many in recent years have clamored for the end of the japanese rpg as we have come to know it ever since the first dragon quest got its release and spawned a whole genealogical tree of videogames more or less inspired by it. a person as influential currently to jrpgs, and at the same time as level-headed, such as naoki yoshida tells us that this kind of games are simply not sought after anymore. even yuji horii, the very father of the series the game i am writing about is part of and one who has stuck to the traditional formula all throughout the years he's worked on the series, seems to have caved in to this apparent sentiment and has already announced that the latest iteration in the dragon quest series, in the singular teaser we have seen of the game thus far, will have in fact action elements in it.
i am not sure if it is just me not seeing the bigger picture and simply not understanding a simple fact about the industry today. people like naoki yoshida and yuji horii are many lifetimes-worth more knowledgeable about the game industry than me, i realize the fact that they must have consulted the numbers thoroughly before making statements such as the ones they have come to make. it would be strange that one of the current producers of dragon quest, yosuke saito (known also for producing various yoko taro joints), also embraces this transition when dragon quest xi has had a massive success but allows the sequel to depart from the formula that has made the series famous in the first place.
what i am getting at is that this game has perfected the classic jrpg formula and i believe that because of this it has been rewarded with an incredible, well-deserved, success. it should have been the one game that would have changed everyone's minds about the destiny of jrpgs. and apparently it didn't. i wonder what people would attribute this success of the game to then. would they say it is due to the strong cast of playable characters? well, they wouldn't come to meet most of them if they didn't like the gameplay loop enough to play long enough to meet them in the first place. is it the exploration aspect? as with many jrpgs, the game is very much streamlined before truly opening up to the player with world map mobility options. i really cannot stress enough how much it all sounds like excuses to my ears and how much i feel i am missing something very obvious that everyone else can see.
maybe it is simply the fact that, as yoshida said, a more direct control of a character's actions has a greater appeal to newer generations because that's what they've grown with, and if that crowd starts crossing over to their products then they have to adapt the next ones to this new public's expectations. but it just goes against what these games are truly about. dragon quest is successful because it is earnest, it wears its identity as a badge on its chest. the hero's journey plot. the wacky dinos and robots and gokus and trunkses. the shining sword of legend. the ultimate evil wanting to destroy the world as they know it. the casinos. the stereotypical representation of various world populations. and many more. people come to respect all that. or maybe they do not?
i am not sure if it is just me not seeing the bigger picture and simply not understanding a simple fact about the industry today. people like naoki yoshida and yuji horii are many lifetimes-worth more knowledgeable about the game industry than me, i realize the fact that they must have consulted the numbers thoroughly before making statements such as the ones they have come to make. it would be strange that one of the current producers of dragon quest, yosuke saito (known also for producing various yoko taro joints), also embraces this transition when dragon quest xi has had a massive success but allows the sequel to depart from the formula that has made the series famous in the first place.
what i am getting at is that this game has perfected the classic jrpg formula and i believe that because of this it has been rewarded with an incredible, well-deserved, success. it should have been the one game that would have changed everyone's minds about the destiny of jrpgs. and apparently it didn't. i wonder what people would attribute this success of the game to then. would they say it is due to the strong cast of playable characters? well, they wouldn't come to meet most of them if they didn't like the gameplay loop enough to play long enough to meet them in the first place. is it the exploration aspect? as with many jrpgs, the game is very much streamlined before truly opening up to the player with world map mobility options. i really cannot stress enough how much it all sounds like excuses to my ears and how much i feel i am missing something very obvious that everyone else can see.
maybe it is simply the fact that, as yoshida said, a more direct control of a character's actions has a greater appeal to newer generations because that's what they've grown with, and if that crowd starts crossing over to their products then they have to adapt the next ones to this new public's expectations. but it just goes against what these games are truly about. dragon quest is successful because it is earnest, it wears its identity as a badge on its chest. the hero's journey plot. the wacky dinos and robots and gokus and trunkses. the shining sword of legend. the ultimate evil wanting to destroy the world as they know it. the casinos. the stereotypical representation of various world populations. and many more. people come to respect all that. or maybe they do not?