Final Fantasy Gaiden is classic role-playing for four
by JC Fletcher 
{ Jul 6th 2009 at 11:45AM }
Square Enix's totally mysterious teaser site has revealed -- surprise! -- Four Warriors of Light: Final Fantasy Gaiden, only a few days after Jump revealed it. The site offers a bit more detail about the game than we knew -- most importantly, it confirms that the Four Warriors of Light, described as a "newly retold classic," is designed for play by up to four people.Like the last couple of Final Fantasy remakes on DS, Four Warriors of Light is being developed by Matrix Software. It features a new implementation of the standard Final Fantasy "job system," called the Crown System, which lets players switch jobs whenever desired. That sounds like the Dress Sphere system from the maligned Final Fantasy X-2.
A statement from producer Tomoya Asano on the site, as translated by Andriasang, indicates the team's hope to deliver a game with "the charms of the classic RPG era before RPGs became JRPGs."
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tim @ Jul 6th 2009 11:55AM
Wait, so, this is more of an MMO-lite, gameplay-wise?
Lars @ Jul 6th 2009 6:07PM
I dunno what MMO-lite is... wouldn't that be like Runescape or something?
It sounds like straight up Co-op RPG. Like Diablo, Dungeon Siege, etc.
Gabriel Lamarre @ Jul 6th 2009 12:41PM
An RPG without guns or robots? A Final Fantasy actually worthy of having the word "fantasy" in the title?
A happy man I am! =D
Lars @ Jul 6th 2009 5:30PM
"Fantasy" covers Sci Fi as well as Medieval. But I agree with the sentiment... Medieval Fantasy FTW!
Elranzer @ Jul 6th 2009 1:11PM
I know it's blasphemy but I'd rather play something like this on a console or even the PSP.
The DS has the better games (than the PSP) but those screens are like having tunnel vision. At least the PSP has TV-out.
Josh @ Jul 6th 2009 2:54PM
Happy.
Santos L. Halper @ Jul 6th 2009 3:36PM
Can someone explain the difference between RPG and JRPG?
Gabriel Lamarre @ Jul 6th 2009 4:25PM
Well, of course, RPG stands for Role-Playing Game while JRPG stands for Japenese Role-Playing Game.
RPGs are more oriented on character customization, where the hero really is the player and where the game is not linear. Most MMORPGs are good examples of RPGs, but back in the days, a lot of games where RPGs, like the Final Fantasy franchise, but they eventually became...
JRPGs are pretty twisted, since they don't really have anything to do with Role-Playing, it's usually a bunch of teenagers who goes on an adventure to save the world or something... The characters are a lot more developed than in traditional RPGs and the story is one of the most straightforward in all of gaming genres, they also leave less place for customization. They will usually be labeled as RPGs only because they have a battle system that is somewhat turn-based with numbers flying all over the screen when hitting an enemy, and because they use things such as items and magics.
Santos L. Halper @ Jul 6th 2009 5:43PM
I've been wondering about this for a while. Thanks for clearing things up for me.
Lars @ Jul 6th 2009 6:00PM
I disagree with your definition of JRPG. Maybe you're trying to be sarcastic and the humor is just lost on me...
Saying JRPG's don't have anything to do with Role-Playing is completely false. I suppose the definition of what is an RPG needs clarity first though. I think of an RPG as a game where the characters evolve by gaining levels and / or equipment, by defeating enemies. By this definition JRPG's and WRPG's are the same.
Now the distinction between the two are defined by several characteristics. Yes, Japanese RPG's are usually more linear than Western RPG's (not always), as you mentioned. Also, WRPG's tend to have a nearly non-existent story, while JRPG's usually have a very detailed story (though the story is often terrible). JRPG's tend to favor turn-based combat over real-time combat which is popular in WRPG's.
They also follow some of the same stereotypes found in Japanese and Western games in general, such as:
Japanese games usually contain a very annoying small child and/or girl and/or animal of some kind. Western games usually are a lot more visceral, bloody, gory, etc. Japanese games usually feature younger heroes than Western games, and the art style is similar to Anime (huge eyes, crazy hair, small bodies with large heads, etc.).
I could go on, but I think that's enough.
Gabriel Lamarre @ Jul 6th 2009 9:07PM
@Lars
First of, I'm not trying to insult JRPGs or anything, in fact, I tend to prefer JRPGs over WRPGs, it's just that I think they don't have anything to do with role-playing, well... most of them.
Judging by your third paragraph, I can say we share pretty much the same ideas. However, you seem to label a game as an RPG as soon as it involves gaining levels, I think this is too much of a little detail to judge a game's genre, a lot of action/adventure games have those kind of mechanics.
What I'm saying is that RPG stands for Role-Playing Game, and you can't do that with a game where the character already has a background story and a predetermined future.
Some Japanese games are RPGs, take for example Etrian Odyssey, The Dark Spire or even Pokemon! Those are all games where the main character has little to no background story and will get stronger by different ways, whether it's about the classes he chooses, the skills he learns or the pokemons he catches.
This whole concept revolves around the player's decisions, because the character is suppose to be the player, hence the name Role-Playing Game.