On the Verge of the Mature JRPG Stories?

You know, although I liked many rpg stories this generation, it's truly more rare for a jrpg to have a story I dislike (although Last Remant met that), there really has only been one real mature story.  I'm not saying that the others are goofy or whatever, but no other truly gives off this arty expression.  They're pretty much more along the lines of "here's our universe, isn't it cool?"  It's rather rare for any game to achieve this type of story, but we're focusing on JRPGs here.

Anyway, here are the games I wanted to talk about.  Yes, I know, we truly don't have so many details to these games to say surely how good the stories will be, but if you just give it some thought, you'll probably recognize them.  

- End of Eternity
Yes, I know.  I'm writing about this game a lot despite only one gameplay video and a fair amount of screens.  But honestly, it is more than what we have on FFV13 and it has more on it than many other talked about games.   Anyway, it's pretty easy to tell about it without more.

You know, although I liked many rpg stories this generation, it's truly more rare for a jrpg to have a story I dislike (although Last Remant met that), there really has only been one real mature story.  I'm not saying that the others are goofy or whatever, but no other truly gives off this arty expression.  They're pretty much more along the lines of "here's our universe, isn't it cool?"  It's rather rare for any game to achieve this type of story, but we're focusing on JRPGs here.

Anyway, here are the games I wanted to talk about.  Yes, I know, we truly don't have so many details to these games to say surely how good the stories will be, but if you just give it some thought, you'll probably recognize them.  

- End of Eternity
Yes, I know.  I'm writing about this game a lot despite only one gameplay video and a fair amount of screens.  But honestly, it is more than what we have on FFV13 and it has more on it than many other talked about games.   Anyway, it's pretty easy to tell about it without more.

That's why for such a long time I've stated generally I dislike JRPGs entirely, besides the SMT games....I found they all had rather not very interesting stories, and definitely mostly kinda childish and similar to one another, definitely no real mature themes at all....as you say, most of them are only just to show you the "world" the game takes place in or whatever.  You've obviously never played a SMT core game if you think that dealing with God in someway is a first here. The entire theme of them is choosing your side, between Satan, Lucifer and God(Satan is God's judge in them, but an alignment will allow you to fight by his side against God due to certain events, Lucifer/Satan are not the same in them either, btw) at the core.

nope haven't, are they blatant or subtle? 
Anyway, I didn't say JRPGs are childish.  By comparison, jrpg stories tend to be much more complex and a little more thought provaking.  There's just a rarity, as well as in every other genre (even moreso) of games that deliver a strong point of view.  And yes, it should be a point of view, not a message.

Seeing persona 4 in action, that's one of the most mature games i've seen, even just from the endurance run. The subject matter it covers is quite impressive, and it's not always directly in your face about it either.

In other games, i always go back to final fantasy X since i love it so much. I think there was such a depth to Spira and the universe they created, which isn't present in any of the other games.

A core aspect was the power of religion and it's abuse by the corrupt. The power to incite fear and control over the population without ever questioning it. It was very much religion vs. science with discrimination against the minority. This tied into racial predjudices too and overcoming them. I felt it was all handled really nicely.

"nope haven't, are they blatant or subtle?  Anyway, I didn't say JRPGs are childish.  By comparison, jrpg stories tend to be much more complex and a little more thought provaking.  There's just a rarity, as well as in every other genre (even moreso) of games that deliver a strong point of view.  And yes, it should be a point of view, not a message. "

Let's not forget this heartwarming scene:

Bible Black.

Lost Odyssey is truly great. That time in the game was one of the hardest I've ever gone through. You're right, it really was mature. I would also say though that.. do not forget the dream stories! Sure they were text stories and not directly in the story in Lost Odyssey. As you can skip them. They were however, truly mature and epic in scope. They were so, so well written and definitely had strong mature undertones. (Anyone remember the soldier with the black heart?) They may have been really rough, but they were so good. Not the most uplifting that's for sure.

I've never seen that before...wow, that is great.

I do agree that not many games try to take on a mature story. But, at least, many of them have tried to tackle their own stories (in all their absurdity and crazyness) in a mature way. Games like Shadow Hearts, for instace (only the first two though).

Now, thought provoking, that's a little harder. I wouldn't say that's rare for games to talk about gods and religion. It's just hard for them to do so in a mature way. I mean, we've all killed god (or some form of it) in numerous games. BoF 3, FF IX, Xenosaga, Grandia II etc. But it never feels like it's some grand task thought to be impossible by our party, or what effect this could have onto others etc. That would be a pretty hard thing to do, but I do believe we'll eventually see it.

And, by all means, do try out one of the Persona games. P4 would be my greatest recomendation, but you can't go wrong with P3 as well.

I can't say I was impressed with End of Eternity trailer. there wasn't really anything that stood out to me. Maybe when more is shown...
And hey, a Final Fantasy with Shakespeare quotes? It's mixing two of the best things in the same package! Collor me interested!

You might want to fix that spoiler for Lost Odyssey.  By the time I read "spoiler alert" I already saw "Lost Odyssey Lirum's Death".  I'm not really that upset about it, but someone else might be.

"You might want to fix that spoiler for Lost Odyssey.  By the time I read "spoiler alert" I already saw "Lost Odyssey Lirum's Death".  I'm not really that upset about it, but someone else might be."

"hell, they have a shakespeare quote that they consistently use, about two opposing families, etc.   Seriously, just call it Final Fantasy: Shakespeare"

Yay for replying to an old blog post but this totally caught my attention -- They already used that premise in a lil game called "Final Fantasy Tactics" ;P

Anyways, I agree tha Lost Odyssey had the mature JRPG story going for it, though unfortunately feel through a few plotholes and was inconsistent at times (eg. "We're immortal... but this time I'm not so sure..." Wait, what happened that makes you not so sure you'll live this time? Did I miss something? or Mack just being completely suicidal throughout the game and no one sitting him down and saying "Listen Mack, your mom is gone. Stop running off into haunted forests and hijacking trains to try and see her").

Those sorta things aside though, it felt mature and tailored for an adult audience and did a great job. I'm definitely looking forward to more JRPGs that tailor towards an audience of our age -- the ones who were kids when they made FF1 but are all grown up now.

Yep, inspiration from great works of literature is nothing new at all. FFT and Vagrant Story were clearly inspired by such. I don't see anything more mature about today's JRPGs than in the 90s or earlier. Only flashier graphics for the cut scenes. FFT had many mature themes despite having cutesy sprites for the characters. I loved the in-engine cut scenes in that game, hah. Backstabbing sons, poisoned kings, conspiracies and betrayals, politics and cults, it had it all. One of my favorite stories in any game genre, despite the initial botched translation I endured.

Random video, not some major plot point. Pretty average in fact, but I wasn't gonna search through the whole archive for a good one...

Great read! But mature stories in JRPG's have been around for like, ever. Think FFVI that had a very mature story. The only thing they did for this gen is update the grahpics.

It was just an example, I didn't say it was the first.