Tell me it hasn't happened to you. When you are a teenager, JRPGs are the shit. You, like me, take apart an RPG, invest hundreds of hours in it, find every secret. You don't just enjoy the story, you get absorbed in it. It breaks through the medium and captivates you.

For me, Shining Force I, II, Phantasy Star I, IV, and Final Fantasy IV, VI, and VII did this. But then something happened. I turned 20, bought Final Fantasy VIII... and just didn't care that much any more. And the same thing with IX. And X. Suikoden III. I've bought a fair share of Japanese roleplaying games, and they just don't work for me the same way that they did during those teenage years. It makes me wonder...

...do you grow out of JRPGs?

I'm not saying that the games become unplayable, or that they now suck. I'm not correlating it with a decrease of quality in the genre. They just aren't as involving for me now. I still play, and enjoy, the odd Japanese roleplaying game. Right now, actually, I've been on a bit of a kick with them. But I'm not really playing through them for the story, but rather because I find the mechnaics and growth systems interesting. With Persona 3 and Final Fantasy XII, both of which I am currently playing through on the PlayStation3, I am not invested in the universe or the characters. The stories aren't bad, per se, I just don't feel the same level of involvement with them as I used to.

That isn't to say that I can't get wrapped up in a game's story. Dreamfall, Half-Life 2 (and its episodic sequels), and Bioshock all kept me enthralled. They all, at various points, had me literally gasp or say "Oh, SHIT." No Japanese roleplaying game that I've played in the past ten years has done that to me.

I've been mulling this over in my mind, and I've come up with some ideas on why the genre is one best suited for teenagers.

The protagonists skew younger. This is a simple point, and a blanket generalization on the genre. But, for most JRPGs, you are playing a character whose age ranges from preteen to nineteen or twenty. There are exceptions to this rule, of course, but for the most part, you are a naive, innocent young man or woman, and you approach your life and your quest from this perspective. No game made this more problematic to me than Brave Story. I like the graphics, I enjoy the battle system. But you're playing as children. Part of me can't get over the mental block this creates. Subconsciously, and even somewhat consciously, I equate a game where you play as children with being a kids game. Even if the actual quest and mechanics are no different than a US-made RPG like Oblivion, the youthful protagonist is the first block for me to enjoy it. It's also just harder to relate to a youth, for me. As you play these games, you become your avatar. It's jarring when they behave contrary to your inclinations. Whether it's Squalls incessant inner monologues, Tidus or Vaan's impetuous natures, or that kid from Brave Story's simple-minded enthusiasm, it creates a deep rift between me and the character.

The cultural touchstones are absent. I think this one might be my fault: I just don't know enough about Japan or Japanese culture to really get the depth included in these games. In Bioshock or Dreamfall, I understand the perspective from which these games were created. They are referencing ideas and experiences intrinsic to the development of western societies. Without these cultural references, some subtleties are lost. It is these small touches, layers to the storytelling, which really lure you into a virtual world, just as it would in a film or book. But if you don't get the reference, it's lost. As a teenager it didn't take much for me to get lost in a virtual world. The surface layer was enough. But now it takes added depth, and depth only comes with subtextual interpretations. I take most JRPGs at face value because that's pretty much the only way I can read them. Maybe there's more to it. It could be a reference to a current political situation, traditional class relations, or a retelling of medieval Japanese history, and I wouldn't know it.

The actual translation is lacking. It's hard for a game to be immersive if the tools of its story are broken. Language and sensibility play such a huge part in constructing a world that if these elements are flawed, you are dropped right out of it. It's not just a matter of having technically proficient English - it must be written in a manner that is properly evocative of the underlying themes. The narrative, voice acting, and pacing must be structured well. This is something that the English translation of Final Fantasy XII fails at; although the English is impeccable in its streamlined renaissance vernacular, it fails to bring with it mood, eloquence, or urgency. The composition of the dialogue in that game actually serves as a barrier for involvement, because it is delivered awkwardly by its actors. To their credit, this sort of dialogue is near impossible to read, to a modern audience, movingly. One element, pacing, is something that Japanese games have a hard time localizing well - the slow movement of the dialogue scenes and story portions are from a very foreign narrative structure. For a truly effective localization, you'd have to rework these scenes to be paced in a more Western style to keep the involvement, or you would have to be, as above, well-versed enough in asian theatre, film, and writing to have it click for you.

They require incredible time investment. This is another big one pushing us out of the JRPGs as we get older. Although we might spend hundreds of hours playing World of Warcraft, Halo 3, Call of Duty, or whatever online, or Smash Brothers in local multiplayer, it never feels like the epic slog that a Japanese roleplaying game takes. It seems like they must be this long for fans of the genre. Perhaps they'd feel cheated if they only got a forty hour game. So much of these games are optional, and require incredible amounts of dedication to complete. Extra bosses, hidden swords, spells, characters. I remember spending dozens of hours sweeping the maps of Shining Force II, hoping to find a secret promotional item. And that's nothing compared with the frankly insane lengths you would have to go to to get the secret Final Fantasy X weaponry. While there is absolutely nothing with including all this content, the fact that so much is there, and that there is so much to discover and understand is mind-boggling. It's also hard to approach these games with a limited time budget, and figure what you can get away with not completing. Should you master the card game? Fight at the coliseum? Don't you feel wimpy or cheated if you don't do it all? I sure do. Part of this time investment also just feels bloated. Ridiculous fetch quests. Pointless dungeons. Things included in the game play that neither progress the story nor add anything new to the mix. Special mention must be included to some of these games that just are overstuffed with so much dialogue and dialogue scenes that end up feeling monotonous, repetitive, and by the end reek of time filler.

They appeal to younger sensibilities. These games are damn popular for teenagers. They inspire them. They push them towards drawing their favorite characters, writing epic fan fiction, or designing their own worlds and adventures. The degree to which JRPGs can amaze and enthrall pretty much any geeky fifteen year olds is telling. I was there too. I was thinkinga bout which Shining Force member I wanted to be. I imagined writing myself into Phantasy Star, or how cool it would be to design the next game. What is it about the characters, universe, story, and structure of JRPGs that are so engaging? The only western game at the time to really suck me in was Pool of Radiance and Curse of the Azure Bonds, or the Sierra game series. Perhaps what is so immersive to the teenage mind is the epic scope and detail of these games. The majesty of the worlds they create. The Japanese have an amazing knack for creating detailed worlds, cohesive art styles, and fastidiously realized characters. Things that would be an afterthought to many western developers. Somehow, I don't think that a quarter of the attention given to the outfits in a JRPG game were ever lavished on those in Knights of the Old Republic or Mass Effect. These details matter a lot to younger gamers, but as you get older, well, maybe you just sort of lose your eye to them. You look at the game as a whole, and not the individual details. As your experience with the media of gaming, as well as the inundation with outside influences continues, you don't look only to games as something on which you can fixate. Japanese games offer so much to fixate on, so much to tease the tiny bit of Asperger's that every young geek has. As you get older, this need lessons.

The narrative lacks irony. We've seen these stories before. Light versus dark. A young warrior proving himself and saving the world, or the girl. You might call these stories unoriginal, or you might call them classically structured. Either way, after twenty years of playing roleplaying games on the PC and consoles, you end up having seen it all before. Western game developers have, to some degree, realized this (well, not Two Worlds or Oblivion, really...) and heavily leaned upon ironically twisting the traditional heroic story. Whether it's unreliable narrators, conventions turned on their head, or just approaching it from a bizarre or fresh angle, recent western game developers have moved on. With the exception of Disgaea and its kin, and maybe to some degree Shadow Hearts, JRPGs have hit you over the face, dragged you to the back alley, and smothered you with their canvas pillows of stoicism and earnestness. While there is nothing inherently wrong with telling a story in a straightforward manner, with respecting conventions, and dealing with classical structures and archetypes, you run into a problem when each game feels like it is slavishly devoted to retelling the same story.

I do believe now that I play Japanese roleplaying games for different reasons then I did as a teenager. If I want to get really immersed in a story, I would first turn to something like Dreamfall or Indigo Prophecy. If I want to have a really good time doing boss battles, and in a way, relive my youth, then I'll pick up a JRPG. I am still impressed by the breadth, style, and detail in these games. They still make me smile. They're still fun. But I bet I'd love Persona 3 a whole hell of a lot more as a fifteen year old. That makes me a little sad, yeah, but that's life.

Just for the hell of it... let me disagree with myself a little. Don't tell anyone, but when I first got the summon last week in Final Fantasy XII... well, I felt a giddy little shiver that I hadn't got in a long time playing one of these games. Seeing Penelo summon up this giant behemoth, and then having it beat the living crap of the evil things around her, well, it did almost make me feel the way games used to. Where I would stop and just think how fricking cool that was. Same with the first time I used a multi-persona ability in Persona 3 - the slowmotion recoil as the main guy shoots himself in his head, and the twinned Personas appear... that is awesome. Maybe that's why I keep playing these games. For the tiny little flashbacks to how engrossing the once were.