History of Eastern role-playing video games

While the early history and distinctive traits of role-playing video games (RPGs) in East Asia come from Japan, many have also been developed in South Korea and in China.

Japanese role-playing games

Japanese computer role-playing games

Origins (early 1980s)

While the Japanese video game industry has long been viewed as console-centric in the Western world, due to the worldwide success of Japanese consoles beginning with the NES, the country had in fact produced thousands of commercial PC games from the late 1970s up until the mid-1990s, in addition to ''dōjin soft'' independent games. The country's computer market was very fragmented at first; '' Lode Runner'', for example, reportedly required 34 conversions to different hardware platforms. The market eventually became dominated by the NEC PC-8801 and PC-9801, though with some competition from the Sharp X1 and X68000; FM-7 and FM Towns; and MSX and MSX2. A key difference between Western and Japanese systems at the time was the latter's higher display resolutions (640x400) in order to accommodate Japanese text which in turn influenced game design. Japanese computers also employed Yamaha FM synthesis sound boards since the early 1980s, allowing video game music composers such as Yuzo Koshiro to produce highly regarded chiptune music for RPG companies such as Nihon Falcom. Due to hardware differences, only a small portion of Japanese computer games were released in North America, as ports to either consoles (like the NES or Genesis) or American PC platforms (like MS-DOS). Reprinted from The ''Wizardry'' series (translated by ASCII Entertainment) became popular and influential in Japan, even more so than at home. Early Japanese RPGs were also influenced by visual novel adventure games, which were developed by companies such as Enix, Square, Nihon Falcom and Koei before they moved onto developing RPGs. In the 1980s, Japanese developers produced a diverse array of creative, experimental computer RPGs, prior to mainstream titles such as ''Dragon Quest'' and ''Final Fantasy'' eventually cementing genre tropes by the 1990s.

Japan's earliest RPGs were released in 1982. The earliest was Koei's ''Underground Exploration'', released in March 1982. It was followed by Pony Canyon's ''Spy Daisakusen'', released in April 1982; based on the '' Mission: Impossible'' franchise, it replaced the traditional fantasy setting with a modern espionage setting. It was then followed by Koei's ''The Dragon and Princess'' (ドラゴン＆プリンセス) for the PC-8001 in 1982; it featured adventure game elements and revolved around rescuing a kidnapped princess.
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Following a random encounter, the game transitions from a text adventure interface to a separate, graphical, overhead battle screen, where a tactical turn-based combat system is used. Also in 1982, Koei released another early Japanese RPG, ''Danchizuma no Yuwaku'' (''Seduction of the Condominium Wife''), a PC-8001 title that also featured adventure game elements in addition to ''eroge'' adult content. These early experimental Japanese RPGs from 1982 are considered "proto-JRPGs" and predated the arrival of ''Wizardry'' and ''Ultima'' in Japan.

Mid-1980s

In June 1983, Koei released ''Sword & Sorcery'' (剣と魔法) for the PC-8001, and it also revolved around rescuing a princess in addition to killing a wizard. That same year, Koei released ''Secrets of Khufu'' (クフ王の秘密), a dungeon crawl RPG that revolved around a search for the treasure of Khufu. ASCII released its own RPG that year called ''Arfgaldt'' (アルフガルド), an FM-7 title also featuring adventure game elements.

Also in 1983, Nihon Falcom released '' Panorama Toh'' (''Panorama Island'') for the PC-88. It was developed by Yoshio Kiya, who would go on to create the '' Dragon Slayer'' and ''Brandish'' series of action RPGs. While its RPG elements were limited, lacking traditional statistical or leveling systems, the game featured real-time combat with a gun, bringing it close to the action RPG formula that Falcom would later be known for. The game's desert island overworld also featured a day-night cycle, non-player characters the player could attack or converse with, and the need to survive by finding and consuming rations to restore hit points lost with each normal action.

The trend of combining role-playing elements with arcade-style action mechanics was popularized by '' The Tower of Druaga'', an arcade game released by Namco in June 1984. While the RPG elements in ''Druaga'' were very subtle, its success in Japan inspired the near-simultaneous development of three early action role-playing games, combining ''Druaga''s real-time hack-and-slash gameplay with stronger RPG mechanics, all released in late 1984: '' Dragon Slayer'', ''Courageous Perseus'', and '' Hydlide''. A rivalry developed between the three games, with ''Dragon Slayer'' and ''Hydlide'' continuing their rivalry through subsequent sequels. Nihon Falcom's '' Dragon Slayer'', released in 1984, is a historically significant title that helped lay the foundations for the Japanese role-playing game industry. ( cf. ) It was a real-time hack & slash dungeon crawler that is considered the first action role-playing game.
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''Dragon Slayer'' was a major success in Japan, and contributed to the emergence of a distinct action role-playing game subgenre on Japanese computers during the mid-1980s, with Nihon Falcom at the forefront of this new subgenre. '' Hydlide'', an action RPG released for the PC-8801 in 1984 and the Famicom in 1986, was an early open world game, rewarding exploration in an open world environment. It also added several innovations to the action RPG subgenre, including the ability to switch between attack mode and defense mode, quick save and load options which can be done at any moment of the game through the use of passwords as the primary back-up, and the introduction of a health regeneration mechanic where health and magic slowly regenerate when standing still, a feature also used in Falcom's ''Ys'' series from 1987 onwards. ''The Tower of Druaga'', ''Dragon Slayer'' and ''Hydlide'' were influential in Japan, where they laid the foundations for the action RPG genre, influencing titles such as '' Ys'' and ''The Legend of Zelda''.

Also in 1984, '' The Black Onyx'', developed by Bullet-Proof Software, led by Henk Rogers, was released on the PC-8801 in Japan. It became one of the best-selling computer games at the time and was voted Game of the Year by ''Login'', the largest Japanese computer game magazine at the time. The game is thus credited for bringing wider attention to computer role-playing games in the country. In early 1984, ''Mugen no Shinzou'' (''Heart of Fantasy'') featured a large open world. The cyberpunk RPG ''Psychic City'', released by HOT・B for the FM-7 and PC-8801 in 1984, departed from the fantasy theme common in other RPGs at the time (such as ''Hydlide'' and ''The Black Onyx'') in favour of a science fiction plot, set in a post-apocalyptic city devastated by World War III and where the protagonist fights using psychic/telepathic abilities. The game later served as the basis for the 1987 NES RPG ''Hoshi wo Miru Hito''.

''Dragon Slayers success led to a 1985 sequel '' Dragon Slayer II: Xanadu'', which became the best-selling PC game in Japan. It was a full-fledged RPG with character stats and a large quest, with action-based combat setting it apart from other RPGs, including both melee combat and projectile magic attacks, while incorporating a side-scrolling platform game view during exploration and an overhead view during battle. ''Xanadu'' also featured innovative gameplay mechanics such as individual experience for equipped items,
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and an early Karma morality system, where the player character's Karma meter will rise if he commits sin which in turn affects the temple's reaction to him. It is also considered a "proto-Metroidvania" game, due to being an "RPG turned on its side" that allowed players to run, jump, collect, and explore. The way the ''Dragon Slayer'' series reworked the entire game system of each installment was an influence on ''Final Fantasy'', which would do the same for each of its installments. According to '' Games^TM'' and John Szczepaniak (of ''Retro Gamer'' and '' The Escapist''), Enix's ''Dragon Quest'' was also influenced by ''Dragon Slayer'' and in turn defined many other RPGs. Falcom would soon become one of the three most important Japanese role-playing game developers in the 1980s, alongside Enix and Square, both of which were influenced by Falcom.

'' Hydlide II: Shine of Darkness'' in 1985 featured an early morality meter, where the player can be aligned with justice, normal, or evil, which is affected by whether the player kills evil monsters, good monsters, or humans, and in turn affects the reactions of the townsfolk towards the player. Magical Zoo's ''The Screamer'', released for the PC-8801 in 1985, was an early example of a real-time shooter-based RPG. Set after World War III, the game also featured elements of post-apocalyptic science fiction as well as cyberpunk and bio-horror themes. Square also released their first RPG that same year, which was an early futuristic sci-fi RPG for the PC-8801, ''Genesis: Beyond The Revelation'', featuring a post-apocalyptic setting. Reprinted from Other sci-fi RPGs released in 1985 include '' The Earth Fighter Rayieza'' by Enix, and Kogado Studio's MSX game '' Cosmic Soldier'', which introduced an early dialogue conversation system, where the player can recruit allies by talking to them, choose whether to kill or spare an enemy, and engage enemies in conversation, similar to the later more famous ''Megami Tensei''.

Golden Age (late 1980s–early 1990s)

The late 1980s to early 1990s is considered the golden age of Japanese computer gaming, which would flourish until its decline around the mid-1990s, as consoles eventually dominated the Japanese market. A notable Japanese computer RPG from around this time was '' WiBArm'', the earliest known RPG to feature 3D polygonal graphics. It was a 1986 role-playing shooter released by Arsys Software for the PC-88 in Japan and ported to MS-DOS for Western release by Brøderbund. In ''WiBArm'', the player controls a transformable mecha robot, switching between a 2D side-scrolling view during outdoor exploration to a fully 3D polygonal third-person perspective inside buildings, while bosses are fought in an arena-style 2D shoot 'em up battle. The game featured a variety of weapons and equipment as well as an automap, and the player could upgrade equipment and earn experience to raise stats. (Reprinted from ''Retro Gamer'', Issue 67, 2009)
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Unlike first-person RPGs at the time that were restricted to 90-degree movements, ''WiBArm's'' use of 3D polygons allowed full 360-degree movement.

Another 1986 release was Falcom's '' Xanadu Scenario II'', an early example of an expansion pack. The game was non-linear, allowing the eleven levels to be explored in any order. '' Dragon Slayer Jr: Romancia'' simplified the RPG mechanics of ''Xanadu'', such as removing the character customization and simplifying the numerical statistics into icons, and emphasized faster-paced platform action, with a strict 30-minute time limit. The action took place entirely in a side-scrolling view rather than switching to a separate overhead combat screen like its predecessor. These changes ''Romancia'' more like a side-scrolling action-adventure game.Kurt Kalata
Romancia
Hardcore Gaming 101 Square's 1986 release, '' Cruise Chaser Blassty'', was a sci-fi RPG that had the player control a customizable mecha robot from a first-person view. That same year also saw the arcade release of the sequel to ''The Tower of Druaga'', '' The Return of Ishtar'', an early action RPG to feature two-player cooperative gameplay, dual-stick control in single player, a female protagonist, the first heroic couple in gaming, and the first password save system in an arcade game.

In 1987, '' Dragon Slayer IV: Drasle Family'' (''Legacy of the Wizard'') returned to the deeper action-RPG mechanics of ''Xanadu'' while maintaining the fully side-scrolling view of ''Romancia''. It also featured an open world and nonlinear gameplay similar to "Metroidvania" platform-adventures, making ''Drasle Family'' an early example of a non-linear, open-world action RPG. Another "Metroidvania" style open-world action RPG released that year was System Sacom's Sharp X1 computer game ''Euphory'', which was possibly the only Metroidvania-style multiplayer action RPG produced, allowing two-player cooperative gameplay. The fifth ''Dragon Slayer'' title, '' Sorcerian'', was also released in 1987. It was a party-based action RPG, with the player controlling a party of four characters at the same time in a side-scrolling view. The game also featured character creation, highly customizable characters, class-based puzzles, and a new scenario system, allowing players to choose which of 15 scenarios, or quests, to play through in the order of their choice. It was also an episodic video game, with expansion disks released soon after offering more scenarios.Sorcerian (PC)
''GameCola.net'', 30 October 2010 Falcom also released the first installment of its popular, long-running ''Ys'' series in 1987. Besides Falcom's own ''Dragon Slayer'' series, ''Ys'' was also influenced by ''Hydlide'', from which it borrowed certain mechanics such as health-regeneration when standing still, a mechanic that has since become common in video games today. ''Ys'' was also a precursor to RPGs that emphasize storytelling, and it is known for its 'bump attack' system, where the protagonist Adol automatically attacks when running into enemies off-center, making the game more accessible and the usually tedious level-grinding task more swift and enjoyable for audiences at the time. ( cf. ) The game also had what is considered to be one of the best and most influential video game music soundtracks of all time, composed by Yuzo Koshiro and Mieko Ishikawa. In terms of the number of game releases, ''Ys'' is second only to ''Final Fantasy'' as the largest Eastern role-playing game franchise.

'' Hydlide 3: The Space Memories'', released for the MSX in 1987 and for the Mega Drive as '' Super Hydlide'' in 1989, adopted the morality meter of its predecessor, expanded on its time option with the introduction of an in-game clock setting day-night cycles and a need to sleep and eat, and made other improvements such as cut scenes for the opening and ending, a combat system closer to ''The Legend of Zelda'', the choice between four distinct character classes, a wider variety of equipment and spells, and a weight system affecting the player's movement depending on the overall weight of the equipment carried. That same year, Kogado Studio's sci-fi RPG '' Cosmic Soldier: Psychic War'' featured a unique " tug of war" style real-time combat system, where battles are a clash of energy between the party and the enemy, with the player needing to push the energy towards the enemy to strike them, while being able to use a shield to block or a suction ability to absorb the opponent's power. It also featured a unique non-linear conversation system, where the player can recruit allies by talking to them, choose whether to kill or spare an enemy, and engage enemies in conversation, similar to ''Megami Tensei''. Also in 1987, the survival horror game '' Shiryou Sensen: War of the Dead'', an MSX2 title developed by Fun Factory and published by Victor Music Industries, was the first true survival horror RPG.Kevin Gifford
Shiryō Sensen: War of the Dead
, ''Magweasel.com'', 10 November 2009John Szczepaniak

Hardcore Gaming 101, 15 January 2011 Designed by Katsuya Iwamoto, the game revolved around a female SWAT member Lila rescuing survivors in an isolated monster-infested town and bringing them to safety in a church. It was open-ended like ''Dragon Quest'' and had real-time side-view battles like ''Zelda II''. Unlike other RPGs at the time, however, the game had a dark and creepy atmosphere expressed through the story, graphics, and music, while the gameplay used shooter-based combat and gave limited ammunition for each weapon, forcing the player to search for ammo and often run away from monsters in order to conserve ammo. That same year saw the release of '' Laplace no Ma'', another hybrid of survival horror and RPG, though with more traditional RPG elements such as turn-based combat. It was mostly set in a mansion infested with undead creatures, and the player controlled a party of several characters with different professions, including a scientist who constructs tools and a journalist who takes pictures.

In 1988, Arsys Software's ''Star Cruiser'' was an innovative action RPG released for the PC-8801. It was notable for being an early example of an RPG with fully 3D polygonal graphics,
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combined with first-person shooter gameplay, which would occasionally switch to space flight simulator gameplay when exploring outer space with six degrees of freedom. All the backgrounds, objects and opponents in the game were rendered in 3D polygons, many years before they were widely adopted by the video game industry. The game also emphasized storytelling, with plot twists and extensive character dialogues, taking place in a futuristic science fiction setting. It won the 1988 Game of the Year awards from the Japanese computer game magazines '' POPCOM'' and '' Oh!X''. ''Star Cruiser'' was later ported to the Mega Drive console in 1990. Another 1988 release, '' Last Armageddon'', produced for the PC-8801 and later ported to the PC Engine CD and NES consoles in 1990, featured a unique post-apocalyptic storyline set in a desolate future where humanity has become extinct and the protagonists are demon monsters waging war against an alien species. ''The Scheme'', released by Bothtec for the PC-8801 in 1988, was an action RPG with a similar side-scrolling open-world gameplay to '' Metroid''. That same year, '' Ys II'' introduced the unique ability to transform into a monster, which allows the player to both scare human non-player characters for unique dialogues as well as interact with all the monsters. This is a recurring highlight in the series, offering the player insight into the enemies. Also that same year, ''War of the Dead Part 2'' for the MSX2 and PC-88 abandoned certain RPG elements of its predecessor, such as random encounters, and instead adopted more action-adventure elements from ''Metal Gear'' while retaining the horror atmosphere of its predecessor.

1988 also saw the debut of Telenet Japan's '' Exile'', a series of action-platform RPGs, beginning with ''XZR: Idols of Apostate''. The series was controversial for its plot, which revolves around a time-traveling Crusades-era Syrian Islamic Assassin who assassinates various religious/historical figures as well as modern-day political leaders, with similarities to the present-day ''Assassin's Creed'' action game series. The gameplay of ''Exile'' included both overhead exploration and side-scrolling combat, featured a heart monitor to represent the player's Attack Power and Armour Class statistics, and another controversial aspect of the game involved taking drugs (instead of potions) that increase/decrease attributes but with side-effects such as affecting the heart-rate or causing death. An early attempt at incorporating a point-and-click interface in a real-time overhead action RPG was ''Silver Ghost'', a 1988 NEC PC-8801 game by Kure Software Koubou. It was an action- strategy RPG where characters could be controlled using a cursor. It was cited by Camelot Software Planning's Hiroyuki Takahashi as inspiration for the '' Shining'' series of tactical RPGs. According to Takahashi, ''Silver Ghost'' was "a simulation action type of game where you had to direct, oversee and command multiple characters."Behind The Scenes – Shining Force
''GamesTM'' Unlike later tactical RPGs, however, ''Silver Ghost'' was not turn-based, but instead used real-time strategy and action role-playing game elements. A similar game released by Kure Software Koubou that same year was ''First Queen'', a unique hybrid between a real-time strategy, action RPG, and strategy RPG. Like an RPG, the player can explore the world, purchase items, and level up, and like a strategy video game, it focuses on recruiting soldiers and fighting against large armies rather than small parties. The game's "Gochyakyara" ("Multiple Characters") system let the player control one character at a time while the others are controlled by computer AI that follow the leader, and where battles are large-scale with characters sometimes filling an entire screen.

'' Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes'' in 1989 departed from the action-oriented gameplay of previous ''Dragon Slayer'' titles, and instead used a more traditional turn-based combat system. In 1990, Data East's '' Gate of Doom'' was an arcade action RPG that combined beat 'em up fighting gameplay with fantasy role-playing and introduced an isometric perspective. That same year, Enix released a unique biological simulation action RPG by Almanic that revolved around the theme of evolution, ''46 Okunen Monogatari'', a revised version of which was released in 1992 as '' E.V.O.: Search for Eden''. That same year, Alpha Denshi's '' Crossed Swords'' for the arcades combined the first-person beat 'em up gameplay of SNK's ''The Super Spy'' (released the same year) with RPG elements, while replacing the first-person shooting with hack & slash combat. Also in 1990, Hideo Kojima's '' SD Snatcher'', while turn-based, abandoned random encounters and introduced an innovative first-person shooter-based battle system where firearm weapons (each with different abilities and target ranges) have limited ammunition and the player can aim at specific parts of the enemy's body with each part weakening the enemy in different ways; an auto-battle feature could also be enabled. Such a battle system has rarely been used since, though similar battle systems based on targeting individual body parts can later be found in Square's '' Vagrant Story'' (2000), Bethesda's ''Fallout 3'' (2008), and Nippon Ichi's '' Last Rebellion'' (2010).
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In 1991, Nihon Falcom's ''Brandish'' was an early overhead action RPG to use mouse controls, where the player could move forward, backward, turn, strafe and attack by clicking on boxes surrounding the player character. The 1991 ''Dragon Slayer'' title '' Lord Monarch'' departed from the action RPG gameplay of its predecessors, instead using an early form of real-time strategy gameplay. The erotic adult RPG '' Dragon Knight III'', released in 1991 for the PC-8801 and as ''Knights of Xentar'' for MS-DOS, introduced a unique pausable real-time battle system, where characters automatically attack based on a list of different AI scripts, though this meant the player had no control over the characters during battle other than to give commands for spells, item use, and AI routines. That same year, '' Arcus Odyssey'' by Wolf Team (now Namco Tales Studio) was an action RPG that featured an isometric perspective and co-operative multiplayer gameplay. The sequel to the first-person shooter role-playing game ''Star Cruiser'', simply called ''Star Cruiser 2'', was released in 1992, for the PC-9821 and FM Towns computers. T&E Soft released the PC-98 game '' Sword World PC'' in 1992 and a console version '' Sword World SFC'' for the Super Famicom in 1993. It was officially based on '' Sword World RPG'', a popular Japanese table-top role-playing game. The video game versions were multiplayer titles and early attempts at recreating an open-ended, table-top role-playing experience on video game platforms, being set in the same world as ''Sword World'' and implementing the same rules and scenarios. Wolf Team's ''Dark Kingdom'', released for the PC-98 in 1992 and ported to the SNES console in 1994, featured a unique storyline that revolved around the players conquering the world as a villain instead of saving the world.

Decline and independent titles (late 1990s–2000s)

From the mid-1990s, the Japanese video game industry began declining. This was partly due to the death of the NEC PC-9801 computer format, as the Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation became increasingly powerful in the console market while the computer market became increasingly dominated by the IBM Personal Computer and Microsoft Windows 95. This led to many Japanese PC manufacturers either continuing to develop for Windows 95 or moving over to the more lucrative console market. While most developers turned their attention to the console market, some developers dedicated to content unsuitable for consoles (such as eroge and complex military strategy games) continued their focus on the PC market.

In 1996, '' Night Slave'' was a shooter RPG released for the PC-98 that combined the side-scrolling shooter gameplay of ''Assault Suits Valken'' and '' Gradius'', including an armaments system that employs recoil physics, with many RPG elements such as permanently levelling up the mecha and various weapons using power-orbs obtained from defeating enemies as well as storyline cut scenes. These cut scenes also occasionally contain lesbian adult content.

Lastly, in the late 1990s, a new Internet fad began, owing to simplistic software development kits such as the Japanese RPG Maker series (1988 onwards). Influenced by console RPGs and based mostly on the gameplay and style of the SNES and Sega Genesis games, a large group of young programmers and aficionados across the world began creating independent console-style computer RPGs and sharing them online. An early successful example was '' Corpse Party'' (1996), a survival horror indie game created using the RPG Maker engine. Much like the survival horror adventure games ''Clock Tower'' (1995 onwards) and later '' Haunting Ground'' (2005), the player characters in ''Corpse Party'' lack any means of defending themselves; the game also featured up to 20 possible endings. However, the game would not be released in Western markets until 2011. In an interview with GameDaily in 2007, MTVN's Dave Williams remarked that, "Games like this ser generatedhave been sort of under the radar for something that could be the basis of a business. We have the resources and we can afford to invest more... I think it's going to be a great thing for the consumer."

Steam and resurgence (2010s)

In the 2010s, Japanese RPGs have been experiencing a resurgence on PC, with a significant increase in the number of Japanese RPGs releasing for the Steam platform. This began with the 2010 release of doujin/indie game '' Recettear'' (2007) for Steam, selling over 500,000 units on the platform. This led to many Japanese doujin/indie games releasing on Steam in subsequent years. The early part of the decade also saw the debut of Nihon Falcom's '' Ys'' series on PC as well as FromSoftware's '' Dark Souls'', which sold millions on the platform. Other Japanese RPGs were subsequently ported to the platform, such as the previously niche '' Valkyria Chronicles'' and '' The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky'', as well as ports of several ''Final Fantasy'' games.

By 2015, Japan had become the world's fourth largest PC game market, behind only China, the United States, and South Korea. The Japanese game development engine RPG Maker has also gained popularity, with hundreds of games being created with it and released on Steam by the late 2010s.

Japanese console role-playing games

Origins (mid-1980s)

The earliest RPG on a console was ''Dragonstomper'' on the Atari 2600 in 1982. ''Bokosuka Wars'', originally released for the Sharp X1 computer in 1983, was ported to the NES console in 1985, and was a commercial success in Japan, where it laid the foundations for the tactical role-playing game subgenre. Other notable early console RPGs included ports of Namco's 1984 arcade action role-playing games: '' The Tower of Druaga'', which was ported to the NES in 1985, and '' Dragon Buster'', the first video game to feature a life meter (called "Vitality" in-game), also ported to the NES in 1987.

In 1985, Yuji Horii and his team at Chunsoft began production on ''Dragon Quest'' (''Dragon Warrior''). After Enix published the game in early 1986, it became the template for future console RPGs. The game was influenced by the first-person random battles in ''Wizardry'', the overhead movement in '' Ultima'', and the mystery storytelling in Horii's own 1983 visual novel game '' Portopia Serial Murder Case''. Horii's intention behind ''Dragon Quest'' was to create a RPG that appealed to a wider audience unfamiliar with the genre or video games in general. This required the creation of a new kind of RPG, that did not rely on previous ''D&D'' experience, nor require hundreds of hours of rote fighting, and that could appeal to any kind of gamer. Compared to statistics-heavy computer RPGs, ''Dragon Quest'' was a more streamlined, faster-paced game based on exploration and combat, and featured a top-down view in dungeons, in contrast to the first-person view used for dungeons in earlier computer RPGs. The streamlined gameplay of ''Dragon Quest'' thus made the game more accessible to a wider audience than previous computer RPGs. The game also placed a greater emphasis on storytelling and emotional involvement, building on Horii's previous work ''Portopia Serial Murder Case'', but this time introducing a coming of age tale for ''Dragon Quest'' that audiences could relate to, making use of the RPG level-building gameplay as a way to represent this. It also featured elements still found in most console RPGs, like major quests interwoven with minor subquests, an incremental spell system, the damsel-in-distress storyline that many RPGs follow, and a romance element that remains a staple of the genre, alongside anime-style art by Akira Toriyama and a classical score by Koichi Sugiyama that was considered revolutionary for console video game music.

The gameplay of ''Dragon Quest'' itself was non-linear, with most of the game not blocked in any way other than by being infested with monsters that can easily kill an unprepared player. This was balanced by the use of bridges to signify a change in difficulty and a new level progression that departed from ''D&D'', where in the 1st and 2nd editions, players are given random initial stats and a constant growth rate. ''Dragon Quest'' instead gave the player some extra hit points at the start and a level progression where the effective rate of character growth decelerates over time, similar to how the more recent editions of ''D&D'' have balanced the gameplay. ''Dragon Quest'' also gave players a clear objective from the start of the game and a series of smaller scenarios to build up the player's strength in order to achieve that objective. The ending could also be altered depending on the moral dialogue choice of whether or not the protagonist should join the antagonist on his evil conquest towards the end of the game. The game also had a limited inventory requiring item management, while the caves were dark, requiring the use of a torch to display a field of vision around the character. With ''Dragon Quest'' becoming widely popular in Japan, such that local municipalities were forced to place restrictions on where and when the game could be sold, the ''Dragon Quest'' series is still considered a bellwether for the Japanese video game market. ''Dragon Quest'' did not reach North America until 1989, when it was released as ''Dragon Warrior'', the first NES RPG to be released in North America. The release of ''Dragon Quest'' was followed by NES remakes of the early ''Wizardry'' and ''Ultima'' titles over the next several years by Pony Canyon.

Other releases at the time were the action role-playing games '' Deadly Towers'' (1986) and '' Rygar'' (1987), which were notable as some of the first Japanese console RPGs to be released in North America, where they were well received for being a new kind of RPG that differed from both the console action-adventures (such as '' Castlevania'', '' Trojan'', and '' Wizards & Warriors'') and American computer RPGs (such as ''Wizardry'', '' Ultima'', and ''Might & Magic'') that American gamers were previously more familiar with at the time. ''Deadly Towers'' and ''Rygar'' were particularly notable for their permanent power-up mechanic, which at the time blurred the line between the power-ups used in action-adventures and the experience points used in RPGs.

Evolution (late 1980s)

In 1987, '' Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei'' by Atlus for the Nintendo Famicom abandoned the common medieval fantasy setting and sword and sorcery theme in favour of a modern science-fiction setting and horror theme. It also introduced the monster-catching mechanic with its demon-summoning system, which allowed the player to recruit enemies into their party, through a conversation system that gives the player a choice of whether to kill or spare an enemy and allows them to engage any opponent in conversation. Sega's original ''Phantasy Star'' for the Master System established a number of genre conventions, and its setting combined sci-fi and fantasy in a way that set it apart from the ''D&D'' staple. It also featured pre-defined player characters with their own backstories, which would later become common in console RPGs. It was also one of the first games to feature a female protagonist and animated monster encounters, and allowed inter-planetary travel between three planets. ''Boys' Life'' magazine in 1988 predicted that ''Phantasy Star'' as well as the ''Zelda'' games may represent the future of home video games, combining the qualities of both arcade and computer games. Another 1987 title '' Miracle Warriors: Seal of the Dark Lord'' was a third-person RPG that featured a wide open world and a mini-map on the corner of the screen. The ''Dragon Slayer'' series also made its debut on the NES console (and thus to American audiences) in 1987, with the port of '' Legacy of the Wizard'' (''Dragon Slayer IV''), a non-linear action RPG featuring a Metroidvania-style open world, and the release of ''Faxanadu'', a side-story to ''Xanadu''. ''Wonder Boy in Monster Land'' combined the platform gameplay of the original '' Wonder Boy'' with many RPG elements, which would inspire later action RPGs such as '' Popful Mail'' (1991).The Legend of Wonder Boy
IGN, 14 November 2008

'' The Magic of Scheherazade'', released in 1987, was notable for several innovations, including a unique setting based on the ''Arabian Nights'', time travel between five different time periods, a unique combat system featuring both real-time solo action and turn-based team battles, and the introduction of team attacks where two party members could join forces to perform an extra-powerful attack. '' Castlevania II: Simon's Quest'' was an action RPG that combined the platform-action mechanics of the original '' Castlevania'' with the open world of an action-adventure and RPG mechanics such as experience points. It also introduced a day-night cycle that affects when certain NPCs appear in certain locations and offered three possible multiple endings depending on the time it took to complete the game. Square's ''Cleopatra no Mahō'' was an adventure RPG with a unique plot revolving around archeology. Square's original ''Final Fantasy'' for the NES had a character creation system that allowed the player to create their own parties and assign different character classes to party members, who in turn evolve through an early class change system later in the game. It also featured concepts such as time travel; side-view battles, with the player characters on the right and the enemies on the left, which soon became the norm for numerous console RPGs; and the use of transportation for travel, "by ship, canoe, and even flying airship." While creating ''Final Fantasy'', Hironobu Sakaguchi took inspiration from certain elements in Hayao Miyazaki's anime films, such as the airships being inspired by '' Castle in the Sky''. Some of these 1987 releases proved popular and went on to spawn their own RPG franchises, particularly the ''Megami Tensei'', ''Phantasy Star'' and ''Final Fantasy'' series. In particular, the ''Final Fantasy'' and ''Dragon Quest'' series remain popular today, ''Final Fantasy'' more so in the West and ''Dragon Quest'' more so in Japan.

In 1988, ''Dragon Quest III'' introduced a character progression system allowing the player to change the party's character classes during the course of the game, and keep a character's stats and skills learned from previous classes. This class-changing system shaped the gameplay of future console RPGs, especially the ''Final Fantasy'' series, While the earlier ''Dragon Quest'' games were also non-linear, ''Dragon Quest III'' was the most substantial example of open-world gameplay among the early ''Dragon Quest'' games. It also allowed the player to swap characters in and out of the party at will, and another "major innovation was the introduction of day/night cycles; certain items, characters, and quests are only accessible at certain times of day." '' Final Fantasy II'', is considered "the first true ''Final Fantasy'' game", introducing an "emotional story line, morally ambiguous characters, tragic events," and a story to be "emotionally experienced rather than concluded from gameplay and conversations." It also replaced traditional levels and experience points with an activity-based progression system, where "the more you use a skill, the better you are with it," a mechanic that later appeared in ''SaGa'', '' Grandia'', ''Final Fantasy XIV'', and ''The Elder Scrolls''. ''Final Fantasy II'' also featured open-ended exploration, and had a dialogue system where keywords or phrases can be memorized and mentioned during conversations with NPCs, the theme of an evil empire against a small band of rebels (similar to ''Star Wars''), and the iconic chocobo, a fictional creature inspired by Hayao Miyazaki's '' Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind''. That same year, '' World Court Tennis'' for the TurboGrafx-16 introduced a new form of gameplay: a unique tennis-themed sports RPG mode.

In 1989, '' Phantasy Star II'' for the Genesis established many conventions of the genre, including an epic, dramatic, character-driven storyline dealing with serious themes and subject matter, and a strategy-based battle system. Its purely science fiction setting was also a major departure for RPGs, which had previously been largely restricted to fantasy or science fantasy settings. The game's science fiction story was also unique, reversing the common alien invasion scenario by instead presenting Earthlings as the invading antagonists rather than the defending protagonists. The game's strong characterization, and use of self-discovery as a motivating factor for the characters and the player, was a major departure from previous RPGs and had a major influence on subsequent RPGs such as the ''Final Fantasy'' series. It also made a bold attempt at social commentary years before the ''Final Fantasy'' series started doing the same. Capcom's '' Sweet Home'' for the NES introduced a modern Japanese horror theme and laid the foundations for the survival horror genre, later serving as the main inspiration for ''Resident Evil'' (1996). Like ''Resident Evil'', ''Sweet Home'' featured the use of scattered notes as a storytelling mechanic and a number of multiple endings depending on which characters survived to the end. '' Tengai Makyo: Ziria'' released for the PC Engine CD that same year was the first RPG released on CD-ROM and the first in the genre to feature animated cut scenes and voice acting. The game's plot was also unusual for its feudal Japan setting and its emphasis on humour; the plot and characters were inspired by the Japanese folk tale ''Jiraiya Goketsu Monogatari''. The music for the game was also composed by noted musician Ryuichi Sakamoto. Also in 1989, the early enhanced remake ''Ys I & II'' was one of the first games to use CD-ROM, utilized to provide enhanced graphics, animated cut scenes, ( cf. ) a Red Book CD soundtrack, ( cf. ) and voice acting. The game offered a "much larger, more colorful world, populated with lifelike characters who communicated with voice instead of text," heralding "the evolution of the standard role-playing game" according to RPGFan. Its English localization was also one of the first to use voice dubbing. ''Ys I & II'' went on to receive the Game of the Year award from ''OMNI Magazine'' in 1990, as well as many other prizes.

1989 also saw the release of '' Dungeon Explorer'', developed by Atlus for the TurboGrafx-16, which is considered a pioneer title in the action RPG genre with its multiplayer cooperative gameplay, allowing up to five players to play simultaneously. That year also saw the release of '' Super Hydlide'', the Mega Drive port of the 1987 MSX action RPG '' Hydlide 3: The Space Memories'', which adopted the morality meter of its 1985 predecessor '' Hydlide II: Shine of Darkness'' where the player's alignment changes depending on whether the player kills humans, good monsters, or evil monsters, and expanded its predecessor's time option, which speeds up or slows down the gameplay, with the introduction of an in-game clock setting day-night cycles and a need to sleep and eat. It also made other improvements such as cut scenes for the opening and ending, a combat system closer to ''The Legend of Zelda'', the choice between distinct character classes, and a weight system affecting the player's movement depending on the weight of carried equipment. '' The Final Fantasy Legend'', the first in the ''SaGa'' series, adopted ''Final Fantasy II's'' activity-based progression, expanding it with weapons that shatter with repeated use, and added new ideas such as a race of monsters that mutate depending on which fallen foes they consume. The game also introduced the concept of memento mori

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