NIS if we give you $200K can you resurrect a JRPG franchise?

[Booger]

Uh, you know, I was thinking it would be nice if we had something like Grandia 4...
Or Legend of Dragoon 2...

I miss GameArts...

What made some of those games special were the characters, settings, and the battle systems.

I was thinking... Compile Heart & Idea Factory are cheap developers, yet they're able to get their crappy games out west (which I sort of enjoy in my own masochistic way). The 3D graphic quality is good enough, and the presentation of plain visual novel textboxes is simple and straightforward.

We can adapt that to other games -- we don't need full CG cutscenes, as long as we have likeable characters.

The problem is that the battle systems of Cross Edge, Agarest, Trinity Universe, and Neptunia just plain suck, so much so that it's a chore to get through the battles and dungeons.

Get somebody from GameArts or someone who knows how to make kickass battle systems on board. Or if you're willing to partner with a western developer maybe you can ring up some local independent studio in California -- uh, I dunno, Nicalis maybe? Actually, I would prefer if you hire an excellent western writer as long as you keep the anime graphics.

So my proposal is this. Join the know-how of Compile Heart / IF in how to make games cheaply (I think they're using a low-cost engine for the PS3), but grab some talent from one of the better JRPG devs back in the day to do the battle mechanics, then put the project up on Kickstarter or some other crowdfunding site. I'm sure NIS devoted fans would love to see more new JRPGs for the HD consoles but ones with less moe sensibilities that cause them to generate an automatic FAIL in most of the western game review sites (The usual "Oh, Japan! I facepalm." syndrome)

A JRPG tailored for the west can happen -- and I don't mean Final Fantasy XIII. Though it's from Sony, Legend of Dragoon did it right -- I believe that's a JRPG that sold more in the west than in Japan.

I know you're hesitant because of the failure that is Last Rebellion, but that game showed me that it's very possible to make a low-cost PS3 JRPG. The things lacking are excellent world design, well-written characters, and innovative mechanics. You can practically get those from the passionate indie devs next door. Let them do the pre-prod for the game before passing them to the Japanese devs.

The reason I'm writing this is I really fear for the Japanese games industry especially right after the earthquake. They need global sales more than ever, but they can't seem to get on the right footing. When a company fails to sustain itself through original IP it does the next best thing -- work-for-hire. So I propose something that is NIS America's own original IP, made in collaboration with other western indie devs, then outsource to Japan for the bulk of the work.

I was planning on buying a new car, but I'll seriously give at least $20,000 of my own savings to this endeavor.

[Houk]

Hand over the $200k and then we'll talk

No but seriously, I see where you're coming from and don't necessarily disagree. It's a big project though that would require a lot of groundwork, legwork, and...uh, headwork. And many many Benjamins. So it's something we might definitely consider in the future, but that would definitely be a way off.

[Shizuka]

Just a question: who's "we"?

[Seventh]

Just would like to point out that your first post kind of reeks of "my opinion is everyone's opinion" there buddy.

Though that might be what Shizuka's getting at.

[Booger]

Well NIS is on the right track with publishing the 3DS Cavestory. Taking indies under their wing for platforms they can't reach and publishing direct-download lower-price innovative games is the thing to do this generation (Atlus and Rock of Ages).

This goes in conjunction with the recent trend of Limited Edition treatment for titles such as Ar Tonelico Qoga and even Neptunia. Add an Artbook and OST and it makes parting with that $59-$65 a joy, even. Though it pales in comparison to what Working Designs gave us a decade or so ago (hardbound leather! OMG), it's definitely the right treatment for physical package releases.

So superb value physical package goods on one end and lower price innovative gems on the other. It takes a year or more to localize the former, but for the latter and you keep pumping titles out like crazy to tide the company over until the next big release. I'd definitely prefer to have more innovative indie games published by NIS rather than the ridiculous nickel-and-dime DLC you're slowly becoming infamous for (especially with regards to Neptunia). Both end up costing the same anyway so I'd rather have many complete but short experiences rather than longer experiences with pieces evidently removed.

I fear that NIS America might actually outlast NIS Japan (unless the latter demands the former to reinvest some assets to keep it on life support). After Disgeaa what's next? And while I absolutely love Gust and it's good that you're diversifiying to publishing from other Japanese devs there might be slim pickings a few years from now as Japan continues to wind down its economy and its people arent' getting any younger (no young people = no games market).

The sad thing about bigger companies is that to justify the larger amount of overhead cost they won't bat an eye to any contract that's less than $100,000. But that's already the peak for most indie devs whose name isn't Markus Persson. In the meantime we have people like Mark Leung who are able to create 30-hour 3D JRPGs at 1/10 the cost it takes to make a typical JRPG. The problem is that nobody in the industry wants to tell their production costs (unless it's to boast that they spent $100 million) and until they do we won't know how to make games more efficiently.

[vampko]

I just have to respond to your 'no young people = no games market'. Wrong. I will buy games when I'm older, as will many others (some of us actually are past our 20's). Plus, your reasoning is a bit strange, people are being born in Japan, so there kind of will be young people.

They'll be fine. Don't worry so much about it.

And, I, personally, really don't think this would be a good idea. NIS is great, but Grandia or Legend of Dragoon wouldn't really be up their alley.

If you can somehow raise this much of funds, kudos to you. But, raising money for something like that is going to be very hard. Especially when most of us on here have much to look forward to that's already being localized.

[soundmonkey44]

so...the best way to get a company to do somthing is to promise to pay for it yourself or bribe them...interesting....I shall now dedicate my life to starting up a fund to offer to various companies to publish the Disgaea Light Novels, lol.


But seriously...gotta say a rather odd request....I like it.

[Venus]

NIS is great, but Grandia or Legend of Dragoon wouldn't really be up their alley.

All the more reason why they should do it.

[vampko]

NIS is great, but Grandia or Legend of Dragoon wouldn't really be up their alley.

All the more reason why they should do it.

I feel like they would ruin them though. That's what I was trying to imply.

[Venus]

NIS is great, but Grandia or Legend of Dragoon wouldn't really be up their alley.

All the more reason why they should do it.

I feel like they would ruin them though. That's what I was trying to imply.

Oh okay.

[Alucard]

NIS/NISA seems to be publishing really sexually slanted games lately. Maybe they would be better of publishing stuff from Studio e.go!

[Rednal]

There's a difference between "fanservice" and "adult". As well as the restrictions of the console makers (i.e. Sony) for what content can actually be put into a game. I like things as they are now, truth be told; NISA doesn't really need to go any further.

[Alucard]

Well dmm.tv is available through the ps3 in Japan... so Sony isn't that against adult material....
It was a joke anyway

[Phoenix_Apollo]

I really like where this request is going, actually. If I could, I would support it. Maybe I can save up little by little to add a tiny extra to that $200K but that's about the extent I could do. I still would really, really support this though. It sounds like a fantastic idea.

[SpaceDrake]

I just have to respond to your 'no young people = no games market'. Wrong. I will buy games when I'm older, as will many others (some of us actually are past our 20's). Plus, your reasoning is a bit strange, people are being born in Japan, so there kind of will be young people.

Wait, I just want to make sure I read this right. Did you just admit to pirating just about everything you play, including NISA titles?

I'd also like to point out in general that a lot more than just money goes into something like this. There's gathering a team together (do you want people unfamiliar with the property working on Grandia, for instance?) and also the question of whether or not the old devs even want to work on that property anymore... among a hundred other things.