Resident Evil Creator: JRPGs Never Popular In the West

[Grey_Focks]

Meh. Only "JRPG" I ever liked was Final Fantasy Tactics, and even that left me with some "meh" feelings. I just don't like JRPGs, but I know plenty of people that do (and they can be very annoying about them).

I guess I can agree with him, though. JRPGs that aren't called "Final Fantasy" don't really have a big mainstream following. If I remember correctly, though, wasn't the PS1 just FLOODED with JRPGs in the wake of FF7? Weren't any of those popular in the west?

 

[Hurray Forums]

JRPG uniformity is incredibly annoying. I bought breath of fire for PSP the other week, only to find that all the status ailments (except one) were identical to Final Fantasy. It's irritating that every game in this subgenre seems to be identical, it'd be like if every RTS was Starcraft with different units. Seriously, why does every JRPG need to be so similar? Why can't they take a little bit of a risk on the style once in a while?

Well the veneer of exoticism seems to be peeling now and the "Gaijin will never get it" excuse is failing to explain it all away. Playing the same game over and over gets old and Japanese developers almost seem to be hiding from that. Scrap the status system, scrap AP and see if anything interesting comes out of it.

I've never understood the whole "JRPGs are all the same!!!" argument. Compare Persona 4, Shadow Hearts, Demon's Soul's, Valkyria Chronicles, Final Fantasy 12, and Steambot Chronicles. If you honestly think all those are the same there is something wrong with you. Most of the people who say "All JRPGs are the same" haven't actually taken the time to try and find one that's unique.

 

[Grampy_bone]

He's not really wrong. JRPGs are relatively popular in the west but what most people don't understand is the extreme volume of games made in Japan which never make it over here to begin with. Sure some of them are lost gems but most of them don't get brought over for a good reason: they stink. For every Chrono Trigger and Final Fantast 7 there are ten worthless trash RPGs with lame graphics, dumb stories, and horrible grind.

 

[DeathWyrmNexus]

When I make games none will have character choices, so does that mean the game will be bad?

That sounds like a movie rather than a game. Player impact is kinda important. If I want linearity, I'll either watch a movie or play something simple like Darksiders.

 

[DeathWyrmNexus]

Meh. Only "JRPG" I ever liked was Final Fantasy Tactics, and even that left me with some "meh" feelings. I just don't like JRPGs, but I know plenty of people that do (and they can be very annoying about them).

I guess I can agree with him, though. JRPGs that aren't called "Final Fantasy" don't really have a big mainstream following. If I remember correctly, though, wasn't the PS1 just FLOODED with JRPGs in the wake of FF7? Weren't any of those popular in the west?

I enjoyed Tactics for the same reason that I enjoyed Disgaea... I could ignore the main characters and faff about with monsters/tactical movement.

 

[Con Carne]

Well, Squenix, was originally, the cornerstone of JRPG's I know other companies made them too but Square was the household name for a while. They realized that there was a lack of evolution, they tried to fix it and made the monstrosity that is called Final Fantasy XIII.
JRPG's always have been linear, but the crap that took place in that linear story has always been somewhat entertaining. I can't think of many other reasons as to why they've been able to stick around for this long. I mean an RPG Western or Japanese, is all about the story in the first place. I know plenty of people who play games for the stories as opposed to the "impact" their character will have on the world. Seriously, what's the big deal. So you get a handful of different endings or you can take a handful of different paths to get there. But overall, you're still accomplishing the same thing. Saving something/someone. i.e. your family, a loved one or the world.
As a matter of fact, I'm someone who misses a good old school linear RPG with point and click based combat.

 

[Another]

It's not so much lack of evolution it's that games that changes aren't promoted as much as a FF game. Take Mana Khemia for example, quote this post if you've played it, it was a different type of JRPG, the characters where not the usual emo MC, there was no "I think I love my sister" type thing, the underage girl is a FUCKING SWORD WIELDING SAMURAI, there are some fairly manly type characters, sure the MC has some emo to him at the end, but it all goes good, the characters are fleshed out and well made, there are no levels to worry about, it kicks FFs ass, but no one knows about it, why? because it was released for the PS2 in the midst of the PS3 era, WHAT THE FUCK PEOPLE, look a little harder before jumping on the "all JRPGs are teh same" bandwagon.

end rage.

Played it. Loved it.

But the thing is that that its been a long time since I loved a JRPG. Ever since Persona 4 I've been out to dry.

I think that part of what seems to be a stagnation of the JRPG market in the west is not a lack of evolution or popularity, but the state of bringing games to the west from Japan. Because Japan has been making lots of JRPG's but we never see a lot of them.

I think the JRPG market of the east is kind of like looking through the loads of copy pasted games in the west. Sometimes you find a gem in that deluge of crap, and I think that companies bringing over games from Japan are not finding the gems and only marketing the big name titles. Atlas and NIS non withstanding.

I like both WRPG's and JRPG's and i really wish companies could bring all JRPG's to the west so I could have my pick of the gems in the rough, but that's not happening.

 

[GonzoGamer]

When was the last time you heard anybody in GameStop talking about the new Dragon Quest?

I try not to listen to what the fruitcakes behind the counter of gamestop are talking about. It?s usually something really banal (like his dogs tapeworm or something) and it?s usually the reason that I?m waiting on line for a half hour with three people in front of me.

For a while the only rpgs worth playing were jrpgs. They were way better than the first Ultimas and those cheesy D&D games that looked like they were from the atari. My favorite rpg of my youth were the phantasy star games (non-online ones) and thos sqenix games like Chrono... And soul blazer. But yea, at some point (I?m guessing around the time I didn?t have a console) the western rpgs started evolving and the jrpgs didn?t evolve beyond types like games with ?Tactics? at the end of the title.

 

[Korten12]

When I make games none will have character choices, so does that mean the game will be bad?

That sounds like a movie rather than a game. Player impact is kinda important. If I want linearity, I'll either watch a movie or play something simple like Darksiders.

so any game that has no character choice is not a game? when I say character choice I mean like in ME were you pick what you say.

 

[Hurray Forums]

Action bars, lists of actions to perform (attack, item and others) and two teams lining up are so boring now that I honestly get turned off of the genre.

If you can't find a JRPG that doesn't use that formula you aren't trying at all. It's fine to complain about those games, but not the genre those games inhabit because the entire genre does not consist of those games. It would be like me dismissing all shooters for being Halo clones. I could do that if I was lazy and didn't even bother to search around, but that's not only stupid and a good way to miss out on a game you might enjoy it's insulting to the people who actually go out on a limb and try something different.

 

[Stormz]

Well I enjoy Jrpgs. Sure I agree they haven't really changed all that much but I still love them for what they are. I find most of them have very fun battle systems where as the Wrpgs battle system is almost always the same. Jrpgs always seem to be doing something new in that area.

 

[yanipheonu]

Oh great. Here we go again. Another JRPG vs WRPG arguement to add to the pile. When will it end...

JRPGs still have a robust market and audience. What people need to do is stop asking them to become WRPGs, and Japanese devs need to go back to ignoring the people that do that.

Pretty much this. People need to stop going into JRPGs, expecting WRPG features, also.

It's true, a lot of the lesser known RPGs aren't well know, though. I mean go up to a gamer, and ask them who ATLUS, or Tri-Ace are, and chances are, they wouldn't be able to tell you. I'd say Namco Bandai too, but they make other genres, not just RPGs. The reason why JRPGs aren't quite as popular here? Cultural differences, plain and simple. Take a look at a Japanese chart, and you'll see 90% Japanese games, including jrpgs. Likewise, look at a Western chart, and you'll see 90% western games. That's just how it is.

Naturally there will always be outliers however, which I consider myself to be.

Edit: Oh, and btw, JRPG's have evolved just as much as any genre has.

OMG YES.

I swear I always hear this shit. "OMG this game is linear, all you do is fight and move forward and fight more, and the story are all cutscenes with tons of melodrama. This is like 75% of the JRPGs ever created, but this game sucks because of it."

Some of us like that. That's why people like JRPGs.

It's like complaining that most shooters are some overly muscular guy in a power suit. It's just how the genre works.

 

[DeathWyrmNexus]

When I make games none will have character choices, so does that mean the game will be bad?

That sounds like a movie rather than a game. Player impact is kinda important. If I want linearity, I'll either watch a movie or play something simple like Darksiders.

so any game that has no character choice is not a game? when I say character choice I mean like in ME were you pick what you say.

Reading would have cleared this up...

"watch a movie or play something simple like Darksiders" If it isn't a rpg, sure, don't invite character choice in the story. Kratos will kill whatever gets in his way the same way every time with little variation. Same for War, etc etc. So if you want to make a game without choices in the story, I suggest not calling it a rpg. Then again, I've had this same quirk with all Jrpgs.

 

[DustyDrB]

Dusty: Why are you retiring from gaming, if I may ask?
I'm about to have a kid myself so I know my game time will be cut back quite a bit, but I'll still play.

Med School, internships, volunteering, and trying to salvage a social life.

 

[maxben]

I love JRPGs so for me the issue is a lack of evolution.

On the other hand, I do feel like I'm part of the minority.
My favourite Final Fantasies were actual I and II, and I mean the original II not IV

 

[dragonnewby]

I have never played a JRPG, the closest I was to it is when I rented resonance of fate which I found frustrating and repetitive. Guess it's just not my genre. But if other people like it, why change it to WRPG?