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[Mass_Pincup]

I mean maybe if you only count console.

Last gen and the gen before that were phenomenal in terms of JRPGs with actual new AAA franchises unlike this gen.

 

[RPGam3r]

A lot of people do focus on console only for this kind of perspective, and I get where they're coming from. I imagine they grew up loving the RPG on SNES, PSX, PS2 etc. Then they either didn't transition, didn't want to transition, or didn't feel like it was the same once the subgenre moved to handhelds for the most part.

 

[orioto]

FFXV and FFVII remake, if anything, are more signs of j-rpg death and burying than its renaissance..

Except if renaissance means transformation into a more popular genre of course.

 

[Lucumo]

Presumably at the beginning of FFVII's release.

When did the first one end though? Chrono Trigger released less than two years before FFVII (and it's not like there was nothing released in between).

And when was the "original" period then?

 

[purseowner]

Sen III.

This.

 

[NintendosBooger]

When did the first one end though? Chrono Trigger released less than two years before FFVII (and it's not like there was nothing released in between).

And when was the "original" period then?

I agree with you.

I see jRPGs as having two periods/eras. Everything before FF7, then there's everything after it.

 

[Thud]

Sen III.

That's the game that gives me persona 5 hype levels.

 

[Lucumo]

I see jRPGs as having two periods/eras. Everything before FF7, then there's everything after it.

That definitely works for JRPGs as they are/were.

Other than that, it's probably "before the rise of handhelds (DS/PSP) and then mobile" and after said rise.

 

[Graciaus]

Most of those games aren't out and some not even close. Also one of those games is terrible.

Game development takes to long compared to previous consoles. Where you could get multiple titles from a series ps2 days and back you are lucky to get one now.

There are some great jrpgs still being made but it is nothing compared to how it was. Especially with the shift to huge open world stuff games will take even longer. I'd be happy with 2d games still being made.

 

[Holundrian]

That's the game that gives me persona 5 hype levels.

Same. Anyone that can't get over the hump of slow build up is honestly just losing out. That's fine though but I do get irked when those same people then go on tirades about no good jrpgs like the old ones being around anymore.

Finished Ao this year and it's probably among the very top of my list of game I played so far. I feat in the year of 2017 where everyone is just barfing A+ games.
And I got through a good chunk of those(yakuza0, nioh, nier, hollow knight, 3rd, etc).

 

[sixteen-bit]

If only FucKonami didn't sideline Suikoden...

 

[YankeeDonB]

Not yet, I'd say. A resurgence maybe.

None of the new jrpgs are really changing the game. There's some really interesting stuff (e.g., Nier: Automata), but nothing setting a new benchmark or model for mainstream jrpgs.

Lots of the games people are excited about (e.g., P5, or upcoming it looks like DQ11) are just polished retreads.

FF XV tried to do something really new in jrpg space, but, as much fun as I had with the game, it failed as much as it succeeded.

Still, they're making console games, people are buying them, and people are talking about them, so I'm hopeful!

If only FucKonami didn't sideline Suikoden...

Given the sales, hard to blame them. Except I'd blame ANYONE who sidelined Suikoden, even if each iteration was selling only 10 copies.

 

[notaskwid]

I still feel the new generations in the West are not really that attracted to Anime and thus JRPGs in general so I'm not so sure anything is going on other than the usual 3 famous IPs bumping interests here and there.

Anime has never been more popular than now in the west.

 

[E_Darkness]

I guess if you haven't been using a handheld device you would think RPGs were dead.

 

[NewGame]

Anime has never been more popular than now in the west.

A popular mistake.

 

[weltalldx]

FFXV and rennaissance,., yeah sure

also FFVII remake with the gameplay of an action game..

It's quite ironic how FF7 ignited a whole generation of JRPG fans while FF15 might be the entry that squash any lingering hope for the series to many of those same FF7 fans. One game took 3 years to make and introduced millions to the series, another took 10 years to make and turned many off of the series. At this rate, FF as a series is probably heading into irrelevancy much like Sonic the Hedgehog.

As per the OP, BOTW should have been included in the list. BOTW is more representative of the JRPG genre to me than many of the titles on that list. It probably brought back alot of JRPG fans who lost interest in the genre, at least it did for me.

 

[Lucumo]

Anime has never been more popular than now in the west.

The 90s?

A popular mistake.

Most definitely.

 

[Holundrian]

It's quite ironic how FF7 ignited a whole generation of JRPG fans while FF15 might be the entry that squash any lingering hope for the series to many of those same FF7 fans. One game took 3 years to make and introduced millions to the series, another took 10 years to make and turned many off of the series. At this rate, FF as a series is probably heading into irrelevancy much like Sonic the Hedgehog.

As per the OP, BOTW should have been included in the list. BOTW is more representative of the JRPG genre to me than many of the titles on that list. It probably brought back alot of JRPG fans who lost interest in the genre, at least it did for me.

Square don't care those FF7 fans are apparently not that many. FF15 still sold an easy 5 million after a decade of 13. Until people spend money on JRPGs with better stories and not on stuff like FF15 they will do whatever they think is right cause it apparently makes them money. Which of course saddens me cause I want to play a FF that carries the spirit of 6/9 but I'm not a worthwhile target audience it seems. Especially when I look at the numbers of JRPGs I like way more. It's all niche an pales to what production value bombast and the FF name can pull in.

 

[True Fire]

Anime has never been more popular than now in the west.

Anime was more popular in the 90s. It's just that after the anime/manga crash of the mid-2000s we've finally reached stability.

 

[Thud]

Same. Anyone that can't get over the hump of slow build up is honestly just losing out. That's fine though but I do get irked when those same people then go on tirades about no good jrpgs like the old ones being around anymore.

Finished Ao this year and it's probably among the very top of my list of game I played so far. I feat in the year of 2017 where everyone is just barfing A+ games.
And I got through a good chunk of those(yakuza0, nioh, nier, hollow knight, 3rd, etc).

If I was more proficient in reading moonrunes, I would have played through the crossbell games already. The 3rd has been able to keep up with persona 5 and zelda in my list this year, so that's quite the feat.

 

[OriginalPoe]

No. FFXV does not belong anywhere near a "renaissance."

 

[DigSCCP]

I think its more appropriate to say that we are in the middle of a renascence of japanese games on consoles.
Not only jRPG.
Wich btw Im lovin as a primary console gamer.

 

[RalchAC]

I bolded the (potentially) good ones.

So no.

Tales of Berseria has boring fields (like every game since Graces) but has a really good combat system, an engaging story and the strongest cast since Vesperia.

It's not in the same league of Persona 5 as an overall package, but I think it deserves to be called "good".

 

[ULTROS!]

Before people say "FFXV sux and killed JRPGs" (but it's too late already), you have to give it credit that, although it didn't market some GAFfers here especially the JRPG crowd, it did welcome new comers. If you see several anecdotal evidences here, a lot of the new comers enjoyed it, and even the casual fans. I've got a few friends who stopped at X who ended up loving XV.

So this is a good thing if you guys want more JRPG players or those who will at least be more curious to try out the genre. You may hate it all you want but hey, it did what it did.

I believe the same thing can apply to P5, I've seen those new to the Persona series loving it.

 

[QuantumZebra]

lotta those games are yet to prove their renaissance-worthiness

This.

We are seeing JRPGs alive and breathing, but this ain't no renaissance.

FFXV isn't setting any historical precedent other than most drawn-out/hyped/biggest let-down game.

 

[Wagram]

Before people say "FFXV sux and killed JRPGs" (but it's too late already), you have to give it credit that, although it didn't market some GAFfers here especially the JRPG crowd, it did welcome new comers. If you see several anecdotal evidences here, a lot of the new comers enjoyed it, and even the casual fans. I've got a few friends who stopped at X who ended up loving XV.

So this is a good thing if you guys want more JRPG players or those who will at least be more curious to try out the genre. You may hate it all you want but hey, it did what it did.

I believe the same thing can apply to P5, I've seen those new to the Persona series loving it.

It wasn't a Final Fantasy for Fans and First-Timers.

 

[Sou]

If anything, the recent jrpg releases only goes to show that the desperate state of the genre is worse than ever in terms of quality.

 

[Bulzeeb]

I think that while that list does includes some good games, half of those are not even out so we cant really tell if they are good or not, also, I don't think we have reached the main stream level of acceptance that they had between the snes and ps2 era

Having a quick look through just my portable selection of the past 2 generations, I'd make a rather strong case that they never went away actually.

Spoiler

Just ignore the Yoshi and Kirby game. lol

chill, there is no shame in liking Yoshi or Kirby, specially Kirby

 

[outunderthestars]

lotta those games are yet to prove their renaissance-worthiness

This here.

 

[ULTROS!]

It wasn't a Final Fantasy for Fans and First-Timers.

Are you blind to see people who enjoyed it, and a lot of new ones?

Also "hate does blind people" indeed.

 

[Novel Mike]

Before people say "FFXV sux and killed JRPGs" (but it's too late already), you have to give it credit that, although it didn't market some GAFfers here especially the JRPG crowd, it did welcome new comers. If you see several anecdotal evidences here, a lot of the new comers enjoyed it, and even the casual fans. I've got a few friends who stopped at X who ended up loving XV.

So this is a good thing if you guys want more JRPG players or those who will at least be more curious to try out the genre. You may hate it all you want but hey, it did what it did.

I believe the same thing can apply to P5, I've seen those new to the Persona series loving it.

Yeah it did that but what people liked about it wasn't that it was final fantasy, what people liked about it was that it was yet another vast (although empty) open world fantasy game which is very popular and it certainly did have some good and interesting ideas... It's just that almost all of those good and interesting ideas are from games that aren't Final Fantasy.

It certainly LOOKS like Final Fantasy from the various monster designs like Behemoth, Bombs, and other things like the Summons, Chocobos, ect, but take all of those away and could you really even call it Final Fantasy? The story doesn't hold up, the gameplay doesn't hold up, the open world doesn't hold up, nothing in the game really feels like Final Fantasy.

Now you can try and argue 'That could be applied to any of the games!' but no thats not really correct. If you do the same and apply it to most of the good games you don't have that problem because you have an enriching story, and interesting and well planned out world, great combat with unique gameplay systems, and characters that drive the plot forward. That is what is the 'heart' of a Final Fantasy game and its the major thing that FFXV is very much lacking.

 

[OriginalPoe]

It wasn't a Final Fantasy for Fans and First-Timers.

It really wasn't a Final Fantasy except for spell and enemy names.

 

[ULTROS!]

Yeah it did that but what people liked about it wasn't that it was final fantasy, what people liked about it was that it was yet another vast (although empty) open world fantasy game which is very popular and it certainly did have some good and interesting ideas... It's just that almost all of those good and interesting ideas are from games that aren't Final Fantasy.

It certainly LOOKS like Final Fantasy from the various monster designs like Behemoth, Bombs, and other things like the Summons, Chocobos, ect, but take all of those away and could you really even call it Final Fantasy? The story doesn't hold up, the gameplay doesn't hold up, the open world doesn't hold up, nothing in the game really feels like Final Fantasy.

Now you can try and argue 'That could be applied to any of the games!' but no thats not really correct. If you do the same and apply it to most of the good games you don't have that problem because you have an enriching story, and interesting and well planned out world, great combat with unique gameplay systems, and characters that drive the plot forward. That is what is the 'heart' of a Final Fantasy game and its the major thing that FFXV is very much lacking.

It's obvious you didn't find it good but you have points.

You talk how it's a husk of what FF is but the real problem with every FF game is what defines it, meaning "is this the ideal FF game". It's impossible to point that out because we always see varying results to what is the best FF. FFXV can be something what someone defines as FF, FFXIII can be something what someone defines as FF, and I can go on. May it be good or be bad.

To you this isn't your ideal FF, to others it can be.

For the record, FFXII is personally not my ideal FF and what not I expected an FF to be but I found and discovered the good points and I'm enjoying TZA right now. It's still definitely an FF game, just like the rest of the games.

Storywise is definitely subjective.

 

[Aeana]

Almost all of the listed games are part of established series. The difference between now and the eras you're comparing to is that those eras had much more variety. Every major publisher had at least one RPG franchise in its wheelhouse, and we frequently saw totally new RPG IPs pop up.

What we've got here is a nice resurgence compared to the dearth that preceded it, but that's all.

 

[Daeoc]

No, but compared to what there was before it may seem like it.

 

[Trago]

LOL

Look at all those sequels. No, this isn't a renaissance. Where's all the new JRPG hits?

 

[Shifty1897]

If your argument is that the Console JRPG Dark Age (or CJRPGDA for short) lasted from ~2007 to ~2016, I'd agree with you.

 

[Wagram]

Storywise is definitely subjective.

I'm pretty sure any competent writer (gaming or otherwise) would tell you that story is poorly written at a base level.

 

[LukasTaves]

Having a quick look through just my portable selection of the past 2 generations, I'd make a rather strong case that they never went away actually.

Spoiler

Just ignore the Yoshi and Kirby game. lol

For many portable devices are not an option because it's a lesser forma of gaming with terrible control ergonomics, graphics and in many case worse gameplay. On a more extreme example imagine if all those games came to smartphones.

That's why the switch has been such a revelation to many, it's the first time that you have a portable device that doesn't feel like a huge compromise.

 

[meppi]

For many portable devices are not an option because it's a lesser forma of gaming with terrible control ergonomics, graphics and in many case worse gameplay. On a more extreme example imagine if all those games came to smartphones.

That's why the switch has been such a revelation to many, it's the first time that you have a portable device that doesn't feel like a huge compromise.

Well those people are wrong.

I agree on the phone part though, as well as the Switch part.

chill, there is no shame in liking Yoshi or Kirby, specially Kirby

Oh, don't get me wrong. I loooooove Yoshi, and Kirby.
It's just that I didn't realise those games were in the stack I took out of the shelves.

 

[adamsapple]

Not just JRPGs.

We're in the middle of a Japanese game developer renaissance as a whole and I absolutely love it. Most of the best games released this year so far are from Japan and it's great.

 

[Forward]

Thank you, for genuinely making me laugh out loud in real life, with that.

It works on so many levels...

 

[ULTROS!]

I'm pretty sure any competent writer (gaming or otherwise) would tell you that story is poorly written at a base level.

Poorly explained yes, poor story? That's definitely subjective. I like the concept of the story, not the way it's told.

 

[MilkBeard]

I'm pretty sure any competent writer (gaming or otherwise) would tell you that story is poorly written at a base level.

I disagree. There is some genuinely good stuff in FF XV's story. I agree with ULTROS!, the presentation is rough and does not fulfill its potential. But there are some nice pieces of story hiding in the game. The lore, the final events at their core, Ardyn's history, and what happens with Ignis are all good ideas that were implemented (especially when talking about video game stories).

Spoiler

I mean, how many games can you count that actually deal with injury on this level and adapt the gameplay towards it?

This was a surprising bit of maturity in FFXV's story that is lacking in a lot of video games.

The presentation is rough, and it doesn't allow for these elements to shine because it was put together and rushed out. XV has some of the best lore in the series, and Ardyn possibly one of the best villains in the series.

This is, of course, my opinion, but I simply cannot agree with your statement.

 

[raven777]

Most of them are not out yet and from the ones out only Persona 5 could match the old renaissance so no.

 

[Toadthemushroom]

Sen III.

The safest game Falcom could ever put out in 2017 is hardly genre renaissance fodder.

 

[Holundrian]

The safest game Falcom could ever put out in 2017 is hardly genre renaissance fodder.

Because all the other titles listed are genre renaissance fodder *eye roll*.
Obviously to anyone looking at these titles it's more about possibly high quality or high profile jrpgs being listed than any of them actually qualifying as poster children for the jrpg renaissance. Sen III was an obvious omission cause evidently less and less people care about stories in their JRPGs. But for those that do I had to mention it as a name that should definitely be in that TC list.

 

[psynergylover]

I'll say somewhat as we're starting to see quality JRPG's coming back to consoles, the JRPG genre didn't go anywhere it just migrated to handhelds; if you has a PSP/DS last gen you were more than set!

if you were one of the chosen ones who has a vitap) you were in good graces this gen.

 

[ULTROS!]

The safest game Falcom could ever put out in 2017 is hardly genre renaissance fodder.

What I really dislike about the Sen series is the tale of how Rean's friendship saves everything and the entire world.

 

[muteki]

I do feel like we have turned a corner quantity wise at least but the games are still very much hit and miss and the sales aren't really there. Scale, ambition, and particularly turn-around time during the PS1 days was ridiculous.