Narrative structure of RPGs

I am part of the generation which remembers the SNES, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, as THE status symbol of early childhood. The reality for us were for a long time cheap imitations of the NES (I will let you figure out the meaning of the acronym for yourself), the precursor of the SNES, and daydreams of the amazing graphics in 32 bit colours that the SNES made possible (as I look at some games today, they still look good). I can still remember the moment when I finally buggered my parents into buying me my first SNES and all the good times me and my friends had with it (that was also the time when computer games were rarely played alone - or if they were it was training to humiliate your friends in the next Super Street Fighter II Turbo competition)

When PCs came out the natural choice was to download a SNES emulator. When replaying the games of old I was struck by the uniformity of narrative of RPGs (role playing games). There are of course notable exceptions (like Zelda, who has a different narrative structure altogether). Broadly speaking the games share the following structure:
- we begin with a state of equilibrium. The main character (always male) is enjoying a careless childhood. He sometimes exhibits traits of playful mischievousnesses, but never to the point of seeming malign. Sometimes the main character has a male best friend, sometimes the best friend is introduced later on in the story.
- the state of equilibrium is disturbed by some catastrophic event. There are two variations here: either the event was triggered by the main character's careless mischief (for example the breaking of a taboo) or it starts completely independently. Either way the scope of happening, once set in motion, is far above the main character's ability of understanding and action. At this point the main character is forced to leave his home village (which is sometimes even destroyed, along with his family) and venture into the world in the quest of apocatastasis.
- at this point the main character usually meets the female heroine, which he will develop a romantic interest later on in the story, who joins him in his quest. Sometimes she enters the story at the point of the catastrophic event, but that is less frequent. If the male friend friend was not present yet, he will also join the quest at this point (usually earlier than the female one)
- the largest part of the story is the quest to restore equilibrium. Here the background of the catastrophic event becomes clear, revealing an evil force behind it and an incredibly powerful foe which must in the end be defeated. Also the main character discovers that he is predestined to fight the all-important battle with the foe. Sometimes the protagonists battle this foe early on in the story, where they lose horribly, but through some lucky coincidence survive (be it through the working of some helper, the cockiness of the foe who does not even think them worthy to be killed or some other play of events). Two things are thus revealed: the protagonists will have to improve their skills before taking on the foe again and often will have to get hold of some magic object (most commonly a special sword) that will be able to defeat the foe. The interesting part here is that the skills of the characters are quantified: they have a certain amount of attack (which is sometimes divided into skills for specific types of weapons), defence and magic skills. These skills can be improved by acquiring new objects and weapons, but mostly they are improved by defeating enemies. Through this process the protagonists acquire enough skills for the final battle with the foe.
- the final battle usually takes place on the home ground of the foe, a castle of some sort. Through his defeat the equilibrium is restored, although significant losses might have been sustained (for example the loss of the main character's parents and home village). The playing out of the romance between the main character and the female helper is indicated (rarely explicitly stated). The main reward for the main character remains his service to the world though: an excellent albeit unconventional illustration of this is the ending of Terranigma, where the main character, upon restoring equilibrium and saving the home village, discovers that this was the sole function of his existence - and since that is the case he will cease to exist, living out the remainder of the day being all the reward he receives. In any case the protagonist is profoundly transformed by his quest.

The narratives are clearly ones of growing up. The world enters the self-contained happiness of childhood and forces the protagonist to venture outside the circle of his family, learn responsibility, discover friendship and romance. They are also narratives of service to the greater good, the protagonist facing all the hardships and dangers to save the world from a great evil. This latter trait being more common to the Japanese narratives, the American counterparts focusing more on the egoistical motives of the protagonist: the thrill in battling foes, self-discovery, personal rewards etc.