JRPG Observation

[Goldsickle]

I noticed that a lot of JRPG try to include its combat system as early as possible.

This is kinda shoehorned in when the story sequence doesn't make the actual combat available until much later.
For example, the main character haven't obtained his powers yet or the main character just arrived in town and hasn't gotten himself involved in any trouble.

In Persona 4, it takes a long time for the protagonist to mingle with the other main characters and get familiar with his surroundings before actually stumbling into the "TV World" and get into his first actual combat.
So before all this happened, the game introduces the combat mechanic quite earlier via a dream sequence.

Is this some kind of unwritten "rule" of JRPG game design?

 

[Erian1Mortal]

It's not only Jrpg's that do that, most games do it nowadays.
It's actually good game design, in my opinion.
They need to introduce the basic mechanics you'll use the most within the game early on, so that the player knows what to do when it comes down to it. That way they can teach the more indepht mechanics (the weakness system in P4 for example) later without overwhelming the player.
A game that really turned me off was for example, Star Ocean: The las hope, granted the Tutorial in that was optional but if you jump into it without really doing it, then you're pretty much screwed. Resonance of Fate had the same problem.

The best way to do it would be to let players turn off Tutorial prompts in the menu after having finished one playthrough, that would make the next playthroughs more enjoyable.

 

[Goldsickle]

@Erian1Mortal
I notice another method is to introduce the combat in a "flash forward" sequence.

Like when you start the game, you are already in some tense combat situation.
When you reach a certain point, the game fades out and you would see messages like "3 days ago", where it truly shows how the story started.

Another interesting example is Evolution for the Dreamcast.
You are immediately transported to your first battle with no delay nor narration as soon as you click on "New Game".