Gamasutra - A JRPG Primer

Dhruin

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Wandering far from our normal territory, Gamasutra's A Japanese RPG Primer might be somewhat educational for those of us who know little to nothing about them. But, hey - Ultima and Wizardry are both mentioned so it can't be all bad:
Two of the most popular games back in the day were Ultima and Wizardry. Although all had followings amongst hardcore Japanese gamers, they were a little bit too uninviting for your average console owners, whose ages skewed a bit younger. Yuji Horii, a developer at Enix, decided to take on an interesting experiment.
By combing the overhead exploration aspects of Ultima (the third and fourth games, specifically) and the first person, menu-based battle system of Wizardry, a new game was born: Dragon Quest. Released for the Nintendo Famicom in 1986, the game became a phenomenon, and went on to inspire dozens of clones. Most of these are best left forgotten, but it did inspire two more notable franchises: Square's Final Fantasy and Sega's Phantasy Star.
More information.
 
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Subtitle: 50% Final Fantasy and 50% others.

Some good stuff there, nothing earth-shattering, but WAY too FF-centric.
 
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Re:-
[Japanese RPGs concentrate on narrative and battle systems, being more eager to tell a story than let the gamer play a role. However, Japanese RPGs didn't just appear out of nowhere -- as their roots lie heavily in early American computer RPGs of the 80s.]

Yankee hack-n-slash derivatives? - maybe - yet leaning more toward honour and glory styles. There were some good grid/turn based war strategy back in the 80's - important japanese elements.
 
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How can you say that when there's Valkyrie Profile in that list? ;)

Well, it has gotten so much publicity recently and now with the release of VP 2 and VP for the PSP and the upcoming VP 3 ... it is out there and has gotten an almost mythic reputation.
 
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'Silly melodrama': well said. Those are the games I like to play for inspiration. :).
 
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That was a very interesting if somewhat long-winded article. Some very notable exclusions were the "Tales" series of RPGs and the Star Ocean series. I thought it was great to see the Phantasy Star games get that much space dedicated to them, and I was delighted that he talked about Panzer Dragoon Saga.
 
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Been loading up Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross again, without doubt two of the star players on SNES and Playstation, respectively. This sort of game lacks the depth of most RPG's on the PC and tend to be relatively easy, but they do make for a very relaxed gaming experience. Just sit on the couch, mash a few buttons, upgrade your equipment once in a while and enjoy the story. :D And why not. There is no one size fits all game for me.
 
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I played through both chono trigger and cross som year ago. They are definetly worth playing. The story and the characters are quite interesting. And combat is too, not to mention music. You never know what happens next. Even though I finished cross and did my best while doing so, I didnt exactly "win" it. The ending was more like sad.
 
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It's much more of "really original" than "really good" game IMO ;)

I think that is what the PSP version showed - good original concept and solid game, but not the stuff of legend we had been led to believe ...
 
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I think that is what the PSP version showed - good original concept and solid game, but not the stuff of legend we had been led to believe ...

I kinda felt that way since the original release, being a huge JRPG fan in late 90s. I don't like the very concept of handheld gaming so don't know anything about PSP port.
 
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