Random JRPG News Thread

[Hyperion]

ouch, that BoF 6 mobile game really hit me in the gonads.

i am (used to be? am?) a huuuge BoF fanboi as they were the first JRPGs I loved that were not from SquareSoft, and BoF 5 was IMFO a fantastic game.

love love loved BoF 5 and think 2 and 3 are probably some of the best representations of an atypically good/great JRPG. 1 and 4 are also very good but not as good as 2 and 3, and as previously mentioned, 5 is the masterpiece in the series.

Was never much of a Wild Arms fan, and only played Arc the Lard: Twilight of the Spirits (and loved its dual protagonist story).

At this point the only thing that would really truly deliver a knockout blow to my heart would be a mobile-ized bastardized new title in the Mother series. Anything less than that I'm thankfully too stone-hearted nowadays to feel too much.

BoF 6 came close tho, as after so many years the faint hope of a true follow up to BoF 5 was still alive and kicking in my head.

Twilight of the Spirits was a good game and a nice return to form after the disaster of 3, but Arc 2 was the pinnacle of the series by a pretty good amount. Game was loaded with content, and had a nice difficulty spike about half-way or 2/3 through.

I have a hard time loving BoF2 because the translation was just so bad that it ruined almost every single bit of dialogue the game threw at you. I actually preferred the combat of BoF1 to 2 as well, except for bosses in the second half of the game. Ryu and Karn were so overpowered that every fight became the same rote actions every goddamned turn.

I remember hearing wild reviews about Wild Arms 2 and getting disgusted about 5 hours through.

Maybe Legend of Legaia will be revived and morphed into a mobile directional swipe game next.

 

[Siveon]

Well, I liked Wild Arms 1 enough to beat it. Solid gameplay, fun setting, good exploration. Wild Arms 2 takes the Lufia-like puzzles the first one had and sorta doubles it, as well the time of the combat animations. I've been meaning to try it out again, but the combat was grating.

Never could get into Breath of Fire past the first few minutes of the first one. I'm sure it's a good series but the beginning is bland as all hell.

 

[jungl]

breath of fire 3 was a classic. Any jrpg that story gets me somewhat emotionally invested is good. 5 had fun gameplay but was meh overrall. Honestly it feels likes Japanese are spitting in the faces of everyone that grew up playing their games with these cheap mobile games. The market is to blame. The retards that buy amibos and every new gimicky console that comes up are killing japanese gaming. Stop giving them money buying consoles that comes out every year or 2 now and toys, force them to make quality GAMES for $$$ instead.

 

[aweigh]

well the way I see it, the japs have stopped loving vidya games as an "art form" (i.e. taking it seriously enough to bother making quality games) simply because, due to the intrinsic japanese cultural xenophobia, they have never gotten the chance or have been willing to play any games other than japanese games.

think about it: when we (i.e. non-japs) get tired of jrpgs we go and play a western RPG, or any other game that we want to play, on any other console or system... because we love playing video games.

when japs get tired of playing whatever they don't do any of that. they simply stop playing and/or bastardize whatever it was they were playing into something that will sell. To put my point into perspective: massive franchises that are cultural touchstones like, for example, StarCraft, are almost completely unknown to japanese gamers.

japanese gamers, in general, simply flat-out refuse to play non-japanese games even if it means not playing anything at all.

they are truly walled off from any video games that are non-japanese, and finally after 30+ years of this bullshit the casual japanese gaming audience has gotten tired of their jap-games, and thus the japanese video game companies are simply doing whatever the fuck they possibly can do in order to stay in business.

(Like Konami switching over to Pachinko machines).

Personally I shed no tears for the impending downfall of the japanese gaming industry. Fuck 'em. It will take at least one more decade but eventually there will be a new rennaisance of japanese gaming that will rise with younger japanese devs coupled with much older ones who come out of retirement utilizing "modern tools" (i.e. PC game development) which will output a new era of japanese games reminiscent of the era of the NEC-PC and take into account all the lessons learned from all areas of the world's game development markets.

 

[Reinhardt]

massive franchises that are cultural touchstones like, for example, StarCraft, are almost completely unknown to japanese gamers.

Wizardry

 

[Abu Antar]

Gravity Rush 2


SaGa: Scarelt Grace trailer

 

[aweigh]

oasis789

FF15 has yet to clear 400k unit sales...

oh, and Konami makes more money making pachinko machines than they did making games...

so, no, it is not absurd. the japanese video game industry's xenophobic nature is very much so affecting it's value both globally and within japanese culture and market. It is not currently a healthy market and the majority of so-called AAA japan-only studios are hedgeing their financial bets with other endeavors besides making games.

and my other point, that of japanese gamers refusing to acknowledge even the existence of non-japanese games is something well-known and indisputable. probably it is not because they don't want to, it is simply a cultural thing. (see xbox sales).

lack of PC gaming presence in modern day japanese households coupled with lack of market presence for online distribution of video games and add in a healthy dose of lack of representation in their video game media/marketing of non-japanese video games = increasingly growing disinterest in the casual japanese gamers to... actually buy and play video games.

there is also a huge lack of accessibility for cheap/easy ways to make and distribute single-A video games as there is no equivalent to Steam (there is almost no online distribution of video games in japan) and almost no japanese gamer utilizes PCs for gaming nowadays and it is much harder / there is a higher barrier of entry for making video games made by 1-5 persons in japan.

and no, before you talk about doujin games, you are wrong they do not even remotely come close to being equivalent to the hugely successful indie game market that is continually growing in every other country besides japan.

 

[Abu Antar]

What? FF15 sold almost 700k units in Japan alone. Not that those numbers are great for a Final Fantasy game or anything.

 

[aweigh]

not only are they "not great", but to put all this shit in perspective: fo4 sold more than 5 MILLION units on its 1st day of release.

I'd be surprised if ff15 cracks 1 million unit sales in 1 entire year of being out. these numbers are = pachinko machines in Square's future.

 

[LESS T_T]

Koei Tecmo released the original games in their historical strategy series on Steam. They are quire pricey and only available in Japanese language.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms http://store.steampowered.com/app/521670/
NOBUNAGA'S AMBITION http://store.steampowered.com/app/544990/
Aoki Ookami to Shiroki Mejika (AKA Genghis Khan) http://store.steampowered.com/app/545000/

Relatively cheaper bundle will lasts for a limited time: http://store.steampowered.com/bundle/2168/

And for a limited time, we will offer these three games as a set, and make it a great deal to boot.

So watch for it between 12/13 (TUE) - 1/9 (MON), PST, and be sure not to miss your chance to score these great games!

 

[LESS T_T]

Romance of the Three Kingdoms http://store.steampowered.com/app/521670/
NOBUNAGA'S AMBITION http://store.steampowered.com/app/544990/
Aoki Ookami to Shiroki Mejika (AKA Genghis Khan) http://store.steampowered.com/app/545000/

Ah, so this is only the first part of Steam re-release project: https://www.gamecity.ne.jp/shibusawa-kou/archives.html

• Part 2 (January): Nobunaga's Ambition Zenkokuban, RotTK II, Genghis Khan
• Part 3 (February): Nobunaga's Ambition II, RotTK III, Bandit Kings of Ancient China
• Part 4 (March): Nobunaga's Ambition: Lord of Darkness, RotTK IV with PK, Ishin no Arashi
• Part 5 (April): RottK V with PK, Taikou Risshiden, Uncharted Waters
• ...and more.

Will all these games only available in Japanese? Possibly, I guess.

 

[dehimos]

Oh, god, Bandits kings of Ancient China, Rottk V, oh shit, my pants...

 

[Lyre Mors]

I will be buying RotTK IX and X if they come out in english for sure.

 

[LESS T_T]

Empire of Angels IV, from the publisher of The Gate of Firmament, the latest in a long running SRPG series in Taiwan: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=793113059

It's out now on Steam:



Girl Power Roles!

 

[LESS T_T]

Koei Tecmo announced they'll bring Toukiden 2 to West in Spring 2017.

Curiously they are yet to confirm platforms. I guess they are undecided about Vita and PC releases.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Toukiden was fun; hope they do decide to bring the 2nd one to PC after all.

 

[LESS T_T]

Ghostlight has something to announce next month: http://blog.ghostlight.uk.com/post/a-look-back-at-2016

So that’s 2016, but what’s coming up in 2017? Well, first of all we’re very close to signing a couple of console JRPGs, to port to PC. Neither of these games are part of a series which have been released on PC in the past, so fans of JRPGs on PC will have something totally new to look forward to.

We’ve also got a number of other ports for other publishers on the horizon, which means that we should have plenty to keep us busy!

[...] I’ll be back in January with our first major announcement of 2017, [...]

 

[Reinhardt]

Neither of these games are part of a series which have been released on PC in the past, so fans of JRPGs on PC will have something totally new to look forward to.

So, not Elminage.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Probably rules out Shin Megami Tensei as well if the MMO counts (which it should, it was pretty SMT-y).

 

[vortex]

First tease about new Fromsoft game. Clueless what is this about.
For Bloodborne he said "Thinking about making a shooter that takes place in world without ammunition."

 

[Hobo Elf]

What did he mean by this?

 

[Damned Registrations]

Presumably it's going to be something that doesn't fit in a current genre. Doubtful, it's probably just a mashup, which I'd be ok with. If it really is outside genre lines I'd actually be worried, such games tend to be too experimental to actually be good. Surgeon simulator might defy genres, but it's still a shit game.

 

[LESS T_T]

First tease about new Fromsoft game. Clueless what is this about.
For Bloodborne he said "Thinking about making a shooter that takes place in world without ammunition."

It's a fake/parody account.

 

[LESS T_T]

Moékuri, "adorable" and "tactical" doujin SRPG, is coming next week:

It's out now.

Cute moe girls SPRG almost everyday on Steam, I guess.

 

[duanth123]

God is in his heaven, all's right with the world.