This is actually going to be a 2 part blog. What started initially as me finally giving my thoughts and impressions on Final Fantasy XIII ended up spiraling out of control into 2 separate blogs. Unfortunately, now I can't even discuss FFXIII until I get something else out of the way...what has happened to RPGs? Seriously, what the fuck happened to the RPG genre? And I'm not talking about World of Warcraft or Mass Effect or crossover games like Borderlands or Fallout 3. I'm talking about JRPGS, or Japanese-styled RPGs like Final Fantasy, Shining Force, Golden Sun, etc. Name your favorite RPG and I bet you it probably didn't come out on this current console generation.
The 360 has been out for over 4 years and the Wii and PS3 have been out for over 3 years now, yet there are absolutely ZERO must-own RPGs that have been released on these consoles. Ports do not count. Downloading Final Fantasy VII from PSN or grabbing the Wii remake of the PS/SAT title Baroque doesn't count. Within the first 3 years of the PS2's life it saw 2 Final Fantasy titles, a Xenogears sequel, started the Kingdom Hearts franchise, got new Suikodens and Star Oceans, plus a ton more. And for the most part, these games were all good.
As it stands now there are hardly any RPGs I want. Valkyria Chronicles looks like it's probably the best RPG out right now. There are a handful of other games like Lost Odyssey and Eternal Sonata that look pretty good, but I would hardly say they are must-own. I find myself replaying RPGs I've already beaten or scouring the PS2 bins at Gamestop for "new" RPGs because I would honestly rather play Suikoden 3, a game that's 7 years old, than Blue Dragon. Check out the following:
-29 Playstation/Saturn traditional JRPGs have an average game ranking of 80% or higher
-28 PS2/XBOX/GC traditional JRPGs have an average game ranking of 80% or higher
-Only 6 Wii/PS3/360 traditional JRPGS have an average ranking of 80% or higher
I grabbed that data from Game Rankings. I think that pretty clearly shows the obvious downfall of the RPG. Once great franchises like Shining Force and Xenogears were driven into mediocrity at the end of the last generation and consequently seem to have no hope for any sort of revival any time soon. Games that were hyped up like Blue Dragon and Star Ocean this generation have turned out to be massive disappointments that couldn't deliver. To make matters worse for console RPGs, rising development costs have led to developers focusing more on the huge installed fanbase on handheld consoles like the PSP and DS which are far cheaper to develop for. Dragon Quest has moved exclusively to the DS, while Square created a bit of an uproar by making Final Fantasy Crisis Core a PSP exclusive. Hell even the sequel to the critically acclaimed Valkyria Chronicles for PS3 is going to the PSP.
So what's on the horizon? Obviously we have Final Fantasy XIII, which no matter what anyone says or does will be huge. SquareEnix have yet to make a poor entry in the main FF series (Crystal Chronicles can suck a (_)_)===D), so I don't see any way that they could drop the ball with FFXIII. The GBA released 2 of the best RPGs in recent years with Golden Sun, so I'm glad to head that Nintendo FINALLY announced a new Golden Sun title...but wait! It looks like that's going to the DS. There are new entries in the Arc and Tales of series' for all 3 consoles, but very few of those games have ever been truly great so I'm holding out any sort of judgment until their US releases. What am I missing? Is there anything else?
It seems as though the entire industry is kind of hoping that Final Fantasy XIII revives the genre, and I can only hope that it does. Check back in a couple of days for my FFXIII impressions.
-Brian T.
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What happened? A bunch of different reasons. [1] {Excluding WoW players} No one really has the time to play a pure (J)RPG anymore, especially in today's economy. [I believe Adam Sessler mentions/talks about this in Sessler's Soapbox and/or FeedBack.] [2] I blame the fact that gaming has become much more mainstream, and towards that vein, marketing for it [a la Hollywood-style] has shifted the spotlight from "hardcore" (J)RPG's to more casual ones. [3] Because of the above 2 reasons, there are less & less games that are "pure" RPG, and more games that have RPG-elements integrated into 'em (e.g. the "cross-overs" you mentioned). [4] It feels as if you're referring to a specific style of RPG's, since you mentioned "JRPG's"..Turn-Based style?? If so, then I believe its a shift in style preference of playing RPG's. The Turn-Based style is quickly showing to be an antiquated gameplay style, towards the newer, fresher Real-Time RPG's that currently dominate the market (i.e. your "cross-overs" + others). || Reading this article, the games that come to mind are: Phantasy Star/PS Universe, Too Human, .Hack// series, Kingdom Hearts series, & my all-time favorite - Chrono Trigger [non-DS] (which, IMO, they should fully remake on current-gen console, multiplatform, & in FF13Versus' style of animation/graphics).
ReplyDelete- Twitter: @Rion_Vanguard
P.S.
ReplyDeleteOops..yeahh..THIS instead of "Anonymous".
(Apologies for the double-post)
Perhaps we should be asking, what happened to the people that played these games?
ReplyDeleteI think they grew up and wanted something that reflected this.
I include myself in this.
i agree with you. its sadly probably is due to the market. i mean i've felt the same way, disheartened because i felt like the rpg experience we want just isn't happening anymore. and back in the day when square used to crank out ps1 game after ps1 game, they were usually always pretty awesome. now with games like last remnant and infinite undiscovery, they barely make the cut. enix side of development maybe? haha. anyway the only thing i've liked out of square lately is dissidia, man i did not expect to enjoy it as much as i do.
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ReplyDeletebut again its not a full on rpg, and it still kinda leaves me wanting so much more, it only half satiates my desire for a full on new FF game. which will be happening soon yes, but its not going to be like the rest and we all know it. This doesn't mean it's going to be bad, but it may be that what we want to happen, may not happen again. and if it does it's gonna be rare. Maybe it's up to us now? If want it we need to make it. sadly...
Dissidia was a pretty good game but its a fighting game with stars from the RPG game. The story in it was pretty damn good though, makes me wonder why they haven't thought about combining the characters a la Kingdom Hearts to make a game. It could be the last final fantasy game, super battle between good versus evil
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