Poll: Has graphics ruined J-RPG Games?

Page 1 of 2
1
2
LastLast
  1. #1

    Has graphics ruined J-RPG Games?

    Hello,

    I love to listen to game music, and it just happens to be that most of my music is from the 90s-mid 2000s

    This is the best era of gaming in my mind.

    Final Fantasy 3-12

    Chrono Trigger, and Cross

    Jesus, the list is too long. But I truly love the music, and the story from so many games of this period.

    I just keep thinking, that as the graphics have increased, the stories and enjoyment have been put on the back-burner.

    The music itself, helped develop the stories so well in the older J-RPGs! Every song from FF7 for example brings a massive amount of emotion for me when I hear it, its puts me right back into the game. This is not unique to FF7 or the FF series, but that's just the most important game of my childhood.

    What do you think?
    Last edited by Forgon; 2014-06-08 at 07:17 AM.

  2. #2
    The Insane apepi's Avatar
    15+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Mostly harmless
    Posts
    19,388
    No, gameplay has. People wanted more active system and etc but it kinda killed it making it no fun. Just give me a traditional turn based system with no fancy stuff, is that hard to ask for? Give me a open world, let me make choices. While story is great and everything, without these things I do not think it would be a true J-RPG to me.
    Time...line? Time isn't made out of lines. It is made out of circles. That is why clocks are round. ~ Caboose

  3. #3
    The Lightbringer Calzaeth's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Location
    Kopervik, Norway
    Posts
    3,905
    Iunno... Bravely Default for the 3DS has fucking amazing music, and it is pretty much the grandchild of the FF's you mentioned. FFimensions (iOS/Android) also had pretty great music, but it was a bit too similar to the SNES FFs. Yes, that is a thing.
    If you add me on Steam, Skype or whatever program/client I share my info for, please write something to identify you in the "Dude/gal wants to join your club"-message. Just so I know that an actual human is on the other end :P

  4. #4
    What exactly does the music have to do with the graphics? There are plenty of games out there with good graphics that have amazing soundtracks; you don't need to have one or the other.

  5. #5
    i feel inclined to agree with apepi, it seems like the industry trying to push for a more active system of play seem to correlate with the decrease in enjoyment

  6. #6
    The tales-of series manages to feel like a classic JRPG, and has been looking incredible since gamecube.

    problem is that it's hard to justify making long-ass JRPG's when the market is just as willing to drop the same amount of cash on a game with a quarter of the content.

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by StationaryHawk View Post
    What exactly does the music have to do with the graphics? There are plenty of games out there with good graphics that have amazing soundtracks; you don't need to have one or the other.
    I was just introducing music as a call back to the games I remember.

    And the music for games today (like FF13) although good, don't give me that same feeling, and I don't particularly like the games.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by V x View Post
    i feel inclined to agree with apepi, it seems like the industry trying to push for a more active system of play seem to correlate with the decrease in enjoyment
    I think I agree with Apepi and you as well
    Last edited by Forgon; 2014-06-08 at 07:39 AM.

  8. #8
    Dreadlord Rainec's Avatar
    15+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    Where the bad salad is kept crisp on ice.
    Posts
    843
    Has Final Fantasy been ruined?
    By graphics and gameplay, probably yeah.

    Have JRPGs in general been ruined?
    No, not really. Many games still get by with very simply designed and low poly characters. Bravely Default is a great example with its nice 2D art with simple, but charming low poly models, on top of a killer soundtrack and great story.
    Other games like Dragon's Crown have amazingly detailed 2D art and good gameplay with simple mechanics.
    There also other points in the spectrum like the Etrian Odyssey series with 3D environments and static 2D enemies with great gameplay

    It's gameplay really. And maybe a little bit of picking an attractive art style.
    Quote Originally Posted by pucGG View Post
    He's riding to work, he's not escaping from a star destroyer

  9. #9
    JRPG's are still sticking around, mostly in the indie scene and from a few still dedicated companies such as mistwalker and the guys who make the tales series. However, what has really hurt JRPGs is a combination of factors, not simply graphics.

    The first thing that has really hurt JRPGs is the fact that development budgets, even for modest games, are so much higher than they used to be. This combined with the fact that game prices have really not kept up with inflation very well, if they did we would be paying well over 100$ for a new game and not 50-60, means that games need to sell way more copies than before in order to be profitable. This means that in order for games to really be successful, they must have a broader appeal than they used to, which means reaching out to many different kinds of audiences with your game(generally). For JRPGs, the audience of people who enjoy a more meaty, story focused experience with an emphasis on a linear, well-told(in the case of the good ones) narrative and well developed characters(again in the case of the good ones), is simply too small to really reliably dump the cash needed to get a major big-budget release these days. JRPGs don't need to have a turn based combat system to still be a japanese RPG, just look at xenoblade chronicles or the tales series for examples of this, but they do need to be narratively linear, with an emphasis on character development and leveling, which leads to the second problem.

    The reason this tends to be an especially big problem for JRPGs is that they do not "scale" very well with increased budgets; The story and characters are more a matter of writing than they are incredible HD graphics, physics engines and dynamic lightning effects. In order to compete with other games and actually get released on modern platforms, however, a certain degree of graphical splendor is pretty much required; Releasing a game for an HD console or a modern PC obviously requires it be in HD, lest it be bashed for having "terrible graphics". Gameplay in a JRPG also doesn't benefit much from these increased budgets, because quite frankly the gameplay concerns of a JRPG are a lot different than other games. The gameplay in a JRPG needs to be very repeatable, but also controlled to the point where it can service the plot with boss battles and whatnot. This means that a purely action based combat system is pretty much off the table; Imagine playing god of war for 40 hours in between plot developments, it would get old very fast. Some JRPGs have managed very effective real-time combat systems, such as the excellent and underrated(if flawed) infinite undiscovery on the 360. If JRPGs put more time and effort into evolving and refining their gameplay, they may be able to make some headway back into the mainstream, but they would still run into the second major issue.

    The second problem is that modern gaming has become much more focused on instant-gratification and replayability. JRPGs have many things going for them, but these are definitely two weak points of the genre. JRPGs generally take many hours to really start getting good with their story and characters, because such things always take time to properly establish, and their replayability tends to be low due to the fact that the main draw is the story, and once you know the story theres no real reason to go back and play through it again aside from the gameplay, which again is not the focus. This means that many people pass over JRPGs because, quite frankly, they don't have the attention span to play a 40 hour long epic, and would rather play 30 minutes of instant gratification gameplay a few times a day instead.

    I myself was raised in the golden age of JRPGs, the super nintendo, playstation and playstation 2 all had excellent catalogues of JRPGs that i still replay and/or discover to this day. It's truly a shame to see the genre fall so far in mainstream relevance, but the only thing we can really do is vote with our dollars and make sure to support the companies out there that are still trying to make JRPGs in the modern era. In particular, a lot of indie developers tend to make JRPGs, and many get released on Steam, as well as companies such as Mistwalker with games like the last story, blue dragon and lost odyssey(by far the best JRPG of last gen).

  10. #10
    No. Times have changed. Companies would rather tailor their once hard core RPG'S which took practice to master towards the general, bro gamer crowd and make their games simplistic and rip out all the clichés they can find and sell it and make profit because it's aimed at the masses.

  11. #11
    Deleted
    sound, smell and taste can trigger a way bigger emotional response than just visually seeing something. it´s a kind of nostalgia, and not limited to things like this

  12. #12
    Stood in the Fire TheFNK's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Jun 2011
    Location
    New Orleans, dodging bullets
    Posts
    499
    I probably would have considered agreeing before Bravely Default came out. But holy cats that game is good.
    Nominated Most Average Healer Ever
    My Shaman: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte...omous/advanced
    My Monk: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte...tamus/advanced
    Pokemon Y FC: 1736-1594-7603 // Name: Human?
    Ghost Safari: Shuppet, Phantump, Golurk

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by TheFNK View Post
    I probably would have considered agreeing before Bravely Default came out. But holy cats that game is good.
    Right, but since Bravely Default didn't have to focus on "amazing" graphics, the story and everything else has been like the older games. I feel like Bravely Default proves my point in a way.

    I'm not saying games today aren't as good as they were, but that the focus on "amazing" graphics, and the idea of "active" battle over the simple battle system, have taken away from the core of why we loved J-RPG's: the story and little hidden things.

    I just wish they would stop focusing on graphics and the battle-mechanics, and instead focus their attention on the game itself, like Bravely Default

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Forgon View Post
    I just keep thinking, that as the graphics have increased, the stories and enjoyment have been put on the back-burner.
    Heh, I remember back when FFVII came out and it had orgiastic graphics.

    They've always been heavy on the graphics, especially in cinematics (which they have a ton of).
    Quote Originally Posted by Tojara View Post
    Look Batman really isn't an accurate source by any means
    Quote Originally Posted by Hooked View Post
    It is a fact, not just something I made up.

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Mormolyce View Post
    Heh, I remember back when FFVII came out and it had orgiastic graphics.

    They've always been heavy on the graphics, especially in cinematics (which they have a ton of).
    This is true... I wonder then what the cause for the absolute %$^& that is FF13 and it's sequels. It's been almost a decade of this crap, and that's 10 years I wish I had back.

  16. #16
    Deleted
    This is called Nostalgia, if those games came out now you would enjoy them a lot...but wouldn't feel happy when hearing the OST's again because they wouldn't be linked to memories from when you were somewhat younger.

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Sarac View Post
    This is called Nostalgia, if those games came out now you would enjoy them a lot...but wouldn't feel happy when hearing the OST's again because they wouldn't be linked to memories from when you were somewhat younger.
    I don't know if I agree.

    I mean, it's been 5 years since FF13, and I own that OST, but I still loathe that game in comparison to it's predecessors.

  18. #18
    Immortal Clockwork Pinkie's Avatar
    15+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Ft. Worth, Texas
    Posts
    7,640
    Not really, though maybe not the same genre, but FF XIV has a beautiful soundtrack. As did Lightning Returns. And I'm sure FF XV will have a great one too. But of course they won't hold a candle to a game you know and loved for years. These songs are new and don't hold as many memories from hearing it as something from FF7 does. People are afraid to like something that's actually new, give it time, it'll come around.

  19. #19
    Titan Gallahadd's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Beyond the 1% barrier.
    Posts
    14,177
    Nope, improved graphics are a natural byproduct of the advancement in computer technology.

    What had ruined JRPG games is the bizarre need to forget everything which made them popular and try to become more "Actiony" in an attempt to appeal to a wider audience, sadly all this does is alienate the audience that has carried them this far.
    Check out the blog I write for LEGENDARY Indie Label Flicknife Records:

    Blog Thirty is live! In which we discuss our latest releases, and our great new line of T-shirts.
    https://www.flickniferecords.co.uk/blog/item/30-blog-30

  20. #20
    What "ruined" JRPG games was the gameplay became secondary to spectacle.

    Final Fantasy 3 isn't a masterpiece for it's story, though it's fairly charming in that regard, it's the gameplay. It still holds up as superb execution. Chrono Trigger as well- that gameplay and the interacting systems are still excellent, deep and in service of nothing but game mechanics.

    The "showmanship" of JRPGs post Final Fantasy 10 (watershed) overtook the fundamental purpose of being of the genre. JRPGs became indulgent, misguided concepts like story were allowed proliferation, attempts at more reactive gameplay were introduced, etc. Thus leading to the current state of JRPGs which can mostly be called generic and shallow in the modern era with only a few (now aging) exceptions.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •