Lack of JRPGs entirely predictable.

[targren]

I really don't believe JRPGs decreased in popularity, at all. I think the people who played FFVI and FFVII will mostly stick around for every future entry.

Not sure about that one. FFVI and FFVII have very little in common, gameplay-wise, with the latest iterations in the series. I gave up on it completely a few years back (FF XII was the last one I even bothered to buy, and didn't play it very long). It's a completely different aesthetic now, at least within that one series, so I doubt I'm the only one who was chased off.

NB: Started with Final Fantasy on the NES and didn't miss a single US released game until FF XIII).

TL;DR: I don't think you can say that fans of the old games will remain fans of the new games, since they're so different. Blue Dragon is more like FF VI was than FF XIII could ever hope to be.

 

[Eric the Orange]

snip

It's more that JRPGs have moved to handhelds than anything else. So unless you don't count handhelds as current generation then I don't see a decline. Here's a list I made on another topic,

A quick look through my library yielded these results (Note:some of these are multi-platform but JRPGs do a lot of exclusivity).

CONSOLE

Wii
-Rune Factory:Tides of Destiny
As an american I have not got Xeno Blade:Chroncles yet, and may never get Last Story. Which makes me sad face.

PS3
-Disgaea 3
-Disgaea 4
-Valkyria Chronicles

X-Box 360
-Infinite Undiscovery
-Resonance of fate
-Star Ocean:the Last Hope
-Blue Dragon
-Tales of Vesperia
-Record of Agarest war:Zero
-Record of Agarest War (not sure if this had a disk copy)

HANDHELD

PSP
-Tales of the World:Radiant Mythology
-Valhalla Knights
-Valkyria Chronicles 2
-The Legend of the Heroes: Trails in the Sky
-Jeanne Darc
-Ys Seven

--Remakes and Updates
-Lunar:Silver Star Harmony
-Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness
-Valkyrie Profile:Lenneth
-Tactics Ogre: Let us Cling Together
-Final Fantasy 4:Complete Collection
-Final Fantasy Tactics:War of the Lions
-Star Ocean:First Departure
-Star Ocean:Second Evolution

DS
-Dragonball Z:Attack of the Saiyans (surprisingly good for a licensed game)
-Lufia:Curse of the Sinstrals
-Blue Dragon Plus
-Atelier Anne:Alchemists of Sera Island
-Nostalgia
-Blue Dragon:Awakened Shadow
-Rondo of Swords
-Mario and Luigiartners in time
-Golden Sunark Dawn
-Final Fantasy Tactics A2:Grimoire of the Rift
-Pokemon Pearl/Diamond
-Pokemon White/Black
-Rune Factory
-Rune Factory 2
-Rune Factory 3
-Glory of Heracles
-Valkyrie Profile:Covenant of the Plume
-Devil Survivor
-Radiant Historia
-Final Fantasy:the Four heroes of light
-Dragon Quest 9
-Luminous Arc

--Updates and Remakes
-Pokemon:Soul Silver
-Dragon Quest 4
-Dragon Quest 5
-Dragon Quest 6
-Final Fantasy 3
-Final Fantasy 4(yeah I'm a whore for this game, I own 5 different copies of it for 5 different systems)

So, yes there are good JRPGs for consoles, just a lot more for handhelds.

 

[Infernai]

LOL You think Dark Souls is a JRPG... Good one.

Oh, no, don't tell me you're one of the people who takes Extra Credits seriously on RPGs (or in general).

Actually, that is indeed correct..Dark Souls isn't a JRPG

It's a J-ACTION RPG. xD

 

[malestrithe]

Even though I consider anyone that needs to respond to every single post to not have much of an argument (why else would they try to combat everything) I feel happy to prove you wrong on this one.

I own 18 360 games, all of them are JRPGs. In addition to the eight good ones, Tales of Vesperia, Infinite Undiscovery, The Last Remnant, Enchanted Arms, Eternal Sonata, Lost Odyssey, Final Fantasy 13 and Blue Dragon, I also have, Record of Agarest War, Argarest War Zero, Phantasy Star Universe, Divinity II, Resonance of Fate, Spectral Forces 3, Culdcept Saga, Final Fantasy 13-2, and Star Ocean: the Last Hope.

My Ps3 collection is a little more diverse, but for JRPGs, there is Last Rebellion, Valkyria Chronicles, Cross Edge, Ateliar Rorona, Ateliar Totori, Hyperdimension Neptunia, White Knight Chronicles, White Knight Chronicles 2, Disgaea 3, Disgaea 4, Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Tales of Graces F, Rune Factory, and about 10 more being released by the end of the year.

Well, because the Wii is off the table for some reason, I am not going to bother writing down the 40 JRPGs I own on that system. Nor Will I include the 35 DS and 25 PSP games either.

I could go on, but the point is that while not as popular as AAA titles, they are still doing quite well amongst its niche market. There is certainly more of them than Western RPGs available.

Extra Credit's description of Western and Japanese role-playing game confuses the issue even more. They really mean sandbox RPG and story driven RPG. Where they are developed makes them Western or Japanese.

 

[VulpesAqua]

>Dark Souls

LOL You think Dark Souls is a JRPG... Good one. Dark Souls is a game made by Japanese developers yes, but filled with nothing but Western themes and elements from Western games. The devs have been quoted saying it's more of an action game, any way.

Bull-fucking-shit.

This argument against Dark Souls being a JRPG is nothing but blatant moving of the goal posts.

A JRPG is defined as an RPG that is made in Japan. Dark Souls is that. Therefore, it is a Japanese RPG, or JRPG!

The fact that it has western themes doesn't change shit. You know Bioware, that veritable pillar of WRPG games? They made Jade Empire, an RPG set in mythological China. By your logic, Jade Empire is more of a JRPG than it is a WRPG, because it deals with an Eastern setting, Eastern myths and Eastern ideas.

Except that Jade Empire plays like a Western RPG, as does Dark Souls, even were it not to include the Westernized Fantasy mythos it still plays like a Western RPG, with a heavy emphasis on customization, exploration, combat, and stats. All things that are missing from JRPGs.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

JRPGs haven't decreased, but they haven't grown either. The number of releases getting localized has definitely dropped compared to the PS2 era, but over in Japan, they still sell like hotcakes.

The big problem is that the JRPG hasn't grown the same way that Western development has. At one time, Japan dominated the games industry, and in a way, they still hold a lion's share of all released games. However, in the late 90s early 2000s, the Western market exploded, with PC gaming still going strong, and the Xbox being the a huge contender as a western developed console.

The Western market continues to grow exponentially, while the Japanese market becomes more and more secluded.

 

[OrpheusTelos]

JRPGs nearly disappearing this generation

AHAHHAHAHAHHA
HAHAHAHAH
HAHAH
HA

You're funny.

Go look at the flood of JRPGs on PS2, kk? I can name about ten this gen. Even fewer are any good.

Keep in mind that the PS2's lifespan is over now, while current gen consoles are still going. On top of that, PS2 had massive 3rd party support, so it had a lot of games in most genres.

Yes, they're going on for a whole 'nuther year! I see four Final Fantasies on the horizon, a Chrono Trigger remake, Wild Arms 6, and another Breath of Fire.

...Or we can be realistic and realize the Xbox 360 and PS3 both thrive mostly off of third party support and that JRPGs barely exist on either console.

But I'll humor you and count the quality titles:

PS3- Folklore (I'm being reeeeeaaaallllllllly generous), Valkyria Chronicles, Tales of Graces F. (SO MANY GAMES!)

Xbox 360- Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon, and Tales of Vesperia (WHOA!)

Both: Star Ocean: The Last Hope, Eternal Sonata, and FFXIII and FFXIII-2.

I'm over-whelmed by the amount of JRPGs. Aren't you?

While I'm here, I'll add a couple more to your list.

motherfucking Xenoblade. Thats kind of a big omission.

White Knight Chronicles 1 and 2, Nier (awesome game, check it out!), Demon's/Dark Souls (Not JRPGs in the traditional sense, but they are Japanese RPGs ;P ), Disgaea 3 and 4. We've also got Ni no Kuni and The Last Story on the horizon.

Also, keep in mind that a lot of great JRPGs came out on handhelds this gen.

I'd agree that we see fewer, but I'm not sure I agree with the rest of your argument. The way I see it, we just don't see as many RPGs in general these days, and the ones we do get are either a) enormous hits, or b) completely obscure. I do think that we'll see JRPGs come back in a big way somewhere down the road.

EDIT: Forgot Resonance of Fate! That game was pretty sweet.

 

[Epona]

I hadn't actually noticed any kind of critical decline in jrpgs this gen.

There are tons on the DS and PSP, and I'm sure there will be tons on the Vita and the 3DS, I don't think they are declining, they are just moving.
As someone who is apparently part of your large jrpg niche, I don't feel starved for games.

What I haven't seen this gen is a lot of cute mascot oriented platformers. Besides Ratchet and Clank, and a few series that refuse to die.

Sure you noticed the decline, you had to move from the PS2 to handhelds. How the hell could you not notice?

 

[Ryotknife]

But I'll humor you and count the quality titles:

PS3- Folklore (I'm being reeeeeaaaallllllllly generous), Valkyria Chronicles, Tales of Graces F. (SO MANY GAMES!)

Xbox 360- Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon, and Tales of Vesperia (WHOA!)

Both: Star Ocean: The Last Hope, Eternal Sonata, and FFXIII and FFXIII-2.

I'm over-whelmed by the amount of JRPGs. Aren't you?

You may have heard of it. Also Monster Hunter series, DISGAEA 4, and Ni No Kuni, for the PS3. That's off the top of my head, I don't own a PS3, and I generally don't play JRPGs. Someone who actually does could probably give you a giant list, as could 10 seconds on google.

dark/demon soul would probably be an action game along the lines of devil may cry or god of war than rpg. it is a game that focuses on reflexes rather than thinking. does it have rpg elements? sure, but nearly every game has RPG elements in it.

although, it is labeled as an action rpg, so there goes that argument out of the window. still wierd that game is labeled a rpg when its mechanics are nearly the same as devil may cry, an action game. in fact DMC is more like a rpg than demon soul.

 

[neverarine]

your right ive seen less of them... not surprising since the storys have been the same for 10 years now...

 

[verdant monkai]

So, I got into a discussion the other day and would love some input on it. Maybe even some fact checking. So, let's sum this up as quickly as possible!:

JRPGs nearly disappearing this generation is an entirely predictable event, in hindsight, especially in the west. The JRPG has always been a niche genre, it was just a big enough niche no one ever took notice. That is, until games went mainstream. Then you'd have that awkward talk with your friends who just bought Black about Final Fantasy XII and DOS ABS the next day in school.

Argument: JRPG's didn't get less popular at all. The medium itself grew by the millions and the JRPG failed at attracting new fans.

Agree? Disagree? I'm wrong entirely? Let's talk!

EDIT: And yes, I know of FFVII and how little of a niche title it is. Exception to the rule? Most definitely. It's weird how many people say that was their first JRPG. I'm blaming magazine hype, well done commercials (if it had any), and random purchases and universal praise for that one.

I agree with you mate there is japanese stuff out at the moment but most of them are not Rpg's. I dont really count the most recent final fantasy's as rpg's (I know they technically are but not in the sense something like dragon age is).
You are also very right about the ps2-current gen consoles rpg ratio. I can name loads of wonderful ps2 jrpg's but very few on the current consoles, and the ones I can are not as good as most of the ps2 stuff.
Although I own an xbox, and xbox dosent get half the amount of Japanese stuff the ps3 does. But I think your argument is valid and I am disappointed in those who are rudley dismissing it.

 

[Burst6]

dark/demon soul would probably be an action game along the lines of devil may cry or god of war than rpg. it is a game that focuses on reflexes rather than thinking. does it have rpg elements? sure, but nearly every game has RPG elements in it.

although, it is labeled as an action rpg, so there goes that argument out of the window. still wierd that game is labeled a rpg when its mechanics are nearly the same as devil may cry, an action game. in fact DMC is more like a rpg than demon soul.

Actually dark souls has a lot of RPG elements.

Yeah the combat is actiony but there are tons of stats (about 9 i think). each stat has a lot to do with damage of your weapons and every weapon has a stat requirement. You also have a weight and inventory system. You can upgrade your weapons from +1 to +15 or along many of the weapons branching upgrade paths. There's a stat for large heavy weapons a stat for small light weapons a stat for HP, stamina, the amount of spells you can hold, there's a stat for your normal magicky sorceries, and there's a stat for your priestly miracles.

In fact the only thing seperating dark souls from a pure RPG is involved combat.

 

[Condiments]

An earlier poster had the right answer. The cost of production for videogames has exceeded the ability for many niche audiences to sustain certain genre's development. This applies not only to JRPGs(I'd argue RPGs in general), but adventure games, platformers, and an assortment of other more niche genres. There ARE JRPGs being made still, but not on the scale or quality we've come to expect over the years.

I'm just waiting for Atlus to release their latest Shin Megami Tensei game. That will keep my JRPG tendencies satisfied for some time to come.