In regards to the conversation about Western RPGs (WRPG) to Japanese RPGs (JRPG) ... does the introduction of a character like Kai Leng (Asian assassin-archetype in a futurist world) and a game-ending protagonist taking the form of a child go against what the Bioware co-founders thoughts were in this interview?
Personally, my introduction to Kai Leng was Mass Effect 3, and I immediately thought "Final Fantasy character" when he stepped on screen and spoke. A friend of mine (a fellow ME'er) had to tell me that Kai Leng was introduced in the books, which did not do much to break my first impression of him being a few collars and chains away from being part of a Final Fantasy game.
The whole concept of an assassin whose primary weapon was a sword just seemed very out of place. He was not the first assassin we were introduced to in the Mass Effect universe, so why not follow up with something similar to Thane (the galaxy's most skilled, as stated by the Illusive Man), instead of going for something befitting a Square ENIX game?
The introduction of the Catalyst (i.e. Star Child) is also something that is expected from a JRPG, not a WRPG. While there are a lot of things wrong with that entire situation, with many posts that support it, why a child? While I understand the child being introduced in the beginning and being some sort of anchor-point for Shepard's emotional stress ... why? Shepard has emotional connection to many people around him, who he has bled with and bled for. Why the need to represent this emotional strain with a character (the child) who had, at most, two minutes of screen time and maybe fifteen words of dialogue. Was Kaiden/Ashley not enough? How about the losses of the first Normandy's destruction? Or the loss, if any, from the suicide mission or Collector collecting (heh) of the Cerberus crew? They had direct impact to the Shepard character that returning characters would instantly recognize and give new players incentive to buy the previous games for additional information to such an important character.
Children are a pretty emotional anchor to use - but that is something seen in JRPGs, not WRPGs. While children can be a drive (Fable series, for example) - they are never a focus. Why now? What was the change that happened between June, 2010 and March, 2012 that brought some failing points from the JRPG market into the WRPG market, when the drivers of the Bioware bus were clearly aware of the changing face of RPGs as a whole?
... open-ended question with thousands of answers on the forum already, sure. At least the interview is interesting to read!
EDIT: Grammar.
Modifié par NamelessJT, 26 mars 2012 - 09:23 .
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