I might remind new readers to check out my older look at this subject, Kawaisa!, in which I naively tried to compare the two genres (Mat has done a much better job here, I think).
What interests me about the Japanese CRPGs is how much they borrowed from the early Ultima games, particularly 2-4. In fact, there's a fun story in which Garriott went to Japan to work out a deal for the licensing, and was approached by one of the lead Ultima-clone developers. The guy started showing Garriott their game, but it soon became obvious that it wasn't just a clone--it was a downright copy. Whole sections of the artwork had been ripped. The book that tells this story (Official Book of Ultima) doesn't identify exactly what game this was, but the name Xanadu pops up. Instead of getting the license, they agreed to an out of court settlement with Origin!
At any rate, it's certainly possible to detect a certain "cuteness" in some of Origin's Ultima and some of there other CRPGs, such as Chuckles' 2400 A.D. But I think the key difference between Japanese and American CRPGs are the target age groups. The Japanese seem to target the 7-12 year old group, whereas American games seem to assume you're at least 15 or 16 (i.e., old enough to play the tabletop D&D game, read Tolkien, etc.). If you're dealing with a 7 year old, you know you have to keep it simple and fast-paced. What always stuns me is how much inane dialog you're expecting to sit through in these games. For the most part, it's mostly stuff culled from what seem to be fairy tales. As we might expect, the main character is usually an adolescent boy...A bit younger than I usually want to play!
What's funny is that some of the later Japanese games try to seem more adult by adding in cuss words and sexual material. Try as I might, I can't get past the style of the graphics and see anything but a kid's game with some "mature stuff" grafted on.
I'll confess, though, the only VRPGs I've played through are the first Final Fantasy (NES) and Chrono Trigger (SNES). Of the two, Chrono Trigger was definitely the best, with a polished storyline, good ambiance, and excellent overall timing. Although it's a Disney-esque kid's game, it is highly entertaining for all ages. The first Final Fantasy was extremely repetitive with wave after wave of pretty much meaningless random encounters. It was torture. I still need to go back and play the Dragon Warrior games and Zelda, as well as Phantasy Star.
I think a more disturbing trend in all CRPGs is away from strategy and tactics and more towards "action" games." This began in earnest with Diablo and has carried on since, and now it's impossible to find a new CRPG that indulges in turn-based combat. In fact, the last ones I can remember making the attempt were Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor (HORRID), and Temple of Elemental Evil (decent).
I think the "perfect" mix would be to have a way to switch between modes, so that you could run the "busywork" encounters in real-time, but slow down to turn-based for the big battles. This was implemented to some degree in Baldur's Gate and NWN, where you could pause the game to give orders, but it still wasn't as "sit back and think" the way the Gold Box games were.
I might remind new readers to check out my older look at this subject, Kawaisa!, in which I naively tried to compare the two genres (Mat has done a much better job here, I think).
What interests me about the Japanese CRPGs is how much they borrowed from the early Ultima games, particularly 2-4. In fact, there's a fun story in which Garriott went to Japan to work out a deal for the licensing, and was approached by one of the lead Ultima-clone developers. The guy started showing Garriott their game, but it soon became obvious that it wasn't just a clone--it was a downright copy. Whole sections of the artwork had been ripped. The book that tells this story (Official Book of Ultima) doesn't identify exactly what game this was, but the name Xanadu pops up. Instead of getting the license, they agreed to an out of court settlement with Origin!
At any rate, it's certainly possible to detect a certain "cuteness" in some of Origin's Ultima and some of there other CRPGs, such as Chuckles' 2400 A.D. But I think the key difference between Japanese and American CRPGs are the target age groups. The Japanese seem to target the 7-12 year old group, whereas American games seem to assume you're at least 15 or 16 (i.e., old enough to play the tabletop D&D game, read Tolkien, etc.). If you're dealing with a 7 year old, you know you have to keep it simple and fast-paced. What always stuns me is how much inane dialog you're expecting to sit through in these games. For the most part, it's mostly stuff culled from what seem to be fairy tales. As we might expect, the main character is usually an adolescent boy...A bit younger than I usually want to play!
What's funny is that some of the later Japanese games try to seem more adult by adding in cuss words and sexual material. Try as I might, I can't get past the style of the graphics and see anything but a kid's game with some "mature stuff" grafted on.
I'll confess, though, the only VRPGs I've played through are the first Final Fantasy (NES) and Chrono Trigger (SNES). Of the two, Chrono Trigger was definitely the best, with a polished storyline, good ambiance, and excellent overall timing. Although it's a Disney-esque kid's game, it is highly entertaining for all ages. The first Final Fantasy was extremely repetitive with wave after wave of pretty much meaningless random encounters. It was torture. I still need to go back and play the Dragon Warrior games and Zelda, as well as Phantasy Star.
I think a more disturbing trend in all CRPGs is away from strategy and tactics and more towards "action" games." This began in earnest with Diablo and has carried on since, and now it's impossible to find a new CRPG that indulges in turn-based combat. In fact, the last ones I can remember making the attempt were Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor (HORRID), and Temple of Elemental Evil (decent).
I think the "perfect" mix would be to have a way to switch between modes, so that you could run the "busywork" encounters in real-time, but slow down to turn-based for the big battles. This was implemented to some degree in Baldur's Gate and NWN, where you could pause the game to give orders, but it still wasn't as "sit back and think" the way the Gold Box games were.
Matt Barton, Managing Editor
Location: St. Cloud, Minnesota, USA
Email: matt@armchairarcade.com