Stop me if you've heard this one.....
It's a sunny day by an empty beach. Seagulls are cawing in the sky, and the waves slowly lap around you as you lay there. You come to, and the first thing you see is the concerned face of a woman. You don't remember anything about yourself... all you know is that you have this big-ass sword and you kick butt better than anyone. With time (and lots of kicking butt), you'll remember who you are, and then kick the butt of the person who made you forget.
Sound familiar? It's a classic way to introduce the Hero of a Jap RPG, and it's been done so many times it's horrible to watch. (At least, horrible for me to watch). But in this tireless cliche, potential exists. What if you turned things on it's head. Instead of being the Hero, how about being the guy/gal/siblings/blob who finds Mr Amnesiac? And the game isn't about him finding out who he is, it's about how you help him find out who he is? Just imagine what a game would be like, when you're working as the hired help, not the Hero.
But let's kick it up a notch! *ZING*, how about it turns out that you're not trying to help the Hero regain his memory after all? You're trying to keep him from remembering, and everything you've done is acutally designed to bury key memories forever! It could be that you're supposed to be the one who was goign to be washed up on the shore. You had your memories swapped! Or how about you actually know who the Hero was in his past life, and you prefer him in his present? Or you could be a bad guy, trying desperately to keep the whiter-than-white guy from remembering that you are!
It's so much more interesting that way.
Sound familiar? It's a classic way to introduce the Hero of a Jap RPG, and it's been done so many times it's horrible to watch. (At least, horrible for me to watch). But in this tireless cliche, potential exists. What if you turned things on it's head. Instead of being the Hero, how about being the guy/gal/siblings/blob who finds Mr Amnesiac? And the game isn't about him finding out who he is, it's about how you help him find out who he is? Just imagine what a game would be like, when you're working as the hired help, not the Hero.
But let's kick it up a notch! *ZING*, how about it turns out that you're not trying to help the Hero regain his memory after all? You're trying to keep him from remembering, and everything you've done is acutally designed to bury key memories forever! It could be that you're supposed to be the one who was goign to be washed up on the shore. You had your memories swapped! Or how about you actually know who the Hero was in his past life, and you prefer him in his present? Or you could be a bad guy, trying desperately to keep the whiter-than-white guy from remembering that you are!
It's so much more interesting that way.