Where did all JRPGs go? (Game Informer)

[skyknight]

http://gameinformer.com/b/features/arch ... x#comments

How true is that? I am still waiting for a great JRPG game after owning a PS3, as there was no shortage on the PS1 and PS2, and even the PSP!

[AppleQueso]

Valkyria Chronicles? Resonance of Fate? uh... Eternal Sonata? Does Folklore count? Disgaea 3? ...is there anything else? (besides the obvious FF13)

Site doesn't seem to work for me by the way, won't let me jump to other pages...

[MrPopo]

I think the real issue is that costs got too high. Final Fantasy has made a point of raising the bar in terms of graphics and as a result less people are willing to sink the amount of money required to do a JRPG for a modern console. With the DS and PSP you can cut development costs significantly.

[corn619]

Theres plenty of JRPGs out there, even more than last generation if you ask me. Now the question should where did all the good ones go? The only ones that I've played that were worth my time are Disgaea, Folklore, Eternal Sonata, Dragon Quest IX & Persona 4. With the exception of the Dragon Quest series, the rest of Squareenix's games released this gen just wasn't fun to play for me.

[Dakinggamer87]

The JRPGs this gen have been hit or miss for me compared to the previous gen with PS2, Xbox, and Gamecube. I have enjoyed some of them such as Lost Odyssey, Final Fantasy XIII, and Demon Souls to name a few and have had some disappointments such as Blue Dragon, Infinite Undiscovery, and Last Remnant.

[Bradtemple87]

The guys definitely hit the point. A lot of the rpgs now are being produced on the handhelds to save cost. I have recently finished both of the new YS games on psp, VII and Oath in Felghana, I enjoyed them a lot but would have loved a home console experience.

[skyknight]

I do see the stakes gets higher for newer consoles, and I am aware that Lost Odyssey and FF:XIII didn't do well even in JP (compared to PS2 titles!), so I do wonder what is the next step for JP VG companies, I am following Altus' development of Catherine, and see if the next Persona will take any cues from it.

I do see smaller studios coming up with "retro" theme JRPG in the near future, as it may be a lower risk approach, that could generate enough profit to stay afloat.

[Lord Huggington]

I was disappointed with this article. It wasn't so much an analysis of why so few JRPGs have come out this generation, as a wish list of series that the author wanted to see come back.

My feelings is that the reason we're seeing less JRPGs this gen is that the market was saturated quite badly in the last generation. Seriously, I love JRPGs, but it was really hard to keep up with all the games that caught my interest on the PS2, let alone including the DS, Gamecube, Xbox and Dreamcast games in the mix. We had several Final Fantasies, DQ VIII, a number of Persona and Shin Megami Tensei games, not to mention the legions of more niche RPGs that Atlus was bringing out, then there was Disgaea and the hordes of other RPGs that NIS America localized, as well as the "Tales of..." games, Baten Kaitos series, Shining Force ARPGs, Xenosaga, Suikoden series, .hack, Arc the Lad, Shadow Hearts, Radiata Story, Steambot Chronicles, Growlanser, Wild Arms, Star Ocean, Ys, Wizardry, and countless others.

With a list that colossal, even the most dedicated JRPG fan is going to have trouble keeping up, and I think this is where the problem starts. At some point gamers had to choose which of these games they wanted lest they go bankrupt or wind up with a mountain of half played games that they'll get back to "one day". As such, their spending dollars got split in too many directions, and a lot of these series may not have sold as well as the publishers had hoped. Now we're seeing less JRPGs, but it may be a more manageable amount to have on the market for gamers, and funnels their money more succinctly to specific games, instead of it being spread out all over the place.

From a gamer's perspective the selection in JRPGs was great, if a bit overwhelming, during the PS2's time, but from a publisher's perspective, I don't think things panned out so well since consumers still had a relatively finite amount of money at their disposal, and as such diluted their spending across a wide variety of JRPGs, which in the end would equate to many projects not making all that much money. Hence why we're seeing JRPGs getting scaled back so much, even more so when you factor in the shift to handhelds for the genre, and the costs involved with making games for many of the current gen consoles.

[Hatta]

A lot of the rpgs now are being produced on the handhelds to save cost.

Which is really annoying. I play RPGs on my TV so my GF can watch. I'm certain she would love e.g. Infinite Space, but there's no good way to hook a DS up to a TV so I'm skipping it.

There are enough PSP RPGs now that it might be worth getting a TV cable for it though.

[hashiriya1]

Is Star Ocean for PS3 any good? I might want to pick that up.