Japanese RPGs, and why they're failing.

You know, I've been thinking about Japanese RPGs. Ever since I've started playing Diablo II, I've realized how much good old American RPGing I've missed in the last 7 years or so. I mean, I really missed out. Everquest, Diablo, all those games that, while not explicitly containing amazing stories, had real play value to them. Hell, four years ago I would have openly and willingly said "I only like Japanese Console RPGs" with some sort of inbuilt vigor that would shake the building. I remember right before Square became Square-Enix (Well, about a year before, when there were rumors as such), I dropped over $300 at the Square online store buying every single game there. I was hardcore.



But now, I go to the store and look. A week ago, I was in a local EB Games (Note: Local EB Games stores suck now. I saw more used copies of shit games than I've ever seen in my life, and not a new and good game in sight), gift card fresh in hand, ready to blow some cash on worthwhile games to satiate my tastes. I went, as I used to do, and made a beeline for the PS2 section first. While I also have a XBOX and Gamecube, that's what I do. And I saw the RPG section.

Not a single thing even looked remotely interesting.

It's not like there was a shortage. Surprisingly, there was a large amount of new PS2 RPGs. New ones. Grandia 3, to name one, among other obviously Anime inspired RPGs. The kind of stuff I would have completely exploded for three years ago. But I didn't drop a dime on any of them. I skimmed over them, then moved onto the Action section- I even took a look at the Sports section. But I graced completely over the one thing that I used to enjoy so much on the PS1 and early PS2- Japanese Anime inspired RPGs. Wow.

So, I went and I thought to myself. "I've been hearing about this from a lot of gamers. Maybe it's just we're getting older". So, to test this, I went and messed around with one of my ultra hardcore Japanese RPGs- in this case, just a plethora of different games, from Final Fantasy 7 to Legend of Mana. And I enjoyed them just the same as I did. So, it's not me getting older at all- in fact, as I get older, I found I could appreciate the finer portions of the games more. So what in the hell WAS it?

It's the games. The new ones, I mean. The new games by Japanese developers, mainly in the RPG market, are absolutely terrible. The Role Playing Game market has absolutely, positively lost it's edge ever since about 2002. Ever since I purchased Final Fantasy X really early 2002 (As it came out around Christmas in 2001), I have not purchased a single RPG that has captured my interest whatsoever. This is not to say I haven't been getting games, from Xenosaga to .Hack, and even Final Fantasy X-2. But none of them caught my attention. Sure, Kingdom Hearts was great, but I'm talking oldschool RPGs here, the ones that remind me of the days with Chrono Trigger or Lufia 2 on my Super NES. And I haven't found one.

I'm sure there are other gamers like me. It's as if we need some sort of support group. All of a sudden discovering that your favorite kind of genre is going down the tubes is like finishing a video game you spent 100 hours on- it puts you out of whack, makes you feel like you miss something. So the following is my instruction manual on how to screw up a multi million dollar industry in a few moves. Like chess, except you lose a lot more.

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