Is this the worst generationf for JRPGs or what?

[Flake]

It doesn't help that every time a new JRPG is on the horizon, people start to bitch about anime aesthetic. "Yadda yadda teenage hero, lolis."

I am so tired of the teenage hero trope. We've had about a bajillion 'coming of age' JRPG's. You'd think the developers would realize the market was squandered long ago. Unless the 'coming of age' story is done as masterfully as Final Fantasy Tactics or Star Ocean: Second Story the developers need to really not bother.

I want to play games with people who are professionals with a history and believable set of skills. If it's a game exploring someones feelings, maybe feature a character that has actually had time to feel.

[the7k]

Believe it or not, Japanese games are usually aimed at Japanese kids. That's why a lot of RPGs have casts of characters that aren't old enough to drive yet.

It's just not going to be profitable to aim the game at adults, because they're too busy working long hours and all that crap. If you make the characters kids, you're hitting both non-working, plenty-of-free-time demographics - kids, and shut-in otaku.

What we need are games like Breath of Fire II and III, where you start out as kids but then at some point grow up. Then you'll have something for everyone.

[ZeroAX]

Believe it or not, Japanese games are usually aimed at Japanese kids. That's why a lot of RPGs have casts of characters that aren't old enough to drive yet.

It's just not going to be profitable to aim the game at adults, because they're too busy working long hours and all that crap. If you make the characters kids, you're hitting both non-working, plenty-of-free-time demographics - kids, and shut-in otaku.

What we need are games like Breath of Fire II and III, where you start out as kids but then at some point grow up. Then you'll have something for everyone.

Really? Can Japanese kids/teenagers only play games where they can see themselves in the hero?

Besides, power rangers were all teenagers/adults and we loved them as kids.

I believe it is kind of a "tradition" with the genre, that their creators can't or don't want toshake off.

Likewise with American's comic artists. All women are objectified sex symbols and all men take more steroids than an entire nation's Olympic team.

I don't think it's the audience that doesn't want new things. It's probably that the people who have the money in a creative industry hate change and new unproven stuff. Mind you fortunes are made on new and original things, but they'd rather not risk it.

[johnblade]

I think it's mostly because those game company who are making JRPG are really using the "playing safe" formula. For them, to make something original or a new brand style of RPG is risky for them and might not make the money like the current brand. Why change the formula when the original one is doing fine and making money. That's why you see the same RPG brand coming out every time which is getting more stale now.

This is specifically a problem for the console RPGs. For the handhelds we've seen a resurgence of various genres, such as the dungeon crawler and the roguelike, as well as games that don't really fit into any of the established models, like Infinite Space.

Also, I don't think the people in the JRPG game industry have any more new ideas of storyline to try out or want to use the same formula which cash out money. Why is it I am seeing the same story format over and over again. Boy live a nice life but found himself in a situation everything around him who are special to him are dead and he need to save the world and bring back normality and maybe a lover to spice a bit. We see this too often now in JRPG and I am starting to sick of it. Yea, they might be something different, same storyline but in space, forest, water, past, future, etc, but it's still the same.

This is no different than the other genres. The only reason it seems bad for RPGs is that one of their selling points is the story. I don't think anyone plays Gears or Mario for the highly cerebral plot. It's not like these were new storylines when the first JRPGs came out on the NES and SNES.

True that the handheld RPG are starting to get interesting a bit. I know the recent Dragon Quest try to spice a bit in the storyline area. Also, it's true the main selling point of RPG is the storyline. I know storyline isn't major important in other genre mostly because we don't care too much about it. Do anyone care of what happens to the character in L4D? Not really but in the RPG form we're supposed to. I know some RPG games is targeted toward younger generation but still, I don't think they want to keep playing a game that have the same storyline format for other RPG games out in the market except they add something new.

They should make an RPG game that is not only target younger generation but also have deeper meaning if you're older. I am still waiting for an RPG game that have a similar storyline like Zeta Gundam (which I am re watching now).

[mobiusclimber]

It doesn't help that every time a new JRPG is on the horizon, people start to bitch about anime aesthetic. "Yadda yadda teenage hero, lolis."

I am so tired of the teenage hero trope. We've had about a bajillion 'coming of age' JRPG's. You'd think the developers would realize the market was squandered long ago. Unless the 'coming of age' story is done as masterfully as Final Fantasy Tactics or Star Ocean: Second Story the developers need to really not bother.

I want to play games with people who are professionals with a history and believable set of skills. If it's a game exploring someones feelings, maybe feature a character that has actually had time to feel.

Actually I think the main reason we don't get a lot of games like this is b/c of the nature of the RPG. Normally you start out weak and get stronger. There are few games that start you off with a ton of strength, a bunch of skills or spells, and decent equipment. So usually it's just easier to say you're a kid than to think up some reason why you, as an adult, decide to become an adventurer after spending most of your time working in a bakery or whatever. There are plenty of games that do this, just not nearly as many that go the "coming of age" route, because it's tougher to do.

[jfrost]

@ZeroAX and Flake,

A lot of JRPGs take a lot of their conventions from shonen anime. It's understandable, it's their biggest market. Shonen animes are always about growing up, getting stronger and bonding with your friends. That's also the structure of most RPGs, so it lends itself to the genre.

The problem is that most people nowadays complain about the very themes of JRPGs. I can't agree with that. It's like complaining that WRPGs are set in the Middle Ages; it's not just a gimmick, it's their thing.

I'm tired of people complaining about everything that makes JRPGs be JRPGs. If you don't like anime or popular anime themes, that's fine. It's a problem if you think there's a decadence because your tastes have changed.

[ZeroAX]

Yeah but I have yet to see a JRPG that has an adult for a protagonist fail. Because I haven't seen one that actually has an adult protagonist (Lightning from FF13 is supposed to be an experienced soldier and she's only 21, WTF?).


As I said fortunes are made by pioneers, and I repeat no one has ever tried to give the Japanese audience something else.

[MrPopo]

(Lightning from FF13 is supposed to be an experienced soldier and she's only 21, WTF?).

3 years of soldiering isn't enough to be considered experienced?

[Flake]

(Lightning from FF13 is supposed to be an experienced soldier and she's only 21, WTF?).

3 years of soldiering isn't enough to be considered experienced?

Not unless you see a lot of service or deploy heavily right out of basic / trade school. For most people, 3 years isn't even enough time to become an NCO.

[pepharytheworm]

I think this is a great year for JRPGs, on handhelds its like playing in the 16bit and 32bit era, which to me is the best era of rpgs. I can count on my hands the number of new 2d jrpgs that came out last gen, well maybe not quite. This gen there are tons of new 2d rpgs, more than I can even play, who cares about consoles. At least I got Arc Rise Fantasia to apease my jrpg console crave.