On Indie Nation #53, Anthony Burch featured a small Flash-based game called The Linear RPG, which essentially makes a critical analysis of JRPGs.

To be honest, I wasn’t very pleased with the game at first. It seemed to me that the person who had made this game was simply trying to be witty by making fun of one of my favourite genres. After having “played” it some more however, I started to change my mind, because although the game was obviously meant as a figurative poke to the ribs, it was in fact very clever, and although I hate to admit it, awoke in me some of the simple pleasures I receive from playing a real JRPG.

As for the article by Burch itself, I understand his general argument, but still believe his logic is flawed. He argues that:

Although I will admit that many JRPGs make use of rather simple combat mechanics, I would hardly say that I “suffer” through them; in fact, I would dare say that I rather  enjoy sending my party into combat, sometimes spending countless hours leveling them up simply because I enjoy doing so. It should also be noted that his argument against repetitive gameplay could be used against many other types of games – we’ve all played through some very monotonous first-person shooters and hack-and-slash action games. As for the worth of the stories they present, I can’t argue with him about his own personal tastes, but I will simply state that I have found many JRPGs to have amazing stories, riddled with intrigue and moments in which I have found myself brought to tears.

*****

Another game I highly recommend you take the time to try out is a small indie game called Don’t Look Back. It’s a rather simple platformer with rather simple controls, but there is a certain level of beauty and intelligence behind it that I can’t help but appreciate. Sometimes the simplest designs are the best, and this is a perfect example of just that.