My very first JRPG was Final Fantasy 4 (2 on the SNES) and after finally beating it ( my biggest accompishment at that time) I knew I wanted to play every game like it. From that point on I made a personal mission to play as many JRPG'as I coud get my hand's. My PS1,PS2,GBA and DS collection's are composed primarily of JRPG's. I actually own over 90% of the JRPG's released stateside for PS1 and PS2 around 85%. That's how crazy I was about them at the time. It became quite the shock when I lost complete interest (not love) for the genre sometime in 2011. I have recently gotten into playing them again with Final Fantasy 13-2, but I have played a certain JRPG in that downtime that has changed that way I view 13-2 and previous JRPG's this current generation and utiamtely answering the question at why I lost interest in JRPG's.
JRPG's have lot's of issues. I dont want to call them problem's because its just a matter of taste most of the time like the abundance of Otaku level Anime or turn based vs Action. I dont mind anime to a certain degree in JRPG's but can understand why someone would be turned off by an under dressed Loli pop. I going to be focused on 2 issues that I believe are definite problem's and must be worked on or JRPG's wi never regain their popularity. I'm going to be using Final Fantasy 13-2 as an example in most of this write up not because I'm picking on this game but because of its status as the defacto JRPG series. If it has these problem's it can be assumed every other JRPG is too.
The first problem is the failure of current day JRPG's to instill a sense of a grand adventure on the player. I dont feel that I'm on a adventure in neither of the of the 13 series game's or any console JRPG in general and this has to do with the way JRPG's are structured. During the PS2 age SE set the stage for interconnected maps in favor of an overword map used up till then. This worked with Final Fantasy X because it complimented the pigramage story that was told. It does not lend itsef well to exporation/adventure. Original 13 was literally just one straight path with minor detours...sometime. 13-2 tried to fix this by opening up the area's ... now it's just 11 map's composed of small boring boxes. I hate to 100% map's in 13-2 because the world is boring with nothing of interest happening in them. How many people here have payed Dragon Quest Vlll? Now that is a JRPG that know's how to make you feel like you are on a adventure. It made me want to explore every area just to see what was there and if it was nothing that was fine because it was still satisfying and combine that with the fact you dont have a map initially, you cant save anywhere, you are always short on money so you have to make sure to stock up and buy equipment in a smart fashion .. it just satisfying. Another example is the Wild Arms series by SONY/Media. Vision. In the first 3 titles your character has a radar that is used to locate things on the map. Your going to need that because every area of the map his hidden untill you locate it and there are tons of optional area's in Wild Arms. Why are JRPG's still using this stupid map crap instead adopting overworld's but in real time. The technology is there.
2nd problem. Not ony does world structure suck in current JRPG's they are still being designed to be nothing but static, un interactive, eye candy that your character is just suppose to run through. In Final Fantasy 13-2 you are given a jump button that I guess was suppose to add flexibility to way you get around.... no. 13-2 is so silly about how they let use jump. Let's say you run up 2 flight's of stairs and you are able to look down at the bottom floor... you cant jump down though the map indicate's walkable area if they were to allow you.... but you can jump up 20 feet high wall's.... but she must find another way around waist high pillar. Why? Why are JRPG's still held down by stupid boundaries like this? The city map in 13-2 initially had me excited. I couldnt wait to wak around..unti I realized non the buildings were rea and alot of the scenery was just to look at. One awesome JRPG not on an HD system introduced the mindset of if you can see it you can there. You can touch. No longer are bodies of water just cock block eye candy. You can swim through them. You can walk inbetween objects, theres weather, day and night. The sense of life and things happening in that game's world is awesome. Why has a non HD system JRPG been abe to create the best world in a JRPG?
So then I continousy ask why JRPG's are still being built this way. The answer is simple, Japan develop's their RPG's as if they were still held back by some technology hurdle ike on PS1,PS2, or SNES. I dont care about western game development but when they say Japan is behind in technology..this is what they mean. Xenoblade is the best JRPG this generation based primarily on the fact that it takes the step forward in genre. Xenoblade is the new bottom line for JRPG's. All JRPG's should have Day and night cycles, Weather effects, interactive enviornments, real time overworlds. They should of had them a long time ago.
Currenty I am ony excited for 3 JRPG's: X , Lightning Returns, and Final Fantasy 15 as all of them look to adopt the design introduced in Xenoblade. We see in FF15 enviornments being destroyed or used against the enemy. It was hinted at that in 15 we will be able to fly the airship in real time..how awesome is that? Nomura said his main gaol with 15 is to redefine JRPG's. I stand right by him. In X, the mech's are rendered in real time and you can actually fly them around and it world looks huge. In Lighntning returns cool features like being able to jump down floors for faster transportation, you can walk all the way around and back on foot if you wanted...species extinction. I have Graces, Atelier series, and will get the Xillia series. I doubt I'll play them though. I sure I leave PS3 with less than half of all released stateside JRPG's as well
