The Foreboding Change in RPGs

by Dragon Flame

As I know has been discussed before, or at least in private thoughts, we, who have had the opportunity to play RPGs from the beginning, have formed a wider gambit than the newer players. As such we have seen a change, which has been rather unpleasant for us. In the days of pencil and paper RPGs we were able to play without the confines of coded disks, however some of us lacked the imagination to be involved in a truly great story. Because of this the first 8-bit games were made.

The first game we saw, that is a recognizable title, was Final Fantasy. It did involve a party but because of the detached feel of having no individualism amongst the characters, being that you were always referred to as the Light Warriors, it seemed somewhat lacking. As such when Final Fantasy 4 arrived with the forced plot but well done story line, we were awed at the tremendous story line and attachment to the characters and the drama that came from their interaction, for a time. But Chrono Trigger was released and we became infatuated with certain characters, we explored their past and made a connection to them.

This did us for a time. But the industry seemed to be out of ways to amaze us with the story so they put their games on to a new 32-bit world. This allowed for games to have CG cut scenes to put a more vivid picture to the player, such as FF7. However in the very next game in the series there was an abundance of these making the entire game seem like an interactive movie where people just wanted the strongest characters and became bored with the story. I remember watching a friend play FF7 and 8 and skipping almost all the text containing the plot of Barrett's past and why he hated Shinra. After seeing this in many of my friends I had thought that nothing could be done about this problem.

And then we came to the time of Chrono Cross, a wonderful game, if played correctly. The number of characters that could be used and have their pasts explored. But because of the way "strategy guides" had become more mainstream, they'd made the mass of gamers feel that they had to get everything in the game the first time. I'm not saying this type of people didn't exist beforehand, just not in as great a number.

To my very thankful surprise however when I picked up a copy of Vagrant Story, with the dark and original plot line, I began to raise hope that the consuls could improve their plots and characterization. However I found that the damage of the former games had been done, I let some friends borrow this game and when it was returned to me I found that they had quit half way through because it was too hard for them, and that they'd become disinterested in the game because there was no cut scenes. I found this almost appalling, and remarkably disheartening.

My friends, this does not bode well for us, we who know how good an RPG experience can be. Must we suffer through the teeming masses of this new breed of soft gamers that cares not for plot or challenge? No we should not, those of us who have suffered through this long enough should perhaps consider something as small as sending e-mails to the companies. But I digress; I hope that this has perhaps given my readers a new perspective.