Famed Capcom game developer Shinji Mikami, the father of Resident Evil, Devil May Cry and a number of other top game franchises, has weighed in on the supposed decline of the Japanese RPG in the west in rather frank terms.
He had this to say in an interview:
“I think it is because Japanese RPGs were really never all that popular in the west to begin with.
I think the best way of interpreting things is that they aren’t getting less popular; they weren’t very popular from the start.”
Although this is being widely interpreted as a “frank” statement by Mikami, in fact it is rather evasive – critics such as Bioware never actually said that they were speaking about JRPGs in the west, but were rather speaking generally about a genre which even in Japan has not been enjoying spectacular success of late.
Had he addressed the issue of why Japanese designers have allowed the genre to stagnate to such a degree, his answer might have been all the more interesting.
I’d say a decline would be from people having less money and maybe because we need more variety, if anything. It could also have something to do with the way they are released over here. (Such as skipping games in a series!)
As far as I’m concerned jrpgs are pretty much the only video games. I know that’s personal preference, but I like the game play style and having an interesting story to keep me playing.
I’ve yet to see any good rpgs made by western companies…
Bioware has produced some decent stuff over the years but they are overhyped and overrated. I would take pretty much any Megami Tensei game over their whole catalog without a second thought.
Take successful anime STORY(FUCKING)LINE concepts
Take successful game action concepts
???
Profit!
Pokemon is the last hope of JRPG and nothing good besides Pokemon (exception of that Atlus games are also good)
Final Fantasy sucks and you suck for liking it!
What I really don’t get is that why everyone just basically wants to make JRPGS the EXACT SAME AS WRPGS!
Look at the comments
“Oh just take out all your culture relevant character designs, story, morals, and general pacing of the game”
“Just remake a bunch of games even though 5 minutes ago we said rehashing is what’s killing the genre”
“Take a page out of the totally different WRPGS developers and mindlessly copy all thier mechanics for success”
How is just changing the product to a western one helping it? I mean despite what the general opinion is FFXIII STILL sold well, into the millions well. It’s the same with Bioware even though I hate thier new direction and attitude, I can’t ignore thier sales and track record that is fact, my opinion is subjective. But speaking of Bioware even though they have a good track record which of thier games has been able to recapture THIER glory of the 90’s? I love Planescape, BG, and NWN as much as anybody else, but like the old SNES JRPGS, these are also OLD by at almost a decade now.
They’re not bad games, they’re old games, released ages ago, by, as previously stated, people who have left the company, so those with the “magic” are gone as well. And about all the people complaining about how “There are so many good games they don’t translate!” well why do you think that is!? It’s because of people whining and complaining about everything unique about thier product like characters, story, and build for almost EVERY DAMN GAME THEY RELEASE. Its just basic logic, why keep releasing games into a market that won’t buy them?
Why keep making expensive investments on people who only just bitch about everything your culture stands for and asks you to change it to thier specific likings? Has anybody ever heard of the phrase “You can’t please everyone” it’s still relavent. I mean it’s funny how so many people just say “Oh just have a mixed team with the Americans creating the meat of the product while we have the funny Asians add some controlled pre-screened wackiness to it” and then just have a western game with a viel of anime art so it can be “Japanese” it’s still western. Not that western is bad, its just that if I wanted a western game I would buy it from a western developer. The same problem lies in localization, which so many people suggest for JRPGS to have them “listen to thier fans”, it causes the product to lose everything unique about it in favor for being marketable.
Which is why I like companies like Atlus and N1 because for the most they defy every “JRPG sterotype” while still remaining very eastern. Look at Persona, SMT, and even thier “western products” like Etrian Odyssey and Disgaea both which use a western perception (EO is high fantasy western, Disgaea is a western mythos) but still are made very well, oh and most Atlus games are TURN-BASED, the supposed “archaic, old, boring” formula of gameplay. And why does it still work, because of the mechanics that go into it, the parts make a good machine, not just how many parts you have. I find it REALLY hilarious because in the comments someone suggested that having craploads more armor and quests, suddenly make the game better, and how another person said how most Japanese industries prefer quanity over quality. It’s funny because it seems that what the WRPG auidience more everything in the game to make it “awesome”.
Look how so many people mock otaku obsession, yet when I look at the list of “requirements” for a WRPG it looks a little more creepy than an otaku. These are pretty much summed up as “I want to BE the character, I want to FEEL like I’m that awesome because I am” essentially making it one big ego trip for you the player. While otaku obssesion is weird, it distingushes between fake and real, 2D and 3D, but not for WRPGS which have to be some odd form of hyper-escapism for the player, which I thought was a negative stigma for games but I was wrong looking at all the “YOU ARE FREAKING AWESOME” games like COD and WRPGS. Really all these people complain about how railroaded JRPGS are yet, are ANY games not just set to follow a path with some forks and resets? Look at Mass Effect hereled for “being able to do what you want” yet you just have 3 branches at each specific junction all clearly labled for you, if the JRPG fan is on a leash, the WRPG fan is a rat in a maze (Also Persona has braching endings as does Devil Survivor).
And for games like Fallout, what difference does it make in the ending when all that happens are some minor variations (Like in DS the 7 endings are pretty similar except for dialouge). And in games like Fallout why is there a meter which tells you “karma” and why is it so easily reversable!? In games like Persona with the exception of save-scumming if you screw up you SCREW UP, if you break a Commu or S.Link you have to take valuable time to fix it (which was toned down in P4 but it still happens)not just go do X for X and BAM you’re suddenly a good guy! WRPG fans don’t want choices they want easily reversable consequences, they want to be a total dick yet still be a “Saint” so many times I see people complain that, “Oh that’s not fair I killed his brother and now I get the bad ending” WELL WHAT DO YOU EXPECT, people complain about “lost forever” in JRPGS (Subverted well in TWEWY a JRPG)but that’s what it is a CONSEQUENCE. While I agree P4 had a “Guide-Dang It” true ending it still held true to the GAME’S moral of “Don’t take the easy way out” in trying to find the true culprit, and asking you to look beneath the surface, not just take in what is blatently presented to you.
To me that’s why I don’t like ME or DAO’s “Cool allies and friends” because it’s either you LURVE them to odd levels or you’re apathetic, kinda like the “choice system” dick or self-rightous. Because I have to care about the characters, it essentially limits my ability to like the game because it’s so heavily based on me having a certain response, if I don’t have that response I lose large amounts of enjoyment. While I firmly believe characters are the main focus, and are rightfully so, they should drive the story and emotions within the world not you, otherwise you end up in a crutch situation like DAO or ME. Take P4 for an example, I CERTAINLY care more about what happened there that in ME, because I chose to care the game didn’t make me, and that is what “important decisions” should be. While the people in P4 were different and sometimes off, while there was an emphasis on the S.Links it wasn’t entirly vital, just highly reccomended.
You didn’t have to hang out with everyone, you didn’t have max out every link, you could just just spent every day grinding the game was fine with that it just mentioned how much more diffucult it would be in doing so without trust and teamwork. And then you could have chosen if you cared about thier problems or the bonuses you recieved, they didn’t say “HEY YOU CARE ABOUT ME” it was “HEY YOU DECIDED TO COME SO THIS IS THE RESULT” it DID give the option to be a dick, ALONG with a VARIETY of other options. And Overall I find it funny when no one mentions Atlus because they know it pretty much blows thier whole argument out of the water. I find it funny that people are so quick to declare the market dead, because if it’s dying it’s only for what they ship here back at home they probably have plenty of products not translated, not because of developer ignorance but because of the WRPG auidience.