So, hi there, kids! It's time for another edition of Suzuri's Inner Gamer's Thoughts! Today we have a question asked by someone on GaiaOnline.
"Can one call themselves an RPG fan if they have never played a Final Fantasy game?"
(excuse the grammar, folks, I'm just giving you the original question as it was posted)
After I read this question the first time, I was a little bewildered at the fact someone would ask something like this. Not only is FF not the only RPG out there, it's hardly the Ur Example of RPG or even the JRPG subgenre. I have friends who love RP to death, but they dislike FF with every inch of their gamer heart.
Let me put it to you straight, friends.
JRPGs are those video RPGs like Dragon Quest, Tales of, and Final Fantasy. Y'know, those types of games where the player isn't able to really control a lot of the story and most of the characters have a set personality and background all their own. This is even more true with modern gaming on newer consoles with titles like Final Fantasy XIII. You don't really roleplay in FFXIII - you just sit and watch a story, walk in a straight path upwards, and in this game you don't even control your characters in battle. Earlier FF games, especially the first game on the NES, was a game that had more roleplay in it than games after FFIV.
Personal Opinion: I have a taste for these games, as I see them as an interactive visual novel with more depth than most Choose-Your-Own-Adventure children's books. There are a lot of people who do not have a taste for them, as the name "Japanese RPG" is rather a misnomer. It would be more accurate to call them "Interactive Stories" (except in the case of FFXIII, to which I just call a movie with a controller) than actual "role-playing" games. I got into role-playing simply because I love reading. To be able to take part in a story with your own character has a lot of appeal to me as a person who enjoys reading. I believe this is also an aspect of appeal to countless other players as well, and why this genre has such a big corner of the RPG market in general.
WRPGs, aka Western RPGs, are things like Diablo, Knights of the Old Republic, and the classic Ultima. They're less about the overall narrative, more about the character themselves developing uniquely by the choices of the player. They tend to be more on the gritty story side, unlike the JRPG which always seems to have an element of cuteness which doesn't seem to be present in the Western genre. The combat in Western RPGs tends to be very detailed and has many minute nuances, conversely the JRPG has a very simple menu based combat system most of the time, and fans of the WRPG tend to be very critical of the simplicity.
Current and quite possibly sidetracking thought: Though generally the Western RPG doesn't tend to appeal to my taste of cuteness, my obsession with Etrian Odyssey and its sequels cannot be denied. One of the rare instances where the Japanese creators do not focus on an emotionally driven storyline but on the exploration of the Yggdrasill labyrinth and development of your custom created characters. The characters are drawn in Atlus' signature manga style which was popularized by cult-classic Disgaea, which has to be one of my favorite aspects, even though every character only gets a single picture to depict what they look like. They don't talk, and the story does not really reflect the characters themselves but refers to the player as the name of the guild established in the beginning of the game. Etrian Odyssey is a challenge and a half, which harkens back to the days of role-playing when it wasn't about some wussy spikey haired prick with personality disorders bitching about killing a man he used to admire to the point of obsession because that ex-hero of the land skewered this girlfriend (Yes, Cloud Strife, I mean you!). I don't mean to go on a diatribe about how much I adore the EO series, but as a breath of fresh air in the middle of the rampaging debate about whether JRPGs or WRPGs are really RPGs, I couldn't help but think of it.
Back on track~
Now, all video RPGs have something in common no matter what sub-genre they belong to. That is the simple fact that they were inspired by the tabletop RPG. A lot of newbies in gaming tend to forget that imagination was the main component of roleplaying. Be it the great D&D, the popular Warhammer, or the comic strip inspired Hackmaster - stats, dice, and imagination are the main ingredients to play. The essence of roleplaying is taking on the imaginary suit of a character in whatever world there is set up, and playing as that character.
My point? YES, You can be a fan of RPGs and not like Final Fantasy. You can be a fan of the JRPG and not like FF. Hell, you can be a fan of the WRPG and not like Ultima. Guess what? I'm a fan of JRock, but Gackt is not the bestest one there. The only thing you can't be if you don't like Final Fantasy is a fan of Final Fantasy.
Thanks for reading.
Much love,
-Suzuri
((Will be cross posted to my gaming blog, "Into the Traveler's Gate"))
"Can one call themselves an RPG fan if they have never played a Final Fantasy game?"
(excuse the grammar, folks, I'm just giving you the original question as it was posted)
After I read this question the first time, I was a little bewildered at the fact someone would ask something like this. Not only is FF not the only RPG out there, it's hardly the Ur Example of RPG or even the JRPG subgenre. I have friends who love RP to death, but they dislike FF with every inch of their gamer heart.
Let me put it to you straight, friends.
JRPGs are those video RPGs like Dragon Quest, Tales of, and Final Fantasy. Y'know, those types of games where the player isn't able to really control a lot of the story and most of the characters have a set personality and background all their own. This is even more true with modern gaming on newer consoles with titles like Final Fantasy XIII. You don't really roleplay in FFXIII - you just sit and watch a story, walk in a straight path upwards, and in this game you don't even control your characters in battle. Earlier FF games, especially the first game on the NES, was a game that had more roleplay in it than games after FFIV.
Personal Opinion: I have a taste for these games, as I see them as an interactive visual novel with more depth than most Choose-Your-Own-Adventure children's books. There are a lot of people who do not have a taste for them, as the name "Japanese RPG" is rather a misnomer. It would be more accurate to call them "Interactive Stories" (except in the case of FFXIII, to which I just call a movie with a controller) than actual "role-playing" games. I got into role-playing simply because I love reading. To be able to take part in a story with your own character has a lot of appeal to me as a person who enjoys reading. I believe this is also an aspect of appeal to countless other players as well, and why this genre has such a big corner of the RPG market in general.
WRPGs, aka Western RPGs, are things like Diablo, Knights of the Old Republic, and the classic Ultima. They're less about the overall narrative, more about the character themselves developing uniquely by the choices of the player. They tend to be more on the gritty story side, unlike the JRPG which always seems to have an element of cuteness which doesn't seem to be present in the Western genre. The combat in Western RPGs tends to be very detailed and has many minute nuances, conversely the JRPG has a very simple menu based combat system most of the time, and fans of the WRPG tend to be very critical of the simplicity.
Current and quite possibly sidetracking thought: Though generally the Western RPG doesn't tend to appeal to my taste of cuteness, my obsession with Etrian Odyssey and its sequels cannot be denied. One of the rare instances where the Japanese creators do not focus on an emotionally driven storyline but on the exploration of the Yggdrasill labyrinth and development of your custom created characters. The characters are drawn in Atlus' signature manga style which was popularized by cult-classic Disgaea, which has to be one of my favorite aspects, even though every character only gets a single picture to depict what they look like. They don't talk, and the story does not really reflect the characters themselves but refers to the player as the name of the guild established in the beginning of the game. Etrian Odyssey is a challenge and a half, which harkens back to the days of role-playing when it wasn't about some wussy spikey haired prick with personality disorders bitching about killing a man he used to admire to the point of obsession because that ex-hero of the land skewered this girlfriend (Yes, Cloud Strife, I mean you!). I don't mean to go on a diatribe about how much I adore the EO series, but as a breath of fresh air in the middle of the rampaging debate about whether JRPGs or WRPGs are really RPGs, I couldn't help but think of it.
Back on track~
Now, all video RPGs have something in common no matter what sub-genre they belong to. That is the simple fact that they were inspired by the tabletop RPG. A lot of newbies in gaming tend to forget that imagination was the main component of roleplaying. Be it the great D&D, the popular Warhammer, or the comic strip inspired Hackmaster - stats, dice, and imagination are the main ingredients to play. The essence of roleplaying is taking on the imaginary suit of a character in whatever world there is set up, and playing as that character.
My point? YES, You can be a fan of RPGs and not like Final Fantasy. You can be a fan of the JRPG and not like FF. Hell, you can be a fan of the WRPG and not like Ultima. Guess what? I'm a fan of JRock, but Gackt is not the bestest one there. The only thing you can't be if you don't like Final Fantasy is a fan of Final Fantasy.
Thanks for reading.
Much love,
-Suzuri
((Will be cross posted to my gaming blog, "Into the Traveler's Gate"))
Yeah, I do prefer JRPGs too, in fact only Western rpg that got me playing for long was Septerra Core, which was ironically inspired by japanese games and system wise reminds me of Chrono Trigger.
ReplyDeleteFinal Fantasy to me has some great games (FFVI is one of my top 3 along with Chrono Trigger and Phantasy Star IV) but as a series I think it is silly that there is no plot or setting connection between most FFs, something that FFXIII seems to be trying to mend but since I have nothing beyound a PSX to play with it may take ages to know. Also you said it runs like a movie and I find that approach boring :P I am way more happy exploring the settings.