Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Archetypal Resonance of Classic JRPGs

hyperindexed.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 64 posts

Re: The Archetypal Resonance of Classic JRPGs

#21

Post by hyperindexed »

phlakaton wrote: post #20

Seeing the callout to Xenoblade's music drew me back to listening to that soundtrack again... whence I stumbled upon 8-bit Music Theory's channel, and analysis of Chrono Trigger's and FFVI's music... and that's to say nothing of Secret of Mana or a half-dozen other incredible JRPG soundtracks. I'm probably weird, but the music, more than just about anything, is what brings me back to these JRPG games again and again.…

If you're weird, than I am too. There's something truly mesmerizing about the best JRPG soundtracks...

Re: The Archetypal Resonance of Classic JRPGs

#22

Post by profalseidol »

phlakaton wrote: post #20

Seeing the callout to Xenoblade's music drew me back to listening to that soundtrack again... whence I stumbled upon 8-bit Music Theory's channel, and analysis of Chrono Trigger's and FFVI's music... and that's to say nothing of Secret of Mana or a half-dozen other incredible JRPG soundtracks. I'm probably weird, but the music, more than just about anything, is what brings me back to these JRPG games again and again.…

Dragon Seeds' OST is also one masterpiece:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSbGaLxNjdM&list=PLEDB3E00B9...

Re: The Archetypal Resonance of Classic JRPGs

#23

Post by adwf »

haolez wrote: post #19
izacus wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That seems just nostalgia / survival bias. There was plenty of garbage licensed trash through the history and you only remember the good ones. Same now - we live in the era where games like Witcher 3, Firewatch, Pillars of Eternity, Sunless Sea, Banner Saga, Horizon: ZD, Alien: Isolation, Wolfenstein, Yakuza and many many more exist. Of course you need to actually look beyond the most advertised ones... but then agai…

I strongly agree with you. We had a lot of crap in the past, but there were some gems like Chrono Trigger. However, I seem to be the only Baldur’s Gate fan that didn’t like Pillars :)

Yeah I couldn't quite get into Pillars in the same way as BG or the other old infinity engine games.

I feel like the writing, quests and general world building was really quite good - but the overall gameplay was a bit of a let down.

They abandoned the traditional d20 system in favour of a custom model which really didn't feel right. For instance, barbarians needing high intelligence because that was the stat that extended area attacks. Or mages being fine with heavy armour and high strength, whilst your fighters were seriously hindered by armour...

Just felt like a really weird system that they never quite worked out. They were trying to be different just for the sake of it IMO.

Re: The Archetypal Resonance of Classic JRPGs

#24

Post by smaili »

phowon wrote: post #14
smaili wrote: post #5

> Suffice to say, the average PS1 JRPG contains a very archetypal story. I'm not sure how others feel but to me I've definitely noticed a much stronger emphasis on wowing visual effects in today's RPG's and a much weaker focus on the story and plot lines as was the case in past games.

>I've definitely noticed a much stronger emphasis on wowing visual effects in today's RPG's and a much weaker focus on the story and plot lines as was the case in past games. This basically started in the PS3 era, where it appeared that the casual consumer's bar of visual graphics were raised high enough that pushed up development costs, to the point where developer couldn't cheaply churn out interesting, experimenta…

Very well said and 100% agree.

Re: The Archetypal Resonance of Classic JRPGs

#25

Post by level3 »

porknubbins wrote: post #12

JRPGs look like yet another piece in the puzzle that so many things in contemporary Japanese popular culture seem to peak around the same time in the 90s (anime, fashion, popular music, industrial design etc). I’d guess this too is related to what Masachi Osawa calls the “fictional era” when the national psyche kind of turned inward to escapism and fantasy. I don’t see this talked about much in English or even Japane…

It's probably not talked about much because I don't think many people agree that all those things peaked in the 90s, outside of some sense of nostalgia. Objectively, all of the cultural outputs you mentioned have continued to grow, so any sense of peaking is probably based mainly on subjective taste.

Re: The Archetypal Resonance of Classic JRPGs

#26

Post by scottishcow »

porknubbins wrote: post #12

JRPGs look like yet another piece in the puzzle that so many things in contemporary Japanese popular culture seem to peak around the same time in the 90s (anime, fashion, popular music, industrial design etc). I’d guess this too is related to what Masachi Osawa calls the “fictional era” when the national psyche kind of turned inward to escapism and fantasy. I don’t see this talked about much in English or even Japane…

Despite the financial collapse in the early 90s, throughout the decade Japanese youths still had one of the highest levels of disposable income in the world so that probably had an effect. You could be making the most obscure music, film, or fashion and you still had an audience willing to pay for it.

Also I remember people's attitudes shifting in some inexplicable ways, suddenly cultural capital seemed to carry much more weight than other forms of capital. For a while it felt like everyone in Tokyo was trying to one-up one another, not financially but through cultural connoisseurship. Strange times but I do miss the general atmosphere, Japan feels like a completely different country now...

Re: The Archetypal Resonance of Classic JRPGs

#27

Post by viscanti »

level3 wrote: post #25
porknubbins wrote: post #12

JRPGs look like yet another piece in the puzzle that so many things in contemporary Japanese popular culture seem to peak around the same time in the 90s (anime, fashion, popular music, industrial design etc). I’d guess this too is related to what Masachi Osawa calls the “fictional era” when the national psyche kind of turned inward to escapism and fantasy. I don’t see this talked about much in English or even Japane…

It's probably not talked about much because I don't think many people agree that all those things peaked in the 90s, outside of some sense of nostalgia. Objectively, all of the cultural outputs you mentioned have continued to grow, so any sense of peaking is probably based mainly on subjective taste.

> outside of some sense of nostalgia.

I think there's a case to be made that WE changed since then and that it's not purely nostalgia. There weren't the same level of distractions in the pre-internet world (I understand that the Internet existed but it wasn't the attention economy driven behemoth that it is now). People could engage more deeply with things like Video Games and Anime.

People today are conditioned to jump from dopamine-burst to dopamine-burst as they quickly scroll through their social feeds. Those attention alternatives also fill a big part of free time and mental bandwidth, so the time left over that is dedicated to games and other entertainment is limited. Generally our engagement is much more superficial now.

Re: The Archetypal Resonance of Classic JRPGs

#28

Post by porknubbins »

level3 wrote: post #25
porknubbins wrote: post #12

JRPGs look like yet another piece in the puzzle that so many things in contemporary Japanese popular culture seem to peak around the same time in the 90s (anime, fashion, popular music, industrial design etc). I’d guess this too is related to what Masachi Osawa calls the “fictional era” when the national psyche kind of turned inward to escapism and fantasy. I don’t see this talked about much in English or even Japane…

It's probably not talked about much because I don't think many people agree that all those things peaked in the 90s, outside of some sense of nostalgia. Objectively, all of the cultural outputs you mentioned have continued to grow, so any sense of peaking is probably based mainly on subjective taste.

Some of it comes down to taste certainly but I stil think theres an argument to be made that the kind of cutting edge stuff that was allowed to make it into the mainstream in Japan at that time represents distinctly identifiable period (if peak is too strong a word because $ and volume of output has gone up as you point out.) kind of like how in the us were seeing articles asking why hollywood made The Matrix in 99 and a million comic sequels today, Japan bloggers are wondering why One Peice and Idol groups dominate?

Re: The Archetypal Resonance of Classic JRPGs

#29

Post by JimiofEden »

hyperindexed wrote: post #21
phlakaton wrote: post #20

Seeing the callout to Xenoblade's music drew me back to listening to that soundtrack again... whence I stumbled upon 8-bit Music Theory's channel, and analysis of Chrono Trigger's and FFVI's music... and that's to say nothing of Secret of Mana or a half-dozen other incredible JRPG soundtracks. I'm probably weird, but the music, more than just about anything, is what brings me back to these JRPG games again and again.…

If you're weird, than I am too. There's something truly mesmerizing about the best JRPG soundtracks...

Agreed. I have had weeks where I've just listened to the Chrono Trigger OST. It's not only great for working to, it's just great in general. Same with almost anything Nobuo Uematsu has composed.

Re: The Archetypal Resonance of Classic JRPGs

#30

Post by miqkt »

phlakaton wrote: post #20

Seeing the callout to Xenoblade's music drew me back to listening to that soundtrack again... whence I stumbled upon 8-bit Music Theory's channel, and analysis of Chrono Trigger's and FFVI's music... and that's to say nothing of Secret of Mana or a half-dozen other incredible JRPG soundtracks. I'm probably weird, but the music, more than just about anything, is what brings me back to these JRPG games again and again.…

I share the sentiment about the amazing scores that many JRPGs come with. They really do help with the immersion.

Of somewhat recent JRPGs, I found NieR:Automata to be a superb masterpiece, both in the musical compositions led by Keichii Okabe and the underlying themes explored within the game itself.

Post reply on HN