One thing I feel that every JRPG fan hates is asking someone if they play video games, seeing them light up and say yes, only to have them tell you that they play Madden. That’s because people who play Madden games will often times only play sports games and they are as far as you can get from JRPGs. Sports games are usually heavily based in reality and JRPGs get extra points for bending the rules of reality in New and interesting ways. So in this scenario, unless you are a sports fan, you may have nothing to talk about even though you both love video games. This be an awkward conversation.
I’m not going to leave it open to interpretation, I am not a fan of sports games. Any game that has a ball and doesn’t take place in a sphere pool with Waka and Tidus, probably won’t hold my attention for long. But I grew up with an uncle that loved Madden football, which is with out a doubt the most popular videogame football franchise that has ever existed. My uncle also played football too and was one of the best high school players in the country and went on to play NCAA football. So you know he was serious about the game both games. He wanted me to play with him because i loved games so I tried to learn the Madden best way I knew how, I studied all of the stats.
A Link Between Worlds
Back then the Madden games would come with cards explaining all the stats for the teams. I memorized them so I would know who to pick and when, but in the end I never got into the game. There was just no passion to keep going. Years Later I was looking at a strategy guide for Breath of fire 3 and I had a strange sense of deja-vu while trying to memorize the stats of weapons and armor. I remembered Madden. Ever since then I’ve wondered if people who play sports games have bad memories of trying jrpgs. The Irony is that at their core, they are very similar.
In a previous post I likened JRPGs to chess(check it out here) The same can be done with Madden. All the pieces are moving at the same time in pre-determined routes. A series of moves can get you closer to the other side of the board and once you reach it, you will be rewarded or in the case of football you have scored a touch down. That is more than likely an oversimplification. But its not too far off from the truth. While I do see that connection as interesting. I don’t think it’s the true link between the two.
The real link between Madden and JRPGS are the stats. Just like each member of your party has certain stats and attributes that make them valuable to your party. The same goes for Madden. They even use some of the same names like agility (AGI) to determine quickness and turns, strength (STR) to determine blocking ability, stamina (STA) to determine how long a player can stay in the game and Magic (MAG) to determine the effectiveness of spells and the amount that can be casted. I’m joking about the Magic points but I think you see where I’m going with this.
A Story Worth Telling
But what about the story? Its very rare that Jrpg will be successful if it has a terrible or even lack luster story. Well Madden added a single player story mode called ” Face of the Franchise” and I have no comment about it one way or another. One reason is because i haven’t played it (remeber when I said I wasn’t a fan of sports games? I wasn’t kidding) and also I don’t think it would matter if I did. Not because I’m completely unreachable as a JRPG player but because that mode won’t have the real story. Just like Jrpg fans tend to also be fans of other fantasy Genres, Madden fans tend to watch football. I know that is a startling revelation so ill give you a moment.
Watching football, getting to know the players, their stories, their triumphs and all the other things that connect the player to the real life athlete is what drives the majority of players to pick up and play Madden and other sport games. That story, the one the player has rooted in amazing memories like cheering for their favorite team with their friends and family during the Superbowl, is the one that gives them the passion to learn all the stats and plays in a way that doesn’t feel like a cram session.
The point of all this isn’t to convert any JRPG players to Madden players. I stopped trying to play it a long time ago. But think it’s funny how similar the two games are and to some extent their fans. So the next time you’re at a party and someone tells you they play Madden when you ask them about video games, at least now you can’t tell them that you read an interesting article about it online. That should buy you five minutes to plan your escape.
What do you think? Do you see a connection between the two genres or am I way off?
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