Saturday, December 18, 2010

RPGs and My Relationship with Them

Naturally, I'm a gamer, and a gamer's job is to play games and have fun. However, in recent times, that simple philosophy has lost it's luster and has been reworded so many times to show that games are more than just things you play. Now it's more like games are simulations and cutting edge looks need to compete with other mediums of entertainment. Among the many genres of games that I've played in the last 23 or so years, nothing is more close to my heart, than the RPGs.

RPGs, or Role-Playing Games are a tough breed to describe. At it's core you play the role of someone in an interactive story. What differentiates each RPG is based on the many mechanics or gimmicks that are featured in each of them. I myself being a 3rd generation gamer see that RPGs nowadays are too complicated and seem to cater to the younger gamers with visually pleasing graphics and, normally I don't say this, but the choose your own adventure style.
There's an ongoing debate over the difference between the eastern style RPGs, commonly from Japan, and the western style RPGs, commonly from the US. In a recent shift in quality game design, it's the western style RPG that is getting the proverbial nod. Mostly because of the stereotype of every hero needs to be macho. I don't buy it. It really matters not to me who's been out of the loop of the current gen whether or not the main character is a little kid with a ball-in-a-cup for a weapon, some big muscled dude with a gun, or a composer with a conductor's baton for a weapon. What really should matter in an RPG is the story and whether or not it will entice you to keep going till the end.

Now, as a kid there is an ongoing series of RPGs that I grew up with and is near and dear to my heart. That series is the eponymous Final Fantasy. As a kid I loved playing the role of the hero and saving the world. And RPGs filled that gap. The one that stuck out the most was FF itself. The peak of the series came when I was 10 and the 6th one received critical claim as the best of the SNES, 1st or second place or not to Chrono Trigger. However, I believe the fans itself are critically putting a high demand in the series and assume it would be AAA material in the same vein to it's western counterpart. In other words, western gamers are poisoning the influence in the developers. Which is why I'm hearing speculation that the recent entries in FF are dwindling because it will never have that same wow factor that the previous entry received. And honestly, I'm starting to hate the hate.

If I may go off on a tangent for a bit, the fans themselves are really killing the fun factor in FF mostly because they are comparing the latest and how they are inferior to their previous entries in the series. Saying stuff like how 13 is inferior to 7 and how no one remembers 5 or 6 is better than 4 and people hate 9 without any reason. I've tried to ask a legitimate question in regards to why? Why does everyone hate 13, without going into fanboy mode. Why are they comparing the previous entries to their past counterparts? Why do they want a remake? Why not seek out the originals, and finally why not just buy the damn game in it's entirety instead of going online, donning an eyepatch, and seeking it out on the information super highway? The bile however was spilled onto the 14th, which in my opinion was still in beta form when they were releasing it. Hence why it has become what it was. It was you damn fans that rushed 14 out too quickly. As much as I respect the SpoonyOne, it was probably in it's Alpha stage when he saw it in Pax. i honestly will ask you, the reader of this a serious question: Tell me why people hate 13 in regards to the game itself and not on a fanboy base. Why compare the entries in the series in the first place? And finally, why deny a free game even if it's in it's beta stage? That is all I gotta say on that, now lets talk about other RPGs.

When it comes to RPGs, I am on them like a fat kid in a crisco suit. Many of them come and go, some stay on, some I avoid, and some I want to go back to, but wait for the opportunity. Here are my opinions of the series that I have experienced. It's not a best or worst of, I have no favorites, everyone gets an equal share:

Mana series: Legend of Mana was at it's peak and I consider that to be the best second to Secret. I'll play Seiken Densetsu 3, but sadly I think other factors show that it jumped the shark.

Kingdom Hearts: The bane of my existence. Not because it's Disney and Square make a bastard inbreed love-hate child, but mostly the fans who have to make creepy gay yaoi fanfics of characters who have no depth. KH is basically Disney's attempt to advertise their passed movie entries into a game and then shove that off for their own online game to surpass it. Even Wada might be on it to.

Star Ocean: It's pretty good and the mind screw is nifty, but I'm somewhat at a standstill when it comes to Vesper in Second Story. If I can't beat a third to last boss at level 80, it's unwinnable.

Atelier Iris: Item making is fun and the localization is pretty decent, but in some cases it will be overlooked from other perspectives. I want more of it though.

Dark Cloud: The only dungeon based RPG I played, and rather engaging as well. Plus, Scott Menville plays a kid who was born of a future mother and a past father making him a rare time hybrid.

Legend of Zelda: My love for this rivals of Final Fantasy, but it's simplicity and complexity keep me coming back. Not so much the animated proportions of Zelda who is basically tease to Link who is just a jackass. But honestly, how come Zelda is in the legend if Link is doing the dirty work. and wasn't he left handed? The whole wii thing just threw a spanner in the southpaw community. Hope the next one can let you tinker with the interface. Making things go from left and right with the touch of a button.

Radiata Stories: Jazzy strategy based. Not a bad concept, but jazz? I'll get back to it.

Tales: The only series out there that will be shunned over by the demographic. Such a shame to cause i rather like Tales. Cliched or not, it's still good. Just bring more to us damnit, or let Axsys or Atlus bring it here. Your a douche for not exporting your flagship title Namco!

Eternal Sonata: introducing me to Chopin, playing this beautiful game makes me wonder why aren't they making a game based on Bach? Potential of a game based on musical composers? sign me up!

Mario & Luigi: I have a new found respect for trying new things. Ever since Super Mario RPG which was the best RPG experience out there, there have been many attempts to reclaim that glory. Mario & Luigi may end up reclaiming the title. When you fought with your past baby selves to an ugly princess mushroom which sounds like an LSD name for a villain, it was kinda lame, but you really brought it back with the fight against Dark Star. I'm talking about the musical aspect in this regard. Superstar Saga was great, Partners in Time was kinda weak, but Luigi's Inside Story (I know it's Browser's) is where it redeemed itself. It goes to show that you can make good final battle music.

Lunar: I haven't seen you in a long time and as much as I want Silver Star on the PSP, it is the original complete game on the Playstation 1 is what I seek. Get Xseed to make more entries for you and I'll be there to play them.

Breath of Fire: You are basically put on a bus cause people are having a hard on for the next big fighting game. Please come back, I miss you.

.hack: An not-MMO to be sure seeking you out is kinda tricky, then again i don't play MMOs that much.

Now the western side is obviously lost on me who grew up with the aforementioned. I'm just not that choose your own adventure type of guy. I'm always going to be a Neutral Good and seek out logic over magic and fight as a last resort. I just think western RPGs are getting too much of a hard on from other developers.

Which brings me to now. Right now as I observe the eastern side is running out of new and innovative ways to stay afloat. It's basically become too much like Hollywood in the make something new category. Westerners don't need to point out that the east side is running out of ideas. It's just pressure from the consumers and how they don't like the same ol same ol or they didn't like this so they want a newer version of that same game.

The other gripe I have is the devout, or as they are called, fanboys. There are alot of types of fanboys. Some are commonly known derogatorily as otaku, there are tech fanboys, the egregious of them is the apple cult in which they cherish Apple for being the end all be all of tech. But that's beside the point. The fanboys who I refer to are the FF and KH fanboys. It is they who I find to be irksome only because it is they who brought the mighty to be the fallen. In other words, they deliberately made XIV suck. SpoonyOne is another example of devout believing the word of Spoony. As much as I enjoy his work, some wounds aren't meant to be pierced. People believe Spoony as he said 8 sucks and this is why and it then it went onto 13 and now to 14. The problem? People believe and agree with Spoony.

Now the reasoning behind the way 13 and 14 were made were based on a time based deadline. In 13's case, the jump to consoles had Square scrap what they got and didn't have enough resources to make it the way they wanted. Slapdash what you could scrap later and it is a game that people poo pooed on, yet no one gave me a reason why it sucks. XIV was an anomaly. When it was shown at PAX, it was from what I saw, an alpha. Still being worked on, yet people still saw what it was and immediately crucified it. Once again I blame the Spoon factor. Sheep follow the sheppard, and fans everywhere follow what is heard. If they hear FF sucks now, they believe it without giving it a second thought. Plus, the pressure from western developers are causing eastern developers go for the macho factor. Consumers want to believe in the masculinity of the main characters. Yet Chuck Greene is wearing a lady's nightie while riding a tricycle punching zombies with flaming boxing gloves. How is that manly again? Everyone knows that Princess Tutu is manlier than every macho character in existence. Yes, even Frank West.

KH fanboys are worse. Because of the series itself and how many have tried to debunk it's story, there are many who consider it the end all be all game for all to enjoy. It's nothing more than a Disney product placement. Yet in their store there is no sign of those beach towels I saw at FYE. The theory I have is, KH is to shill the worlds that were brought by Disney and then the producer drops ship and makes an MMO for them with their characters from KH. It's dastardly awful. It's like Rare face heeling Nintendo for Microsoft only to be put out Old Yeller style. The creepy fanfiction and crossovers are byfar the worst that this series has churned out. To think, this is the series that usurped the Mana series. I think Mana didn't jump the shark, more than they couldn't keep up with the story about the Mana tree. I'll play Seiken Densetsu 3 and see that this is the best of the two.

People need to remember that games are games, they are there for us to play, not take for granted as a savior for our lives. That's what the Savior Spirit is for. So remember, think of how the games are developed before passing judgement and therefore ridiculing while it is being conceived. It's like throwing rocks at a newborn. Those who do it are despicable. Enjoy RPGs as stories, like I do. As what they are and not what they are trying to imply. You're just ruining it for the rest of us.

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