Are new JRPGs all the same?

[Nam Yensa]

As I replayed Final Fantasy XII I suddenly had an epiphany that I've seen this story before. i took a look at the many Jrpgs that i played and realized that almost all of them are about "insert cliche here" fighting "insert evil empire here". have all JRPGs become the same?

 

[TelHybrid]

No more so than most other genres to be honest.

 

[Vlane]

No [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Devil_Saga], not [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shin_Megami_Tensei_III:_Nocturne] really [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persona_3].

Yes I am a sucker for the SMT series thank you for probably pointing that out Captain Obvious.

 

[Kasawd]

Old ones seem annoyingly random. Play the Breath of Fire games.

No, they're not. Not even the Final Fantasies aside from the boss schematics(Angel or Deity?)

EDIT: Wait. I forgot, Jrpgs's. Breath of Fire is western, if I remember correctly.

 

[wolfy098]

No more than everyone else

But its the diffrences in this basic plot that make JRPGs great

 

[Eldarion]

FFXII was great, the story was a little generic but the characterization of everyone was really good. On top of that there gameworld is big and interesting, there is A LOT of extra content and the battle system got a complete overhaul and came out pretty run.

All JRPGs aren't the same, don't be stupid.

 

[McMarbles]

Why can't there be a JRPG where you team up with a sexy genocidal maniac and a pirate teddy bear to destroy the universe?

Hey, look at that. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sands_of_Destruction]

 

[blankblankblank]

I'm not a huge JRPG player, but I'm pretty sure Lost Odyssey story was pretty unique. I loved the maturity of it, not the average teenage angst hero.

 

[Grayjack]

No [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Devil_Saga], not [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shin_Megami_Tensei_III:_Nocturne] really [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persona_3].

Yes I am a sucker for the SMT series thank you for probably pointing that out Captain Obvious.

Damn you, Ninja.

 

[NeutralDrow]

The Tales series tend to switch things up a bit, unless you define "evil empire" as "any group of organized bad guys." Of the ones I've played, Tales of the Abyss has you fighting against several groups in two different countries and a church, and Tales of Symphonia has you fighting against a combination underground criminal movement, false religion, and misguided but otherwise neutral parties acting in their own interest.

Hell, in Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World, most of the time you're fighting an evil rebellion (though that game has you fight against almost everyone, alone).

 

[Ammadessi]

No more than any other genre.

Are all FPS games the same? All platformers? All movies, all books?

Most of the epic stories have already been told, so most games that rely on an epic story are just a retelling of the same old good vs. evil with new set dressing.

 

[mattttherman3]

In terms of storytelling yes, but why don't you come up with something better?

 

[Rathy]

If you want to compare games, I think my friend made the excellent point that especially the Final Fantasy series always feels like a rehash of itself with a new cast. There are a lot of good originals, but some of them are a bit older.

Games that come to mind where it isn't evil empire the entire game include TWEWY, Xenogears, SMT that come to mind.

 

[AVATAR_RAGE]

basicly most game developers now dont want to loose sales so they just copy each other.

in the case of fps games most developers copy halo or even gears (i know that its a 3rd person game)

but most jrpgs like to copy final fantasy, but final fantasy XII seemed to copy star wars in my opinion.

think about it an evil empire taking over, band of young plucky heroes band together with a quirky pirate and some sort of strange creature, not to menton the old mentor figure. and on top of that the basic imperial troopers look like medevil stormtroopers.

just in my opinion of course

 

[NickCaligo42]

You replayed Final Fantasy XII? You poor person...

Yes and no. USUALLY I'd rush to Square-Enix's side on this debate and say that while they use the same overall story structure, they do justify themselves fairly well in that they consistently deal with different themes and motifs with each iteration. If nothing else you can say that they provide a new, interesting, and imaginative setting to explore with each one, which is what really makes any RPG worth it for me.

Usually this is what I'd say. Then I saw the trailer for Final Fantasy XIII--the one with dialogue and plot info, not just that early quick-cut montage. It made me go from "probably going to buy the game" to "you couldn't pay me to buy this friggin' game." That's a rant for another time, though.

basicly most game developers now dont want to loose sales so they just copy each other.

More rightly most people, developers included, have an incredibly superficial concept of what games are and a terribly misconceived notion of what the term "game design" means exactly. 99% of the time it's mixed up with "game programming" or "writing" and actual knowledge of the abstract and mathematical concepts behind rules and whatnot has little to no bearing on what they do. I don't think that anyone willfully thinks of themselves as being copycats in this regard so much as they just figure that "all games are/should be like this" and then they point at a particular popular product and try to imitate it while simultaneously harboring a shallow and very subjective understanding of why exactly it worked.

Now publishers, they outright push for being copycats.

 

[pigeon_of_doom]

The fight against an established, superior force has always been a very common basis for game plots. Possibly due to fantasy literature's influence over the medium's storytelling. It's not necessarily a bad thing in itself, there are plenty of JRPGS using that basic premise that differentiate themselves enough to be worth playing, but it has been massively overdone.

But to answer your question: no. Just pick up an SMT game as another poster suggested or find a game that deals with that worn premise in a manner you enjoy.