Final Fantasy XIII certainly looks like a Japanese RPG, but according to Square-Enix, the game is NOT a Japanese RPG, despite being an RPG that is developed for and by Japanese people in Japan.
Game producer Yoshinori Kitase does not view his game as conforming to Eastern or Western standards, preferring to see the XIII as a true genre-straddler. I won't be the one to break it to him that if a game looks, feels and plays like a JRPG, it's probably a JRPG.
"There's a trend these days to strictly categorize games as western RPGs or Japanese RPGs, but Final Fantasy is something that we don't try to categorize as either/or," he explains. "For us, the game straddles genre."
There is a good reason WHY we have the Western and Eastern clarifications for RPGs, because there is a very clear divide between Final Fantasy games and Elder Scrolls games. Whether Kitase wants to admit it or not, JRPGs and Western RPGs are very different beasts, and I'll be damn shocked if Final Fantasy XIII manages to blend elements of both styles into one game. At least in a way that won't totally ruin the experience and turn it into a mess.
XIII so far looks like a JRPG through and through, and I really hope Square Enix isn't going to piss on its own winning formula because it wants to be pretentious and "innovative." The worst thing that could happen is for XIII to try and be everything all at once, to the point where it doesn't even know what it is anymore. It's worked with the PSP enough to know how badly that can go wrong.
Contest:
4:00 PM on 05.06.2009
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For better or worse, I really don't think that it'll play much differently than its predecessors.
Ok, so I guess I'll just come out and say it. Who fucking cares? It's an RPG. That's all anyone should care about. JRPG or not, if FF XIII doesn't deliver, the game will burn in flames. If it does deliver like the hype is portraying, then I think the last thing on anybody's mind will be it's sub-classification of the RPG genre.
Typing it in all caps just makes you look desperate, mate.
Why does everyone talk as if the west is a great innovator all of a sudden, the only thing we've done is add pools of blood and a ton of bullets to all our games and then rinse and repeat. We make ultra realistic violence.
Fun, totally, but innovative no.
innovation isn't appretiated in this country. Resistance and killzone were innovative, but COD and halo out did them both in sales.phychonauts and okami were innovative but they tanked. Madden (as much as I appriciate the franchise) does the same sh*t slightly different every year and sells the hell out.our best sellers have 2,3,and 4s in their titles.When we do innovate people ignore it or are afraid of it.
We wouldn't know innovation if it hit us in the back if the head with a sledgehammer.
End rant
Anyway square, if it aint broke don't fix it.This is FF and the first multiplat one too,so you need to hit this one out of the park(cause if you screw up there gonna look right at the 360 and go AHA it ruin it, and then the net will erupt into a sh*tstorm I'd rather not see) so please don't bone this.
You lost. AT LIFE .
I said that's what's gonna happen, I didn't say that it was a rational thought.
None of the games that you mentioned were RPGs.
I'm assuming that you have played the Elder Scrolls games. I think that you can agree that they're a great example of how western-rpgs can be innovative, enjoyable, and immersive without resorting to the "pools of blood and a ton of bullets" that you abhor.
I'm not going to argue for which style is more "innovative". That term is so subjective that it's almost devoid of meaning.
Just don't stereotype. There are a great many JRPGs that aren't an endless mess of menus and trite plot-lines. There are also a great many WRPGs that don't resort to ultra-violence.
See, now you've gone to the other extreme. You can use SOME caps. Keep trying, you'll get it right eventually!
OH! Ok. Someone was talking about labels causing humans to be stupid and pit themselves against each other. If we blame anything besides the Stupidity of Humanity on that one then we are just making the problem worse.
I think the main difference for a lot of people though is the plot. Well, not the plot, but key plot elements, and the way characters are presented. There are tons of WRPGs set in medieval periods, and they typically have the same story elements, even if the story is not always stressed very much. Their characters tend not to be fleshed out as much, or sometimes it's just up to the player to project themselves onto the character. JRPGs tend to be set in the futurepast, which usually contains sword fights and high tech airships. They also tend to contain the same cookie-cutter characters and many of the same themes (nobody can deny this, especially since Square itself admitted it). They also don't try to put you in the shoes of the characters, but rather, as Yahtzee said in what is one of my favorite lines ever, they have you wheel the main characters from plot point to plot point.
So if story telling technique is the major thing that separates JRPGs and WRPGs, then I think it is very possible to straddle the genres. Of course, Square is by no means capable of accomplishing this, but I'm sure it will be done. I'll know when it happens too, because it will be the second time I'll be able to play a JRPG and not feel like I've heard the entire story before.
no FPS, no RTS no WRPG.
What's next, a new Gradius that plays like HAWX? Katamari Damacy: Peggle Edition?
Wut? So certain regions aren't able to emulate a different style?
This game will obviously be a JRPG through and through, like Jim said; Squeenix is just hyping this up more.
A JRPG with "western elements" doesn't make it a western RPG. That's faulty logic.
Who the hell uses a sword to take on a giant metallic monster with saw blades for arms anyways?
IDK how many giant metallic monsters with saw blades for arms have you seen lately?
I wouldn't agree that America doesn't appreciate innovation. Did you know that Katamari Damaci is more popular in the West than in Japan?
It's common for a developer to insist that their product is innovative in some way, but I don't believe it, especially coming from the most popular JRPG makers in the world.
No FF game has ever had elements of WRPG in it - even FF12 just had weak aspects of MMOs incorporated.
And HALFORDPLANDER - please learn to troll better. A good troll is something to admire, someone who can get a thread worked up into more than 100 comments and bitterly divide people into camps. You've failed miserably at it.
At least I hope it WAS an attempt at trolling? It was, right? Oh god please tell me it was, because if it wasn't, you could be held has a shining example of humanity's stupidity. You can't even spell "graphics" correctly. And LOOL? Isn't it just ONE "O"?
And yes, despite the fact that I haven't met YOU, I can tell you must be thick, because you can't spell GRAPHICS correctly. As someone who plays videogames and reads video-game blogs, you've no doubt seen the word "Graphics" many times, yet your incomprehensibly thick skull prevented you from registering the correct way to spell it. And don't blame it on how fast you were typing - no one accidently spells "GRAPHICS" as "GRAFFIX". You must have really thought that was the way to spell it. And that's sad. So sad.
You know, there's always the spell checker - it might make you look less stupid.
Who really gives a fuck if its an JRPG or a WRPG
Its a game
If you like it, buy it.
If not stfu and move along.
I was referring to this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVxX8aaHgdE
More realistic graphics coupled by implausible old school JRPG battles.
But I'm nitpicking I guess.
Japanese RPG's should stay firmly rooted two decades in the past. Where the only strategy was hitting the ice guys with fire and, the wet guys with lightning.
Where the only real choice, comes from whether you bang the magic girl or, the fighter girl.
I don't like role playing in my role playing games either, I want to pay sixty dollars for a movie, that takes long breaks to watch elaborate square dances, controlled by thousands of repetitive, deliberate, menu selections.
I sure hope Square bucks the trend of evolving a medium, in favor of utilizing advancements in technology for the sole purpose of making the same story prettier every year. There aren't enough Japanese RPG's that maintain the same mentality, this game needs to do it too.
That way, when I finish the game, I can put it down for several months, instead of feeling the desire to play it again, whilst experiencing different paths through the game.
I mean, why bother trying to move further in emulating the source material of these games (pen and paper RPG's) that the original RPG video games were inspired by?
Why create a character, when you can be given one to watch? All that pesky thinking and planning, just gets in the way.
Oh and to all the fanboys comparing JRPG's to Western FPS games? Bravo.