So giantbomb says jrpgs are dead...

I got halfway through and just got bored.
 
while I'm actually going through Resonance of Fate right now for the second time vOv

JRPG's aren't dead. Just like, as much as we wish it, anime isn't dead. JRPG's don't make as much money in the US as Western RPG's, but they still make money.

*cough* 
  

I think it's a stretch to say anything like this is "dying"; so long as something turns a profit, people are buying them and they aren't going away. The biggest thing that has happened is that there has been a shift of interest in the west as to what kind of games are preferred, and they are simply no longer "blockbuster popular" around these parts. But hyperbole makes for exciting and dramatic reading, so phrases like DEAD and THE END OF (insert word here) will continue indefinitely. Besides, who cares what's popular or if anything is "dying" anyway? Like what you want to like and dislike what you want to dislike, and don't let anyone try to force you to do otherwise.  
 
As for what games to play, well... I have to admit I barely play RPGs these days, and when I do it's generally something old that I've played through a million times before. So I'm in no position to recommend anything, ha ha ha. I guess that kind of makes my whole post pointless, doesn't it?

" @shadykx125: Personally I hated Lost Odyssey's art style, and the combat system seemed pretty shallow as well for the eight hours I played that game. But I wholeheartedly recommend Tales of Vesperia and Valkyria Chronicles.  Valkyria Chronicles especially is one of my favorite games of all time. "

By "JRPGs are dead", Giantbomb essentially means "Final Fantasy no longer interests me." for the most part.
 
Between the Shin Megami Franchise, the Tales franchise, Valkyria Chronicles, Resonance of Fate, Eternal Sonata, and the myriad of more niche titles Atlus and NIS puts out, I'd say the genre is far from dead.  And of course that's simply the titles I have personal interests in.  Plenty of others from within the last few years exist as well.

Yay, it's that time of month again! When someone posts the same ol' "Are JRPGs dead? GB seems to think so!" thread rather than bumping one of the 30 or so that already exist! 
 
If you'll allow me to be a pompous ass for a moment -- *ahems* If you were such a big fan of the genre, you'd have played more than Lost Odyssey. I'd run down a rather plentiful list of recent JRPGs that come to mind but come on, this is a video game database website. Do some fucking research.

JRPGs aren't dead. Regardless of the fact that you or I could probably care less about 90% of what comes out, there are people who do. To be fair, most of those people live in Japan and the rest lurk on internet forums to reprimand you for being so insolent, but Final Fantasy XIII still sold like gangbusters in the west. Are JRPGs at their strongest point? Hell no. But they aren't dead the way that point and click adventures or 2D fighters used to be prior to the Telltale Renaissance/Street Fighter IV.

i don't think they're dead its just that , the jrpg genre's fan base isn't really growing,  what I took away from the podcast is that  the people buying them,  are the ones who grew up with them on the older consoles.

I don't think the genre is dead. If anything, it's stagnant.

JRPGs aren't dead. They're all on the handhelds. 
 
Infinite Space 
Dragon Quest 9 
Strange Journey 
Oath in Felghana(technically an action rpg but whatever) 
 
good stuff

" Apart from P4 and them not hating Recettear can someone name a JRPG that the staff liked (recently) ?  "

I think they mean creatively defunct.

The GiantBomb crew is small and have a very limited pallet. Double the staff and you will have guys fighting saying its still very much alive like some of the posts here. It comes down to what game niche you fit into. If you are a heavy JRPG player you will find some of the smaller unnoticed titles appealing while people focused on say mainstream games will not. Stop taking everything that a GiantBomb member states as a fact, they are opinions and sometimes opinions from closed minded individuals (mainly directing this towards Jeff at times). Right now is not a time for JRPGs, people are still in that 3rd person action/shooter mode and in due time people will remember what they missed and go back to it when a big title comes out and re-introduces them to it. FFXIII had that opportunity but failed to deliver according to most. Persona 4 ER helped sparked many people into playing that game with its traditional JRPG combat system and very Japanese story. Give it a few years and you'll be raving over some JRPG or JRPG style game (it may come from a Western developer...who knows)

i think GB crew stand is that outside of those familiar with JRPGs, nobody else is interested in JRPGs.
 
In other words, JRPGs fail to attract new people (no, this not because of high standards) unlike other genres.

" @Lautaro said:

" Apart from P4 and them not hating Recettear can someone name a JRPG that the staff liked (recently) ?  "

Wasn't P4 on the PS2? "

The Poke Mans.

" @Hailinel: I just used save crawling to get an A on every mission, took forever though.  Oh yeah and Catherine!  Did anyone say that yet?  Probably huh. "

Persona, and the other Shin Megami Tensei games are great, but they still technically count as last-gen since they're on the ps2 even though they keep putting out new ones. Lost Odyssey kept my hopes alive, while Final Fantasy chugs along and destroys that hope. The only other JRPG I played this gen that I liked somewhat was Last Remnant, but that wasn't even close to what most would consider "good." 
 
I heard Resonance of Fate was decent though. I think Westerners aren't buying them as much as they used to with more appropriate games on offer (Mass Effect, TES, Dragon Age, etc.) that appeal to us more. Japan still loves that shit though, and probably always will.

When talking about WRPGs, people often club Bethesda and BioWare into one big genre but when it comes to JRPG, they always tend to ignore the best Japanese RPG made in the last 5 years. Elder Scrolls and KOTOR have as much in common as Final Fantasy XIII and Demon's Souls.
  
DS is proof that Japan can make great RPGs that don't revolve around navel gazing or teenage drama (the kind some people have grown tired of). More Japanese publishers need to give their developers the freedom to try divergent games like this.

I liked Disgaea DS, but I guess that's more of a SRPG. If you can look past the anime then it's a really cool little time waster.

Demon's Souls is an Action RPG and while published and devloped by Japanese companies NOT A JRPG. JRPG is the turn based combat you come to expect along the lines of Final Fantasy, Shin Megami Tensei games, Dragon Quest and the like. Demon's Souls is fantastic BUT not a JRPG in those terms.

" Demon's Souls is an Action RPG and while published and devloped by Japanese companies NOT A JRPG. JRPG is the turn based combat you come to expect along the lines of Final Fantasy, Shin Megami Tensei games, Dragon Quest and the like. Demon's Souls is fantastic BUT not a JRPG in those terms. "

" @Subject2Change said:

" Demon's Souls is an Action RPG and while published and devloped by Japanese companies NOT A JRPG. JRPG is the turn based combat you come to expect along the lines of Final Fantasy, Shin Megami Tensei games, Dragon Quest and the like. Demon's Souls is fantastic BUT not a JRPG in those terms. "

Is Nier considered a JRPG or Action RPG then? "

Dead as a doorknob, Smalls.

" Persona, and the other Shin Megami Tensei games are great, but they still technically count as last-gen since they're on the ps2 even though they keep putting out new ones. Lost Odyssey kept my hopes alive, while Final Fantasy chugs along and destroys that hope. The only other JRPG I played this gen that I liked somewhat was Last Remnant, but that wasn't even close to what most would consider "good."  I heard Resonance of Fate was decent though. I think Westerners aren't buying them as much as they used to with more appropriate games on offer (Mass Effect, TES, Dragon Age, etc.) that appeal to us more. Japan still loves that shit though, and probably always will. "

" @Lautaro said:

" @Subject2Change said:

" Demon's Souls is an Action RPG and while published and devloped by Japanese companies NOT A JRPG. JRPG is the turn based combat you come to expect along the lines of Final Fantasy, Shin Megami Tensei games, Dragon Quest and the like. Demon's Souls is fantastic BUT not a JRPG in those terms. "

Is Nier considered a JRPG or Action RPG then? "

I have yet to play Nier is the combat system like Kingdom Hearts in a sense? hack and slash? if so, yes it is an Action RPG or atleast in my mind I would consider it to be one more so than a JRPG. JRPG to me is typically represnted with a turn based combat system that is isolated from the rest of the world. One that takes you out of the environment and puts you in a new one for the combat. If a boss fight does this in an Action RPG that's fine, but if it transitions per "random" battle then i'd consider it JRPG. It's a weird line but I would in no way consider demon's souls remotely to be a JRPG. I suppose you can keep making subgenres like they do with music and consider that to be an A-JRPG or something but I hate that with music and I won't do it to games. "

" Apart from P4 and them not hating Recettear can someone name a JRPG that the staff liked (recently) ?  "

Final Fantasy XIII was great and I also really liked eternal sonata

" @Lautaro said:

" Apart from P4 and them not hating Recettear can someone name a JRPG that the staff liked (recently) ?  "

Recettear is about as much a JRPG as Black Ops. "

" @Lautaro said:

" Apart from P4 and them not hating Recettear can someone name a JRPG that the staff liked (recently) ?  "

Recettear is about as much a JRPG as Black Ops. "

" @sixghost said:

" @Lautaro said:

" Apart from P4 and them not hating Recettear can someone name a JRPG that the staff liked (recently) ?  "

Recettear is about as much a JRPG as Black Ops. "

...Have you even seen Recettear, much less played it? "

" @Hailinel said:

" @sixghost said:

" @Lautaro said:

" Apart from P4 and them not hating Recettear can someone name a JRPG that the staff liked (recently) ?  "

Recettear is about as much a JRPG as Black Ops. "

...Have you even seen Recettear, much less played it? "

Played it for 20 hours, it's not a JRPG in the slightest. "

" @sixghost said:

" @Hailinel said:

" @sixghost said:

" @Lautaro said:

" Apart from P4 and them not hating Recettear can someone name a JRPG that the staff liked (recently) ?  "

Recettear is about as much a JRPG as Black Ops. "

...Have you even seen Recettear, much less played it? "

Played it for 20 hours, it's not a JRPG in the slightest. "

Why don't you share your definition of a jrpg then. "

" @Detrian said:

" @sixghost said:

" @Hailinel said:

" @sixghost said:

" @Lautaro said:

" Apart from P4 and them not hating Recettear can someone name a JRPG that the staff liked (recently) ?  "

Recettear is about as much a JRPG as Black Ops. "

...Have you even seen Recettear, much less played it? "

Played it for 20 hours, it's not a JRPG in the slightest. "

Why don't you share your definition of a jrpg then. "

It's certainly not an item shop sim where you occasionally enter a dungeon for 5 minutes every hour. Even the tiny bit of combat that you do has nothing in common with JRPGs. Just because the characters and dialogue are inspired by the JRPG style, it doesn't mean the game is one. "

There have been quite a few good JRPGs this generation actually. The ones I would say are worth playing IMO would be: 
 
Eternal Sonata 
Resonance of Fate 
Lost Odyssey 
Tales of Vesperia 
Star Ocean: The Last Hope 
Magna Carta 2 
Final Fantasy XIII 
Last Remnant 
Infinite Undiscovery 
Persona 4 
Arc Rise Fantasia 
 
Not all of these titles are necessary top notch and many of them definitely have flaws but that doesn't mean they aren't good games, it just depends on personal tastes really.

It's certainly not an item shop sim where you occasionally enter a dungeon for 5 minutes every hour. Even the tiny bit of combat that you do has nothing in common with JRPGs. Just because the characters and dialogue are inspired by the JRPG style, it doesn't mean the game is one. "

" @sixghost said:

" @Detrian said:

" @sixghost said:

" @Hailinel said:

" @sixghost said:

" @Lautaro said:

" Apart from P4 and them not hating Recettear can someone name a JRPG that the staff liked (recently) ?  "

Recettear is about as much a JRPG as Black Ops. "

...Have you even seen Recettear, much less played it? "

Played it for 20 hours, it's not a JRPG in the slightest. "

Why don't you share your definition of a jrpg then. "

It's certainly not an item shop sim where you occasionally enter a dungeon for 5 minutes every hour. Even the tiny bit of combat that you do has nothing in common with JRPGs. Just because the characters and dialogue are inspired by the JRPG style, it doesn't mean the game is one. "

dude, no, that shit is straight JRPG. an item shop sim? there's barely any simming going on. the most you could call it would be a strategy JRPG but that's wrong too "

" @sixghost said:

" @Detrian said:

" @sixghost said:

" @Hailinel said:

" @sixghost said:

" @Lautaro said:

" Apart from P4 and them not hating Recettear can someone name a JRPG that the staff liked (recently) ?  "

Recettear is about as much a JRPG as Black Ops. "

...Have you even seen Recettear, much less played it? "

Played it for 20 hours, it's not a JRPG in the slightest. "

Why don't you share your definition of a jrpg then. "

It's certainly not an item shop sim where you occasionally enter a dungeon for 5 minutes every hour. Even the tiny bit of combat that you do has nothing in common with JRPGs. Just because the characters and dialogue are inspired by the JRPG style, it doesn't mean the game is one. "

dude, no, that shit is straight JRPG. an item shop sim? there's barely any simming going on. the most you could call it would be a strategy JRPG but that's wrong too "

" @sixghost said:

It's certainly not an item shop sim where you occasionally enter a dungeon for 5 minutes every hour. Even the tiny bit of combat that you do has nothing in common with JRPGs. Just because the characters and dialogue are inspired by the JRPG style, it doesn't mean the game is one. "

Well for starters why are you lying? Every dungeon past the first two take at least half an hour to complete, more like an hour or so.   Second, I don't think you quite understand that the definition of jrpg is just "rpg made in japan". "