![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynlingI tried to play a few retro JRPGs during the past year, and I bounced off almost all of them within the first hour. Meanwhile, even though I’m now able to see more of its limitations, I’ve been having a lot of fun with Final Fantasy VI Pixel Remaster. I know that not everyone has the resources to create FFVI, so I started playing Final Fantasy Mystic Quest in order to think about why this simple-as-bricks game works while so many contemporary retro JRPGs don’t. Here goes:
(1) If the game is more than an hour long, there needs to be actual gameplay.
I have to admit that I have a soft spot for indie retro RPGs in which the player does nothing but walk around and talk to people, but there’s a limit to how much of this I’m willing to engage with. Even in a story-focused game, there needs to be some sort of activity that isn’t reading text on a screen. There are so many amazing stories I want to read before I die, and it feels like a waste of my time on earth to click through endless text boxes of dialogue from random NPCs.
(2) The player needs to experience this gameplay within the first ten to fifteen minutes.
I think a major aspect of what people liked about old JRPGs is that the player could generally progress from the first town to the first dungeon right at the beginning of the game. Exposition and worldbuilding are important, but not as important as the game being fun to play. In addition, what drove many players forward through these games was curiosity about the story behind the hero’s quest, which would be revealed in increments at key moments. Even Final Fantasy VII, which has a famous opening cutscene, sees Cloud and Barret fighting enemies and navigating a dungeon within the first five minutes.
(3) Battles with minor enemies should be over quickly.
Again, please do not waste my precious time on this earth by making every random battle two minutes long. These minutes add up, and battle-specific character dialogue or flavor text isn’t so charming when I’m seeing it repeated for the umpteenth time.
(4) It’s fun to be able to interact with the environment in region-specific ways.
This is the key ingredient that makes the Zelda games work so well, and both Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy VI incorporate elements of this too. If I’m in a forest, I want to be able to find an axe that I can use to chop down trees. If I’m navigating a dungeon fashioned from gigantic sun-bleached bones in the desert, I want there to be sand flows I have to navigate around. If I’m in a seaside merchant town, I want there to be secret passages filled with treasure. Give me something to do, and let me explore!
(5) There should be a bell curve for complexity.
The opening of a game needs to demonstrate the game’s aesthetics and mechanics in a way that shows the player what the game is about. This doesn’t need to be dramatic or flashy or cinematic, and the point is definitely not to overwhelm the player with a giant town filled with NPCs or endless text reels of exposition. All of that should come later, when the player is already invested and eager for more. A game should start simple and gradually become more complex before (ideally) going completely open somewhere in the middle. By the end of the game, though, the complexity needs to decrease as the player becomes more focused on finishing the story. The Pokémon and Zelda games are really good at this... and so are most Soulslikes, honestly. Structure is important.
(6) It’s fun to be able to jump.
I’m not going to elaborate on this, because it’s a self-evident truth: It’s fun to be able to jump. Also you should be able to pet the dogs/chocobos.
(1) If the game is more than an hour long, there needs to be actual gameplay.
I have to admit that I have a soft spot for indie retro RPGs in which the player does nothing but walk around and talk to people, but there’s a limit to how much of this I’m willing to engage with. Even in a story-focused game, there needs to be some sort of activity that isn’t reading text on a screen. There are so many amazing stories I want to read before I die, and it feels like a waste of my time on earth to click through endless text boxes of dialogue from random NPCs.
(2) The player needs to experience this gameplay within the first ten to fifteen minutes.
I think a major aspect of what people liked about old JRPGs is that the player could generally progress from the first town to the first dungeon right at the beginning of the game. Exposition and worldbuilding are important, but not as important as the game being fun to play. In addition, what drove many players forward through these games was curiosity about the story behind the hero’s quest, which would be revealed in increments at key moments. Even Final Fantasy VII, which has a famous opening cutscene, sees Cloud and Barret fighting enemies and navigating a dungeon within the first five minutes.
(3) Battles with minor enemies should be over quickly.
Again, please do not waste my precious time on this earth by making every random battle two minutes long. These minutes add up, and battle-specific character dialogue or flavor text isn’t so charming when I’m seeing it repeated for the umpteenth time.
(4) It’s fun to be able to interact with the environment in region-specific ways.
This is the key ingredient that makes the Zelda games work so well, and both Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy VI incorporate elements of this too. If I’m in a forest, I want to be able to find an axe that I can use to chop down trees. If I’m navigating a dungeon fashioned from gigantic sun-bleached bones in the desert, I want there to be sand flows I have to navigate around. If I’m in a seaside merchant town, I want there to be secret passages filled with treasure. Give me something to do, and let me explore!
(5) There should be a bell curve for complexity.
The opening of a game needs to demonstrate the game’s aesthetics and mechanics in a way that shows the player what the game is about. This doesn’t need to be dramatic or flashy or cinematic, and the point is definitely not to overwhelm the player with a giant town filled with NPCs or endless text reels of exposition. All of that should come later, when the player is already invested and eager for more. A game should start simple and gradually become more complex before (ideally) going completely open somewhere in the middle. By the end of the game, though, the complexity needs to decrease as the player becomes more focused on finishing the story. The Pokémon and Zelda games are really good at this... and so are most Soulslikes, honestly. Structure is important.
(6) It’s fun to be able to jump.
I’m not going to elaborate on this, because it’s a self-evident truth: It’s fun to be able to jump. Also you should be able to pet the dogs/chocobos.
no subject
Date: 2024-01-08 09:24 pm (UTC)YES \o/
no subject
Date: 2024-01-10 06:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-01-09 03:59 pm (UTC)tiredly points at Persona 4 and its 2-hour intro. Please Atlus. I just wanna punch penis demons.
no subject
Date: 2024-01-10 06:36 pm (UTC)Final Fantasy XII gets a pass, but then again, it's Final Fantasy XII.
no subject
Date: 2024-01-12 05:52 pm (UTC)FFXII breaks many rules and is great for it.