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Anyway (that's right, elipsies blow off internet dust), today I shall rant about the current predicament of JRPGs, focusing on this article by IGN.
I will start this by saying that I actually largely agree with this article. That being said, however, if one were to implement all of these changes onto a single JRPG, you would get WRPG, and let's face it, WRPGs are starting to become a bit... stale as well (perhaps that is a bit harsh of a word--what I mean is that Bioware hasn't exactly changed up their formula much lately, and neither has Bathesda). So, I am going to go through every item in this list and state my thoughts and opinions about them! Yey!
- People Live Here? This one, I largely agree with--I often times that the cities in some JRPGs to be somewhat... lacking, and nothing incentives not talking to NPCs like NPCs repeating the same thing over and over. That being said, WRPGs fall for this as well--instead of standing still and saying one canned thing, NPCs wander about randomly and say one of 3 canned things randomly. And, if over-implemented, you get yet another open-world game, which is when you start transforming a JRPG into a WRPG (which is not our goal here).
I, however, will not just criticize--I actually have some thoughts about how this can be fixed. Simply make a lot of dynamic background NPCs in your JRPG towns and cities. In this way, you can still have the linear build that is classic (and, in a way, almost desireble) of the JRPG genre while still giving the cities and towns a bit more life. Can you interact with it? No, but JRPGs are not about interacting with everything everywhere. - The Only Good Filler is Jelly in Donuts. I whole-heartedly agree. The final dungeons of JRPGs often times border on absolutely obnoxious. You do not need a ridiculously long and tedious final dungeon to make the conclusion seem epic--you need an appropriately epic final boss and a couple of maps you can grind in to level up if necessary.
- Invest in Presentation. This one is simply miss-placed. Sure, doing dialogue almsot exclusively through anime-styled "card-board cut-outs" can be a bit of a cop-out, but stating that a JRPG should have "fully animated, interactive" dialogue sequences is somewhat insulting. For one, many JRPGs do not implement this feature (including every Final Fantasy game, Star Ocean game, and most Tales games--the exception there being the skits, which I will get to in a moment), but instead show the cast looking at each other, moving their lips, and talking (wow, that sounds strangely "fully animated" to me!). Also, I find that the implementation of the "card-baord cut-outs" during skits in the Tales series to be both effective and incredibly endeering--the down-toned feel of them reminds you that they are simply there for flavor, but altogether not necessary for the progression of the game (and thus do not get in the way of the progression of the game).
As for the "interactive" bit, this is again showing how IGN is suggesting that JRPGs should become WRPGs--a JRPG isn't often about creating a character's personality through a series of dialogue options (although, there are a few noteble exceptions, like Persona 3 and Persona 4), but about watching a story about a set of characters unfold (I must admit, it almost hurts me to say "watching", but I truly believe it is true), with a limited amount of story-interaction (thus, only giving the player dialogue options at key points). If this is something you do not like about JRPGs, then you are seriously playing the wrong genre of game.
- The Road Less Traveled. Around at this point, it became incredibly clear that this particular writer wants JRPGs to become WRPGs. Once again, the point of JRPG is not to be able to interact with everything and its uncle, but mostly to experience a story. One does not need a world map to experience a story. Also, not having a world map does not mean that there won't be any side-quest or non-story related excursion are to be had--it just means that you do not have to travel to the far ends of the world and back to do them. In fact, if the point of this article is to point out how JRPGs have not changed enough, one should note that JRPGs have been doing world maps for decades, and usually fill no purpose except to add in extra uneeded gameplay hours wandering around. Finally, keep in mind that many JRPGs still use the mechanic, if it matters that much to a JRPG player to have one (i.e. the Tales series).
- Cliches are for Chumps. Honestly, I agree whole-heartidly with this one. This writer is not implying the removal of the anime visuals, just some change in characters' personalities, which I am all for--JRPGs have mostly become quite predictable and stale with their characters' personalities, which is bad considering that that is the pull for JRPGs.
- Voice Acting Approaches. OH MY GOD IS THIS DOT ON (mostly, but I'll get back to this). I will never forget Farleen's voice from Star Ocean 3, which was almost bad enough to make me want to rip the game out and burn it, to exorcise the bad voice acting demons (fortunately, she plays an incredibly small role in the game, and thus on does not have to listen to her much at all).
However, a "lack of localization funds" should not be the issue here. In fact, the best solution is also the cheapest--just use the fucking japanese voices. Not only does this cater towards the audience most likely to play a JRPG (namely, anime nerds), but it would also cut down costs for highering voice actors (since you wouldn't have to). In fact, localization is generally an evil act--it takes away from the experience of the game while not succeeding at its intended purpose of attracting a larger audience. - I Feel So Alone. This one is not too horrible, but still completely unecessary. Once again, JRPGs are about experiencing a story, not about a deep, multi-player experience. Doing this would be largely like adding a microwave oven to a cell-phone--sure, it'd be a great in a pinch, and it would attract some people, but at the same time, it's just not right. Also, with the generally linear character progression (power-wise) of JRPG characters, online matches would pretty much just come down to who has grinded for XP and items more.
- No More Save Points. I also agree with this one (holy crap, I'm starting to sound agreeble!). Save points were widely present in the old-school JRPGs because of space and programming restrictions. However, with current technology, this is no longer necessary. That being said, if you want to retain the "tension" of getting through a whole section without an opportunity to save, once could implement a feature where you can make a temporary save that boots you out of the game when you create the save, and deletes itself when you load it--OH WAIT, this is called the "quicksave" feature that Squeenix and many other companies have been releasing for their handheld games! That being said, I have yet to see this be implemented for a console JRPG, which is kind of lame.
- Write a New Story, M'Kay? YES. YES YES YES YES YES. As an advent JRPG fan myself, I will readily admit that I am getting sick and tired of a rag-tag group of rebels going out on a quest that eventually leads to saving the world. Are there a limited number of stories to be told in existance? Probably yes. Does this mean we have to always use the same story for every JRPG? God no. All that being said, the occassional JRPG switches up the story enough for this to not be universally true (for instance, the Shin Megami Tensei series [including the Persona series], The World Ends With You, and Fragile seems like it's heading in that direction).
- Battle Systems: Kick it Up a Notch. I also agree with where this one is coming from. I will admit, the screenshot included next to this one made me fear that the writer was again suggesting that JRPGs become more like a Bethesda or Bioware game, but once I read the description, it isn't really suggesting that at all. That being said, it is obvious that this writer hasn't actually played a wide variety of JRPGs, because if he had, he would know that this is already not true. For instance, FFX-2 (although many of us would like to ignore it's existance) had an incredibly innovative battle system derivative of Square's ATB system. The Tales series implements a very high-octaine, real-time battle mechanic that plays much like a brawler. The Star Ocean series also implements a similar game mechanic, except it works on a more 3D plane than the Tales games. Finally, to fully reveal the scope of my JRPG experiences (mostly to my own embarrassment), the Ar Tonelico series has implements a very interesting battle system revolving around using your front-line fighters to keep your real damage-dishers alive while they charge their nuke spells in real time.
