I recently gave up on Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World a scant four hours into my experience for one reason alone: the game was literally stabbing me in the brain with its narrative. It's not that DotNW's story was exceptionally bad; actually, it was delightfully mediocre, which is really all I can ask for from a JRPG these days. The biggest problem, you see, is that DotNW's stopped to show me its accursed story about every 5 seconds, like an attention-starved child waving a macaroni art project in my face.
"Yes, I see. Very nice. Daddy's trying to play his game now."
Listen up, JRPG developers: the stories you're trying to tell? They aren't necessarily worth telling. In fact, I can really only name two RPGs in the past decade that've had stories which ranked far above "serviceable:" Final Fantasy XII, and Mother 3--note that the latter of these two was written by an actual writer. I may come off as kind of snobbish with this post, though I think that just comes with age; there was a point in my life when I thought RPG plots were totally tubular, but that was back when I was in high school. Turning into a cranky old man has given me the benefit of perspective; through experiencing a number of excellent narratives (across various media), I've obtained standards that I can't quite drop. (Also, I need some way to justify my expensive BA.)
The problem of lousy narrative is a pretty big hurdle for JRPG developers, but I've taken the liberty of coming up with some easy-to-follow and unsolicited solutions:
- Keep it simple. This involves recognizing your own limitations. You're not the next Tolkien, so don't try to be. Some of the most fun and charming RPGs--like Chrono Trigger--had simple, storybook tales that steered clear from pretention. Do your neologisms number in the dozens? Have you name-dropped at least two German philosophers? Then you've gone too far and must be stopped.
- Showing us your story means we're not playing your game. We want to play your game; that's why we bought it. Could something in a proposed story scene actually be played by us? Then let us play!
- Your story is not as good as you think it is. Seriously. Odds are, you've just assembled a collection of stereotypes from the popcorn entertainment you've been immersed in for your entire life. Go to someone who can recognize quality writing. Get them to hit you, if necessary.
That wasn't so hard, was it? Now, if we could only get you guys to stop committing deicide so often, we'd have a real revolution on our hands.
Related Links:
The 61FPS Review: Dragon Quest IV – Chapters of the Chosen
Hey, RPG Hero: Go Home and Be a Family Man
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