Final Fantasy XIII is out in less than two months! How exciting. I should be counting the days. Slightly irritating then that I should be filled with a sense of a dread.
So far this generation of hardware has seen a dearth of quality RPGs. And by RPGs, I mean actual RPGs (aka JRPGs), not Mass Oblivion. I have nothing against those games or their ilk, but for me they belong in a different genre. So, as for ‘actual’ RPGs, the only reasonable options that come to mind are Lost Odyssey (2008), Star Ocean 4 (2009), Tales of Vesperia (2008) and Eternal Sonata (2007). All are decent games, but none is particularly memorable or deserving of the large amount of time required to complete it.
In fact, the best RPG of the last few years is a PS2 game, Persona 4. There are several conclusions to be drawn from this observation. There is the possibility that Persona 4 (2009 Europe) just happens to be a particularly outstanding game and all the RPGs released for Xbox 360 and PS3 just happen to be poor. Similarly it could be that because the PS2 has been around for so long and so many RPGs have been released on it, the quality of those RPGs has gradually improved to the point of Persona 4. Perhaps though it could also be that the technological difference between a PS2 and a PS3, or an Xbox and an Xbox 360 is so great that developers simply haven’t been able to transfer the good bits of RPGs from the former generation into the latter. I mean, what exactly is a next-gen RPG supposed to be?
Persona 4: Last-gen perfection?
You would think that RPGs as a genre would be among those with the most potential gain from any advances in hardware. After all, RPGs are by their nature reliant on successfully transporting the player from the real world to another. What better way to do this than with more emotive visuals and larger, more convincing environments. Yet still we find RPGs on this generation of consoles living or dying by their stories and their combat. Admittedly these are two of the staple elements of RPGs and very important parts to get right, but they have a small bearing on the overall feel or atmosphere of the game. This bit, the feel or atmosphere, comes from the game’s designer. If they are unable to craft the game in such a way that all the stories, characters, music and artwork are parts of the same idea, the feeling of immersion is lost and you may as well be reading a novel interspersed with sudoku.
Incidentally, we shouldn’t ignore the fact that Persona 4 is actually an exceptional game and would probably still be the best RPG of the last few years even if the current-gen releases weren’t so terribly average. Likewise Atlus did have Persona 3 to practise with and none of the current-gen RPGs has had a sequel yet, so I may be jumping the gun a little. However, what all this says to me is that the great RPG designers at the great RPG developers are still finding their feet on the new consoles. A strange thing to say maybe considering the Xbox 360 has been around for over four years now, but there really has been that much of a stagnation. It appears that for RPGs to truly take the next step in the progression of storytelling in games, someone is going to have to release something epic.
Something epic in the sense that the Final Fantasy series has always been epic. So we come to Final Fantasy XIII. It’s the first Final Fantasy of the generation and represents what may be the sole opportunity to save real RPGs from an endless repetition of mediocrity that slowly merges into one big glut of Western action RPGs. I should be confident then that this opportunity falls to Square. I mean if they can’t think of a way to push RPGs into the next decade, we are really in trouble.
This is why I’m dreading it, because of what it means if they can’t do it; if Final Fantasy XIII is similarly as bog standard and boring as the rest of them. And from what I’ve seen and played so far, the outlook may be bleak. Still, the budget is there, the experience of breaking new ground is there, the significant staff are there, so let’s remain hopeful for now. Finally, if anyone at Square happens to read this, please give us English speakers the option of subtitled Japanese voices. A tiny option, I know, but its inclusion just might go someway to safeguarding the future of the RPG.
Final Fantasy XIII is released in North America, Europe and Australia on March 9th 2010.
A thoughtful gamer above all else, Ben likes to mix games with philosophy. Several of his most successful writings have taken their inspiration from the world of video games.
I donno, I enjoyed alot of rpgs this generation… The Witcher, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Risen, Kings Bounty, Lost Odyssey, etc..
I honestly don’t see why games like Mass Effect, Dragon Age etc aren’t classed as “real” RPGs t you. They are a roleplaying game just as much as the next Final Fantasy game will be. The only difference between the ones you have listed at what country they originate from which.
I just have a very particular idea of what an RPG should be like and it tends towards the Jap version of it. It doesn’t matter all that much where the game has its roots, although obviously that has an effect on the culture and style of the game. For instance, Zelda is not particularly Japanese, nor in my opinion is it a true RPG. I wouldn’t say that being produced in a certain country is a barrier to making a certain type of game, but some genres are sure to be favoured in certain countries, as is the case here. You could perhaps draw a parallel with anime. In terms of content there isn’t that much difference between Jap anime and US cartoons, but I would still say the two are different enough to be treated separately.
Clearly all Western RPGs are still roleplaying games, but not the kind of roleplaying games that I personally associate with the term RPG. The point of the article was simply that those people that, like me, prefer to play the Japanese version of the RPG have not had much to get their teeth into lately and that FFXIII might fill the hole with something fresh but still RPG-y. Unfortunately it looks as though Square have done the opposite and made FFXIII less of a traditional RPG and more of a modern action-adventure in the Western style, which kinda justifies my article, in my opinion at least.
I’d like to hear what your version of “RPG” should mean. Don’t get me wrong, I agree that there are enough differences between the two types of RPGs to warrant favouritism, but I wouldn’t say that a Western RPG is *not* an RPG entirely. Hell, one could argue that JRPGs lack the customisation abilities that Western RPGs give gamers and so they’re not the “real” roleplay games based on the fact that you’re not actually “roleplaying” your own character (ala the D&D roots of the genre), you’ve been forced into a character’s shoes.
Aaaaanyway, I’m just keeping my fingers crossed for a Lost Odyssey sequel as I also think FFXIII may not be the game you and I are both hoping for here.
I’m sorry but you’re being a snob. “Oh that’s NOT a real RPG. Only JRPG’s are the true roll playing games!” . Bull shit.
Western developers are leading the industry now, in all genres. Plus western narratives span more than the usual Japanese drivel. It’s either a revenge story after the main characters father was killed. Or the player is an orphan who has a great destiny ahead of them. Finally you’re often a loner, fighting a dark past, only to meet someone on their quest who brings the hero out of them.
Naturally I’ll have missed one or two derivative story lines the japanese use, but that’s pretty much it *yawn*.
As I said, you’re a gaming snob.
LOL, JRPGs being the true RPGs. Usually the only role playing elements found in JRPGs is the (limited) character building. Dated battle systems, terrible melodrama and funky hair do not make a game an RPG.
Anyway, I agree about Persona 4, that was the first genuinely fun JRPG I’ve played in a long while, I loved it mostly because it wasn’t stupidly self serious like most JRPGs.
Seriously, it’s not the gameplay that’s killing JRPGs, it’s the terribly written, nonstop, anime melodrama that kills it, that stuff sucks and only children can tolerate it.
The bottom line is JRPG Devs need to take a hard look at what Atlus does and quit aping Square Enix so much.
I just wanted to say that I understand the disconnect between JRPG fans and WRPGs, WRPGs never really came out to the console scene until Knights of the Old Republic, whereas JRPGs have been on consoles since the NES, but it’s stupid to snub those games just because they don’t have anime influences.
Haha, see I agree with you guys on the bad bits of JRPGs, many of the cliches in them are terribly staid.
Scuff, I’d have to disagree though that western stories are more varied. Most of them still stick to the same themes that have been popular in the west for decades. I’m sure this is why Jap stories are all very similar as well, because they’re tried and tested. Personally I actually really like being a little orphan, loner or revenger. When it’s done well, it’s ace to go through the whole zero-to-hero thing.
Maybe I am a little snobbish and favour one kind of game over another just because I prefer them. I would say though, I’ve played an awful lot of WRPGs and enjoyed most of them, including Mass Effect and Oblivion. In fact I have Mass Effect 2 on preorder and am really looking forward to it, maybe more than FF13. I’m not that bad, you know
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