The Death of World Maps
There used to be a staple for JRPGs in that, unlike American RPGs, they had world maps. I’m not talking about a map that shows you a world, or simply a point to point map that takes you to places (ala Fable). What I am talking about is a map where you and your party can explore. These world maps would be littered with towns, caves, cities, and forests; each with their own name and history. Unfortunately, as gaming gets more and more “nextgen” it seems the concept of a world map remains considerably “lastgen”.
For as long as I can remember one of the best things about playing RPGs was being able to fully explore the world. Sure, the story is all well and good, but an awesome story can be squelched by a boring world. Would Final Fantasy VII have truly been as great as it was without the world in inhabited? What if you only got to travel via point to point interface? Surely the entire nature of the game would have changed.
Unfortunately, despite a few holdouts (i.e. Blue Dragon), it appears that world maps are on the way out. In the new gaming age of instant gratification and fast action there really isn’t any tolerance for the world map. Despite it offering more to the overall storyline, it seems that developers and gamers just don’t seem to care anymore.
It was a dark day for me when I found out that Final Fantasy X would not have a world map, but now even those days seem brighter.
R.I.P. world map. You will be missed.
Thanks for reading.
i too expected a world map from final fantasy x. all i got was an annoying main character and cool cutscenes..
Ya…
Although I thought the main character of Final Fantasy XII was more annoying. God what’s with Square Enix these days?
Wild ARMs V had a world map and it’s a relatively new RPG. I think you’ll see JRPG’s in the future go back to this as it’s clear there is demand for it over traveling via nodes.
It seems like selecting commands from a menu is also considered “last-gen” which is disappointing to me.
Didn’t we used to call games like Final Fantasy XII “action RPGs”?
I don’t understand why world maps are going away either. Sure it’s unrealistic because there are scale problems, your character isn’t really 500 feet tall, but it was done that way because it’s more fun than virtually hiking however many miles would realistically be between each town. Again, see FFXII.