Hardcore Gamer: In just over three months, Square Enix has published three titles that run less than perfectly: Thief, Drakengard 3, and Murdered Soul Suspect. Each one of these games suffers from one or more unforgivable technical issues, be it excessive loading times, texture pop-in, abnormally poor texture work, framerate drops, and lip-syncing issues. When Thief was released, its issues could be brushed off as an aberration; Drakengard 3's problems could be considered happenstance. With the release of Murdered: Soul Suspect, this has become an issue that should lead gamers to wonder whether or not, as a publisher, Square Enix has lowered their performance standards.
Get ready to embark on a journey filled with monsters, magic, and overpowered haircuts, because this list features the best JRPGs on the PS3.
There wasn't that many. Thanks to the west's criticism. It was definitely lacking compared to every other ps system. Dont get me wrong there were a few good ones i know that.
Nier, Valkyrie Chronciles, Tales games , Ni No Kuni, Resonance of Fate, FF13’s, Ys8 just a few off the top of my head and there were a lot more.
Not nearly to the degree of PS1 and PS2.
@shinoff2183 makes a good point that around the PS3/Xbox 360 gen is when the genre wasn’t as prevalent and began to shy away from turn-based. There’s some standouts for sure, but look at the PS1 and PS2 JRPG library and then compare that to the PS3 and PS4’s.
Theres definitely a decline in a selection of titles. Even worse was the quality seemed to take a massive hit as well. I think Lost Odyssey was a huge standout for that gen when you look at production values, then you look at something like Fairy Fencer on the PS3 and it’s kind of depressing.
But by that generation there was a shift from western developed games overtaking Japanese developed games. Back from the NES to PS2 Japanese games were the cream of the crop… I don’t know what happened but like midway into the PS3/360 life-time they became less so.
Compared to the ps1 ps2 and he'll even ps4 ps3 doesn't hold a candle to either imo. It's also when turn based damn near disappeared. Again thanks to the west's criticism
Crimson I'd put money on the west being at fault, guys like Phil phish, and numerous others at that time were attacking jrpg and Japanese games in general pretty hard.
Ni no kuni was probably my fav jrpg back then , and the blue dragon
Tales got kinda lucky here. When they took a chance and finally brought tales of graces f over west it sold like 250k lmao a lot of jrpgs did 500k or below. Disgaea was worse i think. Bamco decided to keep bringing more games over though.
Demon's Souls, Dark Souls and Dark Souls II were the best RPGs on PS3 made by Japanese developers. Everything else just fell short always. Ni No Kuni was a full package, an okayish game as well. Nier and Drakengard III had superb writing, setting and voice acting, however, the performance was a real drag on the gameplay. Traditional RPG-wise I'd actually say 360 had better JRPGs, and think that Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon were the best traditional JRPGs of the era. PS3 Valkyria Chronicles was okay, but it is closer to an SRPG.
Ryu Ga Gotoku games were also solid, they were still finding their footing and breaking new ground with new cities and formats.
PS3 was the era that almost made me quit gaming and I started playing on PC because I could not find good performance nor games on the system. PS4 got me back into it, and now PS5 is a mix in and between, I just play my PS4 library on the PS5 and rest on PC, just like during the PS3 era. The only new exclusive Sony JRPG is pretty much FFXVI and it is so streamlined and simplified from the normal RPG experience that I can't fit it into the genre anymore. Dragon Quest XII hopefully remedies all of this, but it is just one game.
These new games will all be on PC (while it does take 2-3 years to wait, and 6-12 months from launch to have them patched + fixed by modders) and they perform better on it. The only point in owning a PS5 is to play games a couple of years earlier, but for a hard-working family man like me, the quality of the experience is more important than playing it as soon as possible. And I can't do modern games at 30fps 720p after playing 120fps at 4K. For older games, that's okay.
PSX and PS2 though, those were the days...Still have a massive collections of classic RPGs in CD and DVD format and a phat PS3 to play them!
It's kinda like that, the PS3 generation was a bad time for JRPGs, especially with the Japanese feeling the need to westernize their games, shooters dominating that gen, the racism from western game journalists (it was bad, between G4, Phill Fish, and a slew of others), and the higher development costs...
It really made me miss the PS1/PS2 days of JRPGs, even the quality of half of those games during the 7th gen weren't as good. The 360 tried, but Microsoft's consoles weren't popular in Japan and no body in the West bought a Xbox for JRPGs (despite Xbox having Vesperia, Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey).
" It's kinda like that, the PS3 generation was a bad time for JRPGs, especially with the Japanese feeling the need to westernize their games "
This is when everything fall down and games looks not fun to play anymore except for few games like demon and dark souls for example
Nah. It's a bad trilogy of games
The only reason XIII-2 stands out is because XIII was so bad
When the bar is so low, anything after feels better.
Watching the credits roll on ff16 now it is good but , I'd really like to re try ff13 least it's turn based and would fill that gap for me.
They got better after the first one in the trilogy, not outstanding game though.
Honestly, I played FFXIII a few years after release and maybe because it was after the hype cycle and I knew the flaws of the game, it actually became my favorite FF after VII.
I took off the mini map and never used auto battle and the stuff that mattered to me in an FF was just so well done.
The art and graphics were insane at the time
The music is still special
The story still lingers in memory more than a decade later
The RPG systems were decent
I never really got the hate for it, still have a soft spot for that game inside me.
Only gripe I have with Ar Tonelico 3 is that Saki is annoying as hell whether English or in Japanese. Then Saki's English voice actor became Ionasal on Ar Nosurge she was a little annoying but not as bad. Johnny Young Bosch voicing Tatsumi I thought he did a great job. And Akiko Shikata with her vocals and the music from the games just went hand and hand.
Square Enix suggested they might remaster more games from their storied archives—here are the classics we’d like to see get a new coat of paint.
I would definitely enjoy a Xenogears remaster. Recently finished Legend of Dragoon again (this time with platinum trophy) and would love to dive back into Xenogears with Fei and the rest of the crew.
It needs more than a remaster though, I hope they can turn disc 2 into a full game..
I wonder how they would even handle a xenogears remaster
Would they give it to monolith soft (the original developers) to handle, and more then likely make it a Nintendo exclusive, cue the endless bitching from Sony fans...
Or will they do it themselves, thus not finishing the original story as intended
"... and more then likely make it a Nintendo exclusive"
I would think it'd eventually hit all the platforms much like the Front Mission 1st Remake. That way no one would be 'bitching' regardless of your platform preference lol.
They don't need the original people , they already have the foundation of characters ,world and lore to work off of.
Honestly it's not that big of a game if you really examine it by modern standards , it's how they present everything that makes it seem so grand especially with how epic the story/music is . SE have good writers that could incorporate post release lore of perfect works and such if they ever remade it from the ground up.
Square Enix classics? dont they mean Squaresoft. Square Enix dont make classic games, just games with pretty graphics, no heart & soul, boring & over stuffed with woke Gen Z cockiness.
But while were on the subject i would love too see a remaster of Front Mission 3.
They already announced a Front Mission 3 remake. Doubt they'll also do a remaster.
I will get the remake but i still want a remaster cos with all remakes they lose a lot of the original magic the original game had.
Pretty sure its going to be a remaster of the game, similar to what's been done with the first two games, not a remake.
FF7r is certainly more a remake of FF7 than a remaster for instance.
Now, if they did Gun Hazard remaster...
Yeah they call it a remake like "Front Mission 1st Remake" but I'd consider it more of a remaster as it doesn't change any of the core gameplay but basically just sharpens up the graphics. I think they added a couple of new features also but I still think it's more of a remaster.
Like @Godmars290 suggested, FF7Remake fits the mold of a remake since they 'remade' the game from the ground up, changing the battle system completely, and retelling the story with a lot of different elements added.
But I guess they can call it what they want since they're making it lol.
Exactly. SquareSoft merged with Enix shortly after Final Fantasy X and it has never been the same.
Drakengard 3 is a hidden gem from Yoko Taro that deserves a remaster.
That would be better. I couldn't beat part 3. By the time it came out the combat and gameplay was so outdated it was painful. Also graphically awful.
It would need a full remake, and for that they may as well build the original from the ground up.
The framerate completely destroyed this game. The graphics were pretty terrible as well. Other than that though I quite enjoyed it, the story, characters and overall gameplay was really good. It would definitely benefit from a remaster.
Haha maybe. Either way I still liked the story and characters. Never thought Nier replicant would get a remaster so fingers crossed this game gets a second chance too.
They should remake the entire franchise to be honest. Every single Drakengard game is definitely unique, but overall clunky as hell.
They're going the way of Capcom. Putting out a bunch of trash developed by western developers that have no or little appeal to anybody. I mean come on, really, did they think Murdered would be their next big IP?
The problem with Thief is that they tried to dumb it down and make it accessible for a bigger audience...it ended up blowing up in their face. Dishonored has basically become the master and overshadowed Thief, a game it was trying to live up to, despite in some sections of the game you could argue Dishonored is a little easy, least then Square Enix would be sticking to what made Thief so great instead of trying too hard.
I think the problem with Square Enix is that the existing IPs they have, Hitman, Tomb Raider, Thief, Final Fantasy are making them into something they aren't to try to appeal to a wider audience. Yes games like Hitman and Tomb Raider were good games that did pretty well but can you honestly say they lived up to their franchises roots. When you have a new IP like Murder Soul Suspect it doesn't have anything to live up to, if it stumbles it will get back up and hopefully improve in the next game, slowly building up an audience like old IP's did but they are trying to hard to widen these existing fanbases when they should just be happy with the ones they have.
I found Hitman too easy and not as fun as Blood Money, Thief was dumbed down and just didn't feel the same as past games while Tomb Raider was anything but a Tomb Raider game...the fact that the tombs were optional says it all really, I don't see what was wrong with the original Lara Crofts back story about her plane going down in the Himalayas, killing her fiancée and parents as she struggles for 2 weeks in the mountains surviving until finally making it to a small village to call for help.
Then we have Final Fantasy there prized possession, you know the story of this game, with Final Fantasy 13 they basically took everything we adored about past FF games, ripped it out of the game. It was a stripped down FF game which goal was to appeal to a bigger audience because of how easy it looked and played. They thought walking door corridor A to B, adding it cutscenes and saves would appeal to a bigger audience but it didn't, all they did was p*** off their already established audience while bringing in a bunch of people who didn't like FF games for what they were. Now what would you rather have a huge, happy existing audience or a mostly p***** off existing audience with a bunch new members.
Capcom does the same thing and I seem to be thinking that most Japanese companies are getting a little desperate for money so they are trying to copy the west instead of sticking at what they can already do even better.
I would give Drakengard 3 a pass since the budget for that game is much much lower compared to Thief & Murdered Soul Suspect. The director of the game is even looking for work after finishing Drakengard.
You know the scary thing is what Square will even have on display at E3 this year. I mean KH3 and FF15 are still a ways off, so what is it going to boil down to this year? Kingdom Hearts 2.5 and Theatrhythm? At least they're Japanese, I suppose...
Square was in upheaval a while ago, and they've now had their new CEO for a short while past that point. Good games take years to make, and FF15 is the end of a project that started not under his watch. Since then, they've assembled a cabal of people in their company to talk about what worked in Final Fantasy in the past, and where they want to take it next - FF15 isn't even a part of that discussion.
It's pretty logical to me that they haven't had much to release lately - let's see what they announce this E3, but especially what they announce in 2015. Games - even those shiny demos that are often full of bullshots - take a long time to make and polish. They've obviously scrapped their past stuff and rebooted most of the company.
And they'd better start a new Chrono game. Come on. That IP is staring you in the face, Square!