An article that makes a comparison between the way Japanese and American games are designed and how both sides could be improved. The article mainly focuses on the length of games and how a new way of designing RPGs could make playing them less of a chore.

Imagine the following… You play the next Final Fantasy, and after 10-20 hours, your game ends. Your main, effeminate and/or simian-looking character with an absurdly disproportioned blade saves whatever is to be saved; you beat your three-tiered end-boss that has no relative semblance to the game’s main antagonist; you get your abstract ending that has an equally questionable relevance to the story; the summoned, trans-dimensional, elemental, demonic fiend that was revived by the idiot wanting to destroy the world is banished back whence it came forth; the crystals are restored; the tree blooms again and the sages do a jig. The credits roll, a tear runs down your cheek and you’re returned back the main menu. Game Over.

You begin a new game and notice the option to play a second chapter. Doing so starts a new intro and you are back in the shoes of the main character. A new story unfolds with the same overworld map, same towns, NPCs, and a new set of clichés. Everything is reused. Your whacky character again gets into trouble and sets out to save the world. The only difference is the story and a few new characters to spice things up. A single retail game could have three or four of those stories.

psxmeup via gameobserver.com »