Have We Forgotten Where RPGs Came From?

by John Miaso

I was recently reading a review of Grandia, one of the more recent RPGs to come out. A few lines of this review really disturbed me about the state of the role-playing game today. "Unlike many of today's customization-heavy RPGs, your party is determined by the story...Additionally, this lack of customization adds a level of familiarity with your characters' individual abilities and strategies - something customization-heavy RPGs tend to ignore."

Although this may have been an issue that was pointed out by an ignorant reviewer, let me remind us all where RPGs came from. The term "RPG" itself stands for role-playing game, a game in which you assume the role of a character, and play the character through a quest (or string of quests). The pioneers of this genre were (to my best knowledge) TSR in Dungeons & Dragons. The player had a large pool of options that could shape a character to his or her liking. You could play an evil thief or a noble paladin. The key word here is customization.

Somehow, the Japanese video game industry's popular developers such as Square have morphed this genre into a story that we play through and observe. We don't take part any more. As Mr. Colianna pointed out in his recent article, FMV Ruining Final Fantasy: "Now it's all about watching [the characters] do so in a series of movies and some battles interspersed along the way." The new graphics allows for a different sort of storyline and gameplay, a brave new world in which it seems more like watching a movie than playing a so-called role-playing game. Sure, these games provide the player with an excellent storyline, beautiful graphics, and compelling music, but at what cost? Games such as Parasite Eve and now Final Fantasy VIII have shown us that Square intends to steer the genre into this direction. We no longer have the old armor and magical trinkets. Weapon upgrades seem pointless now, and experience levels and magic seem to be next on the executioner's block. However, these two games are only a couple of examples of this genre's direction, and many other developers are starting to gain sway in breaking from the tide.

Mr. Mandel's article, "Blurring the Edges?," speaks of Fallout and Septerra Core, two role-playing games for the PC that break from this trend. Baldur's Gate was an excellent RPG, based very closely on the AD&D rules of TSR. Black Isle is making another game based on AD&D, Planescape Torment, which will be very "customization-heavy" and follow the true role-playing game name. I can certainly forsee some large changes in the RPG genre in the future. Hironobu Sakaguchi's zeal for making movies out of the Final Fantasy series will separate the console RPG from the PC RPG. As long as Square remains the leading developer for console RPGs, and as long the other console developers follow suit, this is the way that this genre is going, and who can tell if it is for the better or for worse.