JRPG Mechanics 02 - Side Quests

Questing is something that isn't necessarily exclusive to JRPGs, or RPGs in general, but it’s a mechanic used in many JRPGs to prolong the length or the game, or perhaps add to the replay value. Generally the main story isn't considered a quest, although technically speaking it is - it’s the main quest, or objective, of the entire game.

Side quests, however, are diversions from the main story that allow the player to perhaps learn more about the NPC characters that interact with his or her main group of heroes. They could relate to the main story, or be completely separate. Just as the typical episode of a television series might have several story lines (an "A" story, a "B" story and even a "C" story perhaps), this could be the purpose of side quests in a JRPG, as well - to explore various aspects of the characters that we might not see in the main story because that story may not focus on them directly.

Are these tiresome throwbacks to an era when gamers in general didn't radiate a "must have now" attitude, or are they still relevant in new titles? I very much think they're still a relevant mechanic and a solid, acceptable method by which to lengthen game play - if done correctly. To be done correctly, these side quests, in my opinion, need to have either an interesting story and/or objective or have rewards that the players actually want. Too many times I see side quests in console RPGs fall into the MMORPG mold of "go kill 10 wolves and get back to me". Now, an objective like that might suffice if - and I stress if - the rewards are good. If all you receive is a handful of common healing items that are easily available, you might save a bit of game currency on purchasing them, but that's about it.

In a mostly linear JRPG, side quests are usually created to be done at certain points in the game where the developers know that the average player would be able to do it easily. But, if you come back to do it at a much later point in the game, the reward isn't even worth the effort because your gear has far surpassed what you might receive from the quest. My solution to this problem is to have a pool of quest rewards geared toward the player character's current level. Regardless of how easy the quest is to complete, time was still put into actually completing it, so the rewards should be something that the player can most likely use at their current level. To take that a step further, if a higher level player comes back to do a lower level quest, gear the objective of the quest to that player's level.

Example: An NPC in town lost her son in a nearby cave, she's scared to go in too deep in to find him. The objective is to find her son, but to get to her son you have to defeat a boss (which appears only when this quest is active or is summoned by an item, much like in an MMORPG). If you do the quest at level 10, the boss is a comparable level. If you do the quest at level 50, it will be a challenge for you then, as well. (Note: This should really only apply to side questing, bosses related to the main story and regular creatures in the field should remain at a static level, there are other ways to give the player a challenge and allow them a relatively easier ride if they just want to see how the story plays out. Side questing is one of them.)

It gets very grind-y when the bulk of side quests are nothing but "kill X amount of X monster" or "collect X amount of X item from X monster". Perhaps thinking more along the lines of an MMORPG are in order. There's nothing to say that side quests can't, in themselves, have major story lines that culminate in an epic battle. Perhaps its not for the fate of the galaxy, the planet or mankind, but maybe to protect a town or something along those lines. In MMOs there are often quest chains that start off small, perhaps with a "kill X amount of X monster" quest, then build up to include more and more interesting quests - escorts, reconnaissance missions and large-scale battles.

In addition to the way side quests are designed, I'd like to see them play to the exploration aspect of many JRPGs and hide them places. There are many nooks and crannies in typical RPG maps ripe for optional quests, dungeons and other hidden, yet profitable, dangers to discover. Don't concentrate everything in the towns, spread things out, make exploration important, let us really find out what its like to be a resident of that area, or put in quests that are designed to let us learn more about our party members beyond what the main story tells us. Again, give us variety of quest objective and location.

One last point I'd like to bring up in regard to side quests - make them feel just as important as the main story. It is quite disheartening, in this day and age, to see the main story of a game include full voice acting and cut scenes, then when you accept a side quest, that immersion is interrupted by a text box popping up on your screen. What's this? I have to actually read this story? Why, when the main story includes voice acting, do side quests not? It tosses immersion right down the crapper and even interrupts the pacing of the game overall (although, I admit, the very nature of side quests make the idea of "pacing" in an RPG a laughable concept).

As you might have assumed, most JRPGs don't live up to my lofty ideas of how side quests should be included. This doesn't make the concept outdated in itself. There are completionists who will attempt to do every little thing in an RPG, no matter what it is - myself included. This isn't even to mention the importance this generation of gamers places on achievements or trophies, which may be unlocked by completing these menial tasks. My hope, though, is that the idea of side questing may evolve to a point where it can be more than just grinding and actually integrate well into the main story any given RPG is trying to tell.

JRPG Mechanics 01 - Random Encounters

[I’ve been a Japanese RPG fan for as long as I’ve been gaming, but lately it seems the popularity of such games outside of Japan has been dropping off dramatically. Perhaps this is because of some preconceived outdated game mechanics compared to their Western counterparts, which seem to be wielding heavy influence in the general RPG genre. This column will examine some of these “outdated” game mechanics and hopefully incite discussion on whether they actually can or should be updated and why.]

As the first topic for discussion, I’ll be delving into the realm of random encounters in JRPGs. We all know the drill. You, the hero, are wandering in the wilderness along with your band of friends, themselves perhaps picked up off the streets of the castle-town from which you hail. During your wandering, you suddenly hit an invisible enemy and are thrust into battle. As the omni-present gamer, you have just been the victim of a random number generator. To some, these are inconvenient annoyances, to others, it provides a sense of danger, because you never know what is going to happen at any given time.

The idea of random encounters, of course, started back in the days of table-top RPGs. They were sometimes used back then as a game mechanic to strain a player’s characters, perhaps forcing them to use consumables or face a stronger foe in a weakened state. By a stretch, you can probably say the same things about random encounters in video game RPGs today. They are meant to convey a sense of ever-present danger. Its kind of like opening a box of chocolates – if you step outside the safety of a town, you never know what you’re going to get.

Because of the simple formulas used to determine when these encounters will be triggered, you can have very frequent occurrences or, on the other hand, stretches of time where you will not trip the wire at all, so to speak. It’s the times when the frequent encounters happen that most JRPG gamers scream in a fit of nerdrage. There are formulas that limit the amount of random encounters you can experience in a given amount of your character’s steps on-screen. This makes the possibility of triggering an encounter every step impossible, and, in turn, alleviates some of the issues with the concept as a whole.

The last game I played which involved random encounters was Lost Odyssey, and it seemed to me they were still able to be triggered almost every step. I remember a couple times where it seemed like, over the course of five steps, I triggered four encounters. This is rare, but still quite annoying and, as some claim, a discouragement to exploration. The more you explore, the more you wear your characters down, perhaps so much that you can’t handle an upcoming boss without using consumables to beef up your health and mana. This is even a more significant problem if the save point doesn't completely recharge your character (more on this in a future installment of this column).

Do I personally think this is an outdated system of determining when battles happen? Yes, I do. However, I am not as adverse to random battles as some reviewers and other gamers are. With that said, the best route, I feel, is to not even bother with a random number generator at all and just place a set amount of enemy spawns in areas, which can “respawn” either on their own or when the player moves into another area and returns. This allows the player to fight as many or as few enemies as they want, without the absolute need to if they don’t want to. Exploration can occur more freely, as these monsters on the field screen can usually be avoided (although some have AI that causes them to aggressively move toward the player when they move within a certain range). Granted, there are also drawbacks of avoiding these on-screen encounters - you lose out on experience points gained for your characters, as well as item drops, currency and perhaps other benefits, as well. But, simply put, placing enemies on the field screen allows the player to control their characters to a larger extent.

Not having random battles isn’t necessarily innovative, either. Its not a new idea to suddenly grace the genre in the last year or two. Placing enemies on the screen for all to see has been around for quite some time. It’s in this respect that I fail to see why games are often treated harshly when they involve random encounters. But, in the end, it all boils down to personal preference. By my own admission, random encounters can – and will, if given enough time – get incredibly tedious. Developers seem to have noted this, as we’ve seen less of this particular mechanic in JRPGs as of late.

However you feel on the subject, I don’t think random encounters are going to completely disappear anytime soon. Square-Enix, in its continual output of ports and remakes of older RPGs, is possibly introducing the mechanic to a whole new generation of younger gamers. Two of their heavily-publicized recent remakes – Dragon Quest IV and Dragon Quest V – have random encounters (as do all the DS and PSP Final Fantasy ports/remakes). As long-time JRPG enthusiasts, this mechanic is part of our past – at one point or another, whether it was loved or hated, we dealt with it so we could join a band of stalwart heroes on their adventures. I doubt those feelings of nostalgia will dissipate anytime soon. That being said, it doesn’t mean we have to like the idea of random encounters. To some it’s a bane, to some it’s a blessing – in either case, I’m sure we enjoy the genre for more than the means in which we’re introduced to a salivating pack of monsters that want to end our hero’s cliché, yet potentially world-changing, existence.