Why Phoenix Wright can save JRPG

Role-playing games, even the MMO ones are divided into 2 big “alliances”, the Japanese RPG and the American RPG. The main difference between the two is the perspective of the developers. The Japanese RPG let you play a story while the American RPG let you experience an adventure. The ARPG favors self-empowerment over the deep storytelling of JRPG. No wonder ARPG literally drops nukes on its Japanese counterparts in our society that seems more and more selfish.

Nowadays, when we play videogames it is usually after a long day of work or school to blow off steam. We want to feel like we can do much more than what’s given. ARPG does that. JRPG giving us great experience of much more multitude of choices considering your adventure, but lack that sense of empowerment. It does not contain, mostly, that every battle is bound to be epic.

With the progress of technology, there are more ways to tell a good story while giving that most desired epic feel. Half Life 2, for example, gave you that tension and feeling every victory was between life and death, and it is a shooter game. Great face imaging, voice over, and better rendering capabilities that where among its advancements.

So what can JRPG bring? The costs are high because they utilize a lot of 2D, meaning the artists have to draw everything. They usually build an engine from scrap that consumes time and money. Even with these investments, you don’t get a dollar for your dime. Here comes Phoenix Wright.

The Phoenix Wright games are a series of adventure games, not RPG, foretelling the story of a lawyer through very entertaining and emotional scenarios. The epic moments in Phoenix Wright, is not figuring out which evidence fits which statement, is seeing your witnesses crack and going through some of the most emotional scenes I’ve seen in any game. This is what JRPG should roll on.