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In just a few days, the gaming world will see all that Nintendo's next generation console, the Wii, has to offer. The company has remained remarkably secretive in the run-up to this year's E3 Expo, and Nintendo has done a frustratingly respectable job at thwarting the typical pre-E3 information leaks. No one really knows what will be announced, or what games will be unveiled. Will fans of RPGs find the Wii to be a worthwhile system? No one, with the exception of company president Satoru Iwata, knows at this point. And while the paucity of RPGs on previous consoles such as the Nintendo 64 might give fans cause to worry, the fact that there are already at least three confirmed RPGs long in development for the system is a promising sign.
But a more interesting question, rather than "Will Wii have RPGs?" is to wonder whether or not the Wii is inherently inhospitable toward the RPG genre simply by virtue of its desire to stand out from the crowd with a -- depending upon one's point of view -- controller that is either gimmicky or radically innovative. After all, many, even when stressing the innovations the controller brings to the gaming design table, most admirers point to its potential applications in first person shooters, real time strategies, platformers, or twitch-based arcade-styled games. While no one can know whether the Wii will accumulate an impressive library of RPGs over the course of its life, the question of whether or not RPGs can be done well on the system, and whether they, too, like those other genres, can benefit from the controller's innovations, is certainly answered with a "yes."
The first thing to note when looking at Wii as a potentially friendly development environment for RPGs is that, even in cases where the system's wiimote controller wouldn't specifically help an RPG, that is not the system's only benefit. The Wii will also boast a built-in Wifi capability, and gamers can certainly hope that Nintendo's approach to the Wii's Wifi follows the company's approach to the DS. With its portable system, Nintendo has built a dedicated online network, which has been made freely available to developers. Nintendo doesn't charge gamers access to the online services, and it doesn't charge developers who want to incorporate online play -- the company helps build it into the games made by third party developers, and Nintendo helps advertise the online play of those games, giving a major selling point to third parties. It's a nice arrangement, and if Nintendo duplicates it on Wii, it will be of major note, setting Wii apart from both of its competitors' machines in how it approaches online play. One person has noticed this: Square Enix president Youichi Wada, He has praised Nintendo's online setup in the Wii repeatedly, indicating how it can be used to build better and new communities. The benefits of this Wifi emphasis will surely be seen in games such as the next Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles and future online Phantasy Star titles.
Lower development costs will also be a notable attraction to many developers. While the next generation will certainly have the big budget blockbuster epics with their seamlessly real-time cinematics, the RPG genre is not strictly confined to that style of story-telling. Many games simply don't need, and would actually suffer from, that kind of approach. Lower budgeted games will continue to be made into the next generation, games without the graphical or processing prowess that fully makes use of the power of the PlayStation 3 or the Xbox 360. When it comes time to choose a platform, then, Wii's lower costs will be a factor to consider.
But ultimately, this system will live or die by the wiimote controller, and so the core issue when looking at whether or not RPGs can thrive on the system is in evaluating how RPGs could possibly benefit from the innovations the controller brings And there are quite a few ways RPGs can benefit from it, even if the advantages aren't as immediately obvious as they are for some other genres.
SRPGs like Fire Emblem or Final Fantasy Tactics would benefit on the Wii even more than they have the potential to benefit on the DS -- the direct pointing capabilities of Wii's controller are a natural fit with trying to juggle a large number of units across an expansive map. Point at a unit, point to a destination point. To scroll across a huge map, simply flick the wrist in any direction to quickly pan over a wide area. It offers the advantage of a much more streamlined method of control than slow and impressive stick-controlled cursers.
Of particular note is how effective this streamlined method of control would be in any strategy RPG which makes use of movement systems modeled off of real-time strategies. While that kind of fast speed and streamlined control would be a nice perk for a Fire Emblem or Final Fantasy Tactics game, it could make a crucial difference in a Growlanser or Ogre Battle game where the action plays out in real time. Both games require the player to be even faster in juggling multiple units, and the quick panning and direct pointing of the controller would be of benefit there. Additionally, games like these typically use a point-to-point movement system that would be simplified through a device with mouse-like precision.
What if the next Front Mission game came along and allowed gamers more direct control over the actions taken by the mechanized Wanzer units? There would be no need to ditch the turn-based play, but what if the actual combat was evolved -- guns could be aimed at specific parts, or the player could adjust missile trajectories to better determine where they would hit. It could offer a much more fun and engrossing experience, and the Wiimote is a natural fit for actions like those.
Direct pointing functionality would serve as a highly useful feature with plenty of other RPGs, too. Picture Baten Kaitos, where cards are lined up at the bottom of the screen and the player must quickly tab an analog stick in the direction of the card desired. The Wii's DPD, however, will be able to immediately highlight exactly the right card needed at a given moment. It would make for faster, more intuitive and more streamlined battles. The same would be the case with the deck interface, which was pretty cumbersome in the first Baten Kaitos -- huge inventory management could be greatly simplified. .
A Paper Mario game could incorporate lots of wiimote functionality with new paper forms -- think of the fun that could be had if Mario's paper airplane form played out like a mini-Pilotwings game, just for instance. The Paper Mario series also used its previous controllers in weird ways during battles, and there's no reason it couldn't continue to do so. Among other things, Paper Mario 2 had players pulling back the analog stick, or aiming crosshairs, or timing jumps. The wiimote opens up a whole host of new activities that could be done in battle. But Paper Mario isn't alone there -- the idea of timed button presses in battle has become extremely popular of late, and Wii's controller allows for that idea to be taken to the next level.
What about RPGs that incorporate platforming elements, such as the 2D Castlevanias? Adding twitch-based movement controls to games like this could make for much more fluid interaction. But even more importantly, twitch-based controls, like nothing else in gaming, can really get the player's addrenaline pumping. Someone will have to let Konami's Koji Igarashi know what a blast this kind of game would be to play.
The wiimote has a lot to offer action RPGs in general, particularly in the area of providing a more reactive camera, the lack thereof being the number one flaw in almost every 3D action RPG. With analog movement controls handled through the main controller and analog camera controls pulled off with the nunchaku attachment, you've got a camera that can be much more responsive to the player and is much more easily manipulated to make for a better game. But the potential applications don't end there. If cameras are the number one problem with action RPGs these days, what's the number two?
Here's an idea: having to exit out of the main action to juggle through menus in order to pull off some action. The wiimote offers the ability to greatly reduce such jarring disruptions in play. Anyone that has ever used a web browser like Opera is fully aware of just how beneficial mouse gestures can be in quick navigation; the wiimote, being in some ways essentially a mouse in 3D space, can duplicate that idea of mouse gestures, and an action RPG that allows the player to map a wide variety of actions to gesture-based controls will have hit upon a goldmine. Mana series, I'm looking at you.
What if it can do even more than that? Since the N64 (which means two entire console generations), Zelda games have been bound to Z-trigger targetting. What if the wiimote offers the ability to break out of Z-trigger's confines to evolve combat once again? Forget Z-trigger targetting -- simply point at an enemy and begin attacking, and if another enemy approaches, flick your wrist towards that enemy, point, and attack. Puzzle-solving could also be handled through a ton of new options based on what the wiimote can do.
And of course, who can deny the allure of controlling the wiimote directly like a sword to slash, stab, and slice at enemies? Zelda could do it, but so, too, could the Dragon Quest: Swords game that I've mentioned previously. While this type of gameplay wouldn't have the sort of long-lasting appeal as some of the other more utilitarian functions I've listed out -- I can only see playing a game like that for so long in a single session -- it's an undeniably fun concept, and for short gaming sessions or even multiplayer parties, it could be hilariously entertaining.
Perhaps one of the greatest advantages the controller has is its potential to revolutionize 360 degree games. It is, after all, a controller that recognizes and responds to movement in 360 degrees. Benefits to RPGs such as Skies of Arcadia, Drakengard, Panzer Dragoon Saga would be immediately noticeable. Just as analog sticks allowed games to finally take a limited step into 3D, allowing for an evolution into 3D combat, the Wiimote offers the promise of gaming and evolved combat in 360 degrees. The potential here is enormous, not just how for immensely it can evolve combat, but also for the simple fact that it can increase explorability and immersiveness through a new level of control. Can any gamer now actually picture panning through Dragon Quest VIII's enormous 3D overworld via a simplistic d-pad? Probably not. The Wiimote offers a similar step forward.
It would be hasty at best for any fan of RPGs to immediately write off the possibilities this new system holds. The RPG genre as a whole absolutely can benefit from the controller's possibilities just as much as any other genre might, and the smart money is on seeing how things unfold and in seeing what crazy ideas experienced developers come up with.
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