Poll: Final Fantasy: Is it really an RPG?

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dreadedcandiru99

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So I was talking to a gamer friend earlier about Brutal Legend, and how it had thrown a few people, myself included, for a loop: players were expecting a hacky slashy actioner and they got a sorta-kinda RTS. And then we moved on to upcoming games, including Final Fantasy XIII, and, long story short, we came to the conclusion that the FF games could be making the same mistake by advertising themselves as RPGs. I mean, they're not like, say, Mass Effect, in which the story changes depending on your decisions--in which you actually play a role. (It seems like Heavy Rain could also qualify as an RPG in that respect, now that I think of it.) Your job in the typical FF game, on the other hand, is to manage the characters' potion collection and get them through fights, but otherwise to simply steer them towards the next cutscene and then put the controller down while they drive the plot along on their own.

So I guess I'm wondering what people think about this: should FF really be considered an RPG? If not, what do we call it instead?
 

oliveira8

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Feb 2, 2009
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It's an RPG. A Japanese Role Playing Game.

Edit: To expand. It's the same thing as any RPG. You have a party of people, level up, gather gear and beat up bad people. It's the same thing as Dungeons and Dragons. A party of people, that level up, gather gear and beat up bad people.

Same thing. The only thing that changes is the main character is already defined and that in other games you can make up your own character. But in some games(FO2) you already have pre-defined combinations of characters so...

Same thing.
 

Arcanz

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Role playing game is not limited to games wich you control the story. The name RPG comes from the fact that you assume the role of the character. It's like having a role in a play, you don't decide how it ends.(most of the time atleast) But you play the role of a character in that play, same with the games. You play the role of a game character.

The name is older than the multiple choice/ending "system".
 

wolfy098

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its a JRPG which means you need patience

Thats why you don't see it as an RPG...

you think like a westerner
hack slash leave...

(spoken as a westener who isn't proud to be a westerner)
 

Kruxxor

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All games can be considered an RPG, hence you're playing the role of someone else (Call of Duty, Tiger Woods, Virtua Tennis) and I guess Football and Madden games can be considered RTS'

But if we went by that system, there would only be, what, three different genre? Sim, Roleplay and RTS.

But yes, the FF games have always been JRPGs (Yes there are spin-offs which may be considered otherwise.)

I had an argument last week with someone who disagreed with me about Tiger Woods being an RPG. I believe it is. You make your own character, name them, upgrade their gear when needed, improve their stats. Whats not RPG about that?
 

auronvi

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Kruxxor said:
All games can be considered an RPG, hence you're playing the role of someone else (Call of Duty, Tiger Woods, Virtua Tennis) and I guess Football and Madden games can be considered RTS'

But if we went by that system, there would only be, what, three different genre? Sim, Roleplay and RTS.

But yes, the FF games have always been JRPGs (Yes there are spin-offs which may be considered otherwise.)

I had an argument last week with someone who disagreed with me about Tiger Woods being an RPG. I believe it is. You make your own character, name them, upgrade their gear when needed, improve their stats. Whats not RPG about that?
I would agree with you about Tiger Woods. A Sports Themed RPG!

I have always thought about the name RPG. After Final Fantasy III the games went from naming your own characters to playing the roles of predefined characters. This allowed for a deeper mode of story telling. You still took on the role of these characters but in a weird third person perspective. This would really define the JRPG. A true western RPG is more like the Elder Scrolls style where you assume the role of a single character. Just two different perspectives of the same concept. The stories for these first person RPGs tend to be a little less deep on the character development (as far as the character goes, not stats and such) but it gives you the ability to imagine what your character would do which some would argue would be MORE like playing a role than the traditional JRPG does.

In short, yes Final Fantasy is an RPG and it is a JRPG by sub-genre.
 

ottenni

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Thats an interesting idea. Yes it is a RPG, as you are role playing, you just have who you are role playing as written for you. Which to many may be a good thing as it allows for certain story aspects to be included, but may be a bad thing as for some the role playing idea is to create a character. Its up to personal taste.
 

Kitacular

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For me, I'd say a role playing game would have to let the player decide what their characters are. The player should feel like they were the ones who made the characters what they are through customisation (In terms of combat, names aren't enough for me.). Just being able to choose how your team plays. Following this logic, I'd say that most of the games fill that position.

The first game got the principle right in my eyes, by letting you pick classes. It was limited, but in concept it works. 3, 5 and 10-2 also do this, so they also come into it. 11 too.

7 and 8 could be debated, but I'd say materia and junctions offer enough diversity to keep me happy. Junctions not quite as much since it matches the Esper rather than the character, but I'll include it. 6 could also be debated, but I'd include that for similar reasons.

All of the Tactics games also do this well, by giving the player to recruit who he wants.

4, 9, and 10 don't do this, so I'd consider them turn-based adventure games...or something. I'm unsure about 2 and 12, since I haven't played either of them enough to decide.
 

Thaius

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You do realize the Japanese have been making their RPGs long before Americans started making games like Mass Effect, right? If something doesn't fall into the RPG genre, it's American RPGs, not Japanese ones.
 

auronvi

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LOL who said no?

Kitacular said:
4, 9, and 10 don't do this, so I'd consider them turn-based adventure games...or something.
You making up genres now? Final Fantasy IV, IX and X are not TBAGs (probably why the genre was never named such).
 

Beatrix

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It is still an RPG series, it used to be more traditional and tons better, but it's still an RPG.
 

Jenova65

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Thaius said:
You do realize the Japanese have been making their RPGs long before Americans started making games like Mass Effect, right? If something doesn't fall into the RPG genre, it's American RPGs, not Japanese ones.
What you said! Except all western RPG's not just American.
 

Kitacular

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You making up genres now? Final Fantasy IV, IX and X are not TBAGs
As apposed to the other genres which were also made up? Technically most of them are adventure games (That happen to be turn-based), just some have roleplaying aspects, and some don't.

Roleplay is meant to allow the player to feel like they're the party in question, and that's sort of ruined if you're just given a bunch of pre-selected characters. Almost like using somebody's ready-made DnD character.

Still, you got me on the abbreviation ;)
 

FROGGEman2

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RPGs are made by interface trappings. Story is actually irrelevant.

Eh, it's a case of connotations gone sour, really.
 

ultimasupersaiyan

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Final Fantasy is NOT a RPG but is catagorised as one because of the style of play. It's more of an interactive anime/novel.

I'm a HUGE fan of Final Fantasy and even I can admit that it's not.
 

Hutchy_Bear

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auronvi said:
LOL who said no?

Kitacular said:
4, 9, and 10 don't do this, so I'd consider them turn-based adventure games...or something.
You making up genres now? Final Fantasy IV, IX and X are not TBAGs (probably why the genre was never named such).
XD That made me chuckle. TBAG genre. Im just TBAGing.
 

Ultress

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Feb 5, 2009
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It's an RPG mind you as someone said a JRPG and if it's good enough you can relate to the characters and get into that role's mindset.
 

Queen Michael

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It's not an RPG. It's the RPG. It's a textbook example of what defines the gaming term "RPG". You might as well say that Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories aren't mysteries, or that Jack Thompson isn't a nutcase, or that Superman is no superhero.
 

DanDeFool

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I like the old Toshinden ad which has some weird polygonal face thing saying: "It's a role-playing game. Today, you'll be playing the role of the pinata."

As to whether or not FF is an RPG, it really depends on how you define the concept of an RPG. Personally, I think FF is an RPG because the original Final Fantasy on the Nintendo pretty much defined the genre all the way into the PlayStation era, when the genre was once again redefined by Final Fantasy VII with 3D environments, larger storylines, and more advanced magic systems.

Of course, Chrono Trigger is better than either of those games (according to me, anyway).

I'll tell you what Final Fantasy ISN'T; it definitely is not a "Final" Fantasy. God, they're on THIRTEEN already, and one of them is an MMO! That's about as NOT final as you can get! They probably have fourteen about 1/10 finished by now! Forget "Final" Fantasy; more like "Wow, I Wonder When We're Going To Run Out Of Ideas and Have to Stop Making These Games?" Fantasy.