Why we won't see many RPG Sagas

by Evan Mandel

Don't get me wrong here, I'd love to see some continuations of games. Some need them (exactly what happened at the end of FFVII? Did anyone other than Red XIII live? C'mon!), while others could use them, like, as Jim pointed out, Chrono Trigger (Hey! Maybe Square could do something with the Reptite ending...). But we have a better chance of receiving Lunar 2 on time (sorry, couldn't resist) than seeing any of these sagas continued.

You say, Why? These games use memory cards, just load the info in and you've got your old favorites hacking up the baddies in some new world! What's so difficult about that?

The problem with that suggestion is that it exaggerates what I think the reason for not continuing characters may be. These veterans would be extremely powerful. Heck, they've already killed the "Almighty Evil" (Kefka, Sephiroth, Indalecio, Lavos, whatever); what, except an even bigger "Almighty Evil" can threaten them? And how would your heroes get stronger if they're already level 99 and have Ultimate Weapons (Illuminas, Rainbows, Eternal Spheres, etc.)?

This sounds a lot like what pen-and-paper RPGers call "Monty Haul Syndrome." It comes from the gamemaster giving out too many cool toys and levels and whatnot way before he's finished with the characters, making them way too powerful to fight normal enemies (or follow normal plotlines). Instead, to keep the player's interest, he has to pit them against some evil god or world-destroying dragon or whatever, something that won't be just a blip on the enemy meter. Of course these guys have buttloads of treasure, so the hapless GM now has to come up with more powerful enemies, with even more treasure, and so on, and so on, until the players get bored with saving the multiverse with no effort every week and give up.

That's what most RPG continuations would be like. Largely, they would just be getting some new toys to kill off Mr. A. Evil, maybe with a new character or two(appropriately powered, of course) and a new romance or something. Maybe the standard enemies would be powered up, but that's illogical: Exactly where does one get seven thousand Super-Hyper-Deathblade masters for the Hero to pound on? Or Archliches, or Mega Dragons, or Ghosts of Hyper Starman Deluxe + 12? It might be nostalgic to play as Cloud or Chrono against some new enemies, but the game would end up either not making logical sense, boring, or just so fantastically powered that it's pointless ("Ho-hum. Another 30,000-hit instant death combo from Kefkaroth. I'll just use Life 22 to raise my characters, cast Shield on them, make the boss do the Hokey Pokey for killing my guy, and turn his hair bright periwinkle.). Yes, you could start them out at level 1 again, but how many fans would be turned off by not being able to do their favorite moves right off the bat? Why play through another 30 hours to see Omnislash when I can pop in FFVII and see it now?

Furthermore, what about the story? We know most of the character's stories (excepting that of some of the bit players...maybe a Vincent RPG?), what can they tell to make us stare at the TV for 60 hours completely enraptured by the tale unfolding before us? Frankly, I see a lot of resorting to cheesy soap-opera type things (no offense to the people who like such stuff, of course). I can just see it:

Marle: "Chrono! After all the time we've been together, you go and sleep with Lucca! How could you!"

Chrono: "HA! I am not Chrono! I am his evil twin brother, separated from him at birth! I've duped both of you, and now I shall take over the world! HA HA HA HA HA!"

Lucca: "No you won't! My android army shall crush you!"

Scala: "You can't kill him! He's my father!"

Everyone: "What!"

Okay, so I'm exaggerating a little. But would Chrono and Marle's, or any other RPG couple's, married life really interest us? (To those sick people interested in seeing a "certain few" of those activities - wink wink nudge nudge - go watch some hentai or something. Damn perverts.) With new characters, we get to see a whole new set of hidden agendas, dark secrets, weird loves (Chu-Chu and Fei, anyone?), all that good stuff that makes us give up our valuable time to vegetate in front of the TV (or computer).

The other option is to use relatives, like children, parents or ancestors. This has been used to great effect in the Lufia games, as well as the BoF series, Lunar, and others. These people, though, are individuals. They will have their own ideas, feelings, and personalities, unless they are made clones of their heroic relation (which should bring up its own brand of plot situations). In other words, they will be different. Having a relative who was in another game, in my opinion, should be treated like it was in Star Ocean 2 or the Lufia games. Don't try to make your favorites live vicariously.

Honestly, I could see a few games getting continued. Any game where the heroes lose their powers at the end, FFVI and Xenogears being most obvious, could easily escape the power problems, mainly by starting everyone from the ground floor. Both of those games (sorry if I'm killing the plots, but I need to make point) also have an obvious story: the reconstruction of the world and the search for magic. I could definitely see sequels (in the conventional, same-character sense) to them. But making a new game just so you can play with your favorite characters, throwing sense out the window? Thanks, but I'll pass.