J-RPGs and Game Balance

[ZaXo Ken'Ichi]

So first thing's first. I'm a 'mechanics and design' guy. While I enjoy all aspects to games, I figure the reason we play these things as games in the first place, is because of, well, the gameplay. As such, I put a lot of emphasis on mechanical balance, particularly in genres like the J-RPG, where the whole entire point of the slower, more methodical gameplay style is to give players a strategic challenge.

But it's extremely common for me to see people completely disregard balance in mechanics when judging J-RPGs. A lot of our favorites are really unbalanced. But it's difficult to notice, because they're usually too easy rather than too hard, which leads to players assuming the lack of challenge is due to their skill rather than the game being broken.

If you asked everyone who avidly plays J-RPGs what they loved the most about the genre, I'm willing to bet the top two answers would be:

1. The narrative

2. The strategic gameplay

If that's the case, then I really don't understand why people don't seem to care -and sometimes even defend- when games are horribly unbalanced. If we're spending half of our 40+ hour journeys in combat, shouldn't that time be meaningful, rather than just being filler in between the story bits? Otherwise, why aren't all of these games kintetic novels instead of games? They'd certainly be wasting less of our time.

But those are just my thoughts. I want to hear yours.

 

[Setzer Gabbiani]

A balanced Japanese Role Playing Games consists of the following elements:

- Gameplay
- Storyline
- Battle System
- Soundtrack
- Sound Effects
- Side Quest
- Mini Games

They all have their unique battle system whether is Turn-Based or Action-Based. Most people prefer the Turn-Based battle system over the Action-Based battle system because of the way it functions. One of the things that the players look into an RPG game is the storyline. It is the most important aspect of the game. The storyline is what identifies the player if it is going to be successful game or not.

Another important aspect to the game is the gameplay. It is what drives the player to continue playing the game without releasing the controller. This conjunction with the type of battle system the game has. It will balance the gaming experience from that perspective.