Mar 05 2009
Elements of an RPG According to Nintendo Power
I’ve been meaning to talk about this for a long time, but what can I say… Cloud’s spikey hair and Kaim’s midriff armor keep distracting me.
Nintendo Power’s February issue was deemed as their “RPG Special,” where they raved all about all of the glorious RPGs coming to the Nintendo DS this year (oh, and they mentioned the one RPG coming for the Wii). That really didn’t catch my eye, as they really didn’t tell anything new. Sure I got to see some more screenshots and learn a little bit more about the games, but they didn’t sway my interests either way.
What did catch my eye was the little checklist the mag included with every RPG preview, listing all of (what they believe) are the typical elements of a role-playing video game. I don’t believe that the list is serious, but it is quite funny and it does kind of sum up the most famous RPGs… like well, the famous one I’m playing right now. According the Nintendo Power, the following elements make up a typical RPG: spikey-haired protagonist (please note that “the spikiness of the protagonist’s hair is up to you”), earnest/clueless female lead, amnesia a key plot point, events foretold by prophecy, random battles, orphaned party members, airship travel, underage heroes, and technology is evil.
This list has made me sit and think about the most recent RPGs I’ve played and check off the elements. Most of them have checked off the first one, because most of the RPGs I have played have been products of Squaresoft or Square Enix. I personally think that the airship travel element should be a combined with a watership element, or just written as “ship.” Kingdom Hearts had a spaceship (yes, the Gummi ship was a sad excuse for a rocket), and Lost Odyssey has a giant boat. The most annoying element: those damn orphaned kids. I know that they’re there to appeal to younger gamers, but they still annoy the hell out of me.
And is it just me, or could this list also be applied to fantasy novels? Maybe anime?
(It is interesting to also note, that one of the hailed RPGs coming to the DS, Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume, only satisfies one of the checklist elements. Perhaps NinPow has left off some crucial points?)
