JRPGs are a slave to anime and I want no moe.

JRPGs and Prince have something in common. They both party like it’s 1999. For the past 10 years now JRPGs have grown into a period of stagnation where no new fresh ideas are flowing down the pipes and creativity and originality are simply a stalwart of the 1990s and were promptly left behind along with flannel shirts. Their popularity and influence in the industry continue to wane further and further. The reason for this is quite simple. JRPGs have become a slave to anime, they have no idea where to innovate and most important of all, they no longer let the player assume a role, which is the core idea behind an RPG to begin with. JRPGs are instead excessively lengthy films with a pointless minigame or two tossed in.



Now JRPGs have always had a somewhat close relationship with anime, but never before in the history of the genre have the two just been so closely connected. Its also not that I have some seething hatred with anime in particular either. It’s just that ever since Final Fantasy VII literally took the world by storm which was obviously the most anime inspired FF game to date, JRPGs have been stuck within a bubble of Japanese pop culture from which it can’t escape. Nearly every main character of a JRPG today is some effeminate moe zippers and hairspray pretty boy who looks like he just came off the set of a music video. He is often accompanied by other anime archetypes as well. Cute traditional Japanese looking Mary Sue? Check. Pretty boy hot guy with glasses? Check. Cute lolicon/catgirl? Check. Emo pretty boy warrior who is the strongest in the land? Check. “Sexy” older and more mature mysterious girl with a large rack? Check. Cute animal thing with a squeaky voice? Double check. Nearly every JRPG in the last 10 years now have had those sort of silly redundant stereotypes. Mixing and matching the settings and locales won’t alter this fact. Be it Tales of Whatever in a medieval setting or Xenobabble in space, or even Wild Arms in what I guess is supposed to be some warped vision of what the Wild West is supposed to be, all of these games mix and match all of these stereotypical archetypes we’ve been seeing in anime since the early 90s. While RPGs have been known to have clichés in the past, it’s abundantly clear that nearly every single RPG these days contain cookie cutter one dimensional characters you’ve seen before.

Can’t sell plushies on J-List without one of these things in your game.

That’s not to say that JRPGs haven’t tried to innovate….the problem is that they have no clue as to where the innovation should be begin. Giving a car with a bad fuel pump a fresh coat of paint doesn’t help it run any better. The real areas JRPGs need innovation in aren’t being addressed. Instead we are constantly bombarded with crazy nonsense battle systems and confusing menus and dumb mini games. Nowhere is this more evident than in Resonance of Fate. It takes the average player nearly five hours just to grasp the basics of that game’s combat system. Meanwhile the plot literally goes nowhere as the character’s names aren’t even given any introduction much less any back story as to who they are or where they came from. Placing the game in a steam punk setting doesn’t cover up the inherent clichéd mess of a plot and boring characters and overly complex battle systems doesn’t give the game any more originality than other JRPGs. Final Fantasy for all of it’s attempts at trying to innovate has made progress in some areas but not enough in the key areas. Sure, Final Fantasy 8, 10 and 13 have all made attempts at innovation, however FF12 was the most innovative FF game in the past ten years simply because it knew where to innovate. It took key lessons from western RPGs and incorporated them into traditional Final Fantasy, but even that game had an identity crisis. That ugly anime influence crept into the game as a main character in Vaan was hastily inserted into a plot that really had little to do with him. It was clear Square-Enix was afraid to lose sales if an effeminate male didn’t play the lead. They were afraid to leave from their protective bubble. They are a slave to anime.

The by-products of focus tested schlock.

The only real JRPG series that has managed to thrive and retain it’s credibility over the years and stay fresh and interesting is Shin Megami Tensei. Now, of course this would seem instantly contradictory given the heavy Japanese influence of these games, namely the Persona games, but there is a bit of a difference. SMT has anime influences, but just like older JRPGs of the past, they aren’t a slave to it. They aren’t bound by familiar stereotypes or appearances. The characters are usually multifaceted in Persona and have realistic personalities. They learn and grow through life experience. SMT overall has managed to stay fresh by not being afraid to try something different. Even the latest in the franchise Strange Journey has deviated from its Japanese cultural roots and taken a nod to American Sci-Fi films and nearly all of the cast is American.

However the one thing that sets those apart and this is the biggest reason JRPGs simply aren’t as fun anymore; no longer do you play a role. Essentially role playing games are supposed to be that. You assume a role and from there the story around you unfolds, you are a part of the story and your choices directly influence it. Developers went through painstaking lengths to try to create this illusion with the limited technology they had in the old days, but fundamentally JRPGs have actually regressed somewhat regarding this. Far too often in JRPGs (and this is my biggest complaint with FF13), is that the player does not assume the role of that character and instead simply moving that character from one plot point to the next. No choices can be made that actually affect the outcome of the plot, they’re simply there along for the ride. At best the player is a fight choreographer for a movie. Shin Megami Tensei sets itself apart by still giving the player control of not just how they build their player, but the choices that character makes. In some games major choices can even effect who will become your allies, or your enemies. It’s this feeling of being in control, feeling as if you yourself take an active role in the events unfolding that helps you better connect with the plot and retain interest.

JRPGs are stuck in a rut, creatively. However, that doesn’t have to be the case. If they wouldn’t be afraid to step out of the anime cliché bubble for once and focus on the basics of what an RPG is designed to do, rather than focus on silly overbearing combat systems that serve no real purpose in extending the vested interest of the player, this genre would be a lot better off. And no, no amount of online or social networking will change that Square-Enix. Atlus seems to be on a lone boat sailing away from the trappings of what is expected out of an RPG in the land of the rising sun. I oblige other companies over there to do the same.