Japanese role-playing games on major consoles are dead

Venture Beat writes: Even if we haven’t wanted to admit it, we’ve all known for quite some time that the days of abundant Japanese console role-playing games are behind us. If you’re like me, you kinda secretly hoped a few breakout titles would swoop in and save us from this seven-year drought we’ve been living through.
I believe we will see the number of high-quality JRPGs on major consoles continue to decrease as this generation comes to a close and the next one begins. We must accept this reality if we’re to make peace with the void that’s been left since the PlayStation 2 generation ended. Developers and publishers have tried to make JRPGs work in recent years but have found the task difficult. They’ve tried and often failed to deliver deep, engaging gameplay while attempting to create audio-visual blockbusters. Some have seen significant success; however, that has often come at the expense of the traits that made us fall in love with JRPGs in the first place.

[Ranma1]

Squaresoft were the ones making the best JRPG's then we lost them.

My complaints are that:

# We havent got a epic FF this gen. Last epic FF was FF10

# We still havent got a Dark Cloud 3, Kingdom Hearts console game or Shadow Hearts.

[IAMERROR]

I want squaresoft back!

[Irishguy95]

They aren't dead...just...wavering.

Ni no Kuni is coming out soon.

[TheDivine]

True but we did get a game made by the creators of FF with the makers of Shadow Hearts and it played like a mix of FF10 and Shadow Hearts. Lost Odyssey was every bit as good as both those games and in fact better IMO. We didn't get a Dragon Quest on consoles but we got Blue Dragon which I liked more. Xenoblade and The Last Story were also amazing and Ni No Kuni looks like it might be something special also. Jrpgs are alive yet. Most may be on handhelds but we still get stuff like Resonance of Fate and Tales.

Square has gone shit with only the 13 series, vs Mia, and they are taking fewer chances. All they need to do is return to the X battle system and all will be well again. I'd also love another game like 12. Loved that game to death. They at least support the 3ds well. We're getting a DQ7 remake, Bravely Default, and more. I'm hoping for a Twewy sequel and a FF6 remake and I'm sure both will come. They do need to localize type-0, make KH3, release VS, and Atlus needs to bring SMT4 over ASAP and make Persona 4. Lots to love though.

I admit Lost Odyssey was the last big budget AAA jrpg though. 20 some odd hours of cutscenes and polish up the yin yang. Those days may be over outside of FF which sucks but I blame you guys who claim to love the genre but refuse to buy the games. If you all bought LO it would've made MS make more jrpgs and Sony would've followed along with the rest. Instead it sent the message people don't want Japan's shit anymore so everyone moved on. That was the turning point. One of the biggest, most expensive, beautiful, amazing jrpgs ever and it was met with a collective meh. Too old school and last gen. Ms was chasing Sonys ps2 jrpg dominance and when it didn't sell Sony and Ms chased what did sell which was Gears and Halo. Now all we have is Fps from everyone outside of Nintendo. People bash Ms for only giving a few genres but they tried to give others and people didn't want them. Nin is the last console maker who still makes 1st party jrpgs, srpgs, and the like. The last jrpg i remember from Sony was Legend of Dragoon on ps1.

[GribbleGrunger]

They're not dead, they're just misrepresented by a biased Western media.

[BanBrother]

I'd say both. I wish we had an abundance of jRPG's, but unfortunately we don't. A big part of that is that, as you said, they are misrepresented by not just western media, but westerners (I am a westerner btw, white).

JRPG's feel like a massive journey, at least for me. Epic stories and characters. I wish that people in the Western world bought more than just shooters, as we are a big consumer base. Same could probably said for the Japanese market with shooters though.

I suppose we are just destined to be different? At least Ni No Kuni is getting rave reviews.

[SeekeroftheDawn]

I don't quite think JRPGs are as good as they used to be, but I wouldn't necessarily say they're "dying" either. I still love recent JRPGs, and will continue to support/play them until they're no longer being made. (Hopefully that'll be later than sooner.)

[CLOUD1983]

"..and occasionally you may throw us a Ni no Kuni or Dark Souls bone."

OK I find the last paragraph insulting to Level-5 & Studio Ghibli who create this breathtaking beautiful game & there is no doubt that is going to be a MASTERPIECE! already some reviews from imports r perfect (10/10) or near perfect (9.5/10) & the author call games like Ni No Kuni "bones" like it's inferior to the horrible FF SE made for the past 10 years now, because everything after FFX was crap so in comparison to games like FFXII/FFXIII Ni No Kuni is above & beyond in terms of over all quality, story telling, visuals, audio, depth, mechanics, characters & everything else, we must be glad & thank Level-5 & Studio Ghibli who create something so amazing for us after all those years of one garbage FF after another, time to play a quality JRPG again who remains "true" to the gr8 JRPGs of the legendary era of the 90's.

[BanBrother]

Agree with you over 9000%.

At first I wanted to disagree, but reading the article the guy is a complete fu**head. He wants to get his point across, then calls Blue dragon, Enchanted Arms and Eternal Sonata "shitty". Wow. I was astonished. Yet another example of little co**suckers who shame gaming journalism.

Rule number 1; if you don't like a game, never say it is "shitty", as chances are there are people who like them. He also insults Lost Odyssey, an absolutely amazing game, best 360 exclusive IMO alongside Alan Wake.

People like him don't deserve to play Ni No Kuni. Never reading from that site again, unless they can show me they can be semi-professional.

[miyamoto]

jrpg was DOA on 360 in the first place anyway you spin it..its an abnormality freak of nature

jrpg is Alive and Well on the legitimate platforms by Nintendo and Sony in Japan: Final Fantasy, Pokemon, Dragon's Quest, Monster Hunter, etc.

but Microsoft killed jrpgs in the west in the tune of $100 M bitch slapping on Square Enix ass.

Killing any hope and dignity left of one of jrpg flagship's in the west.

Micro$uck stuck its nose where it should not belong thus inciting the anger of many Japanese gamers..

FF XIII could have been the great jrpg of its time if it remained PS3 exclusive.

You see game quality does not rely on unit sales but on the game's integrity.

Chrono Trigger did not sell gangbusters like FF VI but it kept Square & Enix in high value many years after the game launched.

Now that integrity and honor is gone thanks to Micro$uck.

[BanBrother]

You are an Idiot. You must have never played Lost Odyssey.

Besides,Final Fantasy has sucked for ages. I only enjoyed the PS1 era games. While FFX was not shit, it was boring. Tidus was a little bitch.

Square Enix has only themselves to blame for the atrocities that are FF13. The only thing the 360 held back from the PS3 was the graphics department. Everything else is Square enix's fault.

Take off your tin-foil hat and look at the real enemy; Western Media, and western audiences, the types who only play Cod and other shooters.

[madjedi]

"While FFX was not shit, it was boring. Tidus was a little bitch. "

Sounds like the exact same type of gamer, that called any jrpg character whos world has just been completely destroyed a whiney emo brat.

" western audiences(who the hell do you think is buying jrpgs outside of japan), the types who only play Cod and other shooters(Which is ironic since that is exactly what you sound like atm).

"Now that integrity and honor is gone thanks to Micro$uck" They only provided the incentive wada's greed and piss poor decisions did the rest.

That doesn't make him a idiot just a biased sony fan, and yeah sorry but jrpgs on the box are a fluke really. You want jrpgs you have 3 systems ps2, ds and ps3 although the support isn't as good versus last gen.

Except square enix(at the time squaresoft) and capcom are retards, because they have been in the western market since the nes.

[Jdoki]

"but Microsoft killed jrpgs in the west in the tune of $100 M bitch slapping on Square Enix ass."

I don't agree with your statement. Didn't MS fund Mistwalker for a few exclusive games? Seems they were pretty keen to get JRPG's on the 360 - at least in the early days of the console.

In fact, the early days of the 360 showed an incredible amount of diversity across a number of genres - from Viva Pinata, Kameo, Blue Dragon etc.

In my opinion there's two things that have killed off the JRPG (or at least caused a decline)...

1. Consumer demand. If games sell, more get made... Just look at the FPS genre!

2. Many Japanese company's (such as SquareEnix, Cpacom etc) saw that the Western market was bigger, and analysed the games that were selling and decided to shift focus to 'westernise' their games.

Point 1 is just an unfortunate fact - but the good thing is that gamers are quite fickle, and so it wouldn't surprise me if we saw a swing back to JRPG's at some point.

Point 2 is a bit harder to sort out. But if the mighty SE and Capcom etc are heading in a different direction, you can guarantee there will be some small, hungry, developers looking to fill the gaps.

I think the JRPG will survive.

[miyamoto]

Thanks for the reply

Bottom line, Japanese RPG's are by definition and nature Japanese - and Japanese products meant for Japanese gamers made by Japanese people in the whole Japanese socio-cultural setting.

Microsoft Xbox360 is an American in Japan who wanted to be Japanese for the wrong reasons - just to make lots of money on the Japanese people.

And he got it all wrong and the Japanese saw through that.

You see Japan has a bloody history of expelling foreigners who invade and tries to change their way of life.... Japan expelled the Roman Catholics and history repeated itself with Xbox and Xbox 360.

The popularity & success of JRPG outside Japan was not intentional. It was an unexpected phenomenon. It was purely natural progression.
M$ tried to replicate this success in a very artificial manner.

Most hit JRPGs or Japanese video games are localization or repackaging or Japanization of Western ideas, concepts & stuff like Mario, Sonic, Street Fighter, Resident Evil, Final Fantasy.

And this localization or repackaging or Japanization of western stuff in video games is what made these games a huge hit in Japan therefore gaining popularity.

Now the western localization of a localization in Japan was also a hit in the West because western gamers were presented with a completely new repackaging of their own western stuff.

i.e. The Beatles take on American rock and roll, blues, Motown music was a phenomenon all over the world because it was a totally new re-packaging of stuff that music lovers naturally liked

Same with JRPGs PlayStation, Final Fantasy VII, Pokemon, Zelda were repackaged Japanazition of western stuff in the West that were phenomenon in the 1990's. It was repeated in the early 2000's with PS2.

Now, how can anyone think this natural occurrence of Japanese things will work with an American like M$?

I honestly believe M$ has no indepth or real understanding of how JRPGs work and the underlying nature & principles.

All it knows is its popular in Japan and in the West and they will use it as a tool for fans of the genre to buy their platform and thus make lots of money.

But the Japanese people put M$ in its place: outside.
Japanese public will not allow itself subject to American monopoly again.
The whole me too operation backfired on M$, making them loose millions of dollars in the process and a huge collateral damage - the major Japanese game developers and publishers reputation. Square Enix Capcom Namco Bandai.

M$ should have known & understood where to stick it in the first place: like Western FPS and Western RPGS where they are naturally good at and should have never done the Japanese pretending.

JRPGs on Xbox were just a failed experiment like a Frankenstein monster.

M$ thinks that money and more money is the only solution to everything and the only way to success.

Sure the West has learned many tricks from the many years of Japanese gaming history and can duplicate, copy, out produce, outspend the Japanese but can never "BE" Japanese & will fail time and time again.

I hope the Japanese game makers can reverse the horrific effects of that disaster in the West. Good thing the JRPGs for kids like Pokemon, was spared.

See this 'sales' mentality M$ brought to gamer's minds really screwed up many.

PS2 was considered the Golden Age of JRPGs yet no one cared about sales. Sales did not matter. Now a JRPG sells 100,000 and its considered dead in the west.

Now, JRPGs staying back in Japan where it really belongs is far from being defined as dead.

[RTheRebel]

Xenoblade Chronicles Best JRPG This Generation
Ni No Kuni Demo was epic and looks far better than all wester n overrated rpgs cough* Skyrim cough*

[madjedi]

"Ni No Kuni Demo was epic and looks far better than all wester n overrated rpgs cough* Skyrim cough*"

Completely different genre genius, i could say the exact same thing about xenoblade or ni no kuni, doesn't make my opinion any more valid than yours is. And i'll get around to them eventually.

This is the same attitude that pisses jrpg gamers of when it's directed against our games.

Don't turn this into a childish east vs west dick measuring contest, i want different styles from jrpgs vs wrpgs.

Each has different strengths vs weaknesses.

Some of us play both wrpgs and jrpgs, shit like this is just annoying, we are already a niche audience stop making it worse.

[knifefight]

Ni no Kuni, January 22nd.
( http://n4g.com/news/1149601...

From this generation alone:
Valkyria Chronicles
Xenoblade
The Last Story
Lost Odyssey
Tales of Grace f
Tales of Vesperia
Tales of Xillia (sequel out in Japan, probably on the way to NA)
Demon's Souls
Dark Souls
Yakuza 3, 4, and 5
Dragon Quest X (so far Japan-only)
Tokitowa (so far Japan-only)
I feel like there are more.
So ah...

[Hicken]

A superb list, across three different platforms, something that couldn't be said last generation. I'd add the Disgaea and Atelier games, too... not so much the last Ar Tonelico.

A lot of the games aren't making it West this gen, and many jumped to handhelds because of the cheaper development cost and higher install base. But a lot of what we HAVE gotten has been of very good quality.

[knifefight]

Re: "I'd add the Disgaea and Atelier games"
Ah! I knew I was forgetting some.
Yeah, in terms of gameplay, Disgaea 4 for PS3 is my favorite in that series. Can't believe I also forgot Dragon's Dogma, the new Rune Factory, and Resonance of Fate.

The handhelds of the PSP/DS generation have really been awesome for RPGs, too, and the 3DS + Vita are showing no signs of slowing things down.

[porkChop]

Lost Odyssey was one of the best games I have ever had the pleasure of playing, and this guy calls it "decent"? Are you kidding me? That was one of, if not THE best JRPG's of the past decade, including PS2. Too bad it never got a sequel, and too bad it never went to other platforms so more people could enjoy the game. It was brilliant.

[Kur0]

A FF10 clone is the best JRPG of the decade??? What about the Persona series or Tales or heck even Ar Tonelico. Rogue Galaxy and Xenoblade also comes to mind. Many JRPGs better than Lost Odyssey. It was good but not that good.

[porkChop]

FFX clone? What? You must not have played the same game I did.

[RaikRhythm]

It's not so much a decline in the quality of games so much as the fact that tastes are changing and JRPGs are therefore selling for less.

I noticed that Xenoblade, the best game I have ever played, was completely ignored.

There isn't so much a decline in the JRPGs themselves so much as a decline in the proportion that get localised. And they don't get localised because many Western gamers keep buying Western games. This is not in itself a bad thing.

But when these games sell millions of copies and your average JRPG sells a few ten-thousand copies, people aren't going to want to bring them over, since there's not as much money in it. Thank goodness people like XSEED, Atlus, NISA, Rising Star Games, Ghostlight and others exist to keep bringing us games. Why? Because there IS a market. Not as big as Western games nowadays, but it exists.

Then there are those 13-year-old kids who just want to shoot things and don't care for story, who are making FPS games sell more units. Trust me, I lived with one for several months. He refuses to play games with lots of text and cutscenes. And I fear he's one of many.

[porkChop]

True, WRPG's have been selling much better than JRPG's. But there's many reasons for it.

One thing I've noticed this gen is that some (not all) Japanese developers haven't really pushed the hardware or utilized it well at all. Either they haven't bothered to learn how to utilize the hardware, or they choose not to and would rather use simpler art styles. Which is perfectly fine if that's the case.

Another big problem though is the lack of marketing. WRPG's do well because they're so well advertised, they have great exposure. You rarely see that these days with a JRPG unless it's Final Fantasy. No one is going to buy a game if they don't even know it exists.

Most gamers don't visit sites like IGN or N4G looking for the latest gaming news. If you want them to buy your game, or to even know about it, your game has to be in their face. They need to see commercials, they need to see ads in magazines, or in subways and things like that. The game has to exist in their world.

Japanese developers don't market their RPG's for the west, then they complain about them not selling here.

[Saviior95]

I wouldn't say dead, they just dont localize all these great games, there are probably more JRPG's in Japan then there used to be

[NewsForSnowflakes]

I've just picked up Tales of Graces f on the PS3. I didn't expect too much from it because of the fairly average reviews.

But I fucking love this game! For me personally, it's easily a 9 out of 10 game and I'm barely 15 hours in to it. It probably isn't everyone's cup of tea but I'm addicted to it. I love the characters, I love the battle system and I love the graphics and duelizing system.

I've also got Ni No Kuni pre-ordered which is on track to become a classic. So for me the JRPG isn't dead yet.

[rextraordinaire]

Ni No Kuni, Dragon's Dogma, Tales of Graces F, Star Ocean 4, Resonance of Fate, White Knight Chronicles, the Atelier series, Disgaea, Hyperdimension Neptunia, Ar Tonelico, Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny and many others... What's dead?

[apollo06]

Ni no Kuni is going to be AMAZING later this month.

[Inception]

Dead? Damn Matrix! Than i must have an hallucination about games such as Ni no Kuni, Disgaea Dimension 2, Tales of Xillia, Kamipara, or Shin Megaten IV :(

[3-4-5]

Journalism is Dead.