长文：从量化分析的角度观察第四代JRPG玩法要素

原作者：Radek Koncewicz 译者：Vivian Xue

导言

玩JRPG长大的我现在不怎么碰这类游戏了，我也感到些许惊讶。我对奇妙的史诗世界的渴望仍在，只是在尝试新游戏的过程中那些臃肿的内容常常使人疲惫不堪。教程部分充满繁琐的步骤、过度的信息和幼稚的叙述。少数几个游戏的开头很不错，但整体游戏过程冗长乏味。无论哪种情况，都会让我很快丧失兴趣。

人们对现代JPRG的普遍反应必然与年龄的增长、空闲时间的缩短、对动画的容忍度降低以及缺乏与新游戏的情感联系有很大关联。但JRPG整体上没有改善吗？那些老JRPG不就是一堆充斥着重复的随机战斗的游戏吗？

为了回答这个问题，我将从第四世代游戏机开始，对JRPG游戏中一些更为客观的要素进行量化分析，我想这会很有意思。

方法论

我采取的方式是，重玩在北美发行的著名JRPG的头两个小时，并计算在每一款游戏中玩家接触到各个玩法要素所花的时间。为了避免一些类型存在争议的游戏，我只选择了那些拥有多个可控制角色、回合制战斗系统，以及由角色推动剧情的游戏。

尽管这些游戏很多我以前都玩过，但已没什么印象了，并且我试图抱着第一次玩、想要100%完成它的心态进行游戏。我和每一个NPC对话，进入每一座建筑物，点开每一个菜单，没有跳过任何一次过场动画或对话。不过，我在可能的情况下加快了文字播放和行走的速度。

我主要计算两个指标：游戏的“自由点”（Time to Freedom，下文简称TTF）和“舒适点”（Time to Comfort，下文简称TTC）。我对TTF的定义是玩家第一次以任何非单纯观看过场动画的方式与游戏互动所花的时间，而TTC指两个小时内，玩家体验到所有玩法要素所花的时间。这两个指标旨在展示玩家能够多快地开始探索游戏，以及需要多长时间才能体验到游戏的核心机制并从一定程度上掌握它们。此外，我还观察了每一款游戏TTC和TTF的差值Freedom to Comfort，下文简称FTC。

常见的玩法要素包括：

·移动（Mobility）-玩家首次自由控制虚拟角色。
·保存（Save）-玩家首次被允许保存游戏。如果游戏自动保存且有字符提示，我尝试记录第一次使用它的时刻。
·道具（Item）-玩家首次靠自己获得一个有用的道具。
·恢复（Rest）-玩家首次能够靠自己不断地恢复血量/魔法值等等，一般是通过在客栈过夜。
·战斗（Combat）-玩家首次进入互动战斗。
·世界地图（Travel）-玩家首次进入世界地图，或者到达一个可以传送到多个其它地点的中心。
·升级（Level-Up）-游戏角色的属性首次增加，一般通过升级。
·地牢（Dungeon）-玩家首次进入一个重在移动和战斗的特殊地形区。
·能力（Ability）-游戏角色首次获得一个新法术或者能力（在战斗或者不在战斗中使用）。
·装备（Gear）-玩家首次靠自己升级装备
·同伴（Companion）-玩家首次遇到其它可加入作战队伍/升级的角色（非临时角色）。
·Bosss-玩家首次遭遇一个独特、强大的敌人。

一些其它的要素，比如载具和迷你游戏，由于不够常见或仅出现在游戏的中后期，故没有被包含在内。此外，我还为每一款游戏提供了一些背景介绍，说明它们与其它JRPG相比突出的地方，并对玩法要素作了一些分析。

最后，我只挑选出了10个第四代游戏，并且按原发行日期（通常是日本的发行日期）对它们进行排列，以更好地展示JRPG类型的发展历程。

1.《最终幻想4》-1991年7月19日

这是我玩的第一款JRPG也是该类型中具有重大意义的一部作品。游戏的ATB系统（Active Time Battle system）为回合制战斗注入了一丝活力，并且剧情得到了强化，各个角色的故事线相互交错。游戏的另一大特点是节奏快，这部分归功于大量的内容删减。

游戏在北美发行时SquareSoft进一步删减了内容，包括众多道具和角色技能，但即便如此，他们还是认为这个版本太过复杂。正因如此，他们紧接着开发了一款针对西方玩家的JRPG《最终幻想：神秘探险》（Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest）。《神秘探险》的表现更糟糕，不过好在《最终幻想4》终于获得了足够的人气，后来又发行了多个版本、一部重制版，甚至一部续作（虽然不大受欢迎）。

我记得《最终幻想 4》的开场相当长，但显然它5分钟都不到（本文所述的开场不包含开场动画，游戏邦注）。部分原因是对话框的弹出（不同寻常的是，这部游戏的对话框出现在顶部而不是底部）没有任何延迟，并且多个角色的台词同时包含在了一个对话框里。它的TTF其实不太准确，因为当玩家能够自由控制角色后，游戏又播放了多个过场动画和说明，之后才能进入世界地图。

当这些内容完全结束后，游戏在玩法和剧情上都达到了极佳的节奏。随机战斗相当频繁，但玩家总是可以选择逃跑——可能会损失一定的金币——并且不需要反复打同一个关卡。同伴来来去去节奏很快，剧情随着每个回合结束不断展开。

唯一的例外是第一次装备升级的时间异常晚，由于武器/盔甲商店在第一个村庄是关闭的，并且第一个地牢里也没有装备可收集。

FTC：32分钟43秒

其它特点：

（1）JRPG的地图边缘总有一些隐藏道路和地点，但在《最终幻想4》里它们出现得尤为频繁。后来的JRPG游戏都没能达到这种程度。
（2）沿袭《最终幻想》系列，游戏的战斗系统一如既往比大多数JRPG更为复杂：队形会影响伤害、防御属性以及武器效率（并且当敌人突袭时队形会被打乱），元素抵抗效果会一直变化，某些攻击实际上会起到治疗效果而不是伤害，道具不仅可以恢复属性值、增益/削弱属性，还可以复制法术，法术可施放到所有敌人/盟友，而不是单个人身上，不同等级的角色具有独特能力，例如从窃取敌人物品或临时召唤巨大怪物，某些敌人会做出独特的反应，如复活物品/法术能击杀不死生物，等等。
（3）玩家乘坐车辆或者陆行鸟在地图上穿梭时不会陷入战斗状态，这加速了探索和回溯的速度。

2. 《露娜:银河之星》(Lunar：The Silver Star）-1992年6月26日

看到原版的《露娜:银河之星》发行时间这么早令我有点惊讶，但回想一下这是合理的。1991年，众多“多媒体”大型游戏如《宇宙幻想》（Cosmic Fantasy）在日本PC的外设CD-ROM²上诞生。

《露娜：银河之星》是Mega CD上的旗舰JRPG，它的北美发行商Working Designs曾把它移植到PS1上，做了相当大的改动。这款游戏夹杂了特别多的幽默和流行文化元素，诚意满满的包装盒也很符合其优质游戏的定位。《银河之星》的成功使《露娜》成为一个系列，衍生了一部续作、各种周边产品以及众多移植版和重制版。

尽管多媒体体验是游戏的一大卖点，《露娜：银河之星》的开场节奏相当快，主要由于游戏的序章通过声音和动画播放。序章结束后，玩家很快就获得了道具、一些同伴并开始探索。菜单和对话的显示没有任何延迟，尽管移动起来不太顺手，因为每当队伍撞上障碍物游戏都将自动寻路。按住方向键将使队伍挤作一团继续行走，这有时会使你很难触碰NPC和宝箱，尤其是当他们靠的很近时。

战斗状态下移动和攻击都将播放动画，因此它和和同类游戏比节奏有点慢，但法术释放不会太拖拉。战斗确实是随机的，但地图上到处都是恢复血量和魔法值的雕像，因此我从未陷入真正危险的境况。

《露娜：银河之星》中唯一的异常情况是第一次boss战来的格外迟。同时这场战斗也相当有难度，由于boss只受到魔法伤害，而主角在进入boss的地牢前才刚解锁魔法技能，因此玩家需要刷怪升级一番。游戏的重制版对这一点做了很大的改变，增加了boss战数量并调整了影响队伍组成的剧情。

FTC：1小时51分钟16秒

其它特点：

（1）完成故事片段可获得额外的经验值，这是一个不错的CRPG式的尝试，任何续作/重制版都没能做到这一点。
（2）另一个小的CRPG式元素是，每个人物都有各自的库存限额，库存包括了所有装备道具。这意味着玩家需要将恢复药剂放到库存里才能在战斗中使用它们。
（3）战斗中的自动控制通常使角色攻击最近的敌人，每个角色都有两个切换键，可开启或关闭自动施法和使用道具两个功能。然而每一轮中玩家都要为每个角色切换设置，因此它并不单单是一个自动战斗的切换键。
（4）实际上，游戏中有一个隐藏的存储点，这是我在被第一个boss杀死后发现的。死亡后游戏没有重新进入战斗，或是返回地牢，而是把人物传到了地牢上方的城镇。因此我不知道是什么导致了这种情况。不管怎样，这仍然是一个很好的、具有前瞻性的因素，在未来的游戏中变得更加普遍。

3. 《梦幻之星4:千年纪的终结》（Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium）-1993年12月17日

《梦幻之星》系列是世嘉的另一款游戏机Mega Drive上的主要JRPG，而《千年纪的终结》是该系列的最后一部作品。尽管游戏不再依赖光盘储存，里面仍包含许多的动态角色和敌人，游戏漫画片段采用的仍是像素风格。

游戏的高制作水准和史诗级范围有力地洗刷了《梦幻之星3》的负面评价，但它没能让这个系列延续下去。当梦幻之星IP最终重启时，它被用于一个即时在线团战游戏，而不是传统的JRPG。

《梦幻之星4》的对话在一个只有两行高的文本框里一个字接着一个字地出现，它的菜单也是一个个弹出和关闭，游戏中大部分环境可供玩家调查，这使强迫症玩家不禁停下来查看那些有趣的描述。尽管如此，《梦幻之星4》的节奏却在这10个游戏中排名第二，并且如果我稍微调整游戏方式，它很可能是第一名。

游戏的序章很轻快，玩家从一个村庄出发，陆续进入一家客栈、一家道具商店、以及一座小地牢，最后打倒一个boss。过程中随时随地可以储存游戏，并且另一名角色在进入第一个地牢前就加入了队伍。

战斗中充满了动画，但和《露娜》不同，所有攻击动画播放速度都非常快。此外，玩家还可以在战斗中使用“组合技”（macros），使角色自动释放预设技能。

通过第一个村庄后，世界地图开启并指向附近一个可供升级装备的城镇。在世界地图上玩家遭遇战斗的几率似乎比地牢小，并且不会连续遭遇战斗。加上人物行走的速度快，《梦幻之星4》感觉是一个节奏非常快的JRPG，我的统计图似乎证明了这一点。

FTC： 18分种38秒

其它特点：

（1）主菜单中有一个“独语”（mumbl）选项，点击后一名成员会简要描述当前的目标。这种提醒玩家下一步该做什么的设计如今很普遍，但在当时是非常具有前瞻性的。
（2）除了被称作“技能”的法术外，一些角色还拥有“特殊技”，它们不依赖于点数系统，而可以在限定时间内被使用并通过补给恢复。
（3）在战斗中使用某些技能/特殊技将触发神秘组合攻击，但要触发这种攻击必须严格按照某种顺序发动攻击，这是玩家无法控制的。
（4）和《露娜》一样，游戏有自动寻路功能，但不同的是只有当玩家碰到障碍角落时该功能才会激活。
（5）不同于那个时代的其它JPRG，游戏中进入建筑后会放大显示建筑周围的环境，而不是简单地用黑色填充。

4. 《最终幻想6》-1994年4月2日

作为JPRG游戏史上最知名的作品，《最终幻想6》不仅成为了这个系列、也成为了整个主机时代的巅峰之作。与《露娜》和《梦幻之星》不同，《最终幻想》一如既往地拒绝战斗动画和像素设计，而是采用超级任天堂的Mode7技术，依赖更复杂的背景、更大的雪碧图创建自定义动画。

游戏剧情和玩法上的复杂度也远远超过同时期的JRPG，拥有庞大的角色阵容，大量选择内容和无数电影级的动画片段。

《最终幻想6》延续了新趋势——以地牢探索为游戏开端，适当地让玩家接触一部分玩法要素。游戏的第一阶段向玩家开放了移动、战斗、储存、升级、道具（事实上我得到的第一个道具是在战斗时随机掉落的），并以一个相对轻松的boss战结尾。

打败boss后，游戏切换到另一个角色身上，这是《最终幻想6》的一个独特理念——游戏不围绕单个角色。比起其它JRPG，游戏体验更加剧本化，因为过场动画和自由点之间没有严格的界限；一些敌人会显示在地图上，并且在发动攻击前会迅速大喊大叫，镜头会短暂地摇摄到正在追杀玩家的势力上，同伴在战斗前会通过简短的喊话暗示对抗敌人的策略，等等。

接下来是一个迷你游戏，一群Moogles幻兽分成三组。通过切换队伍可以消灭移动缓慢的敌军，同时战斗过程向玩家预先展示了游戏中各种武器的攻击效果，因为Moogles身上装备了各种武器。这一阶段还为玩家提供了升级装备的机会，比如我通过使用偷窃技能获得了一把秘银小刀。

在所有最初的角色都加入队伍后，世界地图开启(旁边出现了一个恢复点)，游戏正式开始。

FTC： 28分钟26秒

其它特点：

（1）在序章中，团队成员身穿蒸汽朋克机甲进攻一个被白雪覆盖的村庄。这一设计的妙处在于，由于角色穿着笨重庞大的机甲，玩家自然无法访问村庄的各个部分。
（2）除了先制攻击和受到背后偷袭外，《最终幻想6》新增了两种战斗状态：围攻，以及受到夹击——此时角色交替攻击前后方的敌人。
（3）装备菜单中有一个“自动装备”选项，能够为当前角色适配最大化参数的装备，更方便的是那些不增加参数的饰品没有包含在内，它们被分到了单独的菜单里。

5. 《地球冒险》（Earthbound或Mother 2）-1994年8月27日

这是任天堂自制的一部非典型的JRPG。同时期的游戏多以中世纪为背景，偶尔出现火枪和宇宙飞船，《地球冒险》却选择了一种现代化而古怪的风格。这款游戏犹如一种对美国的滑稽展示，里面充斥着对当时玩家来说早已过时的西方元素，比如甲壳虫乐队和布鲁斯兄弟、50年代的科幻电影、小淘气等等。

游戏的销售方式有点强硬，奇怪的营销活动似乎对销售没什么帮助，但最终《地球冒险》获得了一个粉丝群体——虽然不是最大的——但却是世界上最忠实的粉丝群体之一。

《地球冒险》是这10个游戏中第一个也是唯一一个没有在两个小时内开放所有玩法要素的游戏。它的开场速度相当快，等于或低于TTF中间值，同样的还有获取物品和装备、进入战斗、升级、获得新能力所消耗的时间。然而，游戏的总体进展较慢。

《地球冒险》里的文字以漫画气泡的方式展现，虽然总体上看这样很有趣可爱，但数量也真不少。战斗中也会出现大量描述，并且高攻击失败率（无论是玩家还是敌人）延长了平均战斗时间。角色步行速度也相当慢，再加上地图规模大且布满了NPC，让人感觉有点疲惫。这些设计非常符合游戏轻松自在的氛围，但它们确实拖慢了游戏的节奏。

敌人会显示在地图上，并且大部分可以避开——并且当我等级足够高后，他们甚至开始逃跑。因此如果玩家直接朝下一个情节点前进，重玩的速度会快很多。唯一要注意的是，我在击败第二个boss前不得不刷经验，虽然这不是绝对必要的，但我的第一次尝试失败了，我不想再碰运气。

FTC： 无法计算

其它特点：

（1·）游戏中有许多非常带感的音效，无论是在战斗还是菜单操作等过程中，它们营造了一种奇妙的氛围。
（2）游戏独特的画风部分来源于采用斜二测投影（cabinet projection）的常规地图和立体透视感的室内地图。
（3）玩家可以从背后偷袭敌人，如果敌人先追上玩家将获得首轮攻击权。在游戏转换到战斗界面前，屏幕上的其它敌人可能会冲上来加入战斗。
（4）在战斗中，只有当血量计数器滚动到目标值时才会造成伤害。这是次要的，因为计数器的滚动速度相当快，至少有一次我成功通过致命一击打败对手。
（5）战斗结束后，主角将在画面中短暂地闪动以表示无敌状态。在这种状态下不会触发战斗，从而给玩家足够的时间访问菜单（补血）。

6. 《露娜：永恒之蓝》（Lunar：Eternal Blue）-1994年12月22日

这是一款非凡的JRPG：延续了前作的背景、情节和人物。《永恒之蓝》增加了多媒体内容——更多的动画片段和声效，并且与《银河之星》一样多次被重制移植到别的平台上。尽管如此，它是该系列的最后一部主要作品，后来的续作质量层次不齐的。

《永恒之蓝》在很多方面体现了新一代JRPG的特点：更多的文字对话——NPC经常唠唠叨叨的，并且在第二次遇到或剧情推进后又会交代别的事情——更多的动画片段、声效，等等，还有很多是不可跳过的。

这款游戏的序章特别长，是其它游戏的两倍多。不过，进入游戏后节奏开始加快，玩家很快就可以保存游戏、进入世界地图、随机战斗、升级装备，并获得一个新伙伴。如果不是因为一个大问题——加载时间长，整个过程会更快。战斗过程本就偏长，前后还要加载好久。极低的逃跑成功率使这个问题更加严重。

由于初始道具相当多，玩家得花好一段时间才能到达第一个地牢获取新道具。经过漫长的剧情和穿越后玩家遇到了第一个boss，剩下的就差获得新能力了。

《永恒之蓝》里无法自动解锁新法术。每次战斗后玩家将获得法术加点(北美版里点数可以积攒起来)，这些可用来升级法术。刚开始我升级了好几个角色的法术，但直到游戏接近2小时时我才忍住不升级。我开始专注于提升主角的能力，并攒够了点数把旧法术升成新法术，还获得了一个全新法术。

FTC： 1小时48分钟35秒

其它特点：

（1）与同时期的JRPG相比，《露娜：永恒之蓝》的叙事更多由人物驱动。剧情重点不不在于拯救世界，而在于帮助一名主角遇到的神秘人物，同时逃离追杀他们的NPC。拯救世界的元素仍然存在，但它更多的是作为角色实现个人目标的背景。
（2）敌人在战斗回合中会呈现出某种姿态，暗示玩家下一轮他们将采取何种攻击方式，这为战斗增添了技巧性，团队可以据此判断先对付哪个敌人。例如，Sand Shark的头露出地面时预示他们将对某个区域发动攻击，Althena举起护盾时能阻挡所有基础物理伤害，等等。
（3）敌人之间的一些有趣互动增加了战斗的策略性，例如，绷带男孩们会在他们的木乃伊领袖死亡后死去，一只洞穴的老鼠会指挥其它老鼠攻击某一个角色。
（4）与前作《银河之星》不同，自动控制按钮打开后将作用于每一轮，直到手动关闭。此外，游戏有三个“战术”（tactic）槽，作用类似于《银河之星》里的“组合技”，让玩家为每一轮攻击发号施令。
（5）团队成员的血量/魔法值的颜色会根据状态（处于最大值，低于最大值，将耗尽）变化。

7. 《四狂神战记2》（Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals）-1995年2月24日

Neverland以符文工房（Run Factory）系列著称，但到目前为止，我最喜爱的是他们的《四狂神战记2》。这款游戏还填补了一小部分利基市场，因为《勇者斗恶龙》系列在第四代没能打入西方市场，而这两个系列有许多相似之处：相似的艺术风格、战斗、事件叙事方式，同样拥有迷你赌场游戏、用于保存和治愈的教堂、捕获怪物的能力等等。

然而，《四狂神战记2》在此基础上不遗余力的地将各种元素囊括进游戏中，游戏的地牢受《塞尔达》启发，以随机的方式生成并采用step-turn系统（“回合制”移动，玩家移动一步怪物移动一步）、提供各种具有特殊能力的装备，甚至还有随机生成的谜题。

不看最后两个玩法要素，《四狂神战记2》的开场是最短的。主角走进一家商店，和一个女孩聊了几句，我们就正式开始游戏了！

文字显示在漫画气泡中——人物的内心想法用不同形状的气泡显示——不过大量的文字可以被放入这些气泡中，因为气泡会根据文本行数调整。文本的默认播放速度为最快，我在JRPG中唯一一次看到这种设定。步行速度也很快，玩家在地牢中可以看见敌人并且常常可以避开他们 (世界地图上有随机遭遇，但在地牢中被取消了)。

出发地村庄提供道具、装备和法术购买，还有一间客栈。离开村庄后我进入了世界地图，南边的地牢使我获得了第一次升级。在经过几个村庄和地牢后我遇到了第一个boss和第一个同伴。《四狂神战记》的节奏总的来说非常快。

FTC： 54分钟:34秒

其它特点：

（1）地牢被分割成许多部分，尽管使用的机制有所重叠，但每个部分感觉都是一个独特的谜题：正确地踩下地板上的机关按钮，射晕敌人以使他倒在打开出口的机关上，正确地击打风铃打开下一个房间，等等。谜题的复杂度很高，不过但凡有新的游戏机制出现，墙上都出现一张说明。
（2）在某一法术或物品高亮显示时按下“X”键会出现一个简短的属性介绍。这些界面设计细节在《四狂神战记2》中随处可见，例如，可移除所有物品并装备最强武器道具的按钮，切换是否对全体施法的按钮，在商店购买后是否立即穿戴的按钮，等等。
（3）许多装备提供额外的能力，如元素伤害和治愈能力。它们依赖于IP能力，这是第三种补给资源（另外两种是从敌人身上吸收和使用道具，游戏邦注）。
（4）敌人身上有可能会掉落“宝石”（Rocks），它们从某种程度上代表了敌人的本质属性，玩家装备它们不仅可以大幅提升属性值，还能获得新的IP能力。
（5）捕获的怪物在战斗中无法被控制或治愈。然而，它们会在每次战斗后自动恢复，并和整个队伍一起升级。此外，玩家可以通过投喂食物和装备来升级怪物，但这需要很长时间，且投喂怪物需要的物资才能最大化升级效果。怪物每次要求的物资都不一样，一些旧装备重新获得了利用价值（怪物们的需求变化太大，以至于我的钱都花在购买升级物资上，没钱买新法术和装备了）。

8.《时空之轮》（Chrono Trigger）-1995年3月11日

SquareSoft和Enix是第四世代JRPG市场两个最大的竞争对手，因此对SquareSoft来说，堀井雄二(《勇者斗恶龙》的制作人，当时是自由职业者)和鸟山明(《勇者斗恶龙》的概念设计师和《龙珠》漫画作者)的加入为他们带来了巨大优势。他们对这个Dream Team的项目期望相当高，不过可以肯定地说，团队的成果远超预期，因为《时空之轮》一直以来被认定为“史上最优秀的JRPG”。

在某些方面，《时空之轮》感觉像是《最终幻想：神秘探险》一直追求那种精巧简练的JRPG。作战队伍简化为3个角色，世界地图被压缩且去掉了随机遭遇，武器装备栏减少为4格，仅提供了恢复和升级道具，并且游戏的地牢规模也相当小。尽管如此，游戏一开始的体验并没有完全线性化。

在《时空之轮》的短暂开场中，玩家访问了两个不同的村庄，恢复血量和保存游戏、购买物品和设备、访问一个小森林和敌人战斗并升级、完成各种迷你游戏。为了推进剧情，玩家在集市上遇见了一个新同伴，接着是一场可选择的boss战，游戏在20分钟内向玩家开放了所有的玩法要素；也许游戏简化到剔除了很多其它的常见内容？

FTC： 18分钟28秒

其它特点：

（1）游戏中按住手柄B键使角色开始奔跑，如今它已成为JRPG的常规操作。
（2）玩家不仅可以在地图上看见敌人，还可以在原地进行战斗，无需切换场景。和《露娜》一样，能力说明展示了该能力针对的具体敌人或队员，但战斗过程无需手动移动角色，所以节奏很快。
（3）敌人不只会站在那里或随意移动：有些敌人处于睡眠状态，有些躲在灌木丛里，除非玩家踏入他们的地盘，否则不会触发战斗，而另一些忙着玩游戏或只在特定区域里巡逻。
（4）陶罐或其他物体中可能藏有道具，不过这些地点都有闪光标记以引起玩家注意。
（5）玩家不用听完NPC的长篇大论，可以离开他们结束对话，文本框还可以在屏幕的顶部和底部来回切换。
（6）当特殊组合攻击所需的角色均待命时，菜单中会自动出现该攻击选项。这就避免了像在《梦幻之星4》一样需要玩家猜测“特殊技”的触发条件，同时也避免了由于时间问题导致特殊技触发失败。
（7）《时空之轮》提出了“New Game+ ”概念，即玩家通关后再次进行游戏以达到多样的结局。

9. 《超级马里奥RPG：七星传说》（Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars）-1996年3月9日

在“Mother”系列取得了一定成功后，任天堂与SquareSoft联手将他们的经典IP马里奥搬上JRPG大舞台（此举大概是想缓和与宫本茂在CG技术使用上的矛盾，宫本茂也一直希望将马里奥植入RPG类型）。两家公司之间的关系很快就恶化了，但《超级马里奥RPG》却成了一部热门游戏，由此还衍生了《马里奥与路易基》（Mario & Luigi）系列。
和《最终幻想6》一样，《超级马里奥RPG》的以简短的地牢探险为开端，介绍了游戏的主要背景，同时让玩家适应基本的战斗和探索。接着是一个教程，接连介绍了恢复、保存、物品和世界地图功能； 其它玩法要素的开放比较零散一点。

也许是为了避免吓倒第一次尝试JRPG版马里奥的玩家，游戏的整体数值都偏小，包括游戏角色的最大等级——最大等级限制为30级，而不是典型的99级。这意味着游戏中升级、获得新能力的速度会慢一些。尽管如此，超级马里奥RPG仍然在45分钟内开放了所有玩法要素。

FTC： 38分钟52秒

其它特点：

（1）游戏中有许多幽默风趣的地方，包括马里奥成了一个沉默的主角，通过动画向玩家描述发生的事件，为此不得不在敌人和他自己之间来回切换形态。
（2）游戏地图采取等距视角且充分利用了马里奥平台游戏的常见互动元素。
（3）敌人在地图上显示且他们的行为有一定套路：蘑菇从灌木丛后面冲过来伏击玩家，乌龟伞兵背着被绑架的公主来回飞动，K-9犬在马里奥吃到无敌星星后会加速移动等。
（4）施展能力需消耗的FP值（Flower Points）为团队共享。
（5）长按按钮可蓄力并减少来袭的伤害。游戏在教程中提示玩家应该在什么时候按下什么按钮。
（6）战斗中玩家靠AXYB键控制攻击、使用技能、使用物品或防御/逃跑，感觉更被动一些。
（7）敌人被击败后通常会掉落金币，偶尔是一个HP恢复道具或者攻击轮数+1。

10. 《口袋妖怪黄》（Pokémon Yellow）-1998年9月12日

尽管《口袋妖怪》的历史较短，但它还是成为了史上最成功的JRPG系列，宝可梦公司也由此创立来管理这个IP，并且如今它仍是全球最赚钱的IP，打败了星球大战、米老鼠、哈利波特和整个漫威宇宙。这个系列的特点是总是先发行两个略微不同的版本，再最终推出一个合并版，也就是我决定在这里讨论的《口袋妖怪黄》，它其实就是红绿版的结合。
《口袋妖怪》的开场很短，它的控制、恢复/保存、获得物品、战斗、开放世界地图、角色升级、获得新技能，以及同伴加入所耗时间都等于或小于中间值。然而，《口袋妖怪》的玩法要素和其他JRPG有些不同。

我把获得的第一只精灵视为第一个同伴。精灵可以随意交换，但不能装备任何武器道具，因此他们的作用和典型的同伴不太一样。主角也没有装备，因此我记录的是第一次获得升级徽章所花的时间。这款游戏也缺乏典型的boss，因此对于这个玩法要素，我记录的是遇到第一位拥有多个精灵的训练师所花的时间。然而，由于他们的精灵没什么特别的，而且游戏中的训练师那么多，因此把他们称为迷你boss更恰当些。

除此之外，其实从关卡设计的角度来看，村庄之间的荒野地区也可以被视为单独的地牢。不过我并没有把它们算作地牢，因为就像在《超级马里奥RPG》一样，它们不是特殊目的地，而是不同地点间的过渡。

当玩家需要刷怪练级时，“Gotta catch’em all!”（把它们全部收服！）的口号带来了有趣的动力。有经验的玩家能够轻松捕捉和升级最适合对抗敌人和boss的精灵。然而，新手和完成主义者将花费大量时间捕获和升级所有精灵，这会大大延长游戏。

FTC： 1小时53分钟9秒

其它特点：

（1）虽然不像《超级马里奥RPG》一样动作丰富，但游戏的综合体验仍然比典型的JRPG更有趣。段差（ledges）设计使回溯更容易，通过远离高草丛（tall grasses）可以避免随机战斗，玩家还可以通过小心移动避开精灵训练师，如果走在他们前面，他们就会冲上来与玩家战斗。
（2）精灵施展技能不消耗MP，而是能量点（Power Points），和《梦幻之星4》类似。每使用一个技能消耗一个PP，但和《梦幻之星IV》不同的是，玩家在战斗中要使用很多次技能（30-40次）。
（3）每个精灵最多能带4个技能，但可以学习更多的技能。当精灵通过升级或使用TM道具获得第五个技能时，玩家可以选择用它替换旧技能还是放弃学习。
（4）当精灵升到一定等级——或者通过使用特殊道具或交换——它们会进化，获得新的形态、属性和能力，每种精灵的进化之路都不一样。
（5）精灵与游戏世界是和谐统一的，它们经常出现在人们的房子里并且大多都融入了场景，而不是孤立的元素。

总结：

虽然只统计了10个游戏，但结果令我相当惊讶。以前我总觉得游戏会把战斗、道具和装备这三个要素放在第一位，其次是世界地图、恢复和保存。经过了这个过程——使玩家能够自由升级和恢复后，接下来应该让玩家进入地牢，对抗第一个boss。接着是一些剧情，一个新的同伴加入队伍，同时旧角色将在战斗中获得一些新能力。

但这些游戏没有一个以这样的顺序展开。

恢复和保存大多出现在游戏早期，大多数游戏要么直接从地牢boss开始，要么经过很长一段时间才能遭遇战斗。获取装备的时间出乎我的意料，获得新装备是一个漫长的过程，往往在玩家获得新能力之后。

然而，最令我震惊的是TTF本身。我本以为有些游戏的开场会长达30分钟，但最长的开场也不到15分钟。事实上，其中的9个游戏不到5分钟，大多数游戏不到1分钟。部分是因为这些游戏会在游戏本身开始之前播放开场动画，通常会介绍情节背景，因此游戏开始后只剩下角色介绍。

刷怪练级是最没分量的，至少在这些游戏的头2个小时里。更令人惊讶的是，随机遭遇的数量下降了。战斗并不像我想的那么频繁，且很多游戏都让敌人显示在地图上或者尝试这么做，比如《精灵宝可梦黄》里的训练师和《露娜：永恒之蓝》中狮子号上的守卫。

另一个意料之外的情况是迷你游戏的泛滥。我以为这种趋势大多从第五代开始，但他们在第四代出现的频率也很高。比如《四狂神战记2》里的老虎机、《时空之轮》里的游乐场、《超级马里奥RPG》里的金币收集比赛，等等。

考虑到战斗不像一些人所想的那样不可避免，我猜测下一代JRPG的节奏将有所放缓，游戏里的剧情动画、声效和文字数量会上升，毕竟游戏的剧本受卡带容量的限制，尽管这听起来有些奇怪。今后我还会分析更多JRPG，我已经列出了一个粗略的名单，但如果您有任何建议请随时告诉我！

本文由游戏邦编译，转载请注明来源，或咨询微信zhengjintiao

Introduction

Having grown up with JRPGs, it’s somewhat surprising how rarely I play them these days. That desire for a wondrous epic is still there, but pursuing new titles usually results in a feeling of slogging through manufactured bloat. The introductory segments are often filled with painfully-gated progression, overenthusiastic tutorials, and a juvenile narrative. In the limited instances where the opening is great, the overall game-loop tends to sputter out into protracted tedium. In either case, I quickly lose interest.

This general reaction to modern JPRGs must have a lot to do with growing up and having less free time, a lower tolerance for anime tropes, and no emotional attachment to the new series. But hasn’t the genre improved overall? Weren’t the older games just grind-fests burdened with copious amounts of random battles?

To help answer that question, I thought it would be interesting to quantify some of the less subjectives elements of JRPGs, starting with the 4th generation of consoles.

Methodology

My approach was to replay the first 2 hours of the more renowned JRPGs released in North America and measure the amount of time it took to reach various gameplay-milestones in each one. To avoid the more contentious titles occasionally placed under the JRPG umbrealla, I only included games with multiple controllable party members, a turn-based battle system, and a character-driven narrative.

Despite having played many of these games in the past, I only had a vague recollection of most and attempted to emulate a first-time, completionist experience. I talked to every NPC, entered every building, brought up every menu, and skipped no cutscenes or dialogue. I did, however, increase text-display and walking speeds wherever possible.

My main goal was to measure two elements, Time to Freedom (TTF), and Time to Comfort (TTC). I define Time to Freedom as the first time the player gets to interact with the game in any way beyond simply advancing cutscenes, and Time to Comfort as the amount of time it takes to experience all applicable gameplay-milestones within a 2 hour limit. These two metrics are meant to show how quickly the player can start experimenting with the game, and how long it takes to experience its main mechanics and gain a certain sense of mastery over them. Additionally, I noted each game’s Freedom to Comfort (FTC), defined as the difference between TTC and TTF.

The common gameplay milestones consisted of the following:

-Mobility – first time the player gains control over their avatar.
-Save – first time the player is allowed to save their game. If an auto-save feature with an indicator is included, I will attempt to note its first use.
-Item – first time the player manually obtains a usable item.
-Rest – first time the player can manually and repeatedly recover all HP/MP/etc., typically by staying at an inn.
-Combat – first time the player enters an interactive battle.
-Travel – first time the player gains access to the overworld map or reaches a hub area that can transition to multiple other nodes.
-Level-Up – first time a character’s statistic increases, typically through leveling up.
-Dungeon – first time the player enters a geographically-distinct area that focuses on traversal and combat.
-Ability – first time a character gains a new spell or ability (meant to be used in or out of combat).
-Gear – first time the player manually obtains an equipment upgrade.
-Companion – first time the player encounters a character who joins the party and can participate in battles, level up, etc. (i.e., not a temporary companion).
-Boss – first time the player encounters a unique and powerful enemy.

A few other elements such as vehicles and minigames were not included as they were either not common enough or typically appeared in the mid to late stages of a game. In addition, I provided a bit of context for each title, highlighting what made it stand out from other JRPGs, and contributed a bit of analysis on the milestone results.

Finally, I am limiting each console cycle to 10 games and sorting them chronologically by original release date (usually in Japan) in order to give a better idea of the genre’s progression.

Final Fantasy IV – July 19, 1991

My first JRPG and a landmark title in the genre. It injected a bit of dynamism to turn-based combat via the Active Time Battle system, and managed to take a narrative step forward by creating plot-related story arcs for all party members. It’s also known for having a fairly brisk pace, partially credited to lots of content being cut.

Further cuts were made to the North American release removing various items and characters skills, but even this eroded version was ultimately deemed as too complex by SquareSoft. Consequently this led to the development of the much-maligned Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest in order to introduce JRPGs to the West. Mystic Quest fared even worse, but eventually Final Fantasy IV gained enough popularity to warrant various re-releases, a remake, and even an episodic (albeit not as fondly received) sequel.

I remembered Final Fantasy IV’s intro as rather long, but apparently it didn’t even last 5 minutes. Part of this might be the fact that dialogue popups (unusually located at the top of the screen, not the bottom) appear without any delays, and multiple characters’ lines can be displayed in the box at one time. The TTF is still a bit deceptive as once the mobility milestone is hit, the player has to sit through various cutscenes and expository sequences before being deposited on the overworld map.

Once the restraints are fully off, FFIV hits an excellent pace in terms of both gameplay and narrative. Random battles are fairly frequent, but running away is always an option — with the additional risk of losing money — and level-grinding is not required. Party members come and go very quickly, and the plot continuously unfolds at each turn.

The only outlier is the first equipment upgrade that comes unusually late as the weapons/armour shop is closed in the first town, and there’s no gear to collect in the first dungeon.

FTC: 32:43

Miscellaneous Points:

-Hidden paths and out-of-the-way areas on the borders of maps have always been present in JRPGs, but they reached a crescendo in FF IV. They continued to pop up in JRPGs afterwards, but never quite to the same extent.
-As with all Final Fantasy games, the battle system is more complex than most other JRPGS: back/front row formations affect damage and defense attributes as well as weapon efficiency (and are flipped when an enemy group surprise-attacks the party), elemental resistances vary all the way to some attacks actually healing instead of damaging, items not only serve as restoratives and a way buff/debuff but also duplicate spell functionality, spells can be toggled to target all enemies/allies instead of single individuals, character classes come with unique abilities such as stealing items from opponents or temporarily summoning giant monsters, unique reactions are coded into certain enemies such as life-reviving items/spells insta-killing undead creatures, etc.
-There are no random battles on the world-map when riding in a vehicle or on a Chocobo, speeding up some of the exploration and backtracking.

Lunar: The Silver Star – June 26, 1992

I was a little surprised to see the original Lunar appear so early on the list, but in retrospect it makes sense. By 1991, various “multimedia” heavy games such as Cosmic Fantasy were coming out on Japanese PCs and the CD-ROM² System.

Lunar: TSS was the Mega CD’s flagship JRPG, and its North American publisher, Working Designs, created a port known for a fair amount of changes. Extra humour and pop culture references were sprinkled in, and the packaging itself included various extras to position it as a premium title. The Silver Star was successful enough to turn Lunar into a franchise, spawning a sequel, various spinoffs, and multiple ports and remakes.

Despite the multimedia experience being a large selling point, Lunar: TSS started off fairly quickly, mainly due to its voiced and animated intro playing before the title screen. From there, it took very little time to get some items, a few companions, and go out exploring. Menus and dialogues displayed instantly so there were no unnecessary delays, although movement was a bit tricky as the game auto-pathed whenever the party ran into a collidable obstacle. Keeping a direction pressed down made the party hug the wall and keep going, making it at times difficult to properly line up with interactive elements such as NPCs and treasure chests, especially when they were close together.

Combat included movement and attack animations so it was a bit slower than its contemporaries, but it didn’t drag on with overly involved spell sequences. Random encounters were truly random in terms of frequency, but the overworld was littered with HP/MP restoring statues so I was never in any real danger.

Lunar: TSS’ only outlier was its first boss battle, which came fairly late into the game. It was also quite difficult and required a bit of grinding as the boss was only susceptible to magic and the protagonist unlocked his spell-potential right before the boss’ dungeon. The remakes of the game changed this up quite a bit, adding more boss battles and altering the narrative-driven party composition.

FTC: 1:51:16

Miscellaneous Points:

-Extra XP is awarded for completing story segments, which is a nice CRPG-like touch that never makes it to any of the sequels/remakes.
-Another small CRPG-like element is that each character has their own limited inventory, which includes all the equipment items. This means that restoratives need to be placed here in order to use them in combat.
-The AI command in combat usually makes a character attack the closest enemy, and each character has two toggles for whether AI can also include casting magic and using items. However, it needs to be selected for each character individually once per combat round, so it’s not quite an auto-battle toggle.
-There’s actually a hidden checkpoint system in the game which I discovered upon dying to the first boss. The game didn’t restart me in the battle, or even the boss’ dungeon, but rather in the town above it, so I’m not sure what governs its behaviour. Either way, it was still a nice, forward-thinking element that became much more prevalent in future games.

Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium – December 17, 1993

Phantasy Star was Sega’s main JRPG for their other console, the Mega Drive, and The End of the Millenium was the final entry in the series. Despite not relying on a CD-ROM for storage, it featured lots of animated characters and enemies, and copious amounts of pixel art stills for its manga-esque cinematic sequences.

The high production values and epic scope did a lot to wash away the negative reception of Phantasy Star III, but it wasn’t enough to keep the series going. The Phantasy Star IP was eventually used again, but this time for a series of real-time, squad-based online games rather than a traditional JRPG.

PS IV’s dialogues were printed out one letter at a time in a text box that was only two lines high, its menus popped up one above the other and all closed individually when dismissed, and much of the environment could be investigated for flavour-text that bogged down a completionist playthrough. Despite all these elements, PS IV was the second fastest game to hit all the milestones, and it could’ve easily taken first spot if I had played the games slightly differently.

The intro was brisk and started the player off in a town with an inn, an item shop, and a short dungeon with a boss at the end. Saving could be done anywhere, and another character joined the cast before the first dungeon was entered.

Combat was filled with animations, but there was no need for movement like in Lunar and all attacks played out very quickly. In addition, there was an option to use “macros” in battles, pre-defined actions for each character that played out automatically.

Once the local problems were dealt with, the overworld map became available and a trek to a nearby optional town provided gear upgrades. Random battles seemed more rare on the overworld map than in dungeons, and they never happened in quick succession. Combined with a quick walking speed, PS IV feels like a very rapid JRPG, and my milestone measurements seemed to back that up.

FTC: 18:38

Miscellaneous Points:

-The main menu has a “mumbl” option that has a party member speak a line or two about the current goals of the party. This sort in-game reminder for what to do next is common these days, but was quite forward-thinking at the time.
-In addition to spells, dubbed “techniques,” some characters also possess “skills” that don’t rely on a points system but instead can be used a limited amount of times before resting is required to refill them.
-Secret combination attacks are executed when using certain skills/techniques in a single combat round, but these rely on a pretty strict action-order that is often outside the player’s control.
-Movement has some auto-pathing like in Lunar, but unlike that game, it only activates when bumping against the corners of collidable objects.
-Unusual for top-down JPRGs of the era, entering buildings tends to show a “zoomed-in” version of their surroundings instead of just a black colour fill.

Final Fantasy VI – April 2, 1994

One of most renowned JPRGs of all time, Final Fantasy VI continues to vie for the top spot in the series and the console generation as as whole. Unlike Lunar and Phantasy Star, Final Fantasy continued to avoid combat animations and pixel art stills for its presentation, instead relying on complex backdrops, larger sprites with a fair amount of custom animations, and all sorts of Mode 7 trickery.

The complexity of the narrative and gameplay also increased to levels much beyond its contemporaries, with a large cast of characters, loads of optional content, and numerous cinematic set-pieces.

FF VI continued the new trend of starting off with a short dungeon crawl that covers a variety of gameplay elements without overwhelming the player. The first segment introduced movement, combat, saving, leveling up, items (the first one I got was actually a random drop following a battle), and ended with a relatively easy boss fight.

Once the boss was defeated, the game switched to a different playable character, a motif unique to FF VI as the game deemphasized the singular protagonist. The overall experience was also a lot more scripted than other JRPGs as there wasn’t as hard a line between cutscene and freedom; some of the enemies were present on the map and quickly yelled out before attacking, the camera briefly panned to show forces pursuing the player, party members were given short barks in combat to hint at a tactic against the boss, etc.

A party-splitting minigame was up next with a band of Moogles forming three distinct player-groups. Switching between these could be used to cut off slowly moving enemy parties, while the combat itself previewed various weapon attacks as the Moogles were all equipped with a variery of armaments. This sequence also provided an early gear upgrade as I managed to use the Steal ability to obtain a MithrilKnife.

After the starting characters both joined up, the overworld map opened up (with a handy restorative bucket nearby) and the game-proper began.

FTC: 28:26

Miscellaneous Points:

-The intro has the party storming a snowy town in Steampunk mechs. A neat element of this is that various parts of the town are organically inaccessible to the player due to the bulky frame of the mechs.
-In addition to surprising the enemy or being attacked from the back, FF VI adds two more battle orientations: having the enemy surrounded, and being pincered attacked where each character alternates which direction they’re facing.
-An “Optimum” option is present on the equip menu that attempts to suit up the current character with the highest stat-boosting gear currently available. Conveniently, this does not include artefacts with custom behaviour that might not include stat boosts; those are segregated into their own “Relic” menu.

Earthbound – August 27, 1994

Nintendo’s own shot at an in-house JRPG was typically atypical. Instead of a vaguely medieval setting with the occasional firearm or spaceship, Earthbound elected for modern-day quirkiness. The game was like a funhouse mirror version of America steeped in references to Western media that were woefully outdated for its target audience, e.g., the Beatles and Blues Brothers, 50′s sci-fi flicks, the Little Rascals, etc.

The premise was a bit of a hard sale, and the odd marketing campaign didn’t seem to help, but eventually Earthbound gained a fan base that — while not the largest — has to be one of most dedicated out there.

Earthbound was the first and only title on the list not to hit all the gameplay milestones within the 2 hour limit. It started off quite briskly, coming in at or below the median for TTF, item and equipment acquisition, combat, leveling up, and gaining a new ability. However, overall progression had a slower pace than its contemporaries.

Text in Earthbound is printed out in small comic book balloons, and while it was generally fun and charming, there was also quite a bit of it. Combat used a lot of printed descriptions as well, and the higher frequency for missing attacks (both by the player and the enemies) extended the average battle duration. Walking speed was also fairly slow, and combined with large maps filled with NPCs, exploration had a bit of a languid feel to it. It was quite fitting for the happy-go-lucky setting, but it did put the game on the slower side of things.

Enemies were visible on the map and could be largely avoided — and they even started running away from me once I reached a high enough level — so replaying the game could go much faster if one simply made a beeline for the next plot point. The only caveat here is that I actually had to do some grinding to defeat the second boss; it wasn’t strictly necessary, but I died on my first attempt and didn’t want to rely on luck to continue.

FTC: NA

Miscellaneous Points:

-There are lots of funky sound effects for combat, menu navigation, etc., that help to give off a quirky vibe.
-Part of the game’s unique look is due to its cabinet projection for regular maps and a charming little diorama-esque view for indoor locations.
-Enemies can be surprised by running into them from behind, and they can get a free combat round as well if they pursue and catch up to the protagonist. When a battle is initiated, other enemies that were visible on-screen can also rush in to join the fight before transitioning to the combat screen.
-The rolling-metre system in combat only actualizes damage when the HP counter hits its target value. While the metre scrolls quite quickly. making it at best a minor factor, there was at least once occasion where I managed to defeat an opponent following what should’ve been a lethal blow to the protagonist.
-Following a fight, the protagonist briefly flashes to indicate invincibility. While in this mode combat cannot be initiated, giving enough time to access the menu and prepare for any subsequent battles.

Lunar: Eternal Blue – December 22, 1994

A rarity amongst JRPGs: a direct sequel that retains the same setting and links to the previous game’s events and characters. Eternal Blue also upped the ante on the multimedia content with more cinematics and voiced content, and much like The Silver Star, received various remake-ports. Despite this, it was the last main entry in the series and only received side-story sequels of dubious quality.

In many ways, Lunar: EB was a preview of the next generation’s JRPGs. There was more text — with NPCs often rambling on for a while, and having different things to say a second time around or when the plot advanced — more cinematics, more voice overs, etc., and a lot of it unskipable.

The game began with a lengthy intro that was more than twice as long as any other game on the list. Things picked up right after, though, with the ability to save and rest, access to the overworld map, random combat, a gear upgrade, and a new companion. This whole segment would’ve gone even faster if it wasn’t for one relatively big problem: loading times. Every instance of combat, which was already on the slower side, was preceded and followed by a noticeable load time. The unusually low success rate for running away from battles exacerbated this issue.

Since the party started off with a fair amount of items, it actually took a while to reach the first dungeon and obtain new ones. Following some more lengthy cinematics and traversal, the first boss appeared leaving only one more milestone on the list: gaining a new ability.

In Lunar: EB, there actually is no automatic unlocking of any new spells. Instead, magic experience points are gained following each battle (which in the North American port are also used to save), and these are used to upgrade individual abilities. I started off by strengthening a few characters’ spells, but refrained from using MXP until I got close to the 2 hour limit. At that point, I focused on upgrading the protagonists abilities, and had just enough points to morph one of the old spells into a new one, and gain a brand new spell as well.

FTC: 1:48:35

Miscellaneous Points:

-More so than any other JRPG of the era, Lunar: EB’s narrative is character driven. The plot focuses not so much on saving the world as helping out a mysterious character the protagonist encounters while avoiding an NPC that pursues them. The world saving element is still there, but more as a backdrop for the characters’ individual goals.
-Enemies often assume certain stances in between combat rounds that work as tells for what ability they’ll do when their turn comes up. This adds an extra wrinkle to combat, hinting at which foes should be focused on by the party. e.g., the Sand Sharks do more damage and target an area when their heads are sticking out of the sand, Althena’s Guards block all basic physical damage when their shields are up, etc.
-There’s some interesting interactivity between some of enemy groups that add further consideration to combat, e.g., Bandage Boys all perish when their Mummy leader is destroyed, while a pointing Cave Rat will cause all other rats to rush and attack a single character.
-Unlike the original Lunar, AI is a proper auto-battle toggle that lasts round after round until manually turned off. In addition, the game has three “tactic” slots that work like macros in PS IV and allow the player to assign specific commands to be executed for one round.
-Party HP/MP appear in a different outline/fill colour based on whether they’re at maximum values, below them, or close to running out.

Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals – February 24, 1995

Neverland is best known for its Rune Factory series, but Lufia II is by far my favourite game from the developer. It also filled a bit of a niche as Dragon Quest titles never made it out to the West during the 4th generation and the two series shared many similarities: the art style, the combat, the almost-episodic nature to the narrative, the gambling minigames, churches being used for saving and curing ailments, the ability to recruit certain monsters into the party, etc.

However, Lufia II built on top of those elements with a bit of a kitchen-sink approach, adding a roguelike step-turn system to its Zelda-inspired dungeons, providing equipment that granted unique abilities, and even included an optional but giant randomly-generated maze.

Aside from the last two gameplay milestones, Lufia II was the quickest game to get going. The protagonist walked into a shop, exchanged a few words with a girl, and we were off!

Text was shown in comic book balloons — with characters’ inner thoughts displayed using a different border and notch — but plenty of it could fit in these balloons as the number of lines adjusted to the dialogue itself. The text display speed was also set to fastest by default; the only time I recall ever seeing that in a JRPG. Walking speed was quick as well, and enemies could be seen and often avoided in dungeons (random encounters existed on the overworld map, but didn’t happen too).

The starting town provided items, equipment, and spells for purchase, as well as an inn. Stepping outside brought me to the overworld map, and an introductory dungeon just to the south granted the first level up. It took a few more towns and dungeons to fight the first boss and gain the first companion, but Lufia II generally progressed at a very fast pace.

FTC: 54:34

Miscellaneous Points:

-The dungeons are very compartmentalized, and despite a lot of reused mechanics, each room feels like a unique puzzle: drop through the floor in the right place to hit a switch on the floor below, stun an enemy with an arrow to keep it positioned over a trigger that opens the exit, hit the musical chime columns with the right attack to unlock the next room, etc. It’s a lot of complexity, but areas with new mechanics often have notes pinned to the wall that explain the new gameplay.
-Pressing “X” when highlighting a spell or item brings up a short description along with any special attributes. These sorts of interface niceties are fairly common in Lufia II, e.g., there are options for equipping the strongest gear available removing all items, toggling spell-targeting to all, instantly buying and equipping gear in stores or just purchasing it, etc.
-Many pieces of equipment provide additional abilities such as elemental attacks and healing. These rely on an IP metre, a third resource for all characters that fills up as they’re damaged.
-Enemies have a small chance of dropping “rocks,” equipable items that somewhat represent the essence of the creature and provide new IP abilities in addition to significant stat boosts.
-Recruitable monsters can’t be controlled or healed in combat. However, they do automatically recover after every encounter and level up along with the party. In addition, monsters can be fed items and equipment to “evolve” into a new class, but this takes a long while and filling the evolution metre works best when the monsters is given their requested treat. This changes after most feedings and provides a further use for old weapons and armour (so much so that I rarely had enough gold to purchase all the available spells and gear).

Chrono Trigger – March 11, 1995

SquareSoft and Enix were the two largest JRPG competitors during the 4th generation, so it was quite a boon for SquareSoft to welcome Yuji Horri (Dragon Quest’s creator who was apparently freelancing at the time) and Akira Toriyama (the concept artist for Dragon Quest and creator of Dragon Ball) into the fold. Expectations for the Dream Team’s project were quite high, but considering Chrono Trigger is often cited as the best JRPG of all time, it’s safe to say they were more than met.

In some ways, Chrono Trigger felt like the streamlined JRPG that FF: Mystic Quest always wanted to be. The party was limited to 3 characters, the overworld map was visually compressed and had no random encounters, equipment was reduced to 4 slots, only restorative and stat-upgrading items were available, and the dungeons tended to be fairly small. Despite this, the game didn’t start railroaded to an excessively linear path.

Chrono Trigger’s short opening let the player instantly visit two different towns, rest & save, purchase items and equipment, visit a small forest to fight enemies and level up, and partake in various minigames. To move the plot forward, a new companion was met at the fair, and one optional boss battle later all the gameplay milestones were hit in just under 20 minutes; perhaps the streamlining of the game also helped to remove a lot of common filler?

FTC: 18:28

Miscellaneous Points:

-Holding the “cancel” button causes the character to run, something that became a common convention for JRPGs.
-Enemies are not only visible on maps, but also fought there instead of transitioning to a separate screen. Like in Lunar, abilities also include certain specifications for which enemies or party members they can target, but there’s still no manual movement in combat so it plays out at a quick pace.
-Enemies don’t just stand or randomly wander around the environment: some can be caught sleeping, others hide in bushes and won’t appear unless their sanctuary is investigated, while others still are busy playing games or patrolling a specific area.
-Items are can be hidden in pots or other environmental objects, but these are usually accompanied by a sparkle effect that makes their presence quite obvious.
-Text boxes are not modal so it’s possible to simply walk away from talking NPCs instead of clicking through their whole speech. The text box can also be toggled on the fly to either appear at the top or bottom of the screen.
-Special combination attacks are selected from the menu when all the necessary characters are able to act. This removes the guessing work in discovering them like in PS IV, and prevents them from not working due to timing issues.
-Chrono Trigger dubbed the concept of a New Game+ which was required to obtain all of the game’s various endings.

Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars – March 9, 1996

Despite the Mother series’ relative success, Nintendo reached out to SquareSoft to make a JRPG starring their flagship mascot (perhaps wanting to avoid further conflict with Miyamoto who scoffed at using CG graphics following Donkey Kong Country’s success). The relationship between the two companies soon soured, but Super Mario RPG itself was both a critical and commercial hit, and managed to morph into two individual sub-series for Nintendo.

Just like FF VI, Super Mario RPG started off with a short, railroaded dungeon that set up the main premise of the game while letting the player get comfortable with basic combat and exploration. A few tutorials then followed introducing resting, saving, items, and overworld exploration; further milestones were a bit more spread out.

Perhaps wanting to avoid overwhelming newcomers to the genre, all numerics in Super Mario RPG were on the smaller side. This included max character levels, which were restricted to 30 rather than the more typical 99. This meant that leveling up, and by extension gaining new abilities, was a bit more spread out. Despite this, Super Mario RPG still hit all its milestones in well under 45 minutes.

FTC: 38:52

Miscellaneous Points:

-There’s a lot of charm and humour in the game, including Mario being the silent protagonist who pantomimes events via custom animations and temporary transformations into enemies to get his point across.
-The isometric maps require some rudimentary platforming and make good use of interactive elements common to Mario platformers.
-Enemies are visible on maps and there’s a lot of scripted behaviour to them: Goombas rush from behind bushes to ambush the player, Koopa Paratroopas fly around with a kidnapped Toad, K-9s swarm the screen for easy dispatching when a Super Star is collected, etc.
-The party shares a Flower Points pool for all ability use.
-Timed button presses allow the player to power up attacks and abilities, and reduce incoming damage. The timing for these isn’t always obvious, but all ability descriptions provide a hint as to when the appropriate button should be pressed.
-Combat menus are mapped to the four face buttons, creating a slightly more reactive experience when choosing to attack, use abilities, use items, or defend/run away.
-Enemies typically drop coins when defeated, but occasionally they’ll relinquish an HP-restoring item or provide the attacking character with an extra turn.

Pokémon Yellow – September 12, 1998

Despite its humble roots, Pokémon went on to become the most successful JRPG series of all time. In fact, a whole separate company was spun out to manage the IP, and it’s still hailed as the highest grossing media franchise in the world beating out such juggernauts as Star Wars, Mickey Mouse, Harry Potter, and the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. A trend with the series has always been to split each entry into two slightly different titles, and eventually put out a combined version. That’s what I decided to cover here: Pokémon Yellow, the merging of the original Red/Green releases.

Pokémon started off very quickly, coming in at or below the median for mobility, resting & saving, obtaining an item, combat, traveling, leveling up, gaining a new ability, and having a companion join the party. However, Pokémon didn’t map onto all these milestones as directly as other JPRGs.

I considered the first companion to be the first Pokémon I was given. These pocket-monsters can be swapped in and out at will and can’t be equipped with any gear, so they don’t function quite like your typical party member. The protagonist has no equipment either, so I waited until the first stat-boosting badge was obtained before toggling that milestone. The game also lacked typical bosses, so in this category I substituted in the first encounter with a Pokémon Trainer who had multiple creatures to dispatch. However, because their minions are not completely unique and there are so many Pokémon Trainers in the game, it might be more accurate to describe them as minibosses.

It could also be argued that the wilderness areas between towns all constitute individual dungeons. They’re certainly deliberate from a level design point of view, and contain their own groups of Pokémon, Pokémon Trainers, and treasures. The main reason I didn’t count them as dungeons, though, was that much like Super Mario RPG, they served as common transitions between distinct locations rather than being unique destinations in and of themselves.

The “Gotta catch ‘em all!” slogan of Pokémon also led to an interesting dynamic when it came to grinding. An experienced player can easily capture and upgrade the Pokémon most suited for exploiting the weaknesses of the upcoming enemies and bosses. However, a new player or a completionist will spend vast amounts of time trying to encounter, capture, and level up all the available creatures, slowing down overall progression quite a bit.

FTC: 1:53:09

Miscellaneous Points:

-Despite not being as action oriented as Super Mario RPG, general traversal is still more interesting than in a typical JRPG. One-way ledges make backtracking easier, random battles can be avoided by limited exposure to tall grasses, and careful navigation can skip past Pokémon Trainers who rush forward to fight if the player walks in front of them.
-Pokémon don’t use MP for their abilities, instead relying on Power Points that work similarly to skills in PS IV. Each ability costs one PP to use, but unlike PS IV, these are usually quite numerous, e.g., 30-40 uses.
-Each Pokémon is limited to 4 abilities, but can learn many more. When a Pokémon obtains a fifth ability via leveling up or using a TM item, the player can decide to not learn it or replace one of the old abilities with the new one.
-At certain level ups — or through the use of special items or trading — Pokémon can evolve into new forms, complete with a new spriteset and a different progression path for statistics and abilities.
-The Pokémon themselves are well integrated into the game world, often appearing in people’s houses and generally being intertwined with the setting rather than being a standalone element

Conclusion

10 games make for an extremely small sample size, but timing these titles still proved quite eye-opening. I generally suspected that combat, items, and equipment milestones would come first, followed by overworld travel, resting, and saving. Once this initial loop was established — giving the player freedom to upgrade and recover as needed — I figured the next steps would involve delving into a dungeon and fighting the first boss. Some plot exposition would then follow, a new companion would join the group, and the old character(s) would learn a few new tricks in combat.

Things didn’t quite go that way.

Resting & Saving was already an early-game staple, while most titles either began in a dungeon where a boss awaited, or took a long way to build up to those encounters. Acquisition of equipment was something I just flat out got wrong; getting new gear was a lengthy process, often coming in after new abilities were obtained.

The most shocking aspect of the timing, though, was the TTF itself. I thought that some openings would last up to 30 minutes, but the longest one wasn’t even half of that. In fact, 9 games started off in under 5 minutes, with most only taking a minute or so to get going. Part of the reason for this was an interesting trend to play an opening cinematic before the title screen, or via an attract-mode. These would often set up the setting itself, leaving only character introductions once the game itself began.

Grinding proved to be mostly a non-issue, at least in the first 2 hours of each game. Even more surprisingly, random encounters themselves were already being diminished. Not only was combat not as obnoxiously frequent as I had feared, many games were either showing enemies on the maps or experimenting with the approach, e.g., the Pokémon Trainers in Pokémon Yellow and the guards aboard Leo’s ship in Lunar: Eternal Blue.

Another unexpected element was the proliferation of minigames. I thought these mostly started appearing 5th generation, but they often popped up in this one as well, e.g., the slots in Lufia II, the carnival games in Chrono Trigger, the collection-races of Super Mario RPG, etc.

Considering combat wasn’t quite as unavoidable as some might think, I expect things to slow down a bit in the next console generation. There will be more cinematics, more voice overs, and more text; as odd as it might sound, a game’s script was one of the many things limited by cartridge size. I already have a rough list of which JRPGs to cover next, but feel free to let me know if you have any suggestions! （source：Gamasutra）