Bioware: “Final Fantasy XIII Definitely Not An RPG”

the real rpg is 3d hentai game

Squaresoft fucked up with FF13, but I feel bad for Enix. They never did anything wrong but they are still guilty by association..

the only true rpg i know is sims

Hehe, yeah Bioware should be the ones to talk, with their boring, generic RPGs. Long since have passed the times, when they could make a great game, like the original NWN.

Isn't Bioware just angry because all games they made recently which they hoped would come close to the succes that was Baldur's Gate failed them.

Of course Final Fantasy XIII is not an "RPG" it's obvious it's and "jRPG"! >.> Don't compare Japanese rpg's to some shity western ones >.>

Glad I haven't bought a Bioware title in ages, if all he's gonna do is trample on JRPGs when they're down.

At least Bethesda I still have respect for.
The whole reason I play JRPGs is because of the unique characters and story. If I were actually role-playing I might as well grab any clone MMO.

For a modern epitome of the JRPG experience play 'Resonance of Fate'... it's got the random turn-based battles and takes them to a whole new level.

Since when did choice = role-playing?

If you ROLE-PLAY as the Pope, do you have a choice in believing or not believing in god?

When you ROLE-PLAY a role, you have no choice because the choices default to the ROLE you PLAY.

BioWare and numerous other people are attempting to redefine the word "role-play" instead of coming up with a new word that suits their taste in "choice" "freedom" and other mass marketed buzzwords.

man im tired of shit being said about this game!! its an awesome game i heard so much shit about this game and i still bought it and im glad i did i fucking loved it! it will make u laugh,cry and you will enjoy it.. dont listen to what others say just play it lol

FxxK YOU

you don't have the right to redefine anything.

JRPG is not RPG, that why we called it "JRPG"!

If you look at the progression of RPG in the west as a whole, it never really evolved until FF7 come to the west. Many modern games are actually inspired by FF series, before FF7 most of the western games have almost no story to tell, or the stories simply too shallow to involved the player emotionally. Story telling was never a strong emphasis in western games back then.

Many so called "(W)RPG" today touting their adventure/shooting/action game got a deep & interesting story to tell... Does that sounds too similar to JRPG from years ago?

Lol, Mass Effect 2 is not an RPG either.

shut the fuck up about final fantasy 13, people are so god damn picky about games and just need to get a god damn life

Mass Effect is a a dumb down shooter with rpg elements.

Erickson probably came out sounding a bit more arrogant than he intended. Saying FFXIII is not a good game is one thing, but judging what's a RPG or what's not is going a bit too far. Let the consumers and critics make those decisions, you just worry about making good games!

And Fallout 3 isn't an RPG either, if anybody hasn't noticed.

You don't need character creation for a game to be an RPG!
And normally you live the JRPG chars more than any western RPG protagonist, since the story brings you much closer to them, to a degree that you char the chars joy and sorrow also the music is much better.

I like both so fuck him...

People have been arguing about the definition of "RPG" for over 10 years now. It's pretty much a GameFAQs level topic.

In the end, "RPG" means whatever the commonly accepted definition means. Getting hung up over the meaning of the term is about the kind of wanky thing I'd expect from a developer who thinks that providing the player with exactly two choices in every situation, sainthood and puppy kicking, somehow lets them "role play".

Agree that FF13 is not an "rpg" by standards but for different reasons. I can play the role of a character and to some extent I am role playing if the game immerses me enough to forget everything around me.

There is a simple explanation:

JRPG = Playing the "Role" of a pre-designed character with their own plot. The player can take on the role of "the Protagonist" of a story.

Western RPG = Playing the "Role" of an avatar of your own making in a somewhat open-ended plot. The player gets to make their own protagonist to the story.

Clearly, the definition of what an RPG is totally different depending on the culture, so that's why they implemented the term "JRPG" to specify it.

Comparing RPGs and JRPGs are like comparing oranges and limes. Even though they are both citrus, they're really not that similar.

mass effect isn't a rpg either, its a shitty 3rd person shooter. Bioware are idiots

Did this game really suck that bad?

I'm pretty sure I can beat almost any action game by mashing one button. Or shooting game... or rpg... Wait I'm seeing a trend here.

I disagree. FFXIII has customisation and development like RPGs demand. He obviously has a problem with the fact that you can't create your own unique character from the beginning, instead playing the role of a canon character in a pre-destined storyline. Who gives a fuck? You are still playing the role of a character and you do live the character as much as you can in a video game, through expansion and equipping.

This is just the age-old W-RPG vs. J-RPG retardfight. J-RPGs have been like this since the beginning.

By that definition none of the FF's have been RPG's.

I have FF13, and its not so bad but I think that it needs a lot more to be like other rpgs, I like old rpgs like PS1 breath of fire, chrono cross, saga frontier, xenogears etc, and with new generation to play rpgs you need to get a nintendo ds, xbox never had a good rpg and it wont change and ps3 isn´t working hard on this, everything is action and shooter games, and pay $50 for a 3 hours game it´s a waste, at least any FF will keep you busy for more than 20 hours and if you are a real gamer you´´ll get 100% leading you to more than 60 hours, like tales of... anyway a real gamer would play everything and wont cry with every crappy game they mess with, play it or not, its your choice, anyway FF13 is way better than FFX-2(or final fashion like we call it) and I´d play them a few times as I´m a gamer, FF12 is a good rpg it has everything that an rpg needs but people does not like it because you can´t press one key to give 3 jumps in the air and unleash a 40 hits killing combo, my point is that most people sucks on every game so they need a full easy and fashion game, the kind of game that says don´t think just press this and the mess will start by it´s own, it because of this that rpgs are getting worst.

bioware can go fuck off. i like my ff13. i like my linear game. look at me having fun while STILL not comming anywhere near any game that has the word bioware on it. fuck off fuck off fuck off.

RPG's are about character driven games , not gameplay styles . Somehow some game developers haven't understood that yet and insist on calling some RPGs "real RPG's" .

That's funny. I don't call what Bioware makes RPGs either.

As far as creating your own character goes? Lightning and her crew of L'Cie or whatever they are called are the only people who can accomplish their mission.

Going further, who other than Frodo could have accomplished the destruction of the One Ring?

Creating your own character will always, without exception, detach them from the story to one degree or another. If they can be detached from it, then they are not important to the story. The story just happens around them.

Who gives a fuck! Stop bitching about other games and make your games fuckin decent. I'm sick of easy games. I remember when I was a kid I had to cheat, like go on gamewinners or force my pops to help me out.

Well...a role playing game is where you build your character and play the role. If you think of it like that, most games labeled RPG aren't really RPGs anymore in that sense. We say RPG, and expect the style of play that are in all RPGs that we know.

That point has always bugged me...

biowares just mad that mass effect and dragon age put together didnt sell as good as FF13.

there are 2 different kinds of classic rpgs (not action rpgs) the ones that are story driven through scenes that drive character interaction, and those that are driven through in game decisions to reach a conclusion.

main characters being "customized" or not is a big factor but its a weakness in most cases to telling a good engaging story. case in point a created character cant have any dimensions to them, no thought patterns or monologes or quotes. they dont have to be figured out either so theres no mystery to them.

You do make choices, you don’t create a character in a RPG but you do create one in a MMORPG, you don’t live your character but you do experience your characters story… I don’t know what those are – adventure games maybe? Wait... Isn't an adventure game with a strong emphasis on role playing considered to be a RPG?

I've edited the direct quote from Bioware so it'll make sense. I hate FFXIII and Bioware games. *_*

The genre has been called "RPG" since its earliest iterations, and as the console releases evolved so did the genre. It's "role playing game", so what's the problem if the role you are playing is defined by the game? You're still playing the role. Sure, you could call it an "action story" game, but why make up an entirely new genre when you can just as easily plot its evolution from earlier RPGs? Keep nomenclature simple--there don't need to be multiple genres for similar games.

Honestly I've the feeling Mr. Erikson is just a pen-and-paper "enthusiast" with his panties in a bunch over semantics.

Said by the people who ruined mass effect by making it into a run and gun shooter in mass effect 2.

I knew that would happen once EA bought Bioware they whored out mass effect to the general gamer and fucked over the fans of mass effect 1.

I guess if WRPGs didn't have shitty ass ugly characters, boring stories and worlds I would like them more. Yeah ff13 isn't the best ff or the best JRPG, but damn if Resonance of fate is! I mean what JRPG creators need to look is what sells on amazon from the psone for hundreds of dollars and tons of yen, learn from these games. Because they shouldn't try to be competing with WRPGs because people who want to play a JRPG dont want to play a WRPG (at that time) anyways. They should start doing what fans want, an actual return to the classics.

I'm pretty tired of the JRPG bashing.

It's hard to defend them these days because the people who criticize them expect things from the games that I just think are totally irrelevant, like agency. I just want to have a good story and interesting characters; WRPGs never really provide me with that. They expect *you* to provide the interesting lead, but that's not what I paid $50+ for. I want professionals to entertain me, not to entertain myself. That's easy enough to do in pen and paper RPGs, which I also enjoy. In a sense, pen and paper RPGs made WRPGs obsolete to me before they even existed. Why would I play a Bioware game when I could just play Eclipse Phase (Which is free, even.) or D&D? The choices I can make in those games are more complex, and with the addition of my friends they become social activities too. For the same reason, MMOs never held any appeal to me.

I also have no interest in their petty questions of "small morality," such as whether or not to kill some unsympathetic NPC you know for all of twelve minutes of in-game dialogue. Much like sandbox games (Grand Theft Auto), morality in WRPGs is a meter that removes all sense of ambiguity and trivializes the issues they claim to represent. Real life doesn't work that way, and it's comical that the highly unrealistic plots of JRPGs are in this sense more believable to me despite their often absurd coincidences and plot holes.

Most JRPGs tackle more complex issues, not because the Japanese writers are in any way better at it (They may be worse, even.), but rather because they just aren't distracted by writing a million sidequests and can focus on a story without having to account for the random element of the player. If WRPG developers wrote more linear stories, they could do this as well, but developers like Bioware have succeeded in selling a false value like "agency" to gamers more interested in wish-fulfillment than storytelling.

The idea of Bioware criticizing any game or company for being stagnant is amusing and smacks of hypocrisy.

Since when is BioWare the end-all-robeasto when it comes to defining video game genres?

man, i swear the god or to myself. I never ever, will not even look at the screenshot, not to mention buying your shitty game. I tired of bio-ass trash talking about j-rpg, rpg has a different representation. Who are you to decide that rpg should be "that" way? i don't care, if rpg is being interpreted as pen or paper, or creating GENERIC character who DOESN'T has any personality, etc. I like j-rpg period. If i wanted to play free roaming around without linear story, and multiple choice, hell i'd play mmorpg. Its more fun.
So, why not stop your marketing propaganda, and let see 10 years from now, is your shitty company still live for its expectation or not. Until then, lets shut your fucking mouth.

Bioware be trollin'.

True, JRPG's are a bit stagnant....Jculture in general isn't in the golden era it was a decade ago. I blame it mostly on not enough original artists and everyone trying to copy older styles.

But the US RPG market is just as bad, if not worse. How many times must we suffer through the whole D&D based fantasy world? I'm sick of WoW, I'm sick of D&D, I'm sick of everyone trying to be more "hardcore" than the last guy. There's no sense of design, no sense of mirth.

Here's hoping FFXIV is everything I hope it to be.

FF XIII needs more brown space marines

Yep, you never make choices at all. I guess whenever I switched paradigms and chose which roles to level up it must've been my whimsical imagination.

With earlier comments of FFXIII in mind and now this it's sad a director is lowering himself to critise other game developers publically. Pretty professional eh.

For me old school Fallout is the real RPG.

They should just leave JRPGs to being JRPGs and WRPGs to be WRPGs. I feel the comment was a bit uncalled for on Bioware's part.

Post needs more Hoperai xD Clearly it is the best thing out of FXIII. Bioware doesn't have anything to compared to that.

Search: [JACK-POT] LIGHTNING ;)

I agree with the Bioware dude.

RPG's (role playing games) are defined by the ability to put yourself, or someone who represents a different side of you, or another person entirely, into the game.

Dragon Age: Origins is a good example of this. In DA: O, your choices affect the game play dramatically. There's hundreds of ways you can complete the game through the major decisions throughout it, these choices allow you to define your character better than any JRPG I've seen.

They cannot be grouped together. A JRPG is not an RPG. It just isn't.

Bioware is totally correct on this one, FFXIII is not an RPG by any stretch, but then again, neither is any of Bioware's games either.

Ah well who cares, as long as it has DFC I'm okay with it.

Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 aren't RPGs either.

This is kind of fucked up considering Mass Effect 2 scrapped all the RPG elements from ME1 and went for more of an "adventure" feel themselves.

It's just another case of The pot calling the kettle black

"Stats-based dungeon cralwer"

And Mass Effect 2 isn't? There's towns (plantes where you buy shit and get missions/comrades) and there's dungeons (running through a tower and running through a dungeon is the same shit. Jacob's loyalty mission was no less "linear" than running through the forest in FFXIII)

Yeah, let's all listen to the fucker who said an entire genre is "stagnant and linear".

IT'S A FUCKING STORY, ASSHOLE! YOU DON'T TELL A STORY IN RANDOM ORDER!

Oh, and what about "choices we're forced to make"?

Guess what, no matter WHAT you did in ME1, the council in ME2 are STILL ignorant assholes. NO-MATTER-WHAT.
"Will you do this or this?" "No."
More like:
"Will they go here for gold or there for a battle?"
"Here for gold."
"Okay, you went here for a battle."
"Wait...what?"

God forbid this mother fucker talks about JRPG storylines, too. The Shin Megami Tensei franchise has deeper, more intricate plots than both DA:O or both of the ME games COMBINED.

Just go back to neglecting your Mass Effect fanbase and keep up your Lilianna fetish, you fuckwit!

RPG.
Role Play Game
Role, you take the role of a hero...okay
Play, you play as the character...okay
Game, you play the game...okay
RPG

Disregarding Bioware's IPs, he is absolutely correct about FFXIII.

idk Choosing what each of your character to be a attacker, caster, healer, defender, and who your main chracter and the crystal lvling up stats is pretty dam rpg. . . . .wow This guy just blew junks not seeings the battle system

well its jusr like resident evil wich after code veronica became a action adventure game, its still a great game but no longer in the same genre.

I'm sorry, But I just have to say a couple things.

Random Final Fantasy bashing is NOT news. I don't care what anyone says, it isn't.

No one cares about Bioware's opinion on ffXIII. Don't try to convince yourself that you do, because you don't. If you actually do, you have some serious problems you need to deal with.

Thank you... that is all.

Wait, by his definition, Pokemon is not an RPG? WHAT AM I PLAYING THEN?

Lol, the definition of rpg is totally fucked up. Back in the days it simply meant you follow a story and have a character which you can customize in terms of skills, stats and equipment. Western companys kinda think that this formular is outdated, so they try to add more to the role play experience, giving the player even more stuff to decide. Japanese companys just hold onto the old way of rpgs.

But in the end it really depends on the player, some want to enjoy the story while others have more fun forming the story themselves. I think both are totally okay and can be called rpg.

Of course it is not an RPG. It is Final Fantasy duh.

Well, you can talk all you want while i go play some MOAR rpg, western or j i give a shit, as long as i can put on my robe and wizard hat ;-)

And look at you. I played through Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age, and as I see it, those 2 game fucking sucks. I forced myself to play them in hopes I could see what ppl see in those rpgs, but i just couldnt

Final Fantasy games are tactical adventure games. They were never RPGs.

The battle system, inventory, or menu system has nothing to do with being an RPG.

I agree with some of what he says but not all of it. While I do agree that things like character creation and being able to make choices that effect the story line are great in a WRPG but they don't necessarily work in JRPG's.

While they are both RPG's they are completely different in their approaches, especially story wise. Most WRPG's allow you to influence the story with your own decisions and play as a character that reflects who you are or what you would like to be, therefore the story has to be more flexible like in Mass Effect 2.

Most JRPG's put you in the shoes of a character or characters that already have their own goals or opinions within the world that they inhabit and you get to experience that through their point of view as they go through a story that is set in stone although there are usually some cases where you do get to make some sort of decision. This is why JRPG's can seem linear to people who are used to WRPG's. In order for the story in a JRPG to work they basicly have to restrict the player to a somewhat linear path which is why we dont see any JRPG's trying to immitate games like Fallout 3.

I think this is why people were upset with FF13 because Cocoon was too linear and Pulse was to open (like in FF12). So basicly it all comes down to the type of game you prefer. Personally for someone who likes both I think they compliment each other in a way. For me the linearity of JRPG's are a great break from the openness of WRPG's. There I am done and sorry for the long post.