Current mood:	amused
Entry tags:	gaming, rpgs

Uh, Bioware? There's a small tree trunk in your eye there...
So, the Escapist and Destructoid, amongst others, are quoting Bioware co-founder Greg Zeschuk as saying,

"The fall of the JRPG in large part is due to a lack of evolution, a lack of progression. They kept delivering the same thing over and over. They make the dressing better, they look prettier, but it's still the same experience."

I don't disagree, Mr. Zeschuk, but let's look at a certain Canadian company's RPGs by comparison:

Baldur's Gate: Murderous forces of darkness are rising to take over the world, and only you, the Bhaalspawn Ward of Gorion can stop him.

Baldur's Gate II and Baldur's Gate II: The Throne of Bhaal: Jon Irenicus, and later, your brothers and sisters, the murderous forces of darkness, are rising to take over the world, and only you, the Bhaalspawn Ward of Gorion, can stop them.

Neverwinter Nights: Ancient beings of strife are rising to take over the world, and only you, the Hero of Neverwinter, can stop them.

Neverwinter Nights: the Shadows of Undrentide: An ancient darkness is rising from a forgotten citadel to destroy the world, and...

Knights of the Old Republic: The Sith Lords are emerging from their hiding place to plunge the galaxy into darkness, and only you, Revan, can... Bonus points: the final boss fight is EXACTLY LIKE the final boss fight in Throne of Bhaal, just on a spaceship.

I didn't play Mass Effect and Dragon Age... but let's see, let's look at a brief description of Dragon Age... ah, here it is: "The Darkspawn are rising to take over the world, and only the Grey Wardens can..."

Hmm.

(Aside: the only reason I haven't played ME is because Securom is on the disk, and the only reason I haven't played DA is because I need a new computer first.)

Yes, I skipped "Hordes of the Underdark</i> but I can't remember the plot of that one. I think it had something to do with Hordes rising from the Underdark and... but then Mephistopheles shows up and shit goes wild. So they were a little different there. But only you, the... anyway.

I can also tell you that most of these games feature some variation on the spunky thief girl (Imoen, Mission), the warrior who says funny things, the broody love interest, the evil snipey woman, etc. (Look up Shamus Young's Stolen Pixels articles for a fun discussion of this.) They all have an extremely similar interface, with extremely similar graphics, just better.

Now, mind you, I LOVE Bioware's games. I wouldn't be able to mock them for this if I wasn't familiar with their games in the first place, but they are the last people to criticize anyone for overusing the same tropes, themes, storytelling, and interface.

And the thing is, people love JRPGs for the same reasons--it might be the same thing over and over again, dressed prettier, but obviously, there's something people like about it. Assuming your brand of repetition is better than someone else's brand of repetition isn't really going to get you anywhere.

And I would be amazed if Bioware ever came up with something like the depth and diversity of gameplay along with epic wartime storytelling that, say, Konami's Suikoden series has. And for all the wonderful things Bioware has done, I sincerely doubt they could pull that kind of game off successfully. It's also a shame, because I'd love to see a Suikoden-like game where party-style combat was fun, and encounter rates were reasonable (the fun combat in Suikoden for me are all the tactical army combats).



"My favorite thing, it's funny when you still see it, but the joke of some of the dialogue systems where it asks, 'do you wanna do this or this,' and you say no. 'Do you wanna do this or this?' No. 'Do you wanna do this or this?' No. Lemme think -- you want me to say 'yes.' And that, unfortunately, really characterized the JRPG."

In other words: "We are better cuz we has REAL dialogue trees."

Yes, well so does Obsidian, and their writers invented Torment and you didn't (even if Bioware made the game engine for them). So there.

Now, I actually do vastly prefer Western RPG dialogues to the "But Thou Must" nonsense that does sadly go on in many JRPGs. But Bioware, you just put your frustrating, bullshit railroading into cutscenes instead. Remember the first combat with Darth Malak in KotOR? You're kicking his ass until you fail your saving throw versus a cutscene so that he can get away? That and a number of other scenes in that game were some of the worst examples of plot railroading I have ever seen, and there was absolutely no damned excuse for it. I doubt it's gotten much better since then.

Also, since when are JRPGs "falling," anyway? How many people have already preordered Final Fantasy XIII? I mean, I'll tell you a little secret: I hate most of the Final Fantasy series with a fiery burning passion. But I'm not going to make silly claims that the genre is failing just because I'm not particularly happy with its direction.

It's not that I think JRPGs are better than Bioware's RPGs--I would rather sit down and play Baldur's Gate than Dragon Quest any day of the week. But that's because I like the particular style of combat and gameplay better--I enjoy the stories and writing in either subgenre equally (and when I don't like them, it's often for similar reasons).

Simply, the particular claims Zeschuk made are laughably hypocritical.

Bioware, you can do better. So quit talking and start living up to your own expectations, eh?