Parents in RPGs: Doomed to die?

[Ryong]

Originally Posted by Kerensky287

I seem to remember one character in Chrono Cross who was actually the mother of another of your characters.

I just sort of remember this from reading the Wikipedia article once, though. Never actually got that far.

That'd be Orlha.

Radiata Stories is...Weird. There's a little kid in the Mages Guild that you have to train for a few levels in order to recruit his dad, who is a decent mage. The protagonist's love interest lives with her dad because her mom left them because said dad turned into an ass ( to the extent that when someone doesn't agree with him, said person is a complete idiot and should be jailed. )
so I guess that's a pretty good explanation. And the protagonist's parents are dead, the father died to some kind of crazy disease when killing a dragon and the mother is never ever mentioned.

[The Wizard Who Did It]

Originally Posted by Spekkio

I think we can put an end to a lot of the divisiveness of this thread by admitting that the game industry, and Squaresoft/Square-Enix, in particular, sold their souls to cheesy anime story lines a long, long time ago.

This means that protagonists can't have good fathers, or can't have fathers at all. This is because a good father gives a character a fallback, which means they aren't totally self-reliant, which is the essence of anime story lines. In other words, "Dad cramps m'style." On the other hand, an evil father provides an analogue for the normal pre-teen to teenage sense of angsty disconnection and misunderstanding that kids feel -- especially towards their parents, and fathers in particular.

Driving away from my personal point that this is hardly a rule so fuck it, Fifth explicitely showed how this is the rule for almost all methods of story telling. It's hardly an anime or video game icon (let's look at some of the more famous fiction stories, superhero comics. Superman, Spiderman... I wonder if we see a pattern here?)

And with about three or four exceptions, all anime is written to appeal to angsty, self-absorbed teenagers and the pre-teens that can't wait to be just like them.

*head slap*

Also, I concede both points on FF8 and FF10. Been awhile since I played.

[ironymaster]

The last part about anime might as well be true. How many times have we seen three for our anime that are all about the same exact thing? My own theory is this, the fathers and mothers get so disgusted with their kids being so stupid and gullible, that they probably go to the most dangerous part of the world on PURPOSE!

[I_Like_Swords]

Originally Posted by Kerensky287

I can think of a good number of RPGs where your parents are still alive.

In FF8, Squall's father is still alive and is even a playable character for much of the game. In FF10, Jecht is TECHNICALLY still alive. In Earthbound (as mentioned) both your parents are still around, and in Mother 3 (at least as far as I've gotten) Lucas' father survives. In FF6, Gau's father is alive but crazy (sure, he's not the main character, but he's ONE OF THE characters).

EDIT FOR BELOW: Fixed, though I'd like to point out that in some... well, okay, ONE of the above cases, the simple fact that you can see the name in this thread is spoiling it. Not sure what to do about that issue.

Who is being classed as squalls father ?

[404]

Rule 6 from The Grand List of RPG Cliches:
Single Parent Rule
RPG characters with two living parents are almost unheard of. As a general rule, male characters will only have a mother, and female characters will only have a father. The missing parent either vanished mysteriously and traumatically several years ago or is never referred to at all. Frequently the main character's surviving parent will also meet an awkward end just after the story begins, thus freeing him of inconvenient filial obligations.

That is all I have to say about the threads main topic.

As for FF8, it had it's bad points but I believe it was a pretty fun game over-all, and that's what matters to me.

Also to say it's characters are one-dimensional is stupid. Maybe they weren't the deepest, but if you use that criteria, every other character in existance of video games is the same, unless it's angst. Everybody knows angst makes instant deepness.

I mean look at the ever popular cloud, he had three modes in the game:
"...Meh"
"OH GOD I'M A MONSTER! *Angst*"
"Yay I'm not really a monster just confused!....Meh"

Repeat for every other game he as appeared in ever.

[Squall Leonhart]

Originally Posted by 404

Rule 6 from The Grand List of RPG Cliches:
Single Parent Rule
RPG characters with two living parents are almost unheard of. As a general rule, male characters will only have a mother, and female characters will only have a father.[...]

It's good practice for Hentai Doujinshi. It's all part of business!

[Giever]

Originally Posted by Regulus Tera

Truth is, you don't see that many older men characters in JRPG's anymore because they're not young

The man makes a good point.

[ironymaster]

Or another reason might be that japanese JRPG designers only create characters that they are attracted too... Couldn't think of anything else to explain it.

[Ben_Fox]

Originally Posted by Kerensky287

I can't really think of anyone other than Quistis from FF7-12 with glasses who is female (and attractive), though.

Shion FTW!

[Solid Snake]

I'm pretty sure Shion wasn't in FF7, FF8, FF9, FF10, or FF12 though.
She might have been in FFX-2, but that's only because I'll never play through that damned atrocity of a so-called "videogame" again long enough to find out.

Anyway, I always thought parents were likely fodder for death in RPGs because parents inherently restrict younger characters from being able to...well, go off on adventures, fall in love, and basically be whoever they want. If you add a parental dynamic there it kind of shatters the independence of the playable character, as the mother and father order the young'uns around. Besides, younger generations play RPGs to escape the reality of overbearing parents dictating their lives and forcing them to go to school, hang out with the right people, and never resort to violence.

Can you imagine how boring a game like FF8 would have been if all the kids had parents? "Mom, Dad, can I go on this SeeD mission?" "No, honey, violence is never the answer to your problems. Let your parents deal with this and clean up your room."

Now Fallout 3 has an awesome father, and I really hope Fallout 3 doesn't follow gaming conventions and kill him off, because the dude has an awesome voice actor, whoever he is, and he's every bit as customizable as your own character in terms of his appearance, which is pretty freaking awesome.