A Belated 'JRPG' Introduction

Last April, I purchased a Playstation 3. However, as I do most of my gaming on my Xbox360, the 'new' system just sat in the living room as a DVD/Blu Ray/Netflix box (we watch a lot of Netflix). That second-class status is about to change.

I've had a fascination with Japanese Role-Playing Games since I was 12 or 13. I remember staying at my cousin's house for the summer and coveting his Playstation 1 as I played Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus. That game seemed pretty cool, but I felt myself drawn to another case on his shelf: Final Fantasy VII. The art looked fantastic; there were green fields, clear skies and ships that floated in the air. I was floored, but the game was like 4 discs long. I was only going to be there for a few weeks, and besides, this was the seventh game in a series. There's no way I'll get through or understand this, I thought, as I flipped through the 'complicated' looking manual. Thusly, I contented myself with Oddworld, my cousin's second best offering (although I never beat that either, heh). It didn't matter that I never played Final Fantasy, however as I had been bitten. I drew Cloud too many times that summer, the art was so completely different from anything I had seen before. It was the the first time I was enamoured with just the idea of a game.

That has been my relationship with JRPG's ever since: entranced by their art and the story they imply, but intimidated by their length, difficulty or 'battle systems'. For a few years now I've been indirectly or off-handedly looking for a way into this oddly specific class of game. I would read a review or a description only to be confounded by comparisons to other games I'd never heard of, or how this games new battle system was like 'that' with an added layer of 'this'. How can anyone understand something that has become so self-referential, and what on earth is a 'battle system' anyway? I usually just hit things or shoot them and move on, what else could there be? Well, that was until a few weeks ago when I thought “what the hell” and typed my exact predicament into the Google search bar. After some clicking around, I found this video in which a nice, if scruffy, gentleman did exactly that. He listed and articulately described a plethora of games for various systems that were great for beginners looking to explore the world of Japanese Role-Playing Games. A few days later, I picked up Eternal Sonata for my Playstation 3. It was on his list, and the cover looked adorable with a bunch of kids in 18th century finery, holding giant keys and antiquated guns. So, here goes, tonight I'm going to play my first full length PS3 game and my first 'JRPG'. My hopes are high, and I'll keep you updated (as to whether they stay that way, hehe).