the rpg genre needs a phoenix down

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.

samurai showdown...rpg?

I remember sometime in 1997 I had the option to get either a used Playstation or a used Saturn from Funcoland. My best friend had a Playstation with Crash Bandicoot, Twisted Metal 2, and Resident Evil and my brother and I loved hanging out with him because we'd always get to play some amazing games. We were really tempted to go the Playstation route. Instead, we looked back at the countless hours we spent with our Genesis and the Sega Channel (you can count on a whole blog dedicated to that amazing service next week), and decided to get a Saturn.

Within a couple months, I could already feel that the Saturn was on it's way out. The game magazines announced fewer and fewer new titles every month and the wall space at all the game stores was dwindling. In a sort of quest for some new games I ended up deciding to start importing Saturn games. And that's when I found it...Samurai Showdown RPG, or Samurai Spirits Bushido Retsuden. Clicking that link will bring you to a page of screenshots which you must look at.

It was probably about 10 years ago when I stumbled across this game on a hunt for a Samurai Showdown game. My 13 year old brain could not believe what I was seeing. At this point in my life, I was officially a gamer and I mostly played RPGs and fighting games. So for me to see a Samurai Showdown RPG was basically like the first time you ever jerked off...it was awesome. The battle system looked incredible. Instead of pressing "attack" repeatedly to grind through battles, you actually have to input special move motions like in the actual Samurai Showdown fighters. My mind was blown.

Unfortunately, I knew no Japanese and to this day refuse to sit with a translation guide to play an RPG that isn't in English. There was no way I could truly enjoy what people online were describing as an amazing mix of Final Fantasy and Samurai Showdown. I had no choice but to forget about it...until now. A decade later, I think I may actually be able to play this game. All I need is about $200 for a Neo Geo CD and a copy of this game. Some awesome dude is doing a full translation for this game that can be played on the Neo Geo CD. Check this video out and try to tell me this doesn't look cool as hell.



-Brian T.