Final Fantasy VII came out in 1997. Fans treated the game as if it was sacred, the game was one of the finest Final Fantasy games ever. Back then, Japanese role playing games (JRPG's) was the genre to beat. 15 years on and JRPG's have lost their charm and appeal to so many people, or has it?
Intro's aside, lets get straight to the point…
Developers have made their mistakes, this is the simple reasons the state of the genre is what it is.
To improve or broaden the appeal of the genre I believe the following should happen in the order of least to most importance:
10. More online multiplayer JRPG's: there are some people who play games only for the Multiplayer, and it’s the multiplayer feature which is the main selling point of Call of Duty, World of Warcraft & Fifa, and those games sell a LOT ! Where is the western JRPG equivalent of these games? Nowhere to be found, don’t say Monster Hunter as that isn’t that popular in the west. [This will get the online gamers on board]
9. More turn based battle systems/Traditional JRPG's: the only turn based JRPG I can think of this console gen is Lost Odyssey, I am of the view that there are some people who believe the Genre has strayed from what it was and they just want TRADITIONAL JRPG's back. [This well get the old school JRPG gamers on board]
8. Better & smarter marketing & more marketing: I am yet to see a viral video on the internet to promote a JRPG game, viral videos are a good way to advertise, since there is none for JRPG games (that I can think of) it indicates the marketing is poor. Sony spent $100 million on the marketing and promotion of FF7, the game even appeared in Playboy magazines, look at how popular that game was. [This will get all sorts of people on board, even casual gamers]
7. Loss in popularity of FPS games e.g Call of Duty: too many people are buying FPS games, but it seems now that people are getting tired of FPS games, the future looks brighter. Think about it, if a substitute product/competitor is taken out of the equation, it can only mean that the most likely thing that will happen is your sales will increase. [This will get all sorts of people on board, even casual gamers]
6. More localization i.e release more games in the west: how can consumers buy a game if the game isn’t even available in their language and country, how can that JRPG series broaden its fan base if the game isn't available ? [This will keep existing JRPG fans interested in the genre]
5. More real time action battle systems: 1 of the biggest complaints I here is that the JRPG genre usually has archaic battle system, you will notice I already mentioned "More turn based JRPG's", anyway developers are now making more real time action based battle systems. But why not make both more Turnbased and action based JRPG's? They don't need to oppose each other. [This will appeal to the whiners and haters who complain about traditional "archaic" JRPG's]
4. More western themed games (both in terms of story, and characters) e.g dark souls: "oh, the men all look like girls there all borderline heterosexual", "eww, they all have long hair", "all the characters look like children and cartoons, ewww"….yeh you get the point [This will appeal to those whiners]
3. Just 1 epic JRPG to get people into genre, like how COD got people into FPS: FF7 already did this in the past as mentioned in the intro, and we know the effect, but now that effect has started to wear off, we need another game [This will get all sorts of people on board, even casual gamers]
2. Less cliches, better voice acting: a major complaints, possibly the most major, if their were less clichés and better voice acting, most JRPG's would get higher review ratings as reviewers would have 1 less thing to complain about (the thing they complain about most often when they want to pick on the genre), and reviews directly effect sales. [Better reviews=More sales=more fans]
1. Go back to your roots and think about what made JRPG's so great in the golden age (1990-2006) and try to revive those ideas, the loveable characters, the amazing unique stories, the side quests, mini games, exploration, customization, addicting gameplay that rewards you for: levelling up, collecting items, achieving certians things e.t.c am talking to people like you Square Enix.[If this happened we should be back to how the state of the genre was in the Goldenage (1990-2006)]
After the release of the horrid avatar update, Pokémon GO fans are trying to get items refunded. This has led to some getting threats of being banned.
Shift Up has released Stellar Blade day one update 1.002 on PS5, and those who preloaded the game should be notified of this update.
Do you really not know this is about the n-word or are you saying that black people can't get offended because it upsets you?
I can't believe they're censoring this game on day 1. Games just aren't the same.
/s in case it's needed. I'm fine with them making these changes that they might not have known is culturally insensitive to some people in the big ole world. But that's just me.
They are censoring something that is deemed offensive by Journalists quoting the offensive term verbatim. They are typing it intentionally in articles while in the game it's a wall texture saying Hard next to a unrelated 3d model sign that says R store. Is it offensive or not? Crazy town.
At least IGN just shows the term with a screenshot of the game. Because it's their "discovery" and to not show hypocrisy in their HUGE vitue signal.
Hard R is the not offensive way to describe an offensive term. Are they going to type "Ha$$ R" or not use the term now?
Oh, hey, I agree with you that IGN and other journalists are dumb. Not disagreement there. But, I think for a game going out to millions of people across the world? It's not something they want associated with them. It's just horrific PR.
Add to the horrific PR nightmare that this is the first major Korean-developed Sony-published title, if I'm not mistaken.
There aren't that many Korean developed titles in general. And the allowance of this only would drive a bigger fissure in east vs west especially after Final Fantasy XVI released featuring no black characters at all...
Not a good look for Sony regardless of how you personally feel about it or the people that talk about it.
I'm not saying it shouldn't have been changed. It's an easy fix and looks like it was an easy fix.
But the word HARD being too close to the letter R being a horrific PR nightmare and a indication of a racist developer is beyond crazy.
I'm offended by the sight of blood a d violence and find violence to be very insensitive...
We can all play stupid and pretend to be offended by graphics and fake worlds.
I really enjoyed the demo.
I'm going to play through and max out on story mode then go to the challenge mode afterwards.
This game is very challenging but fun.
Especially for timing on the parrying and blocking.
Got the Deluxe Digital Edition (PS5) pre ordered.
:)
Poised to make its mark, Stellar Blade is a stylish adventure but, will it cut through the competition to soar past comparisons?
I really liked reading this and I agree with you on every issue you put up. There are a few reasons for why things are the way they are, such as the economy keeping the industry from wanting to step too far outside of the box and not as much "young blood" being given the freedom to do what they would like to. For example, the creators of FF7 are gods in JRPG companies. They are now the big bosses. They reflect on their own fame to judge what will be put out today. It is human nature. But their moment of fame isn't today. What worked before won't work now. This is why FF10-13/2 were not as popular as they could have been. New designers and storywriters need to have the same freedom of creativity that the big guys had when they were starting out. the "I know better than you" attitude is strangling the industry.
Still, perhaps the slowly approaching demise of big names like Square may be a good thing. Indie groups may not have the budget, but they have the fresh ideas that will lead us into the next few decades of gaming. As the big guys fall, perhaps they will get wise and seek the support of the indie game makers. Hopefully then this cookie cutter style way of making games will take the hit for the big companies and we can all have new and imaginative games back on the market.
Aren't there alot of JRPG's on handhelds this gen? handheld gaming is huge in Japan, companies cater to those tastes, the hardware tends to be weaker and easier to develop on and none of those nasty currency fluctuations or localisation issues to worry about,
I think number 9 is the main reason.
What happened to turn-based battles? They've all but gone. I like a bit of action in some of my RPGs, but not all of them. Final Fantasy in particular have changed their formula way too much to the point where the games don't even resemble what the genre used to represent.
Why can't we have random battles again? Have the little fade-out and music change and into the screen with the ATB gauges and the "attack, magic, special, item" menus. And the ability to level up our characters the way we used to.
It's not my tastes that are changing. I could go back and play FF 7 or 8 or 9 or 10 and have a blast, so they've obviously done something to them to make me not like their more recent games.
You want more turn based games but at the same time you also want more real time action games. So what your really saying is just make more JRPGs with a lot of variety.
There's been no significant change or advancement in story presentation, mature themes, or character development since the change over from the SNES to the PS1. And where things coasted and fell into a rut with the PS2, they've largely gone backwards while also ignoring/forgetting aspects like towns and turn based combat in favor of resource heavy graphics.
While FF7 got points for looks, it was the overall influence and death of a central/main character that's made it so memorable. As many will point out, other party members died in other games before then, even Square titles, but those were only ever events within the game. Aeris' became pivotal to the main plot. Then there's the theological and psychological things Xenogears tried to do. The first Wild Arms integrating mini-games into the game world, as well as giving rival NPCs real active roles.
@Captain Tuttle:
My point is that you may as well be complaining how there are more JRPGs on the PS3 than the 360 at this point. Saying that checkers is as complex as chess.
Though the PSP and 3DS are on par with the PS2, current handhelds vs current consoles are apples and oranges.