
While they are certainly different both are incredible RPG styles. To list all time greatest RPG's without listing Cronotrigger and Fallout would be a crime.
I find that Western RPGs tend to let me tell my own story via a meticulously player-created avatar, while Japanese RPGs tend to ask me to play a role within a story that's already defined.
The former tends to make for a more personalized experience, while the latter tends to foster stronger storytelling. Both have their place, and I'm a big fan of both, albeit for different reasons.
The former tends to make for a more personalized experience, while the latter tends to foster stronger storytelling. Both have their place, and I'm a big fan of both, albeit for different reasons.
It's heartening to hear that you started playing jRPG's with Suikoden - that's the first jRPG I ever finished. Oh, I'd given quite a few jRPG's a go up until then, but none of them captured my interest the way that Suikoden did. I really think it came down to the execution - the game's combat system was pretty generic jRPG fare, but it was done in a way that made it flow much more smoothly with the game (experience was awarded more liberally, enemies took some strategy, but weren't that difficult to kill) than the typical jRPG grind. Did you ever get a chance to play Suikoden II? That game is, in my very humble opinion, the greatest jRPG ever made. The combat is a refined version of the first game, but what really sold me on it was the story. What a story! It's more luck than anything that I still have my original PS1 copy. A little soap-boxy, I know, but the Suikoden series hold a special place in my heart for being so brilliant in story and execution, when most of the jRPG's being released today (and many of those released in the past) are so..."meh."
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# posted by 
: October 14, 2009 11:48 AM
: October 14, 2009 11:48 AMLinks to this post:
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