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Reader Discussion: The State Of JRPGs
A couple of months ago on the surprise first episode of Gamer Gorilla Radio, GI editor-in-chief Andy McNamara and senior associate editor Joe Juba got into a lengthy discussion on the state of Japanese RPGs (somewhat) inspired by this year's release of Final Fantasy XIII, a game that broke many conventions of the genre while sticking frustratingly close to others. As a long-time fan of JRPGs, this discussion has stuck in my mind, and now I want to know your opinions as well.
Personally, I'm not going to be overly fatalistic. I just got done reviewing Dragon Quest IX -- the review goes up tomorrow, but you can get some of my early impressions on this week's podcast -- and Persona 3 Portable just hit stores this week as well. There are enough people out there interested in this style of strategic, story-centered gaming that this type of game while continue to exist. That said, I think it's becoming an increasingly niche genre.
I would say that this means we'll see less big-budget JRPGs with Final Fantasy level production values, but...well, I don't need to say that. It's already come to pass this generation. Whether you're talking Wii, PlayStation 3, or Xbox 360, there simply aren't many Japanese RPGs being released these days. It's no coincidence that both of the high-profile new games that I mentioned above are handheld titles (though one is a port of a console game...from last generation).
But enough of my rambling. What are your thoughts? Are JRPGs dying out? Just transitioning to cheaper budget products targeted at a smaller audience? Is there no change at all? Or were they never that popular to begin with and we're just now noticing with the increase in number of people playing games? Let me know in the comments!
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