It's no secret that the JRPG genre has suffered from a considerable quality deficiency lately. Truly great Japanese RPGs come along once in a blue moon these days, and the most promising titles often turn out to be the biggest disappointments. BioWare's Greg Zeschuk believes that the East has grown complacent, and that Western RPG experiences are shaking studios up.
"I think what happened is they got very complacent for a very long time," he explains. "They kept making the same thing, and the same thing, and, in a sense, almost provided an opening for all of us to jump in with our style of games. I know first hand that they’re looking at our games now; they’re kind of looking at our stuff, the Fable stuff, and Fallout, and all that, and going, 'what are these things?' I think they had gotten used to making the same thing over and over, and it was working.
"I think the other thing, too, is that the Japanese market has gotten quite a bit weaker and weaker. It’s just not as strong a market. It used to be a tremendously strong game market, so I think they’re kind of looking at it going, 'man, we’ve got to figure out where else we can sell these,' and I think the traditional, very structured, old-school structure RPG wasn’t selling anymore; so now, I think we’re going to see some changes."
Unfortunately though, I think changes have been something of a problem. The last truly great console JRPG, in my mind, was Lost Odyssey, and it was great because it didn't change a thing. Meanwhile, you have utter drek like Infinite Undiscovery, trying a brand new battle system and failing because the rest of the game was so crap. If anything, JRPG makers need to stop attempting to be "innovative" and concentrate simply on making a game that doesn't completely suck.
Japanese RPG Developers Have Become 'Complacent,' says BioWare [Industry Gamers]
Contest:
2:40 PM on 06.04.2010 | 
But I find this funny coming from Bioware. I love Bioware, but their games really have two flavors. KOTOR and Mass Effect.
Maybe they're just mad that FF13, (which I'm not exactly a big fan of so no I'm not flaming), doubled the sales of their beloved Mass Effect 2.
I love your games, but stop talking crap. To say "it isn't working" is a tad bit of an over simplification, especially when JRPGs still sell a lot, even if their quality as games is arguable. If it isn't working, we'd be hearing stories about mass lay-offs as Square.
Just wait...
That aside, I don't mind the "old school" JRPGs, but they just need to not suck. Uber graphics can only get you so far.
I miss the old, humble BioWare. For all their recent boasting and naysaying, they still haven't topped Baldur's Gate II.
Or, you know, he's right.
While JRPGs have been on the downfall, stuff like Mass Effect and Fallout have been getting stellar reviews. It's not like ME sold like crap, either, just it's hard to compete with the rabid FF fanbase and it's overall legacy. I'd say that it's both sides contributing to this trend, because it doesn't matter what is said, JRPGs have been stale and same for a while now. It doesn't hurt that the ME and Fallout games are fantastic.
Then again, I guess he might be butthurt, you can never put it past anybody.
But in quality Mass Effect 2 anihilates FF XIII
Right, because by letting people choose if their character is a total jerk or a total saint through a few decision branches you've totally broken free from narrative convention and created a new form of RPG. This guy and Peter Molyneux should get together over coffees. They have so much in common.
Too me many WRPGs are looking a lot alike. FPS view, a lot of generic faces giving you quests. and "make your own story". All of this turns me of, which doesn't give me a lot to choose from. I have yet to play Mass Effect, but I am going to try it as soon as I upgrade my PC.
Valkyria Chronicles was a great JRPG btw.
Mass Effect 2 > FF13 in every single way.
Oh I'm not saying that JRPGs have been very good this generation, Tales of Vesperia is the only one I'd say was really "great". But this problem isn't a lack of innovation, JRPGs have tried plenty of new things, they're just not working. The problem right now is just a lack of quality, it has nothing to do with the companies not trying to do new things.
Then again I also completely disagree with the idea that WRPGs have been good at all this generation either, but I highly doubt we would meet any agreement on that topic.
You don't see Activision boasting about how Call of Duty is so much more popular than Mass Effect.
*head desk*
Also I'm not arguing about quality guys, I never played Mass Effect 2 because I thought the original was pretty mediocre. Maybe two is great, I have no idea, I'll wait for Steam to give me an awesome sale to find out.
PERSONA.
Where is your argument now?
(Love ME series, Loved Dragon Age, Loved KotoR series.)
"I haven’t played Final Fantasy XIII yet, but obviously I hear a lot of how they’ve gone a very different direction than one they’ve traditionally gone: much more streamlined, which is interesting. So, I think what happened is they got very complacent for a very long time."
Mass Effect 2 for lyfe bitches! Western developpers represent!
...u mad?
FFXIII was fucking AWFUL.
Well, I'm not going to agree that WRPGs haven't been good (In my opinion, that's incorrect on so many levels, but it's just my opinion), but I'm glad someone will actually have the balls to admit that JRPGs have lacked in quality, because plenty of defenders of the genre won't even go that far, so I thank you very much for that.
Also, I'd like to go ahead and say that even if JRPGs have been trying new things, I guess it just hasn't been enough, developers still rely way too much on tried and true tropes, and at least in my case, that really turns me off. I think JRPGs, along with the Sci-Fi FPS, need a SEVERE kick in the ass and go and try new things, even more than what is happening now.
Just my two cents.
Nicely done.
I'll add Valkyria Chronicles to that too.
But yeah, Bioware doesn't have much right to criticise an RPG sub-genre when their last big "RPG" was really just a shooter with some basic RPG elements thrown in. And they really need to realise that "believable characters" doesn't mean they all want to hump each other.
And Bioware is basically right. Everything Square Enix is mediocre-average this generation.
Lost Odyssey and Demon's Souls are the only Japanese developed RPGs worth a fuck.
Hell, Alpha Protocol, even with its low reviews, beats the shit out of the RPGs coming out of Japan these days.
That being said, I have never (and have no real intention of) playing any of Bioware's games. They're very dark and that's just not something I really cared about in my games. I also disliked Fallout 3. It's okay if it's open world, but it was just so...empty. Oblivion was good.
I guess I just like my RPGs with a bit of whimsy, like Magical Starsign and Grandia. WRPGs don't usually have that.
Exactly, which makes the statement kind of hypocrital, since most games from Bioware are either "space opera" or "medieval fantasy", and they reuse the gameplay from their previous games or other genres.
I mean, I *kind of* agree with Bioware (though they are coming off as massive, embittered dicks), but they are using a metric where they do not have an argument. Hell, DQIX sold more copies *in Japan* than ME2 did in NA and Europe. So clearly this is not an issue of commercial viablity. What they mean is, "Our game is so much better, and FFXIII is a pile of shit", except they can't *say* that.
Guys, this isn't fucking news. This is a random answer in an interview pulled out because it would get certain people's panties in a bunch.
Did you even play Dragon Age or Baldur's Gate... ? I realize you're on a rage-filled rant and are grasping for straws here, but... that's comparing apples to oranges.
@glitzglam-style
Sweeping generalizations, ho!
I've wanted to get into WRPGs for a while, but the whole generic, wannabe-hollywood look and story to them has pretty much been putting me off for a while.
A WRPG with Japanese character designs and a properly streamlined story would do wonders.
Oh, and on-topic, Bioware be mad as usual.
The only reason WRPGs feel so new is because they were kept on the PC platform for so long. It wasn't until ESIII: Morrowind that people really got to see a WRPG on a console, I think.
But if one were to compare WRPGs now to what they were on the PC, they're haven't done much to change either. In fact, one could argue that when graphics became too much of a focus, the gameplay and the stories have lost some of their brilliance.
RPGs as a whole have become somewhat stagnant, only really be propped up by gamer ignorance of the PC platform. This will keep everything afloat for another decade at most. But eventually someone is going to have to do something revolutionary to change RPGs as a whole.
For reals.
Not really. XIII is still "the same formula" except that they stripped it down to the very bones and replaced everything they removed (for graphics) with absolutely nothing. That game has as much variety and personality as a brick. A brick with a lot of belts. But yeah, since "you" wanted it like that, we're all fucking idiots ;)
Screw it, this says it all for me:
http://www.vgcats.com/comics/images/100506.jpg
It's like stripping Zelda of all its personality, unique dungeons, villages, puzzles and so on and just giving you the boomerang and sword to fight through the same monsters but recoloured every 6 hours or so in this generally straight line with different wallpaper every now and again.
Rant over :)