Why Do No Good JRPGs Come To PC?

I hate how the main JRPGs never come to PC, except older Final Fantasy games. I can't think of many games that have come to PC. There were rumors that Final Fantasy XV may come to PC, but I highly doubt Square cares enough to do that.

Probably because a lot of the curmudgeonly old PC gamers were raised on western RPGs as their bread and butter and now have a disdain for the JRPGs. (I obviously kid by exaggeration)

But talking seriously the above is kinda slightly true. It just seemed to occur in a natural split, most of console muscle for a long time was from Japan, hence on consoles the JRPGs flourished more (and PC was not really lucrative enough for them either to bother with many ports). While traditionally western RPG developers found themselves flourishing on the PC in the 90s. This also tended to divide the audiences by a bit, even tho now there are many more people that are receptive to both branches of the genre. Heck PC gaming is still not that big in Japan.

At least that's how it seems from casual observation over the years.

There aren't a great deal of good jrpgs coming out period nowadays, but I can't disagree with you. Would certainly be nice for the PC to get some more support in regards to JRPGS (outside of just using it for emulators :/)

The simple answer is that the Japanese PC gaming market has always been small compared to Western countries. Why port a JRPG to a platform that can only reach a handful of Japanese gamers?

PC gaming is kind of a niche in Japan, as far as I know. There's a lot of less internationally-famous strategy and adventure PC games, so there's probably a great deal of smaller JRPG's on the PC that we don't hear about.

PC Gaming is still not very large in Japan; thus, it gives Japanese developers of JRPGs little incentive to want to make a PC version of their games. There are PS3's; so, there are a decent amount of PS3 JRPGs. There are 3DS's; so, there are a decent amount of 3DS JRPGs. There are smartphones; so, there are a growing amount of Japanese games made for smartphones.

There just isn't a massive impetus to go to the PC despite demand from outside of Japan. Even China and Korea have much larger PC gamer communities than Japan. Japanese developers simply live in an environment where even if there is foreign interest, the developers just don't see much reason yet to care much about PC gaming. That's slowly changing to some extent as they try more PC releases, but it's not going to improve overnight.

For what it's worth, I was able to find a couple interviews that don't outright confirm Final Fantasy XV to be coming to PC. The language used makes it sound like it's not a sure thing by any means, but that they are seriously deliberating on it. You have to keep in mind as well, that as the PS3 was first coming out, Final Fantasy XIII, and Verses XIII, as it was known then, were both to be PS3 exclusives. What a difference a couple of years can make. And, while I can't find what I was looking for, I do remember hearing, I think it was Kitase and Toriyama talking about all the fans asking them about PC releases all the time. I think it's really only a matter of time before Square gives up and caves on these requests, especially considering they need all the help the can get with their current financial circumstances.

That said, there's no telling what the chances of your other long running series like Tales or even Megaten ever making that leap. It seems like most of them are still squarely focused on their domestic market, which is much more into handheld games than they are PC gaming. Not that a game like Disgaea wouldn't make a killing on Steam, but what can you do, right?

I think it's because the type of consumer that buys JRPG's is more attracted to console gaming than PC gaming. And PC gaming isn't very popular in japan (where those games are usually made/thrive the most)

That's just how Japanese works.

There are actually a lot of Japanese games on the PC. The problem is they are often unsellable because of their "mature content". Why is the content so "mature"? It is the only way to get buyers in Japan to pay for it instead of just downloading it.

I've notice a lot of the same thing with fighting games on PC. Thankfully, it's getting better with Capcom bringing over their games and stuff like Skullgirls. But still, it seems like the audience is vastly smaller than their console counterparts. Last I checked Super Street Fighter 4 on steam had like 500 concurrent players. That's not a lot for a game that is considered one of the more popular games of the genre.

I was going to say the same thing, only in a way more dickish way. Thank you for saving me from myself.

China dont care

Tails in the Sky is coming so there you go.

@endaround said:

Trails in the Sky. "Tails in the Sky" would be a game that involves many more anthropomorphic animals, by which I mean it would probably be a Sonic game.

Anyway, feralkitsune, I've heard a bunch of people strongly recommend Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky, and it was recently announced that it will be available in English on Steam sometime soon, though I'm unclear on whether they're releasing all of it, or just Second Chapter.

There are the Ys games as well as The Last Remnant on Steam.

My answer: there are no good JRPGs

Actual answer: PC is not a big market in Japan, and my understanding is that a lot of the games that get localised do so for razor thin profit margins. I would guess the cost of converting to a further niche market for their products is often not worth it.

"Tails in the Sky" now confirmed to be the much-anticipated followup to Dean Dodrill's "Dust: An Elysian Tail".

@truthtellah: Remember when Dean was on Bombin' the A.M.? That was nice.

That was super nice. I really enjoyed that.

I am quite curious what he will be working on next. I think his skills working alongside some other talented individuals could make an even better game in the future.

The first game is coming to Steam by December this year and then Second Chapter is set to follow a few months after that on both PC and PSP/Vita via PSN. It'd be lovely if they snagged all three in one fell swoop, but those games have enormous scripts even by genre standards. For perspective, here's a handy graphic somebody made a while back:

Speaking as a Japanese translator myself and knowing the circumstances that Xseed has gone through to see the second game released, it's nothing short of a minor miracle that an English localization is still coming out for it in any capacity. Daunting does not begin to describe the sheer time investment involved in translating those games.

@bobafettjm said:

I wouldn't really recommend The Last Remnant; it starts off seeming fun enough, like how you can make up several units of characters you've recruited (like making a small army), and the story is ok, but once you realize how punishing any sort of grinding is (even to collect materials to craft/upgrade equipment), it gets a little frustrating...

The "levelling system" is a bit complicated... By that, I mean, if you fight weak monsters, you still increase stats and BR (battle rating, like a level for all your characters combined), but anyone you're not using in an active unit gets left behind as they don't improve along with active members, and raising your BR too fast prevents you getting as many stat increases as you could be getting. And. Enemies scale with your BR.

So, unless you plan on and actually enjoy blazing through games like this, you'll end up facing monsters that are overly difficult, and no amount of grinding will help.... sure, there are ways around this, reading a lot of guides and FAQs help, but they still all work with keeping your BR low and avoiding as many fights as possible until certain points where grinding actually DOES help (as long as you're set on the party you want)...

Anyway, sorry for ranting there...errr, as for JRPGs go, I would recommend "Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale" for a more classic JRPG experience ;) (I've yet to try Ys games, though I hear good things)

But still, yes... having more JRPG choices on the PC would be nice.

Give them time. JRPGs are picking up Steam. (har har)

There was a lot of aversion from staunch game makers, particularly from Japanese developers due to piracy and lack of audience in Japan. But Valve/Steam showed everyone that there's a middle ground to make money from and the Western gaming world is practically PC all the way now(you know, X1/PS4). So all of those games and game makers that shrugged off PC Gaming crowd are now flowing toward it like a bee to pollen. The Kickstarter generation of games are pretty much geared for PC day one. Any and all AAA developers that shrug PC releases are getting dirty looks from all angles now. There's no longer an excuse for delayed releases anymore.

Ys

Because you lied when you were 17.

Japan doesn't know how computers work.