Posts with tagged with "rpg"

I wasn’t raised on RPGs. Platformers and puzzle games, these were my bread and butter. I grew up focused on mechanical precision, on timing and finite challenges. So when my little brother bought Final Fantasy VII for the PC I remember chiding him for it. Ha ha, those stupid movies posing as games! What do you think you’re doin with that, that’s not a jumping simulator. I ended up playing it anyway.

Video games are a commitment. I'm almost hesitant to sit down with a console game these days because to make any real progress—to travel from one save point to another—might take longer than the fifteen or so minutes I have available. This is one of the reasons I've grown to appreciate my handhelds. For those not aware, most handhelds these days have a pause feature that essentially creates a temporary save that you can return to at anytime.

The JRPG, formerly known more broadly as the console RPG, is a genre suffering from stagnation—or so I've been told. It's a statement often bandied about, but how true is it, really? I recently started what promises to be a bit of an RPG binge with Xenoblade Chronicles, and now find myself deep into a replay of Breath of Fire III. When it comes to game mechanics, these two RPGs could not play more differently.