General JRPG topic

That does look pretty decent, gotta admit. Seems like a playstyle that fits the "play when you got an idle moment" nature of phones. If they localize it, I think I might give it a go.

Speaking of mobile JRPGs and giving them a go, Romancing Sa Ga 2 is available in English in Google App Store and Apple Store. Anyone got any impressions or reviews to share? I personally didn't like Romancing Saga: Minstrel Song (an Updated Re-release for the PS 2), so I'm a bit hesitant, but on the other hand my phone has no games and I really wanna support the lozalization effort. So...anyone got anything?

edited 26th May '16 6:18:41 AM by Lemurian

I haven't actually played it, but from what I've heard, it's one of the more accessible Saga games. It also doesn't have Minstrel Song's bizarre gameplay system.

Seventh Dragon is out now, in case you've always wanted to play a dungeon crawler where you can headbutt a dragon with a maid and/or be a Yu Gi Oh character (there's a mage class called "Duelist" that summons monsters with cards). Frankly I think it's slightly worse than the game it's a sequel to, but that one's only fan-translated so you don't have many options I guess.

If anyone does play it, I would recommend buying a bunch of the encounter reducing item and spamming them. The game feels much better with random encounters off, and fighting only dragons will still keep you up-to-date on levels.

edited 14th Jul '16 8:55:58 AM by Clarste

the Duelist class was what got me interested in the game XD

I need to hold an all-day gaming session like I used to as a kid. :( I have too many unfinished RPGs on the 3DS alone. (And PS 1. And SNES.)

3DS/DS: Mario and Luigi Dream Team + Paper Jam, Fossil Fighters Champions + Fossil Fighters Frontier, Magical Starsign (I beat the game before but started a new game after saving past the point of no return), Bravely Default + Bravely Second, Yokai Watch, Pokemon Y + Omega Ruby, Stella Glow, Little Battlers eXperience, Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure (same situation as Starsign), Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon

Gamecube: Skies of Arcadia Legends, Evolution Worlds, Lost Kingdoms

PS 1: Lunar 2 Eternal Blue (had it for years and stuck on the final boss), the Arc the Lad series. I also have Star Ocean 2 but I actually managed to beat that one.

SNES: Super Mario RPG (beat it years ago but got a new copy of the game), Final Fantasy III/VI

Virtual Console: Paper Mario (beaten the game on N64), Lufia The Legend Returns, Super Mario RPG

And while it's not really an RPG, i'm stuck in Castlevania Symphony of the Night because I got LOST :(

edited 14th Jul '16 1:57:41 PM by lalalei2001

I have to give Anatomia credit. This might be the best iteration of the Incarnation of the devil so far:

So I Am Setsuna (a JRPG created by SE's new studio, Tokyo Idea Factory) has come out today on both PS 4 and PC.

Basically it's another old-school throwback, mostly inspired by Chrono Trigger apparently.

I've played about the first two hours (mercifully the game runs just fine on my brother's PC with no hiccups whatsoever). Nothing has wowed me yet (again, I've only put like two hours into it) but it's a very pleasant game to experience. Main drawbacks I'm hearing about is that it's a bit too archaic at times ( can only save on the overworld and in save points, save points are sparse in dungeons, etc) and some loading time problems. If you like old-school JRPG's it might be something worth looking into.

I think it's pretty boring so far. Chrono Trigger was far more interesting within its first couple hours.

7th Dragon is pretty good. Battles are quick in general (though you can't skip or speed up the animations), the party system is neat in general if only so that you have a healthy party while dungeon crawling, and the classes are all very unique and cool in their own way.

I'd like to try I Am Setsuna at some point, but not for a while. Monster Hunter Generations has been practically monopolizing my game time for the last several days, so if I bought it now, it'd be ages until I touched it.

So, for Shits and giggles, I looked up some videos of the old Playstation RPG Thousand Arms.

I remember that the boss Ratchet sounds like Harley Quinn, and I think I even read somewhere that she was actually played by Arlene Sorkin, though I now doubt that.

What I didn't know, is that after getting into a verbal catfight with Disco Master Nelsha (which includes some bleeped out swear words, that aren't very well covered up in Nelsha's case, as you can very clearly hear her say FUCK even with the beep), the two just go at each other in a Big Ball of Violence styled Cat Fight before the boss battle begins proper.

Good stuff.

Thousand Arms was a game I was curious to play back in the day, but I had an N64 back then, and as we know, Nintendo was not the place for JRPG's at that point in time (and how many they still get seems to vary quite a bit depending on the era). I kinda wish I'd caught it now.

edited 1st Jan '17 10:50:41 AM by HandsomeRob

Despite the somewhat odd name, I have to say that Valkyrie Anatomia as a mobile game looks like a good move. I won't play it unless they port it, but thereyago.

Honestly, I think that the dudes at Squeenix know that they're a beached whale. There really isn't much room for JRPGs in the AAA console-and-PC market when WRPGs have essentially eaten their lunch. However, the format may well work better for handhelds and mobile games, and mobile RPGs are an expanding blue-ocean market.

A lot depends, though, on whether they can resist the urge to play the microtransaction game again. Frankly, that business model works best when you're expressly targeting idiots, not when you have a respected elder franchise that should be able to make money on its own strength if well-used.

I think the problem is exacerbated by the fact that console sales in Japan are dwindling, so it's kind of impossible to make a big-budget console game and rely on japanese sales to make a profit. You have to get the western sales, which poses a problem because JRPG's are a niche genre. That's part of why XV was so heavily tailored towards western audiences, SE realizes they need that money so they went after it big time.

As I said - beached whale. Their core competence is in a genre that's now niche in the West. If they emphasize mobile and handheld development in their side projects, though, they might have plenty of room to grow.

The other thing about the nicheness of JRPGs in the West, though (and something that is really going to hurt Squeenix if I'm right), is that a lot of indie developers are embracing the genre's B-game status and making quirky niche games on a shoestring budget. That's not a business model that Squeenix can easily shift to (games like Bravely Default notwithstanding), but they also can't afford a stand-up fight with Bethesda and Obsidian anymore either.

edited 6th Jan '17 1:14:50 AM by Ramidel

The thing is, though, while JRPGs are a niche genre in the West, Final Fantasy isn't a niche franchise.

Final Fantasy and Pokemon are the 11th and 2nd biggest gaming franchises, respectively. XV did better in the west than it did Japan, even. There's definitely a market for them, they just need to be made with western tastes in mind almost if much if not more than Japanese ones.

Final Fantasy XIV and XV are really good examples of appealing to both - the art style and storytelling of the former is a lot more palatable in the west than the average JRPG, while XV as a whole feels very much like a western game outside a decent chunk of very Japanese elements like its storytelling, combat, and some of its visual design.

Companies like Compile Heart and Nippon Ichi Software are never going to find mainstream success in the west, but Square Enix, the Fire Emblem devs, Gamefreak, and even smaller guys like Atlus either already have or are getting there exactly because their games have a more global appeal than something from developers like the first two I mentioned.

edited 6th Jan '17 7:44:09 AM by Hashil

Square-Enix has adapted better to the japanese economic reality a lot better than most companies. They have some pretty good sources of income and last I checked were doing pretty good financially. They're not stupid, they know where the money is and how to go after it.

My only problem with JRP Gs is that I have too many of them and can't decide what to start/complete first XD

Whats your current backlog?

My current JRPG backlog is

• World Of Final Fantasy (currently playing)
• Atelier Escha And Logy Alchemists Of The Dusk Sky
• Atelier Shallie Alchemists Of The Dusk Sea
• Atelier Sophie The Alchemist Of The Mysterious Book
• Agarest Senki
• Agarest Senki 2
• Agarest Senki Zero
• Fairy Fencer F
• The Legend Of Heroes Trails Of Cold Steel
• The Legend Of Heroes Trails Of Cold Steel 2
• The Last Remnant
• Valkyria Chronicles

>.<

• Mario and Luigi Paper Jam
• Fossil Fighters Champions + Fossil Fighters Frontier
• Bravely Default + Bravely Second
• Magical Starsign (I'd beaten it before but started a new game)
• Yokai Watch
• Pokemon Y + Omega Ruby + Sun
• Stella Glow
• Little Battlers eXperience
• Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure (I'd beaten it before but started a new game)
• Skies of Arcadia Legends
• Evolution Worlds
• Lost Kingdoms
• The Arc the Lad series.
• Super Mario RPG (beat it years ago but got a new cartridge copy of the game after losing the first)
• Final Fantasy III/VI
• Lunar 2 Eternal Blue (need to finish the epilogue)
• Lufia The Legend Returns
• Paper Mario (on virtual console, beaten it on N64)
• Super Mario RPG (on virtual console)
• Persona 3
• Persona 4
• Other games I'm probably forgetting

At the rate I'm going the afterlife BETTER have a TV and video games.

edited 6th Jan '17 3:07:09 PM by lalalei2001

Not a single game in common...

I also wanna play Valkyrie Profile but I need to stop confusing that with Valkyria Chronicles. (But that's not as bad as the time i confused Clockwork Knight with Clock Tower! XD)

edited 6th Jan '17 3:17:27 PM by lalalei2001

@ Hashil: Compile Heart has been doing very well on Steam with their PC releases. I could see them going further with it.

Everything is relative . Their numbers are decent but I don't see their games getting anywhere on Final Fantasy or even Persona's levels.

That. A sales number that would be good for Compile Heart would be a bomb for Square-Enix.

It depends, when you balance budget and advertising I bet the 10 years of the Neptunia franchise games with its 2 million sales in the west alone vs in development for 10+ years FFXV I bet Neptunia made a lot more money.

Moderate budget RP Gs like Neptunia or Trails Of Cold Steel are making serious money. It's something even SE is trying out with World Of Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest Builders. Shoot Neptunia rebirth 1 had a really low budget but is sitting at 350k sold on the PC port alone.

edited 6th Jan '17 4:09:56 PM by Memers