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

[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.

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.

I buy my games now, I am saying I will continue to buy them

Jeez, people can take things really wrong easily

I agree with you, but the OP wants NIS Japan to take on these franchises. And that is what I'm worried about.

[androvsky]

The OP isn't the first person to post in NISA's forums wanting to fund a jrpg. Does that not speak to the frustration of the current fans? The tragic thing is that state of jrpgs isn't as dire as it seems if one is willing to play handheld games. Has the OP played Radiant Historia? Dragon Quest IX? Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky? Nostalgia? And this is ignoring the Wii games Nintendo funded but hasn't localized, like Xenoblade and Last Story, both of which are reportedly quite excellent. It seems the frustration is mainly coming from fans who, after over a decade of a constant flood of good-to-excellent jrpgs on Sony home consoles, are flummoxed by the sudden famine. Can't say I blame them, as I was in the same boat. "Oh, I'll get a PS3 near launch so I can keep playing PS2 jrpgs until the PS3 jrpg flood starts." Oops. Good thing I found other genres I like.

I think that western fans of jprgs would be best served by either wholesale porting PSP games to the PS3 complete with trophies (PS2 HD collection style, or even for PSN release), or at least having publishers and fans petition Sony to allow the PSP emulator to work on the PS3.

Maybe it could be done, but it'd have to be an experienced team that knows how to limit their own scope (the greatest challenge, perhaps), who could hit the ground running. What happens if they get to the end of the budget, but the game's not quite finished? Like there's still interface issues, or the combat is buggy? Maybe the artwork isn't finished for several of the areas? I understand the temptation, but I think crowd-sourcing an rpg is a bad idea.

On a side note, wow SpaceDrake... I'm going to assume you hadn't had your morning coffee yet (or stayed up too late, depending on your timezone). :p

[vampko]

The OP isn't the first person to post in NISA's forums wanting to fund a jrpg. Does that not speak to the frustration of the current fans? The tragic thing is that state of jrpgs isn't as dire as it seems if one is willing to play handheld games. Has the OP played Radiant Historia? Dragon Quest IX? Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky? Nostalgia? And this is ignoring the Wii games Nintendo funded but hasn't localized, like Xenoblade and Last Story, both of which are reportedly quite excellent. It seems the frustration is mainly coming from fans who, after over a decade of a constant flood of good-to-excellent jrpgs on Sony home consoles, are flummoxed by the sudden famine. Can't say I blame them, as I was in the same boat. "Oh, I'll get a PS3 near launch so I can keep playing PS2 jrpgs until the PS3 jrpg flood starts." Oops. Good thing I found other genres I like.

I think that western fans of jprgs would be best served by either wholesale porting PSP games to the PS3 complete with trophies (PS2 HD collection style, or even for PSN release), or at least having publishers and fans petition Sony to allow the PSP emulator to work on the PS3.

Maybe it could be done, but it'd have to be an experienced team that knows how to limit their own scope (the greatest challenge, perhaps), who could hit the ground running. What happens if they get to the end of the budget, but the game's not quite finished? Like there's still interface issues, or the combat is buggy? Maybe the artwork isn't finished for several of the areas? I understand the temptation, but I think crowd-sourcing an rpg is a bad idea.

On a side note, wow SpaceDrake... I'm going to assume you hadn't had your morning coffee yet (or stayed up too late, depending on your timezone). :p

Bleh. The Last Story and Xenoblade were nothing compared to Qoga. And I get my PS3 JRPG fix just fine. Portables don't do it for me. Me thinks some people hold too tightly on nostalgia and aren't ready to embrace the future. Of course Magus will probably give some kind of V/N response, but I can say without a doubt that I won't get this good gameplay in a V/N. You don't see as detailed of world roaming. That's because, in a V/N, it's the story or the romances that are most important. The gameplay's just an added bonus.

I really am lost as to what problems people are having.

*equips anti-fire ring*

[androvsky]

Bleh. The Last Story and Xenoblade were nothing compared to Qoga. And I get my PS3 JRPG fix just fine. Portables don't do it for me. Me thinks some people hold too tightly on nostalgia and aren't ready to embrace the future. Of course Magus will probably give some kind of V/N response, but I can say without a doubt that I won't get this good gameplay in a V/N. You don't see as detailed of world roaming. That's because, in a V/N, it's the story or the romances that are most important. The gameplay's just an added bonus.

I really am lost as to what problems people are having.

*equips anti-fire ring*

I'm glad you like Qoga, but one of the points of the OP was to avoid the loli/moe excesses of recent years. Qoga is the worst possible counter-example you could have come up with (except for maybe Criminal Girls).

[vampko]

Bleh. The Last Story and Xenoblade were nothing compared to Qoga. And I get my PS3 JRPG fix just fine. Portables don't do it for me. Me thinks some people hold too tightly on nostalgia and aren't ready to embrace the future. Of course Magus will probably give some kind of V/N response, but I can say without a doubt that I won't get this good gameplay in a V/N. You don't see as detailed of world roaming. That's because, in a V/N, it's the story or the romances that are most important. The gameplay's just an added bonus.

I really am lost as to what problems people are having.

*equips anti-fire ring*

I'm glad you like Qoga, but one of the points of the OP was to avoid the loli/moe excesses of recent years. Qoga is the worst possible counter-example you could have come up with (except for maybe Criminal Girls).

Lunar 1 was pretty moe for its time. As was Grandia 1, 2, 3, and extreme.

Heck, Lunar 2 was also fairly moe for its time. And I bet a brand new Lunar would be just as moe.

It's just because loli/moe is the trend right now. It being made by another company won't change that at all. I for one, love this trend, and will bask in it for as long as it lasts. Because I know it will go away and a new trend will take its place in due time.

[LAMV]

I love it when anime fans and anti-anime fans alike bitch about moe as if it's some brand new thing that's "killing the industry" or some shit. When moe has been around since the beginning of time; including the precious 90's they hold so dear. It's just that not as much anime were fansubbed back then as they are now, so less people were aware of many of the anime that existed in the old days. Now that almost every new anime gets subbed, it seems like there's "suddenly" moe stuff when it's always been there.

[magusgs]

Bleh. The Last Story and Xenoblade were nothing compared to Qoga. And I get my PS3 JRPG fix just fine. Portables don't do it for me. Me thinks some people hold too tightly on nostalgia and aren't ready to embrace the future. Of course Magus will probably give some kind of V/N response, but I can say without a doubt that I won't get this good gameplay in a V/N. You don't see as detailed of world roaming. That's because, in a V/N, it's the story or the romances that are most important. The gameplay's just an added bonus.

I really am lost as to what problems people are having.

*equips anti-fire ring*

Magus appears, seeming quite puzzled as to why he's suddenly here.

I'm not sure where you're coming from or going with this response. I'm not even sure what I'm supposed to be convincing you of, though seemingly I've already convinced you of something without uttering a word.

[vampko]

Bleh. The Last Story and Xenoblade were nothing compared to Qoga. And I get my PS3 JRPG fix just fine. Portables don't do it for me. Me thinks some people hold too tightly on nostalgia and aren't ready to embrace the future. Of course Magus will probably give some kind of V/N response, but I can say without a doubt that I won't get this good gameplay in a V/N. You don't see as detailed of world roaming. That's because, in a V/N, it's the story or the romances that are most important. The gameplay's just an added bonus.

I really am lost as to what problems people are having.

*equips anti-fire ring*

Magus appears, seeming quite puzzled as to why he's suddenly here.

I'm not sure where you're coming from or going with this response. I'm not even sure what I'm supposed to be convincing you of, though seemingly I've already convinced you of something without uttering a word.

just trying to cover all my bases

[Phoenix_Apollo]

Maybe it's time to get back to JRPGs that actually try and GO somewhere (perhaps original) with their stories? Nier's a great recent example of what I mean, but it's only one in the sea of the current state of JRPGs as they are now.

[Rednal]

When they bother to have a story at all... by which I mean Mana Khemia 2.

Hmm... I wonder...

[magusgs]

When they bother to have a story at all... by which I mean Mana Khemia 2.

Hmm... I wonder...

The Atelier series in general doesn't seem all that concerned with telling a story. The situational gags seem to be the focus of the writing. It's certainly not my favorite style of storytelling--it's light and fluffy and not all that meaningful.

[CelticRedemption]

When they bother to have a story at all... by which I mean Mana Khemia 2.

Hmm... I wonder...

The Atelier series in general doesn't seem all that concerned with telling a story. The situational gags seem to be the focus of the writing. It's certainly not my favorite style of storytelling--it's light and fluffy and not all that meaningful.

hoooold on there. Atelier Iris 1-3 actually have a story, and less situational gags. If you're talking about Atelier Rorona and mana khemia 1-2, fine, but I won't let you include the 3 Atelier Iris games in there

[Phoenix_Apollo]

That's the thing. I really think JRPGs really need to refocus on trying to produce grand stories, instead of focus on the fanservice or just having a new gameplay system. It might actually make people more receptive of them, and drive up the opinion of how video game stories are. In my opinion, there's no excuse for a terrible or cookie-cutter/copycat story anymore. The technology is there to explore any kind of story and have the other elements there to back it up. Hell, it was there last gen too and had a couple of successes on the PS1.

As for battle systems, I don't want a reinvention of the wheel for every new game anymore. I've had to put up with that crap while playing both Final Fantasy and Xenosaga, and it's not really necessary. Just make one cool battle system, and improve it as the series goes on. That's it. No need to start from square one.

Finding success in both of these areas, I think, should help JRPGs a lot.

EDIT: I should point out that I have nothing wrong with light-hearted games, it's just that I think there needs to be a bit more of a diversity. It seems like either JRPGs are really light and funny or really dark and brooding. Some have been breaking the mold, but perhaps 80-90% fit right in.

[magusgs]

hoooold on there. Atelier Iris 1-3 actually have a story, and less situational gags. If you're talking about Atelier Rorona and mana khemia 1-2, fine, but I won't let you include the 3 Atelier Iris games in there

I've actually never played any of the Iris games. Maybe I should.

[CelticRedemption]

hoooold on there. Atelier Iris 1-3 actually have a story, and less situational gags. If you're talking about Atelier Rorona and mana khemia 1-2, fine, but I won't let you include the 3 Atelier Iris games in there

I've actually never played any of the Iris games. Maybe I should.

From what little I played of all the Atelier games before Atelier Iris, they seem to be similar to Atelier Rorona, Mana khemia 1-2 are just inbetween Atelier Iris and Rorona