Why are all our RPGs the same?

by Peter Larsen 

Console RPGs seem to be awfully two dimensional nowadays. Perhaps you've noticed it too. We've seen the same format being rehashed again and again. Clueless boy sets out on a quest, finds girl, falls in love with girl, becomes the most powerful entity on the planet, destroys evil entity threatening the planet (even if it happens to be a god and is supposedly unstoppable), and then the boy and girl live happily ever after. Of course, the formula may vary from game to game and the quest may actually be interesting, but for the most part that's exactly how the majority of plots develop. Every single Final Fantasy game I have played through from beginning to end (ff4-9) has this typical format as does a slew of other titles that I will not even begin to list here since it would take up way too much time, be way too boring to explain, and besides, you have all played these games too.

I'm not saying that this is a bad way to go. This format is a huge moneymaker. It's been done for well over fifteen years and because people keep buying the games there really isn't a reason to try something slightly different. Sure, science fiction has begun to creep into the mix a little bit, creating a science fiction/fantasy hybrid genre, but with few exceptions, RPG's are still basically set in fantasy worlds and they stick to this format I listed above.

To use an overused cliché: I would kill to play something different. Unfortunately, that something different is usually something incredibly boring, something incredibly stupid, or it happens to clash too much with what is tried and true. I know we've all done it--despised a game simply because it doesn't fit our expectations. That's why our RPG battle systems have stagnated, why our stories have become somewhat cookie-cutter by nature, and why our games are essentially the same. Whenever a game or a series attempts to stray from the norm, we, the rabid fans, are quick to criticize a company for releasing 'garbage'. How did Square manage to let Final Fantasy VIII turn out the way it did? That battle system is horrible! And the story, well... don't get me going.

Of course, I have my own problems with Final Fantasy VIII and Square's easy to pick on because they happen to be the first company that comes to mind for many people when you mention the term RPG. The funny thing is, even though Square tried to be slightly more original with FF8 (and that battle system is annoying, I must admit), it still used the typical RPG format! Even Xenogears, one of the truly original RPGs to come out in recent years and one of my favorite games of all time, sticks to this format. Fei falls in love with Elly and not even Deus can get in his way. He beats up the bad villain, saves the girl, and we all cheer.

Are we all doomed to play through countless games that utilize the same format again and again for another fifteen years? Probably. But I'm sure as the genre continues to evolve and develop in the future, especially as hardware capabilities become less of a limiting factor, we will see truly original content. How we respond as fans when something that challenges our definition of what makes an RPG is released, though, will determine to a large extent if the genre does grow to encompass new ideas or if it continues to stagnate with nothing substantially more than a graphical overhaul.