Japanese RPGs Need to Change, Says Final Fantasy Creator

[Logan Westbrook]

Japanese RPGs Need to Change, Says Final Fantasy Creator

JRPGs do emotions really well, says the veteran developer, and that's what studios should focus on.

As part of discussion with Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata and Xenoblade director Tetsua Takahashi, Final Fantasy creator, Hironobu Sakaguchi, suggested that JRPGs are a little bit too stuck in their ways, and developers will need to start shaking things up if they want to appeal to an international audience.

Iwata put forward the idea that JRPGs tended to struggle in the West because developers used the same tricks and routines over and over. Sakaguchi agreed and said that developers should be focusing on conveying details and emotions, which is where he thought that JRPGs were particularly strong. It was these elements, he said, above any others, that would really get Western gamers interested in the genre.

This isn't the first time that Sakaguchi has been critical of other JRPG developers and their lack of innovation. In April last year, he started a mini-feud [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/99783-Sakaguchi-Last-Story-Not-a-Final-Fantasy-Rehash] with Final Fantasy Gaiden director Takashi Tokida via Twitter, suggesting that he should stop making "Final Fantasy rehashes." The two men have worked together on a number of different games, however, so it's possible that that was a playful dig, rather than a genuine condemnation. It's also not the first time that a Japanese developer has been critical of the Japanese industry as a whole. Keiji Inafune, formerly of Capcom, was a noted critic of Japanese developers, saying [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/103614-Dead-Rising-2-Producer-Blasts-Japanese-Game-Industry ] that most were lagging behind their Western counterparts, and that Capcom was only just keeping up.

Sakaguchi's latest game, The Last Story - which he claims is anything but a Final Fantasy rehash, despite what the title might suggest - comes out in Japan on January 27th. As yet, Nintendo has not confirmed that the game is coming to the West.

Source: ONM [http://www.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/article.php?id=23126]




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[MetallicaRulez0]

JRPGs being unpopular in the west has little to do with emotion and details and a lot to do with men who look like 12 year old girls and stories that make no sense. Turn-based combat doesn't help much either.

 

[Kevlar Eater]

^ That, and many of us Westerners are mostly devoid of emotion other than hungry, horny and angry.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Well, whatever they do, I just hope they don't go looking to western fans for advice. Most of what I've seen comes down to "turn it into Morrowind."

 

[Low Key]

It depends on what kind of emotions are portrayed. The video I have attached below shows the bulk of the "emotion" in Final Fantasy games, and it's the main reason why I don't play them.

Spoiler

 

[Senaro]

JRPGs being unpopular in the west has little to do with emotion and details and a lot to do with men who look like 12 year old girls and stories that make no sense. Turn-based combat doesn't help much either.

I've no problem with the turn based combat, but don't forget to add the little sister/cousin character who will inherently want to bang you.

 

[Ubermetalhed]

The only thing I can say that Western RPGs do better is the whole choice dialogue options. I love the turnbased styles of Final Fantasy, Persona etc. It's alot more tactical than the styles of KotoR or FFXII in my opinion.

If they want to revitalise the industry i'd just advise they get better writers and voice actors or just keep making Persona games with less dungeon grinding.

If all else fails they could just remake a few of the great FF games...

 

[MattAn24]

Well, whatever they do, I just hope they don't go looking to western fans for advice. Most of what I've seen comes down to "turn it into Morrowind."

YES. Exactly! This is why I will continue to stay on my little 'high horse' of "Fuck off, Western RPG fans!" The hardcore Western RPG fans have absolutely no right or place to nitpick or complain about Japanese RPGs. Just don't play them. Others who DO like them, WILL play them.

JRPGs being unpopular in the west has little to do with emotion and details and a lot to do with men who look like 12 year old girls and stories that make no sense. Turn-based combat doesn't help much either.

As for turn-based combat.. Bullshit. YOU may not like turn-based combat, but others DON'T like real-time/action shooter combat (outside of Kingdom Hearts, I guess)

And stories making no sense? Right, let's look at Fallout 3, an old friend did a "Let's Play" of it.

Spoiler

WATER!? Really? WATER. That's why the father completely abandoned the Vault, not telling anyone where he was going and blatantly disregarding the "it's fucking radioactive out there, dickweed!"..

Yes. That's totally making sense. Shut. Up. I'll take my wacky fantasy story over gritty, dull, brown boredom any day.

The only thing I can say that Western RPGs do better is the whole choice dialogue options.

That's the one major thing I DESPISE in games like Fable and Mass Effect.

For example, Fable III. You can either spare or kill the mercenary gang leader, Saker. I chose to kill him (as was the supposed mission from the snow village chief, Sabine) "I want you to get rid of him." "Okay, awesome! I will do this " *kills Saker* "Oh, by the way, just so you know, if you spare him, he'll make his little gang follow you and he'll be added in the group of faded NPC's in the Road to Rule. They're cool now."

WHAT!? WHY!? He was clearly being a bastard! He was practically taunting you to KILL HIM. What kind of bullshit moral choice is that?

Mass Effect is no different. It's one of Final Fantasy X-2's MANY issues, getting 100% completion and all. Luckily, Square Enix said "Fuck that noise!" and got rid of it.

 

[RatRace123]

^ That, and many of us Westerners are mostly devoid of emotion other than hungry, horny and angry.

And solemn determination, don't forget that.


Though the JRPG genre has been stagnating for a while now, I mean if it's apparent to the creator of Final Fantasy it's got to be apparent to everyone.

New elements are always nice and maybe new themes other than "preteens save the world/galaxy/whatever."

I think a big flaw of JRPGs, apart from the alien weirdness to them is the fact that a lot of the characters aren't that relatable, and they often fall into archetypical RPG "roles" rather than developing as individual characters.

I don't think they should abandon the sheer weirdness though, infact they should embrace it, no one does weird like Japan. Give us an RPG about a normal guy (let's go with "Frank West" normal and not "Vaan" normal) trapped in the most disturbingly weird place and scenarios imaginable and yeah I'd play that. Throw in some relatable characters (they can be weird, but they need to be identifiable) and you'd have yourself a recipe for a pretty damn good game.

As for Turnbased combat, I personally have no problems with it, in fact I like the strategy aspect to it, so I wouldn't mind it staying.

 

[Keith K]

JRPGs being unpopular in the west has little to do with emotion and details and a lot to do with men who look like 12 year old girls and stories that make no sense. Turn-based combat doesn't help much either.

That's your opinion. Don't express it like it's mine or anyone else's.

 

[zehydra]

To be honest, I feel that conveying emotion is something JRPG's actually aren't very good at. Especially the cutscenes in FF games that I've seen. Maybe it's just the bad voice acting.

I'd wager that you could probably make JRPGs a lot better just by removing the horrid voice acting that many of them seem to have inherited from anime.

 

[Anti-Robot Man]

I don't want them to turn into western style rpgs (though I love them), they just need to evolve. Lost Odyssey was very good, very traditional but well executed and with some interesting tweeks (the text pieces, the immortals, the timing aspect to criticals). I do think the central problem with JRPGs is the sheer quantity of filler and that the plots are tired or simply lazy. If there's one genre that suits traditional story-telling it's the JRPG, that's what they need to work on first - if the story is compelling people will seek it out. After that things like making them more accessible to new players will help, but if that foundation of story isn't there, no matter how new player friendly they are they will fail.

It's telling that my gf can happily watch me playing a western rpg, but becomes almost immeadiately bored on the few occasions she's seen me playing a jrpg.

 

[Baralak]

JRPGs being unpopular in the west has little to do with emotion and details and a lot to do with men who look like 12 year old girls and stories that make no sense. Turn-based combat doesn't help much either.

That's your opinion. Don't express it like it's mine or anyone else's.

That IS his opinion, and he didn't do anything to suggest that you or anyone but him said it. Don't overreact.

OT: I've always liked JRPGs, but something in them is... missing, I can't put my finger on it, to hold my interest long enough to finish the 40 hour storylines...

 

[MattAn24]

To be honest, I feel that conveying emotion is something JRPG's actually aren't very good at. Especially the cutscenes in FF games that I've seen. Maybe it's just the bad voice acting.

I'd wager that you could probably make JRPGs a lot better just by removing the horrid voice acting that many of them seem to have inherited from anime.

Now, when you say bad voice acting.. What are your examples? Don't you even DARE mention Final Fantasy X! Yuna, granted, was also either saying "Sorry!" or "Yes!" all the time.. But John DiMaggio (Jamaican Bender ), James Arnold Taylor (Ratchet, Wooldoor Jebediah Sockbat), Tara Strong.. They're all primarily Western voice actors. FFXIII was also the same. Ali Hillis and Troy Baker (Lightning and Snow) are well known actors (Ali) and musicians (Troy). Hell, Ali Hillis is Dr. Hanson in StarCraft II and Liara in Mass Effect 2! Come on!

They have already westernized JRPG's too much IMO. Look what they did to Lufia II when they remade it as an action RPG for the DS, it's horrible.

....What. NO FUCKING WAY. I adored Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals and Terranigma on the SNES. They were classics. Turning Lufia II into a shitty action-based game just isn't right. I only ever saw the trailer for the remake.. Ugh..

 

[A Username Not In Use]

I'm a great fan of JRPG's. While I can't comment on the rest of the Western World, I know there not popular in the UK because if it's not a Final Fantasy title its a hugh challange to find one.

 

[NeutralDrow]

JRPGs being unpopular in the west has little to do with emotion and details and a lot to do with men who look like 12 year old girls and stories that make no sense. Turn-based combat doesn't help much either.

As for turn-based combat.. Bullshit. YOU may not like turn-based combat, but others DON'T like real-time/action shooter combat (outside of Kingdom Hearts, I guess)

Frankly, I wish a WRPG would come out that uses <url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87fuHh2xles>Wizardry 8's system. "Continuous" turn-based combat is quite fun.

 

[BreakfastMan]

Just coming off of Persona 4, I have to agree with him that some JRPG's are very good at conveying detail and emotion. If only more eastern developers would take pointers from Shin Megami Tensei instead of Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest...

 

[Therumancer]

Truthfully it's one of those things where I feel that JRPGs are more or less perfect for what they are setting out to do as they are now. There is no real need to change what isn't broken, and there are millions of people internationally who play these things.

The only real reason to "evolve" JRPGs is to try and grab a bigger part of the mainstream pie, and I can understand that from a financial perspective, but overall it's just selling out another niche market.

I'll also say that a big part of the problem sales wise is that Japan really doesn't do a good job of marketing their RPGs over here. You see them released so far under the radar that it's ridiculous, and in such limited quantities that if it takes you any time at all to find out about a lot of these games your unlikely to be able to land a copy without paying crazy prices over Ebay.

To put things into perspective, there is a game coming out next month called "Hyperdimension Neptunia" by NIS (the guys who have done Disgaea and so on), how many people even on a site like this are even aware of it? How many people here have heard of "ZHP: Unlosing Ranger vs. Darkdeath Evilman"? There are plenty of others that could be mentioned as well. It took a long time for things like the Shin Megami Tensei series to become known, because the games were released so quietly and under the table. "SMT: Nocturne" was selling for big bucks second hand for a while.

Simply put it's not a matter of the games not having a decent audience, it's a matter of them simply not getting the word out to that audience. With limited quantities, and no real advertising, it's not like JRPG producers can fairly do the "QQ" thing over bad sales.