The Evolution Of The JRPG
Squaring Up To The Competition
Squaresoft, now the Square Enix we know, had already been dominating the market with their Final Fantasy series. Not only that, the aforementioned Mana titles and Chrono Trigger had proven that they had the chops for this particular style of gaming and its hybrid offshoots. But what else could they do? Where else is there to go when you're sat comfortably at the top of an equally comfortable genre?
Well, if you've got the inclination for it, you gamble. You put all your eggs into one basket, push all your efforts into that "just one more" title and you hope and pray it hits the spot for gamers and critics alike.
That title was Final Fantasy VII.
It may sound hyperbolic to say that it took the world by storm, but you only have to look at any list or ranking system to see it riding high. To this day you only need to look at the numbers, the companion pieces and the eventual remake (of gawd knows how many parts) some twenty three years later, to realise the impact this game had.
If JRPG's were the dammed water, idly building up behind the proverbial barrier, then FFVII was the game that broke that wall. The flood that followed was insane, and the genre reached loftier heights that all previous console generations combined.
Squaresoft continued with a few more numbered Final Fantasies (including the best one, FFVIII), as well as a sequel to the much beloved Chrono Trigger in Chrono Cross. Before that saw the massively ambitious, anime-inspired Xenogears, which took on such a complex range of themes and issues it'd need a retrospective in itself.
Yet it wasn't just the presentation side of the genre that got a shake up, as developers saw new ways to expand on the now-familiar turn-based battle systems we'd started to get bored of. Hybrid action/adventure games like Vagrant Story and Parasite Eve (again Squaresoft titles) saw variants of JRPG systems put to work in their respective games, to great success.
It'd be fair to say that Squaresoft dominated the market, but it wasn't just them. Konami continued with its Suikoden series, with its second entry in 1998 heralded as one of the best RPG's ever, whilst Enix brought over its beloved Star Ocean series to the PlayStation.
Considered the Golden Age of the genre, the PlayStation played host to many a series both new and established. The use of full-motion video for cutscenes, the capacity to spread epic stories over more discs and push graphical power to its limit had people wondering what could possibly be next in line for the JRPG.