A common refrain I hear is “I have no clue what is happening, but the game is fun”. Did Japanese game writers just drink massive amounts and throw shit at the wall? :D
I don’t think there’s a single JRPG that I can remember the actual plot except the general gist.
Or is there some strange cultural reason these games had labyrinthe writing and just strange plots?
Maybe a JRPG historian can shed some light on this?
Amateur thinker here…
There two ways to keep a game engaging. Some type of story/plot and game mechanics.
When it comes to story/plot, there’s only so many times “the prophesized one appears and begins a quest to save the princess”. So you’ll have Dragon Warrior being you, the descendant of Elric a hero of ancient times, who is then ordered to go save the a king’s daughter… then Final Fantasy where you, are four nobody characters who walk out of the woods with orbs and straight up to the nearest king who says, “Oh shit! You nobodies have orbs? Go save the princess!”.
So with each iteration of a game, somebody takes the time to either “do something different” or “actually invest in giving characters backstories and their own motivations.”