Ni no Kuni aiming to recreate 'the good old days' of JRPGs

JRPGs have become something of a niche genre--a far cry from when games like Final Fantasy VII commanded gamer mindshare. Why has the genre faded so much?

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JRPGs have become something of a niche genre--a far cry from when games like Final Fantasy VII commanded gamer mindshare. Why has the genre faded so much? Akihiro Hino, CEO of Level-5, developer of the upcoming Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, has a few ideas. "If pushed, I'd say Japanese RPGs tend to cater to players who are not skilled at action games and prefer to have command systems that allow them time to strategize, as well as those who enjoy stories that are similar to reading novels," he explained. "So for fans of Western RPG, such JRPGs might seem somewhat antiquated."

Hino says that his upcoming game does make some concessions to appeal to non-Japanese gamers. "We took the preferences of our Western player-base into consideration too, and implemented action elements such as the ability to move your friends and familiars freely around the battlefield," making the game feel more dynamic than your typical turn-based RPG.

Perhaps more significant than the ability to control side characters is the desire to harken back to the golden era of JRPGs, when the genre thrived internationally. Hino wants Ni no Kuni to be "a restoration or reformation of an RPG from the good old days," citing its focus on the "so-called fundamentals that make RPGs interesting."

He cites the numerous areas that can be discovered on the map, challenge battles, and a constantly changing cast of party members as part of the core tenants that Ni no Kuni embraces. "Perhaps you will find this orthodox approach a refreshing change from the many overly-individualistic titles that make up the bulk of the market in recent years," he told IGN.

It also helps that it's a really pretty game. Ni no Kuni will be available on PS3 in two weeks.

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    January 9, 2013 3:15 PM

    Andrew Yoon posted a new article, Ni no Kuni aiming to recreate 'the good old days' of JRPGs.

    JRPGs have become something of a niche genre--a far cry from when games like Final Fantasy VII commanded gamer mindshare. Why has the genre faded so much?

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      January 9, 2013 3:33 PM

      Wtf does that mean? Random battles? Vague, bullshit new-age plots involving some bitch named Gaia? Androgynous protagonists and even more girly looking villains?

      I loved FF7. :(

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        January 10, 2013 5:16 AM

        There aren't random battles, you see the enemies as you run around.

        There's a demo on the PSN and the game is awesome.

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      January 9, 2013 3:37 PM

      I argue that the genre hasn't shrunken, it's that it hasn't grown with the increase in gamers

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        January 10, 2013 4:08 AM

        I dunno, if you go back and look at the number of JRPGs released during the PSX generation and the PS2 generation, there's clearly *far* less this generation. I think it's a combination of changing development cycles, increased budgets, and quite frankly, the simple unwillingness of Japanese developers to "get with the times" so-to-speak and start trying to develop games for a modern, worldwide audience (which would mean changing the way they do business).

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          January 10, 2013 5:19 AM

          It's odd that two of the best RPGs this gen are on the Wii as well.

          Heck, Xenoblade is one of my all time favorites, up there with Chrono Trigger and Secret of Mana.

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            January 10, 2013 7:04 AM

            I keep hearing this but i still havent had the opportunity to check it out :(

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              January 10, 2013 7:08 AM

              Unfortunately it's hard to find, I hear that some Gamestops still have it at regular price. It goes anywhere from $100 - $200 on ebay last I checked.

              If you see it, grab it.

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                January 10, 2013 7:41 AM

                If I ever get my Wii back, which is still in Hawaii, I'll happily pass my copy on to a Shacker.

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            January 10, 2013 7:44 AM

            What's the one that isn't Xenoblade? I'm starting to put more time into it, only at level 11 Mechon just attacked , but I'm really liking the chaos of it all.

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      January 9, 2013 4:01 PM

      It's faded because you have main characters that are more fem-male and with so much angst it's painful

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      January 9, 2013 5:17 PM

      So it's like The Last Remnant then?

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        January 10, 2013 7:01 AM

        What with that confusing auto-battle and prefab looking areas?

        Why can't jrpgs just do what worked in the 90's and stop with this nonsense

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      January 9, 2013 5:30 PM

      I like how he called the western RPG's "overly-individualistic". I've always been turned off by titles that require you to be super OCD about your one guy that you have to build over the entire game. What if I decide half way through I don't really like my guy?

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        January 9, 2013 8:49 PM

        I personally disagree. You can never have too many options for character creation/customization, and I'm totally ok with games where you only control yourself. I've largely grown away from JPRGs after the PS2 era because they lack actual "role playing."

        For example, Arcanum is probably the best game for actual role play. My favorite build is max charisma and intelligence. ZERO combat skills. With persuasion you can talk your way through many quests (even last boss), and Charisma determines your max party size and party loyalty. It doesn't matter that you're weak as hell when you roll with a wrecking crew of 8 fighters.

        I get more enjoyment from that than any JRPG character archetype I've been forced into.

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          January 10, 2013 8:44 AM

          A friend and I were discussing the differences between JRPGs and WRPGS not that long ago. He put it kinda like this:

          JRPGs are structured so they're kinda like a manga. You have your characters and their party and they progress through the story mostly in a linear fashion with mostly the same character/characterization. Sure there's a character development arc and you can customize/equip your people...but it's still a very linear experience. You're playing the part of one of their in a story that they are telling.

          Western RPGS are more often based on D&D. It's a lot more free form in terms of character creation and world interaction. You're still progressing through a story, but the approach is completely different. You're making a character who truly a creation of you and not the developer/storyteller. Owing to the common D&D ancestry, it's a lot more player centered gameplay experience.

          My friend thinks there's a cultural element to it as much as game development/lineage elements. I tend to agree.

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        January 9, 2013 11:53 PM

        [deleted]

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          January 10, 2013 12:19 AM

          Honestly Chrono Trigger was one of the first games to really do that. In the very least I think it was a big influence on the route western rpgs took.

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            January 10, 2013 4:24 AM

            The Wolfenstein of Western RPG's is Ultima in combination with Western developer's deep desire to simulate the reactive, freeform storytelling experience of tabletop roleplaying - those two things shaped how games like Planescape Torment and Fallout work more than anything else.

            As a roleplaying game Chrono Trigger is horseshit, and in general JRPGs are horseshit. I say that as someone who is currently enjoying FFXIII thoroughly and never much got into Ultima.

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        January 10, 2013 3:20 AM

        i like how he acknowledged JRPGs seem antiquated

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          January 10, 2013 6:53 AM

          "JRPGs seem antiquated today, so we're going to refresh the genre by doing all the things that make them seem antiquated!"

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      January 9, 2013 9:46 PM

      They seriously couldn't scare me more from this game than writing shit like "good old days of JRPGs" I hate them :(

      It's just we see so few proper decent Japanese games that I have to buy it and because of Ghibli :(
      I'm going to hate this combat SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH

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        January 10, 2013 5:20 AM

        There's a demo on the PSN, check it out. It's fantastic.

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        January 10, 2013 7:02 AM

        So few "proper decent" Japanese games? What do you mean, if not the classic JRPG formula?

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          January 10, 2013 12:57 PM

          I guess I simply mean, games which didn't originate out of US, CA, AUD, UK. There's a particular feel to those games and a particular feel to Asian games (and somewhat those poorer EU countries) - not really about the combat, just the entire concepts, design, way the story plays - what roles characters should play, what's funny, what's not - the whole cultural experience.

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      January 9, 2013 10:16 PM

      [deleted]

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      January 10, 2013 12:13 AM

      I would argue that they mostly suck because you spend most of your time in the battle system, and most JRPGs (excepting tactics games) don't have battle systems that are remotely interesting for ~30hrs of gameplay.

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        January 10, 2013 4:13 AM

        I think part of the issue there (and WRPGs have this problem too), is that *no* battle system remains fresh and interesting after dozens of hours in it.

        That's not to say that some people (often myself included) can't still enjoy it, but designing a combat system that will keep a player's interest through hundreds of battles over 30-60 hours? That's hard work. Most WRPGs manage this by having lots of other stuff to do and more downtime.

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          January 10, 2013 4:28 AM

          So many CRPGs are basically tainted by an attempt to replicate the tabletop combat simulations. But tabletop combat is fucking horrible and boring. Play any RPG that treats itself as a comupter game instead of a D&D simulator and you'll immediately have fun. I have mad fun in Skyrim for example. Same thing FNV, especially with mods.

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            January 10, 2013 5:00 AM

            I don't think the issue is that tabletop combat is horrible or boring so much as that it's infrequent and doesn't overstay its welcome.

            In all the D&D, WoD, Shadowrun, etc that I've played over the years, in the course of a given play session, we'd have maybe one or two fights. For some reason, videogame developers haven't found a way to make this translate.

            I do not need, nor do I particularly want, to fight a series of incidental and ultimately meaningless battles, whether they're intense tactical fights or 30-second slaughters. If I'm on a quest to kill the evil wizard, taking out a few of his minions and his principal underling who killed my parents is fun and interesting and has meaning. Killing a squadron of of his evil death monks on several dozen separate occasions while searching for him? Not so much.

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      January 10, 2013 4:07 AM

      [deleted]

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      January 10, 2013 5:14 AM

      Because whether its the translations or cultural differences, their games seem to written by sexually confused manchildren who have very little grasp on storytelling.

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      January 10, 2013 6:45 AM

      Stories of saving "planet" and 8 year old children saving "planet" and weird hybrid of D&D and Sci-fi was like over back in the Barbarella days man.
      It's done.
      I want rpg's where I make decisions that effect the outcome of the story, I want to be able to carry those decision forward, I don't particularly care if it's turned based or action or a hybrid of the two.
      I want real stories that I can get behind. I'm a 41 year old male and my wife is 30. We play games but we don't want our protagonist to be a 5 year old. We have nothing in common with this individual.
      The stories need to be mature (or light hearted) but make sense.
      Don't care if its hentai or prude as hell.
      They want to bring back their style of RPG...they have a lot ground to cover.

      Xenoblade Chronicles and The Last Story was a step in the right direction.

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      January 10, 2013 8:32 AM

      I want the Ghibli art and story telling, but you can keep your JRPG.

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        January 10, 2013 8:47 AM

        I basically said that to Persona 4 Golden (replace Ghibli with Soejima-san), and it said, "Easy mode is for you! Enjoy!"

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      January 10, 2013 8:47 AM

      the last RPG i got into was for the DS.. Radiant Historia. Hard to get into (first few hours were really meh) but the story and characters start REALLY grabbing you after a few hours.. im hooked.. Best RPG i've played in years!

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        January 15, 2013 2:20 PM

        In my pile of shame! At least I have my copy secured.

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