What will make jrpg's popular in the west again?

I'm not sure that I agree with the premise, but I will tell you that Final Fantasy Versus XIII will be the type of JRPG that can make a big impact over here. Final Fantasy does pretty well outside of Japan, though. Versus will just be bigger than FFXIII or FXIII-2. The reasons are very clear and, despite the quality of those games, this one will resonate even better with the western market.

I enjoy JRPGs just fine right now.  So my advice?  Don't fuck with it too much. 

Here's what SHOULD make them popular again. The World ends with You 2. Dos. Zwei. I don't think the world works that way, though.

Whatever, you guys. I'm just waiting for Platinum Games to make a hyper-stylized, action-packed and funny JRPG. They'll do it eventually, you just gotta give it time.

ALSO

@PixelPrinny said:

These sorts of threads bring out all sorts of blanket statements and generalizations and never really result in anything productive :( Oh well. I still like JRPGs. I'm not worried about them being popular. I'm just gonna enjoy what I enjoy and let others enjoy what they want to enjoy.

Blanket statement about a thread full of blanket statements, wherein there are actually very little of said blanket statements. Holy shit, I think we've just gone the Plaid.

Make them downloadable for more systems and on Steam. Cthulhu Saves the World and Breath of Death VII moved to Steam and doubled their numbers from Xbox live in a day or something. It's all about the distribution. Also, market them.

I'm not sure that I agree with the premise, but I will tell you that Final Fantasy Versus XIII will be the type of JRPG that can make a big impact over here. Final Fantasy does pretty well outside of Japan, though. Versus will just be bigger than FFXIII or FXIII-2. The reasons are very clear and, despite the quality of those games, this one will resonate even better with the western market.

@GreggD said:

Blanket statement about a thread full of blanket statements, wherein there are actually very little of said blanket statements. Holy shit, I think we've just gone the Plaid.

Uhh okay?

Okay, I've got one. Co-op. And online co-op. Drop-in, drop out for quest-mode. Parties will be voluntary and you'll get in-battle kill-streaks, and progression perks, etc. Actually, play Adventure multi-player in Two Worlds 2. It is almost exactly what I mean. Just scale back the graphics and open that world up. For turn-based combat, you can have random battles in close proximity be able to conjoin together and form an ad-hoc party against both groups of monsters. Release that sucker on Steam.

The quick and dirty version of what I mean? Turn Killing Floor into a turn based RPG. A horde-mode RPG, with class-based progression and store-shopping between rounds. Basically, each round is a battle that only ends after you deplete waves of enemies. You can make it an SRPG for some environmental strategy.

I don't think they ever will be again. The reason JRPGs used to be so big here was because Western RPGs were limited to the PC for the longest time, and JRPGs were all you could get. Once Western RPGs moved to consoles, JRPGs lost exclusivity and were then challenged by games that appealed more towards the taste of Western gamers. It's all about knowing the market. Japan NEVER knew the US market, it just so happened that a lot of Western companies weren't making the best games. Once that changed, Japan's failure to pursue the Western market means that only a small contingent of gamers in the West care.

Being good.

Also I hate the name JRPG, as if there's a type of RPG that only Japan can produce.

You don't call them AFPSes do ya!?

@Dr_Ventum said:

Being good.

Also I hate the name JRPG, as if there's a type of RPG that only Japan can produce.

You don't call them AFPSes do ya!?

JRPGs are so different from anything else they deserve their own category because they have their own tropes. You would never confuse a JRPG with any other type of RPG.

@Zelyre said:

Better translations. We don't talk or act like the Japanese and its translations that make it so that ruin it for me. Without the pre-rendered crap, you've saved gigs upon gigs of space on that disk. Give me a proper, Westernized voice acted script and for those who like the Japan-isms of a JRPG, put in the Japanese dialogue with subtitles. The hrrrngh, uuungh, nnnnngh, oowaaaa sounds characters use for dialogue? We don't do that here and it grates on my nerves as someone who watches anime. The flow of dialogue is different, as well, and translations which work fine as text don't do so in voice.

"We need to get the Moonshadow Ultier"

"Moonshadow Ultier?"

"Yes, the Moonshadow Ultier. In 20x6, blah blah."

Western dialogue doesn't flow like that. As text, it's fine, but read out loud? Yuck. If a properly translated and re-written and English voice acted script bothers you, then the proper Japanese voice with a strict translation would be available.

As someone who's studied translation in college, I sympathize completely. What you talk about is the difference between dynamic and formal equivalence.

However, shitty translations aren't always the fault of the translator, but someone higher up who doesn't understand how languages and cultures differ from one another. For example, translators may be given lines of dialogue and game menu text etc. out of context and out of order.

And while I agree that fiction, more often than not, should be translated with a greater degree of dynamic equivalence than most other texts, one should not completely dismiss the cultural sensibilities of the original text, if and when they are important to the experience.

Guns.

Ryan Gosling

Develop an action-adventure game and market it as an RPG.

@the_OFFICIAL_jAPanese_teaBAG said:

@xplay25 said:

I'm not sure that I agree with the premise, but I will tell you that Final Fantasy Versus XIII will be the type of JRPG that can make a big impact over here. Final Fantasy does pretty well outside of Japan, though. Versus will just be bigger than FFXIII or FXIII-2. The reasons are very clear and, despite the quality of those games, this one will resonate even better with the western market.

I dont know about Versus XIII... Like the main reason why I really want that game to come out is because some of the gameplay footage made me reminiscent over the many times I have gone and visited family in Tokyo. Im a bit iffy about that combat system and even though the teasers were absolutely stunning, I just havent seen any gameplay footage that made me go "wow, this game looks incredibly fun to play"

The combat will surely be the main point of contention, since it is more in the vein of Kingdom Hearts, and perhaps Devil May Cry, than most JRPGs. I could be wrong, but that appears to be something that a lot of people (though not necessarily you) don't care for. The gameplay footage that has been shown is all from well before full production began on the game, so perhaps we will get to see more of it, and in a more complete state, later this year.

Let's hope that the game impresses both of us, and is less polarizing overall than FFXIII was. By the way, I think that's pretty cool that the game brings those good memories to mind for you.

I think people like non linearity within their gameplay.... Which is why Xenoblade Chronicles is a refreshing JRPG, while still having a strong main story it has many other things you can quest and do beyond the story path, which makes it feel more like an open world RPG.

Good characters and voice acting are a good start. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow was really well produced. Not a JRPG, but a good example. Catherine didn't do too bad, either.

Also, make characters more fully-formed personalities. It makes them easier to relate to, because even if they're nothing like you, you can trace their motivations. That's not just for JRPGs, either.