Summary
JRPGs have been setting the standard for video game narratives and mechanics for years.The deep lore of these titles, strong character work, and unique gameplay loops have made JRPGs one of the top genre for gamers across the world, but with such a strong library of titles, it’s only natural that certain conventions and tropes would begin to appear.
So how does a JRPG break conventions? What rules should be stuck to, and which should be broken? Should a story change upthe classic high fantasy setting, or should the turn-based combat that helped define the genre in the 80s and 90s get a revamp? These games in particular have broken away from traditional JRPG conventions to great effect.
One of the many Square Enix games that breaks away from pure fantasy to throw ina healthy dose of sci-fi,Star Ocean The Second Story Ris a tremendous turn-based game that gamers won’t want to miss, especially if they love making an impact on the narrative through their choices. From the very beginning, selecting one of the two protagonists to guide through the narrative sets players on a path to one of 99 endings, further influenced by how they interact with the multitude of companions available to them.
This game manages to bask in all the things that fans love about the classic high-fantasy setting while also defying many aesthetic tropes. The presence of high-tech, futuristic technology places the setting ofSecond Story Ras a single planet in an epic of galactic proportions. It’s a great way to show how the framing of a setting is vital to where it stands in the genre.
Many JRPGs are known for their strong, but linear narratives. This is already aconvention that has been broken by a few titles, but as a general rule, especially in older games, the agency a player has in the world of many JRPGs is limited to things like party composition and maybe what side quests to take, as opposed to influencing how the story turns out.
Radiant Historia, specifically thePerfect Chronologyremaster on the 3DS, is a perfect example of a game that defies the linear narrative in an interesting way. Stocke must use the White Chronicle to explore two divergent timelines that split from his own choices, jumping between the two to find answers to problems found in only one timeline and saving both in the process.
Not the most renowned of Square Enix’s titles but certainly an underrated success with an incredible morality mechanic,Triangle Strategyhas an incredible branching storyline that takes players in directions all across the continent of Norzelia. In a genre that is, candidly, filled with evil wizards and tyrannical dark knights with comically oversized horns on their helmet,Triangle Strategybreaks away from this with a surprising level of political realism and genuine human characters while still giving players atwisty, brutal narrative to enjoy.
Balancing the three major convictions and havinga story determined by the companionsas much as the player is already an innovated enough divergence from JRPG form, but adding on to this is an incredibly engaging narrative that shows characters change, grow, and even realize when something is too challenging or not worth the risk to engage in.
Resonance of Fatestands as one of the most beloved JRPGs to date, hailed forits dazzling combat systemthat breaks through JRPG norms in several ways. This “tri-Attack Battle System” lets players move around freely during their turn in combat, limited by their action points. They can then attack an opponent at advantageous angles while also being able to charge up one attack not just once but several times over.
The setting for this game takes a gritty, future dystopia and blends it with an iconic steampunk style, making it an incredibly novel aesthetic and one of thebest post-apocalyptic JRPGsplayers can get their hands on today.
Shin Megami Tensei,one of Atlus' flagship series, has constantly been breaking down the barriers for what JRPG combat should constitute, butShin Megami Tensei 5: Vengeancegets a mention here for being an incredibly polished title, worthy of carrying this series' legacy onto the Switch. Complicated stories are not necessarily groundbreaking in this genre, butSMT’s discussion of Law and Chaos as opposed to good and evil is always a wonderful subversion of the more binary narratives JRPGs can have.
Demons in almost all non-boss battle encounters can be spoken to instead of battled inSMT. InVengeance, players will want to speak to demons to try and recruit them into their party through sweet-talk, bribery, or intimidation. They can also, however, extort them for items, scare them from battle, or barter for their essence, depending on what supplementary skills have been taken.
