RPG History

So, I guess to start out, I haven’t exactly been the best about updating on time, or even at all, in the past few weeks. For this reason, I’m officially switching over to a biweekly update schedule. Hopefully this will mean a consistent rate of updates. And, if I build up a sufficient buffer of completed games and reviews, I might switch back. Who knows? But for now, I’m going to do a special about the eras of RPGs, at least so far as I know them.

In the beginning, there was Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. No, seriously. That is what most early RPGs were based on, at least in concept. Before the NES was released, most RPGs were personal computer affairs. I dub this era the Stone Age of RPGs. Basically, it’s prehistoric. I don’t know much about stuff that happened during this era. Well before my time.

On the NES, several RPGs were released. While they were technically unsophisticated, and involved copious amounts of grinding with very little in the way of plot, they were a start. Systems were simple. Level up, deal more damage, gain spells that heal or do more damage than a normal attack. Plots were likewise pretty cookie cutter. Play the self-insert faceless protagonist and quest at the behest of kings and prophets and whatever. Games like Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy set up some of the conventions that would mark the genre, while still retaining some of that olde timey speech and general approach reminiscent of previous text based adventures. This era is the Bronze Age. If you’re thinking in terms of comics, that might seem weird, but the bronze age was the historical period when the most rudimentary tools and technologies were first introduced, and the first civilizations began to flourish. Likewise, in the Bronze Age of RPGs, the first longstanding series originated, updating even more primitive game systems in the process. Again, this is an era I know little about, since it too is before my time (but not by very much). The preferred console for RPGs was… well, actually, it was still pretty much the PC, but no longer by default.

And then came the SNES and contemporaneous systems. With the 16 bit processing, the possibilities for RPGs suddenly exploded. With the better graphics, more expression could be added to NPCs and PCs, and the JRPG was born. Basically, the JRPG focused on generating a coherent and developed story over allowing the player to fully determine how they would respond to each development in the plot. This decision meant that stories could become more grandiose. Since the writers were no longer bound to write a multitude of dialogue for each scenario, they could focus more time on making plots complex and compelling. With multiple character portraits possible for important characters, emotional details were much easier to convey than ever before. It was during this era that several series got their beginnings, like the Tales series with Tales of Phantasia and Breath of Fire. Plots began to explore some deeply problematic theological, philosophical, and political issues, and there was a sense that each new story was groundbreakingly original. In a sense, they were, since there were few games that had sophisticated storylines up to this point. In that respect, this represents the Golden Age of RPGs, because it was the first time the genre came into its own and was something more than a tiny niche market. In retrospect, the console of choice for this era was the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. However, at the time, there was significant competition from the Sega CD add-on to the Genesis. Some of the series that landed on the ill-fated Sega system simply died, while others struggled on by being ported to another system. While I don't have really any direct experience with this era, so many of these games are classics that have been remade that I can claim a certain familiarity.

Well, for better or worse, Final Fantasy VII came out for Sony’s first video game console, the Playstation.  This one game pretty much changed the industry, for some reason. An incredibly successful marketing campaign has something to do with it, but it deserves mention that it was an exceptional game. Whatever the reason, the Silver Age of RPGs had dawned. Gone were the sparkly-eyed protagonists, full of energy and adventurous spirit. Gone were the bright, sometimes garish tones of the previous age. In their place, games focused on tormented heroes who had dealt with real hardship. Worlds became grittier, and villains became more evil, though occasionally less complex. Battle systems in this era became streamlined, with far fewer unique effects to be found on accessories and fewer unbalanced and exploitable elements. To compensate, many games became easier, requiring less level grinding. Games also became far longer. A good length RPG went from being 30 hours to be 60+ hours, and often required multiple game discs. Apart from the abovementioned example, some important series began during this era. The Persona series had its first entry (Persona) during this era, while the Suikoden series had origins straddling the divide between the this era and the previous one (Suikoden did come out before FFVII). The console of choice shifted dramatically to the Playstation. Not only did it gain the highly profitable Final Fantasy series, most other RPG developers released their new games for the system. Even some of the games for the less successful Sega systems saw new life on the PS, giving them a broader audience. Not all games followed the darker mold that typified the era, as there were quite a few that were throwbacks to an earlier time. This probably has something to do with the re-release of several classics from the previous console generation, on both sides of the console war.

It would be quite nice to say that the Playstation 2 with Final Fantasy X was when the next era started, but it’s a little bit before that. Things started to get rolling with Final Fantasy IX, but really, Dreamcast titles like Skies of Arcadia mark the truer beginnings of this era. Departing from comic conventions, I’m going to call this era the Pastel Age. With the rise in popularity of Japanese anime abroad, anime-style graphics quickly became the easiest way to sell an RPG. Plots took a dramatic 180 degree turn from the previous era, and once again focused on enthusiastic, adventurous sorts. However, with the classic plot elements firmly entrenched in gamers’ psyches, parody started to become quite prevalent in the scripts of games of this time period. Colors drifted away from browns and olives and towards pale oranges and blues. Despite beginning on the Dreamcast, the PS2 quickly became the console of choice when the Dreamcast foundered. A truly staggering number of RPGs came out for the PS2 during this era. Some significant series include the Disgaea series (Disgaea: Hour of Darkness) and the Dark Chronicle series (Dark Cloud), both of which displayed anime style graphics and a light-hearted if slightly tongue-in-cheek take on the RPG genre. This is the era that I started playing RPGs during, though I took time out to go back and look at older games pretty early on. It also deserves mention that WRPGs were beginning to make themselves known again, and some highly significant ones were coming out on both the PS2 and the Xbox.

This era has mostly run its course, but I’m really not too sure about what the current era holds. At some point in the future, when I’ve got money and time to look into RPGs coming out right now and even a year or two ago, I’ll write about this current era. Maybe this is the Indie Age, where independent games are king. Perhaps it’s a Dark Age, with lots of grimdark settings and suchlike. Possibly it’s some sort of Dragon Age.