Why JRPGs should look at the NFL’s playbook
This is a column by Jason Schreier dedicated to the analysis (and occasional mocking) of his favorite genre, the Japanese role-playing game. Whether it’s because they’re too antiquated or just too niche, he believes JRPGs don’t get enough attention in the gaming industry today. It’s time to change that.
Joystiq’s Ben Gilbert once bemusedly pointed out that my taste in games oscillates between “kawaii!” and “yeah bro!” This is true. Two of the games I enjoyed most this year were Radiant Historia and Madden NFL 12, which is about as huge a disparity as you can get without diving into the terrifying click fields of games like FarmVille.
But wait a minute. Are they really all that different? Sure, the National Football League athletes who lend their images to Madden might not have much in common with the anime-like sprites of a Japanese RPG, but in terms of game design, there are some striking similarities.
As Kill Screen Editor-in-Chief Chris Dahlen pointed out in a GameSpy article last year, football is, at its core, a strategy role-playing game. Each team gets several turns to move the ball down the field, during which they can select from a variety of different attacks. Competing teams match wits over field position and strategy in an attempt to wrest an advantage. At the end of the game, whichever team does the most damage — or scores the most points — wins.
Though it has been tweaked quite a bit over the past century, the core rules of football have remained the same since the forward pass was introduced over 100 years ago. It is America’s most popular sport for a reason: it is an extraordinarily well-designed game.
Perhaps it could teach JRPG developers a thing or two about combat. Continue reading Why JRPGs should look at the NFL’s playbookWhy JRPGs should look at the NFL’s playbook originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 25 Nov 2011 16:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | Comments
You May Also Want To Read:
