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Last week David Cage, CEO of Quantic Dream, delivered his keynote speech at D.I.C.E. Summit held by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Science and what he had to say did not please many gamers. This conference is intended for the video games industry but consumers have a big role in what the developers create. The entire speech can be found here: Cage strongly asserts that the video games industry is suffering from what he calls the "Peter Pan Syndrome." He claims that video games have not change much, if at all, in their 40 year history. Yes, there have been technological advances and graphical improvements, but the core of today's games haven't changed. I couldn't agree more and I feel the genre suffering from this problem the most is the RPG. [img width=700 height=393]http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/9/2010/02/final_fantasy_xiii_xbox.jpg[/img] This is a concern of mine because RPGs have strayed very little from the "save the world" paradigm. On the other hand the games can very little substance, like the Fable series. This genre is a very adaptable one that can easily handle mature themes. Themes that are more mature are found in Role Playing games, but they are always hidden in the subtext of the narrative. I could extrapolate that Final Fantasy XIII dealt with prejudice and societal perception of the "other," but I had to look beyond the facade of the game to glean these issues. I wished that this was the focal point of the story, seeing how the cast would cope with and overcome being labelled as corrupted outsiders. It seems that RPGs are used as a means of doing and seeing things can exist beyond our reality. Slaying dragons is fun, but it needs to have meaning. There is nothing wrong with a fantastical game with magic and monsters. They can be very enjoyable providing an escape from our real life problems and worries. However, as a gamer I want to see what happens if RPGs used these authentic issues as primary themes. I am currently playing through the Level-5 and Studio Ghibli collaboration Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. The bright and beautiful colours of this lighthearted game disguise the more serious issue which lies at the core. Ni no Kuni is about loss - how the loss of a young boy's mother can completely disrupt his world. The fantasy setting of the surreal parallel world is used as a narrative device to portray the difficulties Oliver experiences while dealing with the death of his mother. It does not take a stretch of the imagine to consider that losing a dearly loved family member would turn one's world completely upside down. This is also what makes the game great. The theme has meaning and is relatable; it is accessible to anyone even those who have little to no interest in video games. Accessibility is another area RPGs falter. More often than not these games will not interest someone who does not play games. The stories could be deemed too strange, the characters might be to silly looking. How about a Role Playing game with realistic humans set in a world within the confines of our reality trying to overcome something that is relevant to our modern world. An example could be a man or woman living in persecution for his or her beliefs and how this person copes in a society in which they are not welcome. I hope to see more mature, more relevant RPGs in the upcoming generation of consoles. This genre is certainly able to tackle more than it is given credit for.
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I think the problem with RPGs is that they just have a hard time telling a story by basic virtues of design, at least the Eastern ones do. The Western ones have pushed further and further into the sandbox territory.
The long, hardcore grinds of console style RPGs both new and old, as well as Western sandboxes both end up creating the same storytelling problems. Spending 2 hours grinding or 2 hours exploring ends up creating a disjointed and confusing to follow story as the player forgets some of the earlier information while they progress.
You also end up with games that have next to no story but are set in a mature world such as Shin Megami Tensei, early Personas, and Fallout among others. Console RPGs tried to fix this by putting the story on rails, making them almost completely linear and now gamers have either changed tastes, or forgotten that its always been this way (or fooled by the world map/overworld illusion of freedom) as they've been complaining like children about this recently.
Lately PC has been getting some more mature games like The Witcher series (both are amazing in this regard, but the upcoming 3rd one looks like it could be going more the sandbox route). Then there's Fallout, the early games are a limited sandbox which makes the world easy to explore and ergo easier to digest. It sounds like you really need to play Planescape: Torment though, and there's a spiritual successor Torment: Tides of Numenera that will kick into more brisk development after another promising mature game Wasteland 2 is finished.
I think the best way to tell a tight, complete, easy to follow and mature narrative in games is actually the visual novel genre. There's no grinding or battles, its all text and choice based, but they can tell great stories like Phoenix Wright, 999, Hotel Dusk and such. The DS and 3DS are beastly systems for this genre.
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I think the problem with RPGs is the characters. For example the picture you have above. I find the character very attractive, but in typical JRPG fashion I am unable to determine if it is male or female. So as to not discrupt my lifestyle, I pretend all characters in JRPGs are female. However, when the game is voiced, this makes it very difficult. This is why I no longer play JRPGs.
Oh, and that dude, for the most part, is right. Even in so called "art games" the basic themes are still the same. However, I assert that with video games the story isn't as important as the execution (seeing that video games are interactive). Take from that what you will. Just keep the first paragraph between us, okay?
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@SirPsycho: Grinding can be seen as a bump in the road when it comes to narrative, I agree. A simple solution could be a progression log (viewed during initial loading screens or within a submenu). Otherwise a "Previously on..." type recap could work.
I have no problem at all with a linear game, but when I'm trying to say with this article is that RPGs can, and should, evolve into more meaningful games.
@bombatomba: I get where you're coming from. This is why JRPGs aren't very accessible. They use a ton of anime stylistic elements. No hard feelings. I actually think anime characters look weird.
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Change scares me. I get very comfortable with what I like and I dont like it to change. I agree with you that something absolutely ground breaking and amazing is most likely possible. I'm just not sure I want to wade through the transitional period that would have to take place prior to that experience. Keep feeding me the crap I'm used to and I'll be happy 
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@Crabmaster2000: I don't fear change (in media that is) one bit. The new changes make media entertaining. All these reality TV shows are perfect examples. They were new interesting at one point, but it's gone overboard.
I know you don't literally mean "crap" but if we as the consumers keep buying the same games we'll keep getting the same games. Just a question because I want to understand your fear of change: were you one of those people who felt alienated by Metallica's Black Album? For a band, game developer, movie producer, etc to stay relevant they have to accept change and accept that some people will feel left behind by the new decisions and direction of the medium/content.
One way games can change for the better is for developers to stop repeating the same formulas they've been using so far. Final Fantasy hasn't deviated from its core mechanics in the 20-something years since the first game and sales figures reflect that the audiences are craving something new.
I hope this didn't come across as an attack on you. These are just my feelings of the genre and the games industry that I wanted to share with the community and learn what the rest of members here think. I'll pass the talking stick to the next person now.
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I feel extremely alienated by things like the "Black Album". I really don't mind game companies, bands, tv shows, etc trying new things. I just wish they wouldn't do it with their core material. Capcom/Metallica wants to make an action shooter/radio friendly album, thats cool with me. Just don't take everything I love about Resident Evil/metal, change it completely and call it Resident Evil/Metal. Make it a spin off if you feel the need to use the RE name in marketing, but please at least try to satisfy the core base that made the franchise popular in the first place.
I fear the change because I see many genres I used to enjoy moving in directions that don't appeal to me. RPGs in the sense that I know them are already becoming harder to find so if a big change that I'm not happy with takes off with the genre it'll leave me behind.
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That makes sense, Crabby. You're basically saying "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."
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@Fleach: Not exactly. I'm definitely an "it it ain't broke, don't fix it" kind of guy though. But I was more trying to get across the idea that it feels like a slap in the face to abandon the base that made you successful in the first place. I understand the need for things to adapt to bring in new fans and stay profitable, but when it alienates the people who made you successful in the first place that really gets on my nerves.
I'm sure its much easier said than done, but I feel like small incremental changes are best since I think it has the best chance of satisfying your main audience as well as possibly expanding the franchise.
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I agree with some of Cage's assertions, but I think that he (along with much of the developer community) aren't communicating the reality of the industry as much as the frustration of a lack of commercial interest in a game that uses the medium beyond common basic tropes.
Using games to explore themes, even 'mature' themes, is used constantly; throughout our medium's history we have consistent examples of this; from Dave Theurer intentionally making Missile Command never-ending (with his expressed intent to show the futility of nuclear war) to Metal Gear Solid 4's admittedly bloated approach of tackling the subject of war as a business of suppression and control.
Other examples just off the top of my mind;
obviously Shadow of the Colossus
To the Moon (don't dare ask me for anything else; spoilers)
Limbo (I could write an essay on what this game could potentially represent)
Catherine (everything from gameplay-as-metaphor to how social structures affect relationships is represented here, it really is as good an example as SotC on how every aspect of the game is holistically representing the narrative theme)
Stretch Panic (a surreal Japanese experience where the developer's intent includes using a young girl avatar to deflate the hyper-sexualization and vanity of women)
Far Cry 2's pervasive theme of entropy
I can keep going, but let's address the genre of the article, the RPG. When I was 15, I played a game that examined (in different degrees of detail) teen pregnancy, suicide, the loss of loved ones, genocide, madness, military experimentation on human test subjects, honor at great personal expense, hopelessness after an apocalypse, and a host of other 'mature' themes represented. These were not necessarily examined at length or meditated upon for much of the game; indeed, sometimes such themes would only consist of a few lines of text. But they were there, present, in a 2D sprite based RPG called Final Fantasy III (VI in Japan, of course.)
I've since revisited such themes in games as recent as Lost Odyssey and the Mass Effect Trilogy.
Yet I feel Cage still has room to vent for two reasons; 1: meditative themes in games are usually not the focus and are bludgeoned into unimportance in the game's design, and 2: there is little evidence of commercial success in games that are more focused on mature themes, at least at the expense of 'Hollywood Blockbuster' production values or returning to common game designs. It is easy for developers like Cage, and indeed us as players, to get frustrated at the sales numbers of 'paint by the numbers' sequels and 'me-too' genre staples, but the simple fact of the matter is that these games are what sell in the millions, and games that expect 'more' from the audience may be met with critical acclaim but rarely sell well enough for a publisher to justify the expense over what the market is demanding. The frustration is genuine, but the target should be an audience that (grumble as they may) still buys more Madden and Call of Duty over Shadow of the Colossus and To the Moon.
As much as digital distribution has been touted as a way to overcome current market pressure and give more exploratory games a fighting market chance, the same capitalism factors propel Angry Birds over Analogue: A Hate Story.
'We' aren't fighting the industry as much as the purchasing interests of the gaming public at large.
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I think you're right, Slackur. Many games address more serious topics even though they may just be glossed over in side quests, brief dialogue, and the like. I think that if film and literature can provide meditative analyses why can't video games do the same? Could this be the next stage in the growth of the video games medium? Could meditative analyses of serious "mature" themes be the trait make the medium more than a source of entertainment?
The argument Cage posed about making games accessible is what I agree with most. Because almost all games require the player to master the mechanics of play this can deter those with little to no experience with video games. A personal example: I'm sure Bioshock is great and it sounds like it has loads to offer in terms of content, but I'm terrible with the controls used in first-person shooters so I've avoided the game. Making games more accessible has potential to broaden the market and perhaps even introduce a new demographic group.
A couple other issues that could come with such a game would likely be that many people won't "get" what the game is about. Another problem that could arise is the "games as art" debate. Something doesn't have to art to send a message.
I really enjoy reading your comments. They always get me thinking. I hope you like what I've put out so far, and look forward to the discussions we'll have.
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This is Fleach's Blog.
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Role Playing games are my favourite genre of the gaming library. I feel it is appropriate to take a look at the games that have touched me in my time as a gamer and collector and share them with the community. Feel free to discuss your thoughts, ideas, and challenge my opinions. The conversation is welcomed. |
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