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My on/off relationship with JRPG's


On 02/23/2013 at 03:50 PM by Townz90

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So I wanted to write a blog on JRPG’s, as that’s what I’ve been playing lately. The thing is all I really want to do is wax lyrical about them. Doesn’t really make for an interesting article does it? That was a rhetorical question, no need to answer. Still struggling of a direction to take this – ok I’ll just start writing and see what mess of a write-up I create!

So my journey with games started when I was 5 and my dad bought home a SEGA Mega-drive (Genesis for our cousins across the pond). Immediately I’d found my hobby, transfixed by the animations in Earthworm Jim and the speed of Sonic the Hedgehog, I was set for a life of strained eyes in front of the TV set. However my love affair with this industry really started a few years later with the arrival of Sony’s flagship console the Playstation. As well as the usual titles such as Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon, I also acquired – what to me was an unknown quantity at the time, Final Fantasy VII. Yeah I’m cliché; my first foray into the world of JRPG’s was that flagship title that everyone loves and others claim to be overrated. Truth is, I actually hated it when I first played it. That first timed segment in the reactor core can be quite stressful when you’re only seven! Eventually I got over myself and gave it another crack. A few hours later and with Midgar cleared, I was introduced to the over-world. A common feature in many JRPG’s, my little seven year old mind was blown! A seemingly linear affair exploded into an open vast adventure. Fast forward a year and the SNES classic Chrono Trigger is ported for the Playstation. Following the same formula, I was made familiar with through FF7. Further I fell through the rabbit hole.

The mid to late nineties are widely regarded as a golden age for JRPG’s. I was in heaven, games such as Xenogears, Suikoden II, Wild Arms to name a few graced my console. That’s the period of time I remember most fondly when reminiscing about gaming past. The era that followed, ushering in the ps2, started off on a sour note for me. After having thoroughly enjoyed VI, VII, IX and to some degree VIII, Final Fantasy X was a disappointment. I’m not saying it was a bad game, it was actually a very solid game with a compelling story but it lacked something. At the time I didn’t know what it was but years later I’ve come to realise the lack of a world map and a somewhat linear layout of areas made the whole thing seem a bit insular and scaled back – even though the story and settings were in a sense more epic. The disappointment of that was probably where I started to stop playing JRPG’s. I went onto RPG-lite fares such as Kingdom Hearts (amazing how well Disney and Final Fantasy collided!). After a long hiatus Final Fantasy XII came out and it was incredible! The battle system took getting used to but there was real depth there, if you looked for it. As great as the star wars-esque story was, the game became too much of a grind. I never finished it and I moved on to shorter more accessible games.

I soon left the PS2 behind me – leading me to miss great titles such as Persona 3 & 4. Purchasing an Xbox, I was seduced by the western RPG. Boasting more accessible game play, dialogue trees and easier to digest lore! I spent the following years playing Fable, Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire. Whilst still a time-sink these titles didn’t demand nearly as much time as their eastern counter-parts and I was fine with that. I didn’t have to endure random encounter after random encounter to level up. In a sense it took a way a sense of achievement but this is where my head was at.

Fast forward to the present and well, I’m so very sorry I neglected you JRPG’s. This comes after a dark period where I succumb to marathon sessions of Call of Duty – come on, pre-Modern Warfare 2, they were quite good games! Anyway I digress, after years of avoiding the genre I once loved, I came back to a dearth of quality content unfortunately most of it on the PS3 (partially regretting my choice in console). Throwing myself back into the fray, I tried out FFXIII-2 and whilst not reaching the same dizzying heights of its predecessor, it still manages to tell a very compelling, if not confusing story. It’s a good game, benefitting from a fast fluid battle system. It still however lacks the massive landscape and world that I crave, something that seems to of been absent since IX! Where the Final Fantasy series has gone wrong, is seemingly where the ‘Tales of’ series has gone right.

Tales of Vesperia was my first foray into the ‘Tales of’ series and my, what a great introduction. This game is very much comfort food to me, it’s like I left JRPG’s at FFIX and came back to everything being how I left it. ToV plays very safe in this regard, taking very few risks and sticking with a formula that has been successful since the nineties. I’m only about twenty hours in but I can already tell that this is game I’d been yearning for since the disappointments that followed Final Fantasy IX. Alas this reunion is short lived, turns out the Xbox 360 is a bit poor when it comes to JRPG’s with hardly any games in the same vein. Looks like once ToV is over, I’ll be back to wearing space-marine armour shooting in a very brown/grey battlefield.

If you made this far down the article, well done you! I appreciate that this is probably just some self-absorbent ramble and I’m pretty sure that the quality of writing rapidly decreased after the first paragraph. Feel free to rip it apart and/or praise it in the comments, or you could just lurk in the shadows leaving no trace you were ever here.

Regards

Matt


 

Comments

BrokenH

02/23/2013 at 04:31 PM

Vesperia is a good rpg but the increasingly complex combat mechanics started to confuse me. I also think the characters in that game are great. Yuri, Rita,Estelle, and Judith stick out in my mind especially.

As for enjoying COD, there's nothing to be ashamed of. Granted, it's not my cup of tea personally but as gamers we're going to have different tastes. That's just the way it is!

Townz90

02/23/2013 at 04:38 PM

I'm with you on the combot mechanics. I'm at a point where B,B,B - D-Pad, A followed by holding A is the norm. God forbid, they introduce any more. It's a shame that other than ToV and Final Fantasy I can't really think of another JRPG of the top of my head for 360!

Aboboisdaman

02/23/2013 at 04:50 PM

My first rpg was Final Fantasy 6. Aka FF III in the US. I love that game and have played it to death. Although my favorite rpg is Crono Trigger. They really screwed up the ps1 version of that. Talk about some horrendous loading times. I wouldn't even want to change my equiptment it was so bad lol. I'm not really that big on rpgs but I understand where your coming from. I mostly play them for the plot and a good battle system. Nice blog!

Townz90

02/23/2013 at 05:04 PM

Thanks man appreciated. Final Fantasy VI is probably my favourite of the series, an incredible omission from my blog but ah well that's what happens when you're writing off memory. Not played any other port of Chrono Trigger, can't recall the loading times. I must've been a patient kid!

Matt Snee Staff Writer

02/23/2013 at 09:00 PM

hey you should check out Lost Odyssey for the xbox 360 if you haven't yet.  IT's a great game, by the father of final fantasy, Hironobu Sakaguchi.  It's really neat.  It has random battles and turnbased combat, but otherwise it's very modern, and if you like that sort of thing, and I do, it's really classy. 

Townz90

02/24/2013 at 05:04 AM

The fact that I've seen it pre-owned for about a fiver, I may very well do that! Thanks.

Surfcaster

02/25/2013 at 12:44 PM

Unforunately I can't really suggest any good RPGs for PS3 or 360! I haven't played many of the more modern ones. I just keep replaying my old favourites, haha. The PSP had some good remakes on it for some of the classics, and I loved Xenoblade Chronicles on my Wii, but other than that I tend to fall back to my PSX or SNES.

Great blog!

Townz90

02/25/2013 at 03:49 PM

Looks like I'm gonna have to go portable! Never been a portable gamer but my need for jrpgs demands it!

Jon Lewis Staff Writer

02/25/2013 at 12:53 PM

I love Tales of Vesperia as well. One of my most precious 1000 G's on XBL, haha. That combat system is incredible, and Yuri is just awesome. But yeah for other recommendations, Xenoblade and Lost Odyssey are great choices but one often forgotten game is Eternal Sonata for both 360 and PS3 (PS3 is the directors cut). That game has a great combat system, story and cast that I'm positive you'll enjoy especially since it reminded me a lot of Tales series titles. Idk if you got around to Tales of Graces f on ps3 yet, but its also worth a go since ur a fan of the franchise. The Last Story is a pretty cool game with interesting concepts on the Wii. Others off the top are Fire Emblem, and Valkyria Chronicles if ur into strategy. Hope this helps somewhat!

Townz90

02/25/2013 at 03:47 PM

Wish I'd gone the PS3 route now instead of 360. I'm going to get a vita or 3DS to fill that jrpg void I think. Persona 4 golden has the potential to shut me up for a while! I actually really wanted Eternal Sonata and then just ended up forgetting about it!

Bmuzyn

02/25/2013 at 01:01 PM

I love JRPG's as well. One thing I noticed is that they can be amazing and have an epic feel or just conceptually weird. I've grown to like some of the random oddities that JRPG's have thrown out. Dark Cloud 2 was pretty inventive, The Xeno series has peaked my interest as well as the Suikoden series and the .Dot Hack series. Hope they come out with some cool stuff in the future, because I've grown tired of the FFXIII series!

Townz90

02/25/2013 at 03:48 PM

Suikoden II is up there with my favourite games not played any past that however! .Dot Hack? is that the series that emulated an mmo world of sorts?

SanAndreas

02/25/2013 at 06:15 PM

Vesperia is a fantastic game. It's my favorite 360 exclusive.

Along with all of the other recommendations (my personal favorite being Valkyria Chronicles) I'd also like to recommend Ni no Kuni if you ever get into the PS3.

Townz90

02/26/2013 at 04:58 AM

I probably won't invest in a ps3 this late in the cycle. I will probably get it on PSN for the PS4 though! In the mean time I'm debating which portable to get Vita or 3DS!? PErsona 4 Golden or Fire Emblem!?

FAF101

02/28/2013 at 11:12 PM

JRPGs are mostly what I play, for some reason they just always catch me. There has not been a JRPG I have not enjoyed. There may have been something I might not have liked about it but I would over all enjoy the game.

Townz90

03/02/2013 at 05:22 PM

I think I'm the same, I always struggle to complete them however!

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