As I have highlighted in some of my prior posts, many gamers (of all dispositions) have been complaining about the recent “stagnation” of JRPGs.In some ways I agree, but on the whole, I don’t think that anyone can fault the JRPG genre for not being unique.Nearly every roleplaying game that comes out of Japan these days is drastically different from the last.No one can mistake Final Fantasy XIII for Tales of Xillia, but I’m hard pressed to find people who can tell Battlefield 3 screens from Modern Warfare 3 ones.In fact, I might even go so far as to say that there is MORE variety in the contemporary JRPG genre than in most other genres these days (i.e. the entire first person shooter genre!).
 

 
 
I believe that the current problem with the JRPG is that Japanese RPG developers never seem to learn anything from what they (or someone else) has done in the genre. Thus, very little progress is made in terms of story, narrative, mechanics, etc as time goes on. It’s like none of these developers ever analyze what works and what doesn’t work among both their products and the products released by their “competitors.”For this reason, it seems that when these same developers make their next game (whether it be another “Tales of…” title or another IP altogether) they throw everything out and start from scratch.Nothing is learned, nothing is augmented, nothing is refined, nothing is perfected.Thus, no real progression as a genre is made.
 
In my mind, the opposite of the JRPG genre (in this respect) is FPS genre. In fact, it’s probably the most progressive genre out there (right now). If a FPS developer comes up with an new cool thing (like say, a repeating sniper rifle) you can be absolutely sure that not only will the sequel to that game have a repeating sniper rifle, but just about every other game in the genre will have a repeating sniper rifle as well. This sort of thing leads to the genre feeling “samey,” but it also means that the genre is constantly making huge advances (although in an undefined direction).
 
 
If this mode of thinking and making games were applied to JRPGs, then things like separate screens for battles, random battles, separate screens for maps, etc would be long gone.Evolution would have ejected them from the JRPG gene pool.So yeah, I’m not saying that Japanese RPG developers need to copy each other constantly, but a little bit of “peer review” and “learning from the mistakes of others” could go a long way.It MIGHT even result in better JRPGs for all of us…
 
 
 
For more of my musings and thoughts on Japanese games and JRPGS, check out my blog: http://themolloyboy.blogspot.com/