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[Firemind]

(Note: the title reflects traditional, turn-based RPGs developed in Japan, not western-influenced action RPGs developed in Japan such as Bloodborne and Xenoblade X.)

With the collapse of traditional gaming devices in Japan and the continuing rise of mobile gaming, it's not surprising that talent is diminishing within current console development teams and that the old guard is transitioning to mobile. Imageepoch is dead. Valkyria Chronicles is dead. Traditional Final Fantasy is seemingly dead. Kingdom Hearts is ??? Tales Of isn't what it used to be. Square Enix is more concerned about churning out Dragon Quest remakes. Atlus isn't churning out games anymore, Sakaguchi founded Mistwalker, which currently concentrates on mobile platforms. Matsuno left Level-5 to work on mobile games.

What of JRPGs? What used to be the symbol of Japanese gaming, with record-breaking sales year after year, it now resides in front of Death's door, waiting for the killing blow. The Japanese simply don't have the time and attention spans to play 20+ hour single-player games anymore. Sure, studios like Capcom are developing JRPGs such as Breath of Fire for the mobile audience, but how many similarities it shares with traditional JRPGs and how successful they will be on mobile platforms remains to be seen.

Will mobile save JRPGs? Or will the genre focus itself on small indie development teams, which is currently almost non-existant in Japan? Or will traditional gaming make a comeback with the next generation of consoles like what Ni No Kuni did for a short while? Whatever it may be, the future looks dire.

 

[BadWolf]

Persona 5? Final Fantasy XV? Star Ocean 5? Tales series?

 

[Kama_1082]

That's where the vita and 3DS come in. I dont see a JRPG resurgence on current gen consoles.

 

[Shuggananas]

That's where the vita and 3DS come in. I dont see a JRPG resurgence on current gen consoles.

Xenoblade chronicles X ?

 

[komplanen]

Don't worry. They'll be revived on Kickstarter 10-15 years from now under weird new names.

 

[Hasemo]

Bravely Default, Bravely Second and SMTIV are all pretty great.

 

[Kama_1082]

Xenoblade chronicles X ?

Did you read the OP? He didn't count that. Hell, its in the opening paragraph.

 

[Zareka]

Persona 5? Final Fantasy XV? Star Ocean 5? Tales series?

FFXV isn't turn based and neither are the Tales of games. Never played Star Ocean, and while I don't think? it's been confirmed I'm willing to bet Persona 5 will still be turned based. That's, potentially, 1/4

Xenoblade chronicles X ?

(Note: the title reflects traditional, turn-based RPGs developed in Japan,

But yeah OP, I dunno what you're on about when you say Atlus isn't churning out games anymore. SMT, Persona and the Etrian Odyssey series are all great and turn based. Or are we only talking about consoles? Edit: I see the bit about console development but I dunno whether "mobile" includes 3DS/Vita.

 

[Beelzebufo]

Am I completely misremembering it, or wasn't Kingdom Hearts closer to Xenoblade X in terms of gameplay?

Also, Pokemon is probably the closest you have to this left, yeah?

 

[Fisty]

Don't worry. They'll be revived on Kickstarter 10-15 years from now under weird new names.

Final Fantasy will be Kickstarter-rebooted by Sakaguchi, it will be called... The Last Story...? Wait

 

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

We need other Asian countries to take over.

Or perhaps Western developers should mimic the stye to the point that we don't care who develops them.

 

[Seraphis Cain]

"the title reflects traditional, turn-based RPGs"

*proceeds to list Kingdom Hearts and Tales as evidence that JRPGs are dead*

 

[Hades Hotgun]

How are you only counting turn based while decrying the state of Kingdom Hearts and the Tales games?

Seems like an irrational attempt to ignore the evidence against your main claim.

 

[Orayn]

How are you only counting turn based while decrying the state of Kingdom Hearts and the Tales games?

Seems like an irrational attempt to ignore the evidence against your main claim.

"the title reflects traditional, turn-based RPGs"

*proceeds to list Kingdom Hearts and Tales as evidence that JRPGs are dead*

"IT'S TURN BASED TO ME, DAMMIT!"

 

[OldAsUrSock]

We need other Asian countries to take over.

Or perhaps Western developers should mimic the stye to the point that we don't care who develops them.

There are tons of turn based RPGs not made by Japanese devs and many Japanese made games are far inferior to Western with Dark Souls, Metal Gear and Final Fantasy being exceptions.

 

[BadWolf]

FFXV isn't turn based and neither are the Tales of games. Never played Star Ocean, and while I don't think? it's been confirmed I'm willing to bet Persona 5 will still be turned based. That's, potentially, 1/4

So? They are still RPGs.

OP mentions games like Valkyria Chronicles so the ones I mentioned in my previous post should count as well.

 

[MasterOfPastures]

Changing tastes, I would say. "Traditional" JRPGs will become the next Point&Click games: a dead genre in the mainstream while only surviving in dreams... and Japan.

 

[Gyossaits]

That's where the vita and 3DS come in. I dont see a JRPG resurgence on current gen consoles.

Don't forget Steam.

 

[Corronchilejano]

Don't worry. They'll be revived on Kickstarter 10-15 years from now under weird new names.

10-15 years? The Last Story was a Wii game.

 

[Brawly Likes to Brawl]

I really don't think you're doing yourself any favors by using such a narrow definition.

 

[Iva Demilcol]

You should write for Polygon OP.

 

[Manmademan]

"IT'S TURN BASED TO ME, DAMMIT!"

Beaten to this one, lol.

Besides, when was the last time FF was "traditional and turn based?" FFX? Like 14 years ago?

 

[Dr. Buni]

Eh, the symbol of Japanese gaming being JRPG is really subjective.

 

[Shuggananas]

Did you read the OP? He didn't count that. Hell, its in the opening paragraph.

Well these exceptions are weird to me

 

[Robert at Zeboyd Games]

Or perhaps Western developers should mimic the stye to the point that we don't care who develops them.

We're on it.

 

[Razlo]

Hate threads like this, because you can't bring up the JRPGs that are coming out, because the creator negates them due to varying reasons.

So yeah, maybe the JRPG is dead to you, but I'm psyched for Xenoblade, Tales and Persona among others.

 

[ULTROS!]

FFXV isn't turn based and neither are the Tales of games. Never played Star Ocean, and while I don't think? it's been confirmed I'm willing to bet Persona 5 will still be turned based. That's, potentially, 1/4

Star Ocean has never been turn based and this new Star Ocean game's battle system is sounding to be similar to Infinite Undiscovery.

 

[Pandy]

You should write for Polygon OP.

.

 

[chrominance]

Yeah, I don't get why Final Fantasy XV and Xenoblade X don't count, but Valkyria Chronicles does. None of the VC games are traditional JRPGs (though I guess characters do take "turns" so it sort of counts).

 

[Tizoc]

We're on it.

When is this game releasing? It's become vaporware to me now, I recall hearing about it in what 2013, 2014? No offense, but I really wanna play that game of yours XoX

 

[rhandino]

Persona 5? Final Fantasy XV? Star Ocean 5? Tales series?

Xenoblade Chronicles X? Illusory Revelations #FE?

Hell, if you look outside those publishers you get the Atelier series (Tecmo-Koei) and *gulp* the Neptunia series (Compile Heart) and Yokai Watch (Level-5)...

 

[bomblord1]

SMT x Fire Emblem?
Persona 5?
Disgaea 5?
Bravely Second?
Atelier Shallie?
Project X Zone 2?
Etrian Odyssey Untold 2?
Fire Emblem IF?

Also if you consider Kingdom Hearts traditional
Final Fantasy Type 0 HD?
FFXV?
Tales of Zestria?
Tales of Xillia 2?
Star Ocean 5?
YS VIII?

 

[YianGaruga]

When is this game releasing? It's become vaporware to me now, I recall hearing about it in what 2013, 2014? No offense, but I really wanna play that game of yours XoX

Vaporware? Really? Maybe you should actually follow the updates

 

[AntiFacebook]

Good riddance, I say.

Spoiler

Except for Falcom,Falcom are great

 

[Robert at Zeboyd Games]

When is this game releasing? It's become vaporware to me now, I recall hearing about it in what 2013, 2014? No offense, but I really wanna play that game of yours XoX

Still hoping to release it by the end of the year. And I know we missed our original release date, but we haven't even been working on the game for a full 2 years yet and we post updates frequently on Twitter and our website; it's hardly vaporware.

 

[YianGaruga]

Good riddance, I say.

What exactly is good about it?

 

[RPGCrazied]

Persona 5? Final Fantasy XV? Star Ocean 5? Tales series?

Still doesn't hold a candle to the PS2 era. Where is Dark Cloud? Shadow Hearts? .hack? Suikoden? Wild Arms? Breath of Fire? I could go on all day. Sure, we are still getting jRPG's, but its not as good as it was back in the day.

 

[Firemind]

How are you only counting turn based while decrying the state of Kingdom Hearts and the Tales games?

Seems like an irrational attempt to ignore the evidence against your main claim.

Kingdom Hearts is in development hell (hi Nomura) and Tales isn't the sales powerhouse it used to be. Anyway, the first paragraph was about the state of Japanese games and studios in general, not necessarily JRPGs.

 

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

There are tons of turn based RPGs not made by Japanese devs and many Japanese made games are far inferior to Western with Dark Souls, Metal Gear and Final Fantasy being exceptions.

Yup. I would like to see one of the first parties (MS, Sony) fund a JRPG from outside of Japan. Maybe form a South Korean all star team.lol

 

[baterism]

I still believe combined market between consoles and handhelds and PC would give some breathing rooms for devs who are still willing to make JRPGs.
IF and Falcom seemed doing fine by going multiplat. If Tales of Zestiria really going PC, we can add Bamco to the list.
It's a shame some dev prefer to going down than trying to expand the market.

 

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

We're on it.

Good on ya. I just hope many more developers see this giant hole within the market and proceed to fill it.

 

[GifGafIsTheBestGaf]

y'all need to buy them when they release on current gen and pc, brehs

nvm, this was dumb

 

[BadWolf]

Still doesn't hold a candle to the PS2 era.

Which doesn't hold a candle to the PS1 era, so what?

The generation you prefer is your opinion but the genre is far from dead in the new generation like the OP implies.

 

[Mecha]

Kingdom Hearts is in development hell (hi Nomura) and Tales isn't the sales powerhouse it used to be. Anyway, the first paragraph was about the state of Japanese games and studios in general, not necessarily JRPGs.

Nomura announced the start of KH3's development at E3 two years ago, that's hardly enough time for "development hell". Besides, more footage is already confirmed to be shown around November this year.

 

[Syril]

What do you mean Atlus isn't churning out games anymore? They have five games released and scheduled for this year alone, and that's not counting localizations for games that came out in Japan earlier.

 

[Dmonzy]

How are you only counting turn based while decrying the state of Kingdom Hearts and the Tales games?

Seems like an irrational attempt to ignore the evidence against your main claim.

Exactly. OP is just connecting dots that don't exist. JRPGs are already more prevalent this generation than last gen (although that doesn't say much).

 

[LiegeWaffle]

What? Have you seen the release schedule for this and next year?

Traditional Square Enix big JRPGs are probably in a better state than eight years ago, mostly because FF15 and KH3 now look like they are not actually vaporware. Valkyria Chronicles as a franchise only exists about a generation, and already has three games in it, I am not sure why are you expecting more. Meanwhile, companies like Nintendo, Atlus and Falcom deliver probably even more good RPGs than they used to: Awakening was the best-selling game in series, Persona 3/4 were awesome and 5 is probably going to be at least as good, and we are finally seeing Ys and Kiseki games being released in the West.

Also, obligatory.

 

[Zareka]

So? They are still RPGs.

OP mentions games like Valkyria Chronicles so the ones I mentioned in my previous post should count as well.

OP wasn't making any sense with his own rules though, so neither are any of these FFXV/Tales Of suggestions.

 

[DeviantBoi]

Dragon Quest XI

Hasn't been announced yet, but signs point to a console release.

 

[djtiesto]

Don't worry. They'll be revived on Kickstarter 10-15 years from now under weird new names.

This is what I'm hoping for, I can't wait to play:
-Shui Hu Zhuan
-Crazy Guns
-Time Trigger
-Mark the Lad

Good riddance, I say.

Spoiler

Except for Falcom,Falcom are great

What is good about it? Even if you don't like certain genres, more variety in the game industry is never a bad thing. I can't stand FPS and RTS games but the industry would be a poorer place if they suddenly all vanished.