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Ever since I first picked up a controller, I’ve had this love/hate relationships with JRPG’s. While I can see the positive points of these kinds of games (Story, Character Development, etc…) there has always been one tiny little thing, one thought that ate away at me every single time I tried to play one. “What is that?” I imagine you’re asking. It’s the thought that whenever the screen freezes, fractures and takes me to one of the battles (or however else it transcends from the overworld to the battle screen,) and the first turn is taken, the thought “this is stupid” ruins the experince for me.
Yes, the old staple of the JRPG, Turn-Based Combat. That which features prominently in the JRPG Genre, perhaps the most notable point, is that which ruins the genre for me. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate JRPG’s. Infact, I quite adore them for their merits in terms of their storytelling abilities and the way they handle their characters, but it’s the Turn-Based battles that just irks me.
The problem that I have with Turn-Based combat is that, no matter how much I try and ignore it, I can’t wrap my head around how I’m supposed to enjoy it, or what sense it actually makes not to have a real-time option. The whole concept of a Turn-Based battle seems completely and utterly stupid to me. Now, before any hate comes in, let me elaborate for a moment.
Picture, if you will, that you are a character in a JRPG. You and your party are wandering the grasslands outside Whereveritscalledville or Whatsitsplace, when you’re attacked by a group of Slimes or Wolves or Bandits or someother enemy. They are quicker than you and lunge towards you with the full intent to kill you. You wouldn’t wait for them to hit you, then strike back, would you? No. You’d use whatever weapon/magic spell you had and attack them back or defend yourself.
That, to me, is what ruins it. The fact that no matter how hard I try, I cannot picture that kind of action actually happening, game or not. And the simple way the battles work, the menus and the waiting just make the whole process of the battle seem completely mundane. And just to rub salt in the wounds, I’ll reach a boss, not be able to beat it, and have to spend a good three or four hours repeating the same, mundane battle sequence over and over and over again. It’s generally at this point that I think “Fuck it” and put the controller down.
“So, you on the left, you shoot me. Then you on the right, then I’ll attack you guys… Okay?”
But not for long… The seductive nature of the JRPG’s plot will eventually bring me crawling back to it, begging for forgiveness and for another chance to taste the sweetness that is the story or finding out what happens to Soandso or Whoshisface. And I, once again, feel like a fool. It’s perpetuates an endless cycle from which only completion of the game can vanquish. But there’s always another JRPG.
I hate the mundanity and sheer lack of sense to the battles, but I love the way the plot threads together and the way the characters evolve. This makes the fact that my favourite game of all time is, in fact, a Turn-Based JRPG. Eventually, I got my self wondering what if there were a way to enjoy the parts I like about JRPG’s with none of the boring Turn-Based Combat?
A question that was answered when I first played Star Ocean: Till the End of Time. A game that, to this day, is possibly one of my favourite JRPG’s of all time. Not only because I thoroughly enjoyed the story and found the characters to be intriguing enough to keep me playing, but because of three simple words; “Real Time Battles.” Yes, you heard me right, Real Time Battles in a JRPG. Praise the Videogame Gods. I was overjoyed at the fact that, for once, I wasn’t bored with possibly the most time-consuming part of a JRPG.
But that hybrid, I find, is a rarity within the JRPG world. And that brings me to my closing statement.
The Humble JRPG is a genre that I love, yet it is probably one of the few genre’s that I actually despise. Thinking the thoughts I have, and finally writing them down, has made me realise that one simple thing can ruin a game you would otherwise adore. I can only wish that there were more JRPG’s like Star Ocean, yet at the same time I know that as long as there are Turn-Based games with good plots and likable characters, that I will come crawling back once again.
