radiant historia came out in 2011 and completely sold out, but that's an atlus release so that means they sold like 10 units
There was a sales data leak a while ago that said that Persona 3, 3 FES, and Persona 4 each sold around 100k-150k in the US. I'm guessing those are probably Atlus's best selling RPGs in the US. So maybe 50,000 for Radiant Historia? (Note this is complete guesswork on my part)
radiant historia came out in 2011 and completely sold out, but that's an atlus release so that means they sold like 10 units
There was a sales data leak a while ago that said that Persona 3, 3 FES, and Persona 4 each sold around 100k-150k in the US. I'm guessing those are probably Atlus's best selling RPGs in the US. So maybe 50,000 for Radiant Historia? (Note this is complete guesswork on my part)
I'm surprised its so little...the games are incredible. I wouldn't mind seeing more simulation/turn based systems like the ones used in Persona, though I would prefer if the next game left the school setting(College at least!).
and those i can beat by grinding for a few more hours
time was, there were a lot more of the latter than the former
but i like the former better than the latter because the skills can usually translate nicely to other games
You could also beat the former by playing strategically and NOT grinding levels. People grind and create overpowered characters because they enjoy building up a character, not because it's necessary to get through these games.
radiant historia came out in 2011 and completely sold out, but that's an atlus release so that means they sold like 10 units
There was a sales data leak a while ago that said that Persona 3, 3 FES, and Persona 4 each sold around 100k-150k in the US. I'm guessing those are probably Atlus's best selling RPGs in the US. So maybe 50,000 for Radiant Historia? (Note this is complete guesswork on my part)
I'm surprised its so little...the games are incredible. I wouldn't mind seeing more simulation/turn based systems like the ones used in Persona, though I would prefer if the next game left the school setting(College at least!).
Well, the thing is selling over 100,000 copies for something like Persona 3-4 is actually pretty impressive. Neither game had much of a marketing budget and the premise (high school crossed with the occult) isn't exactly mainstream. I remember in the another leak (or maybe it was the same one) that there were hardly any PS2 JRPGs that sold over 100,000 in the US except for the real high profile stuff like Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts.
Cthulhu Saves the World has probably sold more copies than the vast majority of non-Square Enix JRPGs in the US but it's a cheap download game, not a full-priced retail release.
In retrospect, I think that the genre actually benefited from having lower resolution graphics and text. It was left up to the player's imagination what their characters actually looked and sounded like as they explored these virtual worlds.
Take a look at the games in the OP. Final Fantasy 6 is one of my favorite games of all time, but the graphics update ruins it for me. Kefka looks ridiculous.
I think that's one of the reasons that the genre has held out longer on handhelds.
In the US, the most successful new JRPG IP in the past few years is probably Lost Odyssey. It sold 200k+ in its first month and about 350k in its first year.
Dark Souls sold really well and Xenoblade probably did decently (we'll see in a week or two when the NPD report comes out) but neither of those is a traditional JRPG.
IMO, the last truly great traditional JRPG was Persona 4 in 2008. There have been several great RPGs from Japan since then (Dark Souls, Xenoblade, Tales of Graces F, Valkyria Chronicles) but none of them has really fit the "pure" JRPG mold.
And even then, P4 was a hybrid between a dungeon crawler and a dating sim.
vgchartz has radiant historia at... 90k or 110k I forgot. but that's vgchartz
they did run a reprint of radiant historia earlier this year. atlus games in my experience are niche and have no advertising at all, so the people that care about them know and buy them and that's it outside a few bigger hits like disgaea.
Someone needs to define 'traditional JRPG' at some point. People are throwing the term around like it's scientific or something, and I bet it's not.
For example, I classify Xenoblade as jrpg as jrpgs gets. I would be keen on seeing sales numbers since it reached western shores.
I thought you were dropping that subject?
People can throw around the term because everyone knows what it means. Defining it isn't necessary because we basically all agree on what a JRPG is. Xenoblade is a JRPG. Dragon Quest 9 is a JRPG. If it's an edge case and there's a hint of argument, then we shouldn't bother talking about it because that distracts from the real discussion. But most "edge cases" as they've been brought up in the thread aren't edge cases at all, because they're CoD games which are obviously FPSs.
Someone needs to define 'traditional JRPG' at some point. People are throwing the term around like it's scientific or something, and I bet it's not.
For example, I classify Xenoblade as jrpg as jrpgs gets. I would be keen on seeing sales numbers since it reached western shores.
I thought you were dropping that subject?
People can throw around the term because everyone knows what it means. Defining it isn't necessary because we basically all agree on what a JRPG is. Xenoblade is a JRPG. Dragon Quest 9 is a JRPG. If it's an edge case and there's a hint of argument, then we shouldn't bother talking about it because that distracts from the real discussion. But most "edge cases" as they've been brought up in the thread aren't edge cases at all, because they're CoD games which are obviously FPSs.
Let me rephrase the question: toss me some examples of traditional jrpgs (keyword 'traditional'). I'm not interested in narrowing down a definition as much as just getting a feel for what people classify as traditional jrpgs. It's curiousity :P Did anyone play Pier Solar, btw? (16 bit rpg on the Genesis, released Dec 2010)
Currently playing: GW2 and TSW
0
AxenMy avatar is Excalibur.Yes, the sword.Registered Userregular
For all their cliches, I still love me some JRPGs.
IMHO, when you buy a JRPG you have a pretty good idea of what to expect from the combat, characters, story, etc. However, when you buy a western RPG it is pretty much anyone's guess.
I'm not saying that makes one better than the other, just saying that it is something I have noticed. Maybe you have too?
A Capellan's favorite sheath for any blade is your back.
Hmm. To an extent I think the "traditional" part is redundant with the "J" part. Because what's a non-traditional JRPG? The Last Story, maybe? I haven't played it, I don't know. Japanese roguelikes like Shiren the Wanderer and Baroque? Survival Kids/Lost in Blue...? That gets into edge cases and arguments.
Hmm. To an extent I think the "traditional" part is redundant with the "J" part. Because what's a non-traditional JRPG? The Last Story, maybe? I haven't played it, I don't know. Japanese roguelikes like Shiren the Wanderer and Baroque? Survival Kids/Lost in Blue...? That gets into edge cases and arguments.
In most cases traditional JRPGs are just JRPGs.
I asked because Rainbow specifically made a distinction between traditional jrpgs and the rest of em.
The Last Story (granted, I've only put a few hours into it) looks to be a an story driven action game with a basic rpg backend. It's not overly impressing me, but it's got some nice production values. Xenoblade is far more my speed.
Couple things: Cliche aren't bad. Most of the best things are built entirely off of cliche. (Like, say, everything Tolkien wrote, since it was basically a lark to prove people will love anything. Proven.)
To use an actual game comparison: Skies of Arcadia was basically one long cliche, but it was executed fantastically.
Now on to more of a response: I think I never really liked WRPGs because they are so stock and standard. I mean it's either a straight D&D rip or far too 'grounded' to be very much fun.
To drag out a comparison:
In 2007 out came... Jade Empire: A game about chinese martial artists fighting other martial artists in what is basically a cheesey martial arts flick.
Bioshock: A game about a guy who gets in a plane crash and finds an underwater city encases in domes, thats fallen into ruin and some scientific fuckery that lets him inject himself with weird genes to get cool powers.
And the Witcher, which is basically trope fantasty played to the hilt but written like an edgier version to get all GRIMDARK WITH FUCKING.
Those are just 3 good 'WRPG'ish games I fished out. Now, JRPG:
Rogue Galaxy: You play a young guy who ends up on a flying classic pirate ship in outer space fighting the good fight with a crew that consists of things like a dog and a dolphin.
Persona 3: You play a bunch of kids in a highschool that, after midnight of every night, have to go out and destroy shadows of peoples discontent using the manifestations of your subconcious before they kill people.
Eternal Sonata: Well I'm just going to steal the Wiki article line for this, "The game is centered on the Polish romantic pianist and composer Frédéric Chopin, who died of tuberculosis at the age of 39. The story envisions a fictional world dreamed by Chopin during his last hours that is influenced by Chopin's life and music, and in which he himself is a playable character, among others. The game features a selection of Chopin's compositions played by pianist Stanislav Bunin"
Basically, I play JRPGs when I want something out there, because almost all WRPGs are pretty boring in their concepts and never seem to step out of a comfort zone of believable scifi or trope fantasy. JRPGs will give you worlds where the planet is made up of floating islands where people soar on giant airships and live off of flying fish
chocobolicious on
0
Zxerolfor the smaller pieces, my shovel wouldn't doso i took off my boot and used my shoeRegistered Userregular
I dunno how you make something like an rotting, undersea dystopia sound pedestrian and grounded, but by gun you managed something. Hell, craft your words right and the most inventive things will be boring and the boring be resplendent.
I think there's just as much interesting "out there" concepts in WRPGs as in JRPGs. Morrowind is incredibly imaginative and only gets moreso the more you get into it. Elder scrolls in general really, look up Dragon Breaks.
Then there's stuff like Wizardry being a sci fi series or Planescape Torment. Plenty of unique stuff, you just need to take the blinders off, same as people who dismiss all JRPGs as constant grinding games filled with androgynous boys.
I think there's just as much interesting "out there" concepts in WRPGs as in JRPGs. Morrowind is incredibly imaginative and only gets moreso the more you get into it. Elder scrolls in general really, look up Dragon Breaks.
Then there's stuff like Wizardry being a sci fi series or Planescape Torment. Plenty of unique stuff, you just need to take the blinders off, same as people who dismiss all JRPGs as constant grinding games filled with androgynous boys.
Morrowind is an exception. (And by exception I mean both TES games after it have been cardboard cutout trope fantasy in flat, boring worlds. Skyrim was pretty cool but it was still just nords in western europe fantasy land.)
The other stuff you mention is ancient. I'm talking modern here. Find me a modern WRPG that isn't just a total trope trough.
Also, Bioshock has been done to death in book form several times. Ruined undersea/space/mountain/alternate dimension dystopia has been book fodder since.. like, forever.
chocobolicious on
0
joshgotroDeviled EggThe Land of REAL CHILIRegistered Userregular
Also, everything has been done to death in book form several times. Ruined undersea/space/mountain/alternate dimension dystopia has been book fodder since.. like, forever.
FTFY
What's the point of playing, reading, watching anything anymore?
I think there's just as much interesting "out there" concepts in WRPGs as in JRPGs. Morrowind is incredibly imaginative and only gets moreso the more you get into it. Elder scrolls in general really, look up Dragon Breaks.
Then there's stuff like Wizardry being a sci fi series or Planescape Torment. Plenty of unique stuff, you just need to take the blinders off, same as people who dismiss all JRPGs as constant grinding games filled with androgynous boys.
I believe the idea is the lack of execution of plot elements rather than the existence of different plot elements. This, combined with level designs that you really have to admit don't go much outside of a tolkien-esque safe zone in Western markets, does lead to some pretty disdainful lineups of WRPGs that doesn't exactly help the situation regardless of the impressive narratives of games like Planescape.
You're not exactly exploring this:
or this:
or this:
or hell, even this...:
-
Compared to...
or:
(No offense to the Grimrock guys. I love ya but c'mon, you aren't exactly venturing into the final frontier here.)
or:
or if you're feeling a little extra spicy...:
This is of course trying to stay strictly within the realm of "sword and sorcery" type RPGs, for the purposes of keeping it within a certain scope for one post. But I don't exactly find myself inspired by gray/gray dungeoncrawl with the occasional Earthlike forest anymore, even though I do enjoy games like Skyrim immensely in a more general sense.
Games like Mass Effect 3 and Witcher 2 with fantastic story telling have removed some of the sting of JRPGs being on the decline over here. Games like those 2 are "mature" in the sense they try to tell a mature story complete with choices that aren't easy (especially true of Witcher), without trying too hard to be "mature" (like Gears of War, for example). The last few JRPGs I played were very enjoyable, but the stories in them have been steadily getting worse if games like FFXIII and its sequel are any indication.
Hmm. To an extent I think the "traditional" part is redundant with the "J" part. Because what's a non-traditional JRPG? The Last Story, maybe? I haven't played it, I don't know. Japanese roguelikes like Shiren the Wanderer and Baroque? Survival Kids/Lost in Blue...? That gets into edge cases and arguments.
In most cases traditional JRPGs are just JRPGs.
I asked because Rainbow specifically made a distinction between traditional jrpgs and the rest of em.
Eh, I should have just said turn-based and been done.
The whole Xenoblade thing really bugs me. People were boasting how it was the most amazing JRPG in years and then I bought it and felt like it isn't a JRPG at all. It's a single player MMORPG with an anime paint job. Aside from the whole online thing, all the major MMORPG elements are there - monster aggro & tanking, large open environments with hundreds of time-wasting quests, abilities on cooldown timers, menu-based combat where you can only control one character and can run around in combat, heavy emphasis on crafting & gathering resources, and so on and so on. Mind you, it's still a good game at what it is so I don't regret buying it but it was still highly disappointing to have been expecting one genre of game and have gotten something completely different.
I have nothing against RPG hybridization in and of itself. It's great that games like Xenoblade and Mass Effect exist. I just wish that more developers were still making the kinds of RPGs I grew up on and enjoyed as a child. For example, I was so excited when I finally tried Dragon Age 1 and discovered that it was a traditional RPG and not a hybrid RPG like Mass Effect but that excitement was quickly shattered when I realized that they had abandoned that style for the sequel. And the last JRPG I truly loved came out in 2008.
And just because I like the traditional turn-based style doesn't mean that I'm against innovation. My favorite series is Shin Megami Tensei and those games frequently do a lot of innovative things in each installment, but with story and gameplay.
And I absolutely hate how JRPGs have migrated to the portable systems. Sure there are a couple cool experimental games here and there like TWEWY and Half-Minute Hero and the Etrian Odyssey series is really good but for the most part, it feels like the genre has regressed in the past few years. Dragon Quest 9 is a pale shadow of DQ8. Strange Journey is a pale shadow of SMT: Nocturne. Ports, ports, ports, as far as the eye can see. I mean, the best PSP RPG is probably Trails in the Sky and that's a port of a game that came out in 2004.
Kickstarter isn't going to give us any great games.
Even if a game gets a million bucks funding on Kickstarter, that only pays for about 10 man years of work, which isn't going to produce many quality games.
Totally agree. When a great game is created it really takes a huge team tp develop and bring it to life in an awesome way.
Hmm. To an extent I think the "traditional" part is redundant with the "J" part. Because what's a non-traditional JRPG? The Last Story, maybe? I haven't played it, I don't know. Japanese roguelikes like Shiren the Wanderer and Baroque? Survival Kids/Lost in Blue...? That gets into edge cases and arguments.
In most cases traditional JRPGs are just JRPGs.
I asked because Rainbow specifically made a distinction between traditional jrpgs and the rest of em.
Eh, I should have just said turn-based and been done.
The whole Xenoblade thing really bugs me. People were boasting how it was the most amazing JRPG in years and then I bought it and felt like it isn't a JRPG at all. It's a single player MMORPG with an anime paint job. Aside from the whole online thing, all the major MMORPG elements are there - monster aggro & tanking, large open environments with hundreds of time-wasting quests, abilities on cooldown timers, menu-based combat where you can only control one character and can run around in combat, heavy emphasis on crafting & gathering resources, and so on and so on. Mind you, it's still a good game at what it is so I don't regret buying it but it was still highly disappointing to have been expecting one genre of game and have gotten something completely different.
I have nothing against RPG hybridization in and of itself. It's great that games like Xenoblade and Mass Effect exist. I just wish that more developers were still making the kinds of RPGs I grew up on and enjoyed as a child. For example, I was so excited when I finally tried Dragon Age 1 and discovered that it was a traditional RPG and not a hybrid RPG like Mass Effect but that excitement was quickly shattered when I realized that they had abandoned that style for the sequel. And the last JRPG I truly loved came out in 2008.
And just because I like the traditional turn-based style doesn't mean that I'm against innovation. My favorite series is Shin Megami Tensei and those games frequently do a lot of innovative things in each installment, but with story and gameplay.
And I absolutely hate how JRPGs have migrated to the portable systems. Sure there are a couple cool experimental games here and there like TWEWY and Half-Minute Hero and the Etrian Odyssey series is really good but for the most part, it feels like the genre has regressed in the past few years. Dragon Quest 9 is a pale shadow of DQ8. Strange Journey is a pale shadow of SMT: Nocturne. Ports, ports, ports, as far as the eye can see. I mean, the best PSP RPG is probably Trails in the Sky and that's a port of a game that came out in 2004.
I'm with you on most of those points (especially your experience of DA).
I'm currently buried in Etrian Odyssey 3, it's soooo good. One day I'll dig out my DQ8 disc...bought it, only played it for an hour. I think Rogue Galaxy and FFXII stole me away from DQ8.
Hmm. To an extent I think the "traditional" part is redundant with the "J" part. Because what's a non-traditional JRPG? The Last Story, maybe? I haven't played it, I don't know. Japanese roguelikes like Shiren the Wanderer and Baroque? Survival Kids/Lost in Blue...? That gets into edge cases and arguments.
In most cases traditional JRPGs are just JRPGs.
I asked because Rainbow specifically made a distinction between traditional jrpgs and the rest of em.
And I absolutely hate how JRPGs have migrated to the portable systems. Sure there are a couple cool experimental games here and there like TWEWY and Half-Minute Hero and the Etrian Odyssey series is really good but for the most part, it feels like the genre has regressed in the past few years. Dragon Quest 9 is a pale shadow of DQ8. Strange Journey is a pale shadow of SMT: Nocturne. Ports, ports, ports, as far as the eye can see. I mean, the best PSP RPG is probably Trails in the Sky and that's a port of a game that came out in 2004.
I assume you played radiant historia? Really one of the best traditional rpgs we have had in a very long time.
For me, it goes Dragon Quest VI, then XIII, then IV. The original versions, not the dumbed down DS remakes (the DS remakes made the dungeons smaller and reduced the difficulty of enemies, and in the case of 6, got rid of most of the monster recruits). Never really liked DQ5 very much.
I would think it would be cool if, when WoW ends, they make it where you can play it offline as a single player game. It seems doable, just make some bots.
I thought it would be a good idea for an rpg where you make a full party, but it alternates between solo(with a hero class pc) for outdoors and the entire groups for dungeons.
0
AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
Hmm. To an extent I think the "traditional" part is redundant with the "J" part. Because what's a non-traditional JRPG? The Last Story, maybe? I haven't played it, I don't know. Japanese roguelikes like Shiren the Wanderer and Baroque? Survival Kids/Lost in Blue...? That gets into edge cases and arguments.
In most cases traditional JRPGs are just JRPGs.
I asked because Rainbow specifically made a distinction between traditional jrpgs and the rest of em.
Eh, I should have just said turn-based and been done.
The whole Xenoblade thing really bugs me. People were boasting how it was the most amazing JRPG in years and then I bought it and felt like it isn't a JRPG at all. It's a single player MMORPG with an anime paint job. Aside from the whole online thing, all the major MMORPG elements are there - monster aggro & tanking, large open environments with hundreds of time-wasting quests, abilities on cooldown timers, menu-based combat where you can only control one character and can run around in combat, heavy emphasis on crafting & gathering resources, and so on and so on. Mind you, it's still a good game at what it is so I don't regret buying it but it was still highly disappointing to have been expecting one genre of game and have gotten something completely different.
I am curious, although it's not quite as MMORPGized as Xenoblade seems to be, what did you think of Final Fantasy XII? I can't see you being a huge fan of that, because it really moved away from the ATB or turn based combat of the previous FF games. Would you regard FFXII as a JRPG?
For example, I was so excited when I finally tried Dragon Age 1 and discovered that it was a traditional RPG and not a hybrid RPG like Mass Effect but that excitement was quickly shattered when I realized that they had abandoned that style for the sequel.
In fairness to DA2 as although I really dislike it, the game was actually intended to be a spinoff originally that ended up getting made as a sequel. Definitely not a great decision, but that's the breaks. Personally from the tweets and such I've seen of developers of DA3, it looks like more of a return to the BG2 feeling that DA1 tried to capture. So I wouldn't be losing faith in that series just yet!
And just because I like the traditional turn-based style doesn't mean that I'm against innovation.
Personally I love turn based games and I want more of what we are currently getting. I would be immensely sad if we weren't getting the likes of Dark Souls, Dragon's Dogma and Skyrim alongside hopefully excellent new 2D isometric games like Shadowrun Returns and Wasteland 2. More diversity and more varied gameplay styles are good.
And I absolutely hate how JRPGs have migrated to the portable systems.
I agree. I love the Kingdom Hearts series or more correctly, I loved it - but all the games on portables and no main console centric sequel has made me lose all interest in the series. It's a bit of a shame to me, because I would certainly have gotten a new PS3 sooner (instead of 3-4 months from now) if the PS3 was still the home of great JRPGs like the PS2 was - but unfortunately even the PS3 doesn't have many of these games anymore.
I am still going to rebuy the fuck out of Valkyria Chronicles of course.
In fairness to DA2 as although I really dislike it, the game was actually intended to be a spinoff originally that ended up getting made as a sequel. Definitely not a great decision, but that's the breaks. Personally from the tweets and such I've seen of developers of DA3, it looks like more of a return to the BG2 feeling that DA1 tried to capture. So I wouldn't be losing faith in that series just yet!
To be safe, Mass Effect 3 sort-of spoiler/reference:
I figure that Dragon Age 3 will be amazing, until we get to the end and are faced with the choice of killing off all of the Elves along with all the Darkspawn, or becoming the new ruler of the Darkspawn, or turning everyone in the world into Darkspawn.
Anyone who hasn't been corrupted by the Taint will wave goodbye to the Elves.
Civics is not a consumer product that you can ignore because you don’t like the options presented.
Posts
those i can beat by getting better at playing
and those i can beat by grinding for a few more hours
time was, there were a lot more of the latter than the former
but i like the former better than the latter because the skills can usually translate nicely to other games
Registered just for the Mass Effect threads | Steam: click ^^^ | Origin: curlyhairedboy
There was a sales data leak a while ago that said that Persona 3, 3 FES, and Persona 4 each sold around 100k-150k in the US. I'm guessing those are probably Atlus's best selling RPGs in the US. So maybe 50,000 for Radiant Historia? (Note this is complete guesswork on my part)
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire,
I'm surprised its so little...the games are incredible. I wouldn't mind seeing more simulation/turn based systems like the ones used in Persona, though I would prefer if the next game left the school setting(College at least!).
You could also beat the former by playing strategically and NOT grinding levels. People grind and create overpowered characters because they enjoy building up a character, not because it's necessary to get through these games.
Well, the thing is selling over 100,000 copies for something like Persona 3-4 is actually pretty impressive. Neither game had much of a marketing budget and the premise (high school crossed with the occult) isn't exactly mainstream. I remember in the another leak (or maybe it was the same one) that there were hardly any PS2 JRPGs that sold over 100,000 in the US except for the real high profile stuff like Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts.
Cthulhu Saves the World has probably sold more copies than the vast majority of non-Square Enix JRPGs in the US but it's a cheap download game, not a full-priced retail release.
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire,
Take a look at the games in the OP. Final Fantasy 6 is one of my favorite games of all time, but the graphics update ruins it for me. Kefka looks ridiculous.
I think that's one of the reasons that the genre has held out longer on handhelds.
And even then, P4 was a hybrid between a dungeon crawler and a dating sim.
they did run a reprint of radiant historia earlier this year. atlus games in my experience are niche and have no advertising at all, so the people that care about them know and buy them and that's it outside a few bigger hits like disgaea.
For example, I classify Xenoblade as jrpg as jrpgs gets. I would be keen on seeing sales numbers since it reached western shores.
Currently playing: GW2 and TSW
I thought you were dropping that subject?
People can throw around the term because everyone knows what it means. Defining it isn't necessary because we basically all agree on what a JRPG is. Xenoblade is a JRPG. Dragon Quest 9 is a JRPG. If it's an edge case and there's a hint of argument, then we shouldn't bother talking about it because that distracts from the real discussion. But most "edge cases" as they've been brought up in the thread aren't edge cases at all, because they're CoD games which are obviously FPSs.
Let me rephrase the question: toss me some examples of traditional jrpgs (keyword 'traditional'). I'm not interested in narrowing down a definition as much as just getting a feel for what people classify as traditional jrpgs. It's curiousity :P Did anyone play Pier Solar, btw? (16 bit rpg on the Genesis, released Dec 2010)
Currently playing: GW2 and TSW
IMHO, when you buy a JRPG you have a pretty good idea of what to expect from the combat, characters, story, etc. However, when you buy a western RPG it is pretty much anyone's guess.
I'm not saying that makes one better than the other, just saying that it is something I have noticed. Maybe you have too?
In most cases traditional JRPGs are just JRPGs.
I asked because Rainbow specifically made a distinction between traditional jrpgs and the rest of em.
The Last Story (granted, I've only put a few hours into it) looks to be a an story driven action game with a basic rpg backend. It's not overly impressing me, but it's got some nice production values. Xenoblade is far more my speed.
Currently playing: GW2 and TSW
Couple things: Cliche aren't bad. Most of the best things are built entirely off of cliche. (Like, say, everything Tolkien wrote, since it was basically a lark to prove people will love anything. Proven.)
To use an actual game comparison: Skies of Arcadia was basically one long cliche, but it was executed fantastically.
Now on to more of a response: I think I never really liked WRPGs because they are so stock and standard. I mean it's either a straight D&D rip or far too 'grounded' to be very much fun.
To drag out a comparison:
In 2007 out came... Jade Empire: A game about chinese martial artists fighting other martial artists in what is basically a cheesey martial arts flick.
Bioshock: A game about a guy who gets in a plane crash and finds an underwater city encases in domes, thats fallen into ruin and some scientific fuckery that lets him inject himself with weird genes to get cool powers.
And the Witcher, which is basically trope fantasty played to the hilt but written like an edgier version to get all GRIMDARK WITH FUCKING.
Those are just 3 good 'WRPG'ish games I fished out. Now, JRPG:
Rogue Galaxy: You play a young guy who ends up on a flying classic pirate ship in outer space fighting the good fight with a crew that consists of things like a dog and a dolphin.
Persona 3: You play a bunch of kids in a highschool that, after midnight of every night, have to go out and destroy shadows of peoples discontent using the manifestations of your subconcious before they kill people.
Eternal Sonata: Well I'm just going to steal the Wiki article line for this, "The game is centered on the Polish romantic pianist and composer Frédéric Chopin, who died of tuberculosis at the age of 39. The story envisions a fictional world dreamed by Chopin during his last hours that is influenced by Chopin's life and music, and in which he himself is a playable character, among others. The game features a selection of Chopin's compositions played by pianist Stanislav Bunin"
Basically, I play JRPGs when I want something out there, because almost all WRPGs are pretty boring in their concepts and never seem to step out of a comfort zone of believable scifi or trope fantasy. JRPGs will give you worlds where the planet is made up of floating islands where people soar on giant airships and live off of flying fish
Then there's stuff like Wizardry being a sci fi series or Planescape Torment. Plenty of unique stuff, you just need to take the blinders off, same as people who dismiss all JRPGs as constant grinding games filled with androgynous boys.
Morrowind is an exception. (And by exception I mean both TES games after it have been cardboard cutout trope fantasy in flat, boring worlds. Skyrim was pretty cool but it was still just nords in western europe fantasy land.)
The other stuff you mention is ancient. I'm talking modern here. Find me a modern WRPG that isn't just a total trope trough.
Also, Bioshock has been done to death in book form several times. Ruined undersea/space/mountain/alternate dimension dystopia has been book fodder since.. like, forever.
FTFY
What's the point of playing, reading, watching anything anymore?
I believe the idea is the lack of execution of plot elements rather than the existence of different plot elements. This, combined with level designs that you really have to admit don't go much outside of a tolkien-esque safe zone in Western markets, does lead to some pretty disdainful lineups of WRPGs that doesn't exactly help the situation regardless of the impressive narratives of games like Planescape.
You're not exactly exploring this:
or this:
or this:
or hell, even this...:
-
Compared to...
or:
(No offense to the Grimrock guys. I love ya but c'mon, you aren't exactly venturing into the final frontier here.)
or:
or if you're feeling a little extra spicy...:
This is of course trying to stay strictly within the realm of "sword and sorcery" type RPGs, for the purposes of keeping it within a certain scope for one post. But I don't exactly find myself inspired by gray/gray dungeoncrawl with the occasional Earthlike forest anymore, even though I do enjoy games like Skyrim immensely in a more general sense.
Currently playing: GW2 and TSW
To be fair, they did go back to their roots for Firelands!
[Opinions lol]
Fair enough.
Currently playing: GW2 and TSW
Shitty Tumblr:lighthouse1138.tumblr.com
Eh, I should have just said turn-based and been done.
The whole Xenoblade thing really bugs me. People were boasting how it was the most amazing JRPG in years and then I bought it and felt like it isn't a JRPG at all. It's a single player MMORPG with an anime paint job. Aside from the whole online thing, all the major MMORPG elements are there - monster aggro & tanking, large open environments with hundreds of time-wasting quests, abilities on cooldown timers, menu-based combat where you can only control one character and can run around in combat, heavy emphasis on crafting & gathering resources, and so on and so on. Mind you, it's still a good game at what it is so I don't regret buying it but it was still highly disappointing to have been expecting one genre of game and have gotten something completely different.
I have nothing against RPG hybridization in and of itself. It's great that games like Xenoblade and Mass Effect exist. I just wish that more developers were still making the kinds of RPGs I grew up on and enjoyed as a child. For example, I was so excited when I finally tried Dragon Age 1 and discovered that it was a traditional RPG and not a hybrid RPG like Mass Effect but that excitement was quickly shattered when I realized that they had abandoned that style for the sequel. And the last JRPG I truly loved came out in 2008.
And just because I like the traditional turn-based style doesn't mean that I'm against innovation. My favorite series is Shin Megami Tensei and those games frequently do a lot of innovative things in each installment, but with story and gameplay.
And I absolutely hate how JRPGs have migrated to the portable systems. Sure there are a couple cool experimental games here and there like TWEWY and Half-Minute Hero and the Etrian Odyssey series is really good but for the most part, it feels like the genre has regressed in the past few years. Dragon Quest 9 is a pale shadow of DQ8. Strange Journey is a pale shadow of SMT: Nocturne. Ports, ports, ports, as far as the eye can see. I mean, the best PSP RPG is probably Trails in the Sky and that's a port of a game that came out in 2004.
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire,
Totally agree. When a great game is created it really takes a huge team tp develop and bring it to life in an awesome way.
I'm with you on most of those points (especially your experience of DA).
I'm currently buried in Etrian Odyssey 3, it's soooo good. One day I'll dig out my DQ8 disc...bought it, only played it for an hour. I think Rogue Galaxy and FFXII stole me away from DQ8.
Currently playing: GW2 and TSW
It is an incredible experience with three other people.
I assume you played radiant historia? Really one of the best traditional rpgs we have had in a very long time.
For me, it goes Dragon Quest VI, then XIII, then IV. The original versions, not the dumbed down DS remakes (the DS remakes made the dungeons smaller and reduced the difficulty of enemies, and in the case of 6, got rid of most of the monster recruits). Never really liked DQ5 very much.
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire,
I am curious, although it's not quite as MMORPGized as Xenoblade seems to be, what did you think of Final Fantasy XII? I can't see you being a huge fan of that, because it really moved away from the ATB or turn based combat of the previous FF games. Would you regard FFXII as a JRPG?
In fairness to DA2 as although I really dislike it, the game was actually intended to be a spinoff originally that ended up getting made as a sequel. Definitely not a great decision, but that's the breaks. Personally from the tweets and such I've seen of developers of DA3, it looks like more of a return to the BG2 feeling that DA1 tried to capture. So I wouldn't be losing faith in that series just yet!
Personally I love turn based games and I want more of what we are currently getting. I would be immensely sad if we weren't getting the likes of Dark Souls, Dragon's Dogma and Skyrim alongside hopefully excellent new 2D isometric games like Shadowrun Returns and Wasteland 2. More diversity and more varied gameplay styles are good.
I agree. I love the Kingdom Hearts series or more correctly, I loved it - but all the games on portables and no main console centric sequel has made me lose all interest in the series. It's a bit of a shame to me, because I would certainly have gotten a new PS3 sooner (instead of 3-4 months from now) if the PS3 was still the home of great JRPGs like the PS2 was - but unfortunately even the PS3 doesn't have many of these games anymore.
I am still going to rebuy the fuck out of Valkyria Chronicles of course.
To be safe, Mass Effect 3 sort-of spoiler/reference:
Anyone who hasn't been corrupted by the Taint will wave goodbye to the Elves.