Developers cater to conventions
Shelby Reiches
Issue date: 4/18/08 Section: Arts & Entertainment
Themes - they permeate books, pervade movies and hold together much of the best music or art.
There is some confusion, however, in the video game industry (the Japanese side in particular), about just what differentiates a theme from a convention. A few positive gameplay conventions, at least from my perspective, are the recharging health bar. It is not uncommon to run into the negative convention or the cliché, either of which can bring one's enjoyment of the gaming experience to a screeching halt. Particularly guilty of this last are Japanese role-playing games.
Final Fantasy 7 brought Japanese RPGs (hereafter referred to as jRPGs) into the mainstream. It introduced the Playstation generation to a massive world, constantly improving characters… And a linear, static storyline.
Despite the plentiful side quests and minigames scattered throughout, the optional bosses and ways in which one can improve one's characters to the absolute limit, the story is unaltered. It does not flag or falter, but lumbers on, unopposed, dragging the player in its wake. This behavior is not unique to the oft-worshipped classic.
Over 10 years later, here I am popping in Rogue Galaxy. I never got around to finishing it when it came out and it doesn't take long to remember why. The characters are dull stereotypes. I've seen the dark, brooding loner with a troubled past, I've seen the young, inexperienced hero who possesses some sort of gimmick or unheard of potential that lets him pick up and play with the big boys. It's okay, though. I didn't pick it up for the threadbare plot and typical anime/jRPG story trappings. But even the fresh, action-based battle system grows dry when you use it in a few thousand random battles that last about 30 seconds each and artificially pad both the length and difficulty of the game. This has been a standby of jRPGs since the first Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy hit the scene, but it's played out. Kingdom Hearts and its sequel did right by integrating the battles into the same maps you travel without pause, interruption or obligation to fight them. Even games like Grandia and Star Ocean offer you the chance to avoid combat by showing you the enemies ahead of time.
There is some confusion, however, in the video game industry (the Japanese side in particular), about just what differentiates a theme from a convention. A few positive gameplay conventions, at least from my perspective, are the recharging health bar. It is not uncommon to run into the negative convention or the cliché, either of which can bring one's enjoyment of the gaming experience to a screeching halt. Particularly guilty of this last are Japanese role-playing games.
Final Fantasy 7 brought Japanese RPGs (hereafter referred to as jRPGs) into the mainstream. It introduced the Playstation generation to a massive world, constantly improving characters… And a linear, static storyline.
Despite the plentiful side quests and minigames scattered throughout, the optional bosses and ways in which one can improve one's characters to the absolute limit, the story is unaltered. It does not flag or falter, but lumbers on, unopposed, dragging the player in its wake. This behavior is not unique to the oft-worshipped classic.
Over 10 years later, here I am popping in Rogue Galaxy. I never got around to finishing it when it came out and it doesn't take long to remember why. The characters are dull stereotypes. I've seen the dark, brooding loner with a troubled past, I've seen the young, inexperienced hero who possesses some sort of gimmick or unheard of potential that lets him pick up and play with the big boys. It's okay, though. I didn't pick it up for the threadbare plot and typical anime/jRPG story trappings. But even the fresh, action-based battle system grows dry when you use it in a few thousand random battles that last about 30 seconds each and artificially pad both the length and difficulty of the game. This has been a standby of jRPGs since the first Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy hit the scene, but it's played out. Kingdom Hearts and its sequel did right by integrating the battles into the same maps you travel without pause, interruption or obligation to fight them. Even games like Grandia and Star Ocean offer you the chance to avoid combat by showing you the enemies ahead of time.
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Moose Lightman
posted 4/18/08 @ 9:37 PM EST
This is a great piece! I wish there were more articles about gaming.
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