Jason Schreier
Articles by Jason Schreier
Final Fantasy XIII-2 review: Fixing the past
There was once a time when "Final Fantasy" meant greatness, when seeing Square's brand on a game box meant you were about to play something special. That time has long since passed. In today's gaming landscape, Final Fantasy is more punchline than powerhouse, more quantity than quality. After the mediocre Final Fantasy XIII and the sheer disaster that was Final Fantasy XIV, many fans have lost faith in the RPG titan.Final Fantasy XIII-2 is the publisher's attempt to mend this relationship. At times, it feels like the development team just went down a laundry list and added everything that fans believed Final Fantasy XIII lacked. Non-linear dungeons? Check. Sidequests? Check. NPCs and towns? Check, check. In other words, the whole game seems like one big apology.%Gallery-140865%
Remembering the best JRPG ever
This is a column by Jason Schreier dedicated to the analysis (and occasional mocking) of his favorite genre, the Japanese role-playing game. Whether it's because they're too antiquated or just too niche, he believes JRPGs don't get enough attention in the gaming industry today. It's time to change that. Good news and bad news.The bad news is that today's column will be my last. I've accepted a full-time job elsewhere and I won't be able to write for Joystiq anymore. It's been a blast talking about JRPGs with you all, and I hope you enjoyed reading my articles almost as much as I enjoyed writing them.The good news is that I'm taking this opportunity to write about one of the best JRPGs of all time, a game I always fervidly rank at the top of every "Best Games Ever!!!" list. Few games know how to tell a story this poignant, this engaging, this memorable. Few games blend narrative and mechanics together this smoothly. Few games are so powerful that they convince you to ignore some significant flaws, like bizarre bugs and a terrible translation effort. But this one is.It's called Suikoden II.
Why silly JRPG dialogue may not be a problem
This is a column by Jason Schreier dedicated to the analysis (and occasional mocking) of his favorite genre, the Japanese role-playing game. Whether it's because they're too antiquated or just too niche, he believes JRPGs don't get enough attention in the gaming industry today. It's time to change that. I've been playing a lot of Final Fantasy XIII-2 lately. I can't post my full thoughts until the embargo's up (January 30), but there's one question I've been pondering ever since I popped in the disc: What's up with this dialogue?Thanks to a lot of silly jargon and awkward phrasing, a large chunk of Final Fantasy XIII-2's conversations elevate it into the "wouldn't want anyone to watch me playing this" category, alongside titles like Star Ocean: The Last Hope and any Tales game."Become an arrow through time and speed your way to Serah," one of the game's characters says in the game's intro sequence. Other bits of dialogue are similarly awkward, mixing metaphors, dropping strange proper nouns and completely confusing whoever's playing (read: me).(Another choice line: "If the paradox is eliminated, spacetime will return to normal.")Of course, it'd be unfair to only pick on the latest Final Fantasy for this issue. Japanese role playing games -- even moreso than other game genres -- are not known for their fluid, witty dialogue. JRPG scripts are more infamous for mistranslations ("This guy are sick.") than smart or clever bits of writing.But does it matter? Can a JRPG still be awesome even if its dialogue sucks?
Why Final Fantasy XIII just didn't work
This is a column by Jason Schreier dedicated to the analysis (and occasional mocking) of his favorite genre, the Japanese role-playing game. Whether it's because they're too antiquated or just too niche, he believes JRPGs don't get enough attention in the gaming industry today. It's time to change that. On January 31, Square Enix will release Final Fantasy XIII-2, a direct sequel to Final Fantasy XIII, which the developer shipped several years ago to mixed reactions. Some fans adored the game's gorgeous aesthetics and flashy combat; others cursed Square Enix for daring to defile their beloved series. Perhaps because of that fan ambivalence, a large part of Square Enix's marketing plan for Final Fantasy XIII-2 has revolved around the message "This is not Final Fantasy XIII!" During preview events and demos, the developer has been careful to show off all of the new elements that the first game did not have: towns, NPCs, sidequests, and so forth. Will Final Fantasy XIII-2 be worth playing? I'll tell you in a few weeks. But while we wait to see whether or not the newest Final Fantasy is worth our time, let's figure out why Square Enix is so eager to make it feel different than its predecessor. Just where did Final Fantasy XIII go wrong?
In defense of Xenogears
This is a column by Jason Schreier dedicated to the analysis (and occasional mocking) of his favorite genre, the Japanese role-playing game. Whether it's because they're too antiquated or just too niche, he believes JRPGs don't get enough attention in the gaming industry today. It's time to change that. When it comes to grandiose adventures, there are few games like Xenogears. Few games' stories are as stirring, as twisty, as poignant. Few games' characters are as bizarre and entrancing. But fans have skewered the sci-fi masterpiece for its second disc, a potpourri of cutscenes and monologues that may have been the consequence of rushed development. While the game's first 50 hours gave you access to a world map filled with towns, dungeons, and secrets, Xenogears' final act was more book than game, unfolding like a visual novel with very little player interaction outside of the final dungeon and a few boss fights. Gamers took umbrage at this sudden shift in pace. As one GameFAQs reader points out, "Xenogears would have been great... if it had been finished." Which is too bad, because I loved every minute of it.
Remembering an underappreciated JRPG trilogy
This is a column by Jason Schreier dedicated to the analysis (and occasional mocking) of his favorite genre, the Japanese role-playing game. Whether it's because they're too antiquated or just too niche, he believes JRPGs don't get enough attention in the gaming industry today. It's time to change that. As gamers, we spend a lot of time playing God. Whether it's building worlds in Minecraft or destroying them in Skyrim, we're always looking for ways to manipulate forces that are normally beyond our control. Some games even allow us to play God in less subtle ways. Simulation games like Ubisoft's From Dust and 2K's Civilization series allow us to steer the course of history and directly guide the fates of entire populations. These deity simulators are all well and good, but what if you want a more personal holy adventure? What if instead of playing as a god, you want to work for one? Or destroy one? Well then, you need to check out the Soul Blazer trilogy.
The beginner's guide to JRPGs
This is a column by Jason Schreier dedicated to the analysis (and occasional mocking) of his favorite genre, the Japanese role-playing game. Whether it's because they're too antiquated or just too niche, he believes JRPGs don't get enough attention in the gaming industry today. It's time to change that. The JRPG is an intimidating genre. For gamers accustomed to short sessions of turtle-hopping or soldier-blasting, it can be tough to commit to a sprawling, complex role-playing game. It's also a gigantic genre. There are hundreds of games out there with bizarre titles like Suikoden and Ar tonelico that are as hard to tell apart as they are to pronounce. So if you want to get into JRPGs but you've never so much as touched a Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest before, how do you know where to start? How do you know where to spend your time? How can you differentiate between silly tedium and fantastic adventures? A few weeks ago on Twitter, user @gurpreet_kambo suggested that I write a guide for inexperienced role-players, helping you all sort through the dreck and ease into the genre one over-sized sword at a time. So I've put together a list of charming, accessible adventures that all make perfect entry points for JRPG newbies. They also make great holiday gifts (and excuses to get away from your family).
What motion controls could do for JRPGs
This is a column by Jason Schreier dedicated to the analysis (and occasional mocking) of his favorite genre, the Japanese role-playing game. Whether it's because they're too antiquated or just too niche, he believes JRPGs don't get enough attention in the gaming industry today. It's time to change that. While plowing through the last few sections of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword several weeks ago, I realized that I didn't want it to end. Not because I wanted to keep playing -- the action-adventure game had already stolen more than 40 hours of my life -- but because I wanted to continue waving my arm up and down to kill things. I was completely enthralled by the game's motion controls. And I used to hate motion controls. You see, Nintendo's latest Zelda uses the Wii controller's MotionPlus accessory to recognize the precise movements of your arm. Slash horizontally, and hero Link will do the same. Slash vertically, and Link's sword will follow suit. Slash diagonally? Well, you can probably guess. As a cranky longtime gamer with a crippling fear of change, I spent a long time thinking that this sounded terrible. Waggling my controller in games like Super Mario Galaxy and Twilight Princess felt more like inconvenience than innovation. Would Skyward Sword really feel all that different? Yes. Yes it would. It felt phenomenal. And it made me start asking another question. Could motion controls add some flavor to JRPGs?
What makes JRPGs worth playing
This is a column by Jason Schreier dedicated to the analysis (and occasional mocking) of his favorite genre, the Japanese role-playing game. Whether it's because they're too antiquated or just too niche, he believes JRPGs don't get enough attention in the gaming industry today. It's time to change that. It's easy to think of a role-playing game as an amalgamation of two main components, narrative and gameplay, jammed together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Sometimes they fit together nicely; other times they're as awkward and frustrating as that one weirdly-shaped Tetris block that always falls into the gap where you need an L. I'm sure you've seen the message board posts. Declarations like "well, the mechanics are OK but the story is great" or "the characters suck but I love the combat" are frequently dropped everywhere from NeoGAF to GameFAQs. Gamers have this tendency to turn games into mathematical equations, breaking them into lists of components like "presentation" and "mechanics" and judging each one on its own merits. The problem with this attitude is that it ignores everything that makes Japanese role-playing games great. When you cut a JRPG into sections, it is resoundingly subpar. Books have better stories. Platformers have more engaging mechanics. Movies have much more elegant presentation. So why do we play JRPGs? Because the good ones are better than the sum of their parts.
How to fix Final Fantasy
This is a column by Jason Schreier dedicated to the analysis (and occasional mocking) of his favorite genre, the Japanese role-playing game. Whether it's because they're too antiquated or just too niche, he believes JRPGs don't get enough attention in the gaming industry today. It's time to change that. Let's be real: Final Fantasy is broken. Sure, Square Enix's influential JRPG series might still be popular, its most recent single-player entry shipping 6.2 million units worldwide. And it might still be spawning more sequels, spin-offs and remakes than a Hollywood producer. But it can do so much better. I mean, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 moved 6.5 million copies in twenty-four hours. How do we get that much milk out of the Final Fantasy cash cow? What's the magical formula for appealing to American tastes? How can we fix a series that some say has been treading water for over a decade now? Here are a few ideas.
Why JRPGs should look at the NFL's playbook
This is a column by Jason Schreier dedicated to the analysis (and occasional mocking) of his favorite genre, the Japanese role-playing game. Whether it's because they're too antiquated or just too niche, he believes JRPGs don't get enough attention in the gaming industry today. It's time to change that. Joystiq's Ben Gilbert once bemusedly pointed out that my taste in games oscillates between "kawaii!" and "yeah bro!" This is true. Two of the games I enjoyed most this year were Radiant Historia and Madden NFL 12, which is about as huge a disparity as you can get without diving into the terrifying click fields of games like FarmVille. But wait a minute. Are they really all that different? Sure, the National Football League athletes who lend their images to Madden might not have much in common with the anime-like sprites of a Japanese RPG, but in terms of game design, there are some striking similarities. As Kill Screen Editor-in-Chief Chris Dahlen pointed out in a GameSpy article last year, football is, at its core, a strategy role-playing game. Each team gets several turns to move the ball down the field, during which they can select from a variety of different attacks. Competing teams match wits over field position and strategy in an attempt to wrest an advantage. At the end of the game, whichever team does the most damage -- or scores the most points -- wins. Though it has been tweaked quite a bit over the past century, the core rules of football have remained the same since the forward pass was introduced over 100 years ago. It is America's most popular sport for a reason: it is an extraordinarily well-designed game. Perhaps it could teach JRPG developers a thing or two about combat.
Virtual Console's classic JRPGs: What holds up?
This is a column by Jason Schreier dedicated to the analysis (and occasional mocking) of his favorite genre, the Japanese role-playing game. Whether it's because they're too antiquated or just too niche, he believes JRPGs don't get enough attention in the gaming industry today. It's time to change that. Last week, we dug into the PlayStation Network's library of old-school JRPGs, suffering through blocky graphics and annoying voice acting in a valiant effort to figure out what games are still worth playing in 2011. This week, we attack the Wii's Virtual Console. Granted, Nintendo hates American JRPG fans, as evidenced by the publisher's refusal to localize critically acclaimed games like Xenoblade, but its Wii Shop Channel has a surprisingly robust selection of classics, mostly thanks to the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis. We had it good during the 16-bit era. Real good. Like last time, I'll be spending 30-60 minutes with each JRPG -- certainly not enough time to properly review a game, but enough to get a feel for whether it holds up today, and how it compares to my memories of it. (I've played each game to completion at various points over the past two decades. Some of them multiple times.) Let's roll.
PSN's classic JRPGs: What holds up?
This is a column by Jason Schreier dedicated to the analysis (and occasional mocking) of his favorite genre, the Japanese role-playing game. Whether it's because they're too antiquated or just too niche, he believes JRPGs don't get enough attention in the gaming industry today. It's time to change that. "Hey Jason," you say, an innocent twinkle in your eye. "I've never played any old-school JRPGs. Where should I start? Which are the best ones? Do any of them hold up in 2011?" Excellent questions, my hypothetical friend. There are plenty of ways to get your paws on the classics, but it can be tough for newbies to tell exactly which ones are worth playing. You could try asking a more experienced JRPG fan, but he might be too blinded by nostalgia to discern whether or not his favorite game has aged well. So to help you sort through the chaos, I'll be delving back into a whole bunch of old JRPGs over the next couple of weeks. I'll spend about 30-60 minutes with each one -- certainly not enough time to properly review a game, but enough to get a feel for whether it holds up today, and how it compares to my memories of it. Today we'll start with the PlayStation Store, a veritable treasure trove of classic JRPGs.
Hey Japan, stop making me save the world
This is a column by Jason Schreier dedicated to the analysis (and occasional mocking) of his favorite genre, the Japanese role-playing game. Whether it's because they're too antiquated or just too niche, he believes JRPGs don't get enough attention in the gaming industry today. It's time to change that. You've seen this play before. Some ragtag heroes are standing at the edge of some interdimensional space portal or subterranean crystal labyrinth or evil god's castle. They're holding powerful weapons -- acquired after hours of tedious mini-games -- and staring down some nasty monster or deity or demon squirrel. Their goal? Save the universe from imminent doom. If you're anything like me, you're probably already yawning. The go-forth-and-save-the-world trope is so worn out in video games by now that it's hard to muster up even an iota of compassion for all of the artificial people that need rescuing. Japanese role-playing games are the worst offenders of all, spitting out bombastic villains and supernatural events with reckless abandon and little regard for reality. Games like Tales of Vesperia and Lost Odyssey might start you off with small tasks and adventures, but at the end of the day, you know you're going to have to prevent the apocalypse.
The best JRPG you haven't played yet
This is a column by Jason Schreier dedicated to the analysis (and occasional mocking) of his favorite genre, the Japanese role-playing game. Whether it's because they're too antiquated or just too niche, he believes JRPGs don't get enough attention in the gaming industry today. It's time to change that. Every good game has moments of euphoria, those revelatory points in an interactive adventure when we realize just how much fun we're having. They're different for everyone – some of us might be enamored by a combat system or nutty plot twist while others might find themselves romantically attracted to a main character's hair spikes – but everybody feels them. These moments are usually short and ephemeral, showing up every once in a while just to remind us that we're enjoying ourselves. As a general rule, the more time we spend thinking "Wow, this is great," the better the game. When something really blows us away, we're aware of it the whole time. Few JRPGs blow me away nowadays. For a while, I figured this was because I am cranky and cynical. Maybe this genre just isn't for me anymore, I thought to myself. Maybe I'll never enjoy Japanese role-playing games as much as I did when I was growing up. Maybe I'll never reignite that bliss I felt when I first delved into games like Suikoden and Xenogears. Maybe I'm too old. Then I played The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky.%Gallery-119078%
How nostalgic JRPGs trick us into loving them
This week, we debut a new column by Jason Schreier dedicated to the analysis (and occasional mocking) of his favorite genre, the Japanese role-playing game. Whether it's because they're too antiquated or just too niche, he believes JRPGs don't get enough attention in the gaming industry today. It's time to change that. It's hard to find an RPG fan who doesn't have fond memories of the "16-Bit Golden Age," that revered era when developers seemed to release nothing but instant classics. Twenty- and thirty-somethings all over the world love to wax poetic about the early 90s, a time when videogame production was driven more by creativity than graphical power, more by innovation than formula, more by TLC than DLC. Take a moment to flip through the App Store or Xbox Indie Marketplace and you'll find striking evidence of this obsession with the old-school; today's indie RPGs are packed to the brim with sprites and textures that wouldn't be out of place on a Super Nintendo or Sega Genesis. The obvious explanation might be money – powerful graphics are expensive, and indie developers not named Notch are always broke. But is that the only reason iPhone RPGs like Guardian Saga and Ash aim to emulate that 16-bit style? Or is there something inherently appealing about classic turn-based gameplay? And then there's that million-dollar question: Were all those old-school RPGs really all that great, or is our perception just tainted by nostalgia? Psychologist Jamie Madigan, writing on his blog "The Psychology of Video Games," argues the latter, saying that we tend to have selective memory when it comes to our favorite old games. We only remember the good parts.