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[SkylineRKR]

Been playing Blue Dragon since yesterday since its 4,99 in the MS store right now.

I'm not new to this game, in fact, I bought it at launch day and while it wasn't the second coming I was kind of surprised the scores were so low at the time. I can now confirm, that 16 years later, Blue Dragon is absolutely not a bad game by any metric. The issue I had with it at launch was that Normal felt really easy. I eventually did a Hard mode run when I could download that pack from a foreign store and Hard mode felt really good, but also extremely brutal. There wasn't something inbetween, sadly. Though I can recommend hard mode to JRPG veterans. It requires you to use the right jobs, buffs and debuffs, etc.

I'm now playing on normal though and I actually got molested by the fire/ice dog boss. Turned out job stats are essential. Once I changed back to higher leveled jobs I beat him far too easily. I'm now at the forest of the dead.

The game is really not bad, though a bit standard fare. But there are some good things in here. First of all there is a job system that lets you make your char a fighter, white mage, black mage, support mage etc. This is a good callback to FFV and the like. Another thing I like that it has an overworld (with a very bad camera though), and the stuff you can do in here. If you're overleveled, enemies will run away from you. But you can also use field skills to attract them, stun them etc. And the best, you can create in-fighting. This will benefit you as certain monster classes will cripple eachother only for you to finish them off easily. This shit is pretty good. Combat isn't great, but I would rate this higher than Lost Odyssey. There is more variation to it since you can spec characters the way you like, and debuffs work a bit better. The OST isn't Uematsu's best work but its pretty good!

The graphics are still a bit muted, which is odd considering the Toriyama design they went with. But at times it doesn't look bad. Game has no dips on Series, charge meter doesn't lag either. I think it plays better than on 360 but its not optimized. Its about on par with LO. Yeah I think I am going to see this one through. I feel that, if they would remaster this with some recoloring, 60fps etc, it might do decent. There is an audience for games like this nowadays. And remaster Lost Odyssey too, while we're at it lol.

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

Been playing Blue Dragon since yesterday since its 4,99 in the MS store right now.

I'm not new to this game, in fact, I bought it at launch day and while it wasn't the second coming I was kind of surprised the scores were so low at the time. I can now confirm, that 16 years later, Blue Dragon is absolutely not a bad game by any metric. The issue I had with it at launch was that Normal felt really easy. I eventually did a Hard mode run when I could download that pack from a foreign store and Hard mode felt really good, but also extremely brutal. There wasn't something inbetween, sadly. Though I can recommend hard mode to JRPG veterans. It requires you to use the right jobs, buffs and debuffs, etc.

I'm now playing on normal though and I actually got molested by the fire/ice dog boss. Turned out job stats are essential. Once I changed back to higher leveled jobs I beat him far too easily. I'm now at the forest of the dead.

The game is really not bad, though a bit standard fare. But there are some good things in here. First of all there is a job system that lets you make your char a fighter, white mage, black mage, support mage etc. This is a good callback to FFV and the like. Another thing I like that it has an overworld (with a very bad camera though), and the stuff you can do in here. If you're overleveled, enemies will run away from you. But you can also use field skills to attract them, stun them etc. And the best, you can create in-fighting. This will benefit you as certain monster classes will cripple eachother only for you to finish them off easily. This shit is pretty good. Combat isn't great, but I would rate this higher than Lost Odyssey. There is more variation to it since you can spec characters the way you like, and debuffs work a bit better.

The graphics are still a bit muted, which is odd considering the Toriyama design they went with. But at times it doesn't look bad. Game has no dips on Series, charge meter doesn't lag either. I think it plays better than on 360 but its not optimized. Its about on par with LO. Yeah I think I am going to see this one through. I feel that, if they would remaster this with some recoloring, 60fps etc, it might do decent. There is an audience for games like this nowadays. And remaster Lost Odyssey too, while we're at it lol.

Great game, first game I ever played in HD. Xbox 360 is a great console

 

[Miyazaki’s Slave]

Dat music thought....mmmmmmmm so good



"Dragon Fight" at 8:36.....still slaps

 

[Eddie-Griffin]

There is an audience for games like this nowadays

The JRPG overhype outside Japan was always hyperbole ever since FF7, it sis very unlikely there would be a bigger audience for either game as then with either Blue Dragon or LO. The best hope for an expanded base of players it to push more marketing muscle on it, but these days that's going to be hard for these games even with a remaster, it would have to be either remade, or at the very least the same game but with the graphics changed and improved.

As they are or even remastered, it's a touch sell for most Jrpgs even several of the ones from the PS3, without a major name attached like Final Fantasy. They've tried your idea with a few of them already, Star Ocean 4(ugh), Tales of Vesperia, etc with mute results.

 

[Quasicat]

What an amazing game and really strange that you spend so much time in the game collecting “nothing” and fighting poo snakes.
But that ending…not what I was expecting.

 

[Captain Toad]

I finished it, but I never got really into it as much as I had hoped. The throwaway kiddie story, poop humor and overly simplistic gameplay killed it for me, despite being exactly what I wanted - a current-gen (at the time) turn-based JRPG.

But, Lost Odyssey, by the same team, hit everything I was looking for and was a fantastic game.

 

[ManaByte]

The graphics are still a bit muted, which is odd considering the Toriyama design they went with. But at times it doesn't look bad. Game has no dips on Series, charge meter doesn't lag either. I think it plays better than on 360 but its not optimized. Its about on par with LO. Yeah I think I am going to see this one through. I feel that, if they would remaster this with some recoloring, 60fps etc, it might do decent. There is an audience for games like this nowadays. And remaster Lost Odyssey too, while we're at it lol.

I remember the 360 version having some nasty tearing, is that still there playing on a Series?

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

This is an example of a game where one mechanic completely ruined it for me.

Every wall, pebble, slightly different colored piece of grass, etc can have some item hidden in it. So you end up scouring every environment mashing the A button like an idiot.

Some of these items include “nothings”, of which there are a finite number to find in the game and you get (eventually very valuable) rewards when you reach certain thresholds.

Maybe the dumbest gameplay mechanic I have ever encountered.

 

[SkylineRKR]

I'm not a completionist but yes you can get items or gold from about every object in the game. I don't really go for it though.

I remember the 360 version having some nasty tearing, is that still there playing on a Series?

No I don't think so. I haven't seen any tearing.

 

[ManaByte]

This is an example of a game where one mechanic completely ruined it for me.

Every wall, pebble, slightly different colored piece of grass, etc can have some item hidden in it. So you end up scouring every environment mashing the A button like an idiot.

Some of these items include “nothings”, of which there are a finite number to find in the game and you get (eventually very valuable) rewards when you reach certain thresholds.

Maybe the dumbest gameplay mechanic I have ever encountered.

Back then the collect-a-thon was a big genre. Look at Banjo and DK64.

 

[Goalus]

This is an example of a game where one mechanic completely ruined it for me.

Every wall, pebble, slightly different colored piece of grass, etc can have some item hidden in it. So you end up scouring every environment mashing the A button like an idiot.

I did exactly that.
Every object.
From start to finish. I read all the books as well.

I loved the story. The game deserves a mid-eighties metascore. Minus Marumaro I would rate it close to 90 even.

 

[anthony2690]

I keep telling myself I'll go back and give this another go.

I tried it straight after the incredible Lost Odyssey and couldn't get into it back in the day.

Fun fact, Phil Spencer thinks this is the better game off the two

 

[lachesis]

I actually bought the game about a few weeks ago. Briefly played till just met some old dude in the flying fortress or sort.
At this point of the game, which still feels super early... I don't feel like I'm in any control of the situation or story progress.
I think this is more of Sakaguchi trying to emulate Dragon Quest (And Last Odyssey being the Final Fantasy) - will see how it is. Hopefully I'm nearing to a place where I can build up my characters.

I'm also hoping they'll put up Last Odyssey up for sale... I've been waiting for it, but it doesn't seem to be on sale ever.

 

[vodka-bull]

I remember it was one of the very few JRPGs I completed. I was young and had lots of time…

 

[Captain Toad]

I keep telling myself I'll go back and give this another go.

I tried it straight after the incredible Lost Odyssey and couldn't get into it back in the day.

Fun fact, Phil Spencer thinks this is the better game off the two

And they still entrusted him to be in charge of gaming for them??

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Back then the collect-a-thon was a big genre. Look at Banjo and DK64.

It works for a 3D action platform game with tons of hidden places to explore and secrets to find.

Not so much for a JRPG with corridor dungeons where you have to figure out which random polygon has some shit hidden in it via trial and error.

 

[Susurrus]

Ah I loved this game back when I played it. Bought it on disc(s) when it first came out. I ended up selling them, but fortunately Microsoft made it free digitally a few years ago so I picked that up. Same with Lost Odyssey, which I also suggest.

 

[blackjon24]

Would love pc ports of this and lost odyssey

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

.

 

[Fbh]

I remember being extremely hyped for this but then couldn't get into it. The world, story and levels never clicked with me and I ended up reselling it before finishing it.

I guess I should give it another chance some day. Lost Odyssey felt like such a massive step up in every way that I never looked back

 

[Captain Toad]

I remember being extremely hyped for this but then couldn't get into it. The world, story and levels never clicked with me and I ended up reselling it before finishing it.

I guess I should give it another chance some day. Lost Odyssey felt like such a massive step up in every way that I never looked back

I felt the same way, but I forced myself through it. Trust me. It is what you think it is.

Lost Odyssey is great. Blue Dragon is mediocre and bland.

 

[Dr. Wilkinson]

Would love to see a remaster of BD and LO. Absolutely want that to happen.

 

[Krathoon]

I remember there was a lot of poo in this game. It was a thing.

 

[fermcr]

Never played Blue Dragon, but I did play Lost Odyssey on X360 and is was pretty good at the time.
Would like to see a Lost Odyssey Remake and Lost Odyssey 2 for PC/Xbox... unfortunately Microsoft have so many great IP's, but have no idea what to do with them.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

I felt the same way, but I forced myself through it. Trust me. It is what you think it is.

Lost Odyssey is great. Blue Dragon is mediocre and bland.

I was also super hyped for it. Last time Sakaguchi and Toriyama worked together was Chrono Trigger. It should’ve been great. I remember reading a story about how Peter Moore met with Sakaguchi and shared a bottle of sake so valuable it never should’ve been opened.

It ended up being a bland, by-the-numbers JRPG. The only remarkable thing about it were the boss battle music and that you could fight against poo snakes. That, and searching for “nothing”, which nullified whatever tiny bit of enjoyment I managed to extract from it.

 

[wOs]

I enjoyed it! From what I remember though it didn't even get remotely challenging until the last disc.

 

[BennyBlanco]

 

[FStubbs]

I actually bought the game about a few weeks ago. Briefly played till just met some old dude in the flying fortress or sort.
At this point of the game, which still feels super early... I don't feel like I'm in any control of the situation or story progress.
I think this is more of Sakaguchi trying to emulate Dragon Quest (And Last Odyssey being the Final Fantasy) - will see how it is. Hopefully I'm nearing to a place where I can build up my characters.

I'm also hoping they'll put up Last Odyssey up for sale... I've been waiting for it, but it doesn't seem to be on sale ever.

That was the general thought when these 2 games were announced, Lost Odyssey would be Final Fantasy (since MS wasn't able to get that yet) and Blue Dragon would be Dragon Quest (because MS felt that was beyond a pipe dream to get).

 

[[Sigma]]

Ah one of the early xbox 360 jp games. Back then I loved my 360 because they were getting jp games like this Eternal Sonata, Lost Odyssey and Tales of Vesperia. Blue Dragon wasn't the best game but it had charm.

 

[Gameplay Gods Bless]

Been playing Blue Dragon since yesterday since its 4,99 in the MS store right now.

I'm not new to this game, in fact, I bought it at launch day and while it wasn't the second coming I was kind of surprised the scores were so low at the time. I can now confirm, that 16 years later, Blue Dragon is absolutely not a bad game by any metric. The issue I had with it at launch was that Normal felt really easy. I eventually did a Hard mode run when I could download that pack from a foreign store and Hard mode felt really good, but also extremely brutal. There wasn't something inbetween, sadly. Though I can recommend hard mode to JRPG veterans. It requires you to use the right jobs, buffs and debuffs, etc.

I'm now playing on normal though and I actually got molested by the fire/ice dog boss. Turned out job stats are essential. Once I changed back to higher leveled jobs I beat him far too easily. I'm now at the forest of the dead.

The game is really not bad, though a bit standard fare. But there are some good things in here. First of all there is a job system that lets you make your char a fighter, white mage, black mage, support mage etc. This is a good callback to FFV and the like. Another thing I like that it has an overworld (with a very bad camera though), and the stuff you can do in here. If you're overleveled, enemies will run away from you. But you can also use field skills to attract them, stun them etc. And the best, you can create in-fighting. This will benefit you as certain monster classes will cripple eachother only for you to finish them off easily. This shit is pretty good. Combat isn't great, but I would rate this higher than Lost Odyssey. There is more variation to it since you can spec characters the way you like, and debuffs work a bit better. The OST isn't Uematsu's best work but its pretty good!

The graphics are still a bit muted, which is odd considering the Toriyama design they went with. But at times it doesn't look bad. Game has no dips on Series, charge meter doesn't lag either. I think it plays better than on 360 but its not optimized. Its about on par with LO. Yeah I think I am going to see this one through. I feel that, if they would remaster this with some recoloring, 60fps etc, it might do decent. There is an audience for games like this nowadays. And remaster Lost Odyssey too, while we're at it lol.

Back in the day the graphics looked insane for my then PS2 owning self. I bought the game last year for my series X and it looks great even today. Gotta love stylized games.

 

[Fbh]

Ah one of the early xbox 360 jp games. Back then I loved my 360 because they were getting jp games like this Eternal Sonata, Lost Odyssey and Tales of Vesperia. Blue Dragon wasn't the best game but it had charm.

It's a bit crazy that there was a point in time where I got an Xbox primarily for Japanese games.

Eternal Sonata, Tales of Vesperia, Lost Odyssey, Ninja Gaiden 2, The last Remnant.

Those early 360 days were crazy

 

[Quasicat]

I enjoyed it! From what I remember though it didn't even get remotely challenging until the last disc.

Not that it’s available anymore, but the demo made it seem so much more challenging. It was a boss battle taking place towards the end of disc one and they had your team way underpowered. It took a couple of times before I could beat it. I bought the game, got to the same part, and was 12-15 levels higher through natural progression. I still had fun with it overall.

 

[Kev Kev]

Another thing I like that it has an overworld (with a very bad camera though), and the stuff you can do in here.

can you elaborate on this?

the combat sounds pretty good from your post, but im more interested in how adventurous does it feel? is it linear? are there hidden chests and caves? secret areas? are there towns? shops? whats the equipment/gear like? NPCs? NPCs that give you extra stuff to do (that doesnt feel like cheap fetch quests)?

does it feel like youre going on a journey/adventure and you have a decent level of freedom exploring the world?

 

[names are for friends]

I definitely played through the first half of Blue Dragon back in the day. It was technically impressive at the time, at least

But mostly what I remember the game for is this:

And its use in JRPG parody game Barkley Shut Up and Jam Gaiden

 

[cireza]

This is an example of a game where one mechanic completely ruined it for me.

Every wall, pebble, slightly different colored piece of grass, etc can have some item hidden in it. So you end up scouring every environment mashing the A button like an idiot.

Some of these items include “nothings”, of which there are a finite number to find in the game and you get (eventually very valuable) rewards when you reach certain thresholds.

Maybe the dumbest gameplay mechanic I have ever encountered.

Just ignore this shit and have fun ?

 

[names are for friends]

Just ignore this shit and have fun ?

there's a bunch of classic JRPGs with this exact mechanic lol I sort of agree with the guy that it sucks but yeah, at some point you just have to ignore that crap and just play the game. Trying to play a JRPG "optimally" is usually missing the point

 

[Labadal]

This and the Bravely series scratches that FFV itch. Despite som facepalm inducing moments, I really liked Blue Dragon.

 

[GrayFoxPL]

Just ignore this shit and have fun ?

 

[obie]

I bought this when it came out. Was looking for some classic turn based combat. While that was there, this game was dry and toast. The characters were forgettable or plain annoying. The enemies were pretty damn bland too. It seemed to take a full first disc to even get anywhere and the game to kinda pick up. The music was completely forgettable too. This game was a dud and there is a good reason no one really talks about this much.

 

[names are for friends]

I bought this when it came out. Was looking for some classic turn based combat. While that was there, this game was dry and toast. The characters were forgettable or plain annoying. The enemies were pretty damn bland too. It seemed to take a full first disc to even get anywhere and the game to kinda pick up. The music was completely forgettable too. This game was a dud and there is a good reason no one really talks about this much.

Fear and awe in your eyes
Showing you what you can't see
Reaching hands, you are blind
Staring down eternity
Fear and awe in your eyes
Without us you can't see now
Searching hands, you are blind
Staring down eternity

Hope, despair in your mind
Prick your hands until they bleed
Showing you what you can't find
Staring through eternity

Hope, despair in your mind
Without us you are free now
Seek now what you cannot find
Staring through eternity

A light shining on my heart
A memory of forgotten love
Rays burning through the clouds
Down from the sky up above

This is the beginning
Here's where it all gets started
Under the sky above
This is the beginning
Here's where it all gets started
Fear what you'll learn to love

This is the beginning
Too late it's all been started
Under the sky above
This is the beginning
Move on now its started
Fear what you'll learn to love

Fear and awe in your eyes
Showing you what you can't see
Reaching hands, you are blind
Staring down eternity
Fear and awe in your eyes
Without us you can't see now
Searching hands, you are blind
Staring down eternity


A light shining on my heart
A memory of forgotten love
Rays burning through the clouds
Down from the sky up above

This is the beginning
Long ago it's all been started
Under the sky above
No time for beginning
Finish what you have started
Fear's what you'll learn to love

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Just ignore this shit and have fun ?

Oh come on. No RPGamer wants to do a dungeon and run past all the treasure and forego the best items in the game.

I’d put up with it if the rest of the game were extraordinarily good… but Blue Dragon isn’t

 

[clem84]

With MS being more open to publishing games on Switch, I'm surprised we haven't seen a Switch release. I'm sure they could improve it in small ways. I want a reason to play it again.

 

[Bernkastel]

I finished it, but I never got really into it as much as I had hoped. The throwaway kiddie story, poop humor and overly simplistic gameplay killed it for me, despite being exactly what I wanted - a current-gen (at the time) turn-based JRPG.

But, Lost Odyssey, by the same team, hit everything I was looking for and was a fantastic game.

Funny that Mistwalker made better JRPGs than anything that Squeenix attempted to do since the PS360 gen.

Goes to show how important Sakaguchi and Uematsu were for the quality of Final Fantasy.

This is a big misconception. Mistwalker didn't "make" Blue Dragon or Lost Odyssey. They are a very small team who assumed the role of producer for these two games (and Last Story). Mistwalker is a very small studio composed of Sakaguchi's colleagues, but they never made a AAA game on their own.
Blue Dragon was made by Artoon(the studio behind Blinx) with Sakaguchi serving as the writer and Uematsu as the composer. Artoon's Takuya Matsumoto served as the director. After Artoon was absorbed into AQ Interactive, key members like Yoji Ishii and Naoto Ohshima formed Arzaest with many of the former Artoon devs.

Artoon - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Arzest - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Lost Odyssey was originally an internal project by Microsoft Game Studios(the studio which made Phantom Dust and was later dissolved, and the the devs led by Yukio Futatsugi formed Grounding Inc.) with Mistwalker led by Daisuke Fukugawa(Director of Magatama for OG Xbox). Development continued with the new studio feelplus with Daisuke Fukugawa remaining as the director again with Sakaguchi serving as the writer and Uematsu as the composer.

Daisuke Fukugawa - MobyGames

Game credits, biography, portraits and other game industry information for Daisuke Fukugawa - MobyGames

www.mobygames.com

Feelplus - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

feelplus is another studio they lost alongside Bizzare Creations, Bioware and Double Helix because before 2017 Xbox was not an internal division of Microsoft and they could not just acquire any studio they had close relationships with.

 

[Nautilus]

The JRPG overhype outside Japan was always hyperbole ever since FF7, it sis very unlikely there would be a bigger audience for either game as then with either Blue Dragon or LO. The best hope for an expanded base of players it to push more marketing muscle on it, but these days that's going to be hard for these games even with a remaster, it would have to be either remade, or at the very least the same game but with the graphics changed and improved.

As they are or even remastered, it's a touch sell for most Jrpgs even several of the ones from the PS3, without a major name attached like Final Fantasy. They've tried your idea with a few of them already, Star Ocean 4(ugh), Tales of Vesperia, etc with mute results.

Oh yeah, because Xenoblade, KH, Persona Shin Megami Tensei, Fire Emblem, Dragon Quest, Octopath Traveler, Triangle Strategy, Bravely Default, nd so many more are SUCH bad sellers in the west...

For fucks sake...

 

[cireza]

No RPGamer wants to do a dungeon and run past all the treasure and forego the best items in the game.

Imagine this.

You go through a dungeon. It is difficult. It takes time. You reach a point where a boss appears but you had not anticipated it. You remember that one treasure chest you did not have the time to pick.

You barely defeat the boss after a one hour fight, and the time spent leading to the boss from the previous save was around an entire hour as well.

And here comes your most dreadful nightmare : you start thinking of this chest you left behind. But it's too late. You cannot go back and pick it.

You continue with your life, but the thought doesn't go away.

You go to work.
You embrace your kids.
You cook some found.

But nothing is the same anymore.

Work became boring.
Your kids cannot comfort you as they did before.
Your food as a sour taste.

Everything is different. Everything is sad. Life has become meaningless. This is the result of leaving that chest behind. You know it.

So you say FUCK IT. I am doing it all over again. I can't go on living like this. GIVE ME BACK MY HAPPINESS !

So you reload your save. You play through that hour of dungeon again. You stop right before the boss and find your way to that chest. THE CHEST. THE ONE THAT TOOK YOUR HAPPINESS.
And you open it.

Spoiler

Ready for that one hour boss fight ? ENJOY.

Welcome to the world of Japanese Role Playing Games.

 

[SkylineRKR]

Mistwalker indeed never developed, but they wrote and supervised projects. They have to be pretty fucking good as a FeelPlus was able to create something like Lost Odyssey under their supervision and Lost Odyssey, as been said before, was better than the FFXIII saga. One of the very best JRPG of the PS360 gen.

can you elaborate on this?

the combat sounds pretty good from your post, but im more interested in how adventurous does it feel? is it linear? are there hidden chests and caves? secret areas? are there towns? shops? whats the equipment/gear like? NPCs? NPCs that give you extra stuff to do (that doesnt feel like cheap fetch quests)?

does it feel like youre going on a journey/adventure and you have a decent level of freedom exploring the world?

There is some extent of freedom. There is sort of a world map akin to Tales of games that connects different towns and dungeons, you can find lots of treasure etc there. There are towns and shops, much like classic FF games. You can interact with NPC and there are a handful of sidequests you can do which contain some super bosses IIRC. In terms of freedom its probably a bit between classic FF and FFX.

But what I like is how you can use attract enemy field skills to lure enemies, particularly ones who hate eachother, and pull up the sphere with RB to initiate them all at once and watch them cripple eachother.

Equipment and gear is a bit like FFV. There are only accessories you can equip (no weapons or armor), but there is a job system. Shu, the protag, starts out as swordmaster, but can also use Monk (which enables to charge your attack to manipulate the ATB and gain bonuses). The girl starts as black mage (she can cast Fire, Water etc), but can also branch out to support mage for buffs. Especially on hard mode good builds are absolutely required. I think there were only secret dungeons via cheap DLC but not sure.

 

[Eddie-Griffin]

feelplus is another studio they lost alongside Bizzare Creations, Bioware and Double Helix because before 2017 Xbox was not an internal division of Microsoft and they could not just acquire any studio they had close relationships with.

Technically Feel Plus existed before they worked with Microsoft, and were already owned by someone else, but regardless given their game output their defunct for a reason.

Oh yeah, because Xenoblade, KH, Persona Shin Megami Tensei, Fire Emblem, Dragon Quest, Octopath Traveler, Triangle Strategy, Bravely Default, nd so many more are SUCH bad sellers in the west...

For fucks sake...

Obtuse nonsense.

Vast majority of Jrpgs sell bad to decent in west, especially US. Half your examples aren't even debunks, and 2 or 3 of those were published by Square. Outside of some exceptions which happen every gen, Jrpgs generally don't sell great, some sell enough, some sell adequate, a lot sell underwhelming to bad. Nothings has changed between this and exceptions since 1997, people are still lying and saying Jrpgs exploded because of FF7 when that didn't happen in US on consoles, no one was buying Breath of Fire, Arc the lad, or Legaia in the west after FF7. But they brought FF8, and FF9, and somewhat Legends of Dragoon, and then FFX, and KH, but they weren't buying Dark Cloud, or most Tales games, or Xenosaga, or Baiten Katos don't fool yourself..

You also seemed to have ignored the part where I said "outside of japan" as well.

Heck one of what you listed have been claiming records by skirting around actually posting regional numbers.

Look the last gen alone, what was that like 5 game that sold at least good and 3 that sold great? With the rest being decent and most being disappointing to bad or niche low? That seems to be how it works every gen.

 

[Nautilus]

Technically Feel Plus existed before they worked with Microsoft, and were already owned by someone else, but regardless given their game output their defunct for a reason.


Obtuse nonsense.

Vast majority of Jrpgs sell bad to decent in west, especially US. Half your examples aren't even debunks, and 2 or 3 of those were published by Square. Outside of some exceptions which happen every gen, Jrpgs generally don't sell great, some sell enough, some sell adequate, a lot sell underwhelming to bad. Nothings has changed between this and exceptions since 1997, people are still lying and saying Jrpgs exploded because of FF7 when that didn't happen in US on consoles, no one was buying Breath of Fire, Arc the lad, or Legaia in the west after FF7. But they brought FF8, and FF9, and somewhat Legends of Dragoon, and then FFX, and KH, but they weren't buying Dark Cloud, or most Tales games, or Xenosaga, or Baiten Katos don't fool yourself..

You also seemed to have ignored the part where I said "outside of japan" as well.

Heck one of what you listed have been claiming records by skirting around actually posting regional numbers.

Look the last gen alone, what was that like 5 game that sold at least good and 3 that sold great? With the rest being decent and most being disappointing to bad or niche low? That seems to be how it works every gen.

Good lord the denial is real.

All these games I've mentioned sold most in the WEST. KH?Sold best in the west.Octopath Traveler?Sold best in the west. KH?Sells best in the west. Tales of?Especially after Arise?Sells best in the west. Nier Automata?Sells best in the west.Persona and Shin Megami Tensei(Especially the fifth installment of each game)?Sells best in the west. Dark Souls and From games in general?Sells better in the west.Outside of maybe only Dragon Quest, almost every single JRPG sells better worldwide. If you need data to back this up, just look through famitsu data on these games sales and compare them against the total worldwide sales. You'll notice that Japan's sales represent, at best, about 25% of the total sales for most cases.

And its not like Japan videogame sales are declining as people who only game on PS like to say. Its that markets outside of Japan are growing at a rapid pace. Japan is doing better than ever, assuming said game is good and appeal to their tastes, its just that the markets around the world are bigger... WAYA bigger.

That kind of thinking, that JRPGs only sell in Japan, are a thing of the past. Actually, you're like at least 12 years late to the party in terms of how well JRPGs are doing in the west.

 

[Kev Kev]

Mistwalker indeed never developed, but they wrote and supervised projects. They have to be pretty fucking good as a FeelPlus was able to create something like Lost Odyssey under their supervision and Lost Odyssey, as been said before, was better than the FFXIII saga. One of the very best JRPG of the PS360 gen.



There is some extent of freedom. There is sort of a world map akin to Tales of games that connects different towns and dungeons, you can find lots of treasure etc there. There are towns and shops, much like classic FF games. You can interact with NPC and there are a handful of sidequests you can do which contain some super bosses IIRC. In terms of freedom its probably a bit between classic FF and FFX.

But what I like is how you can use attract enemy field skills to lure enemies, particularly ones who hate eachother, and pull up the sphere with RB to initiate them all at once and watch them cripple eachother.

Equipment and gear is a bit like FFV. There are only accessories you can equip (no weapons or armor), but there is a job system. Shu, the protag, starts out as swordmaster, but can also use Monk (which enables to charge your attack to manipulate the ATB and gain bonuses). The girl starts as black mage (she can cast Fire, Water etc), but can also branch out to support mage for buffs. Especially on hard mode good builds are absolutely required. I think there were only secret dungeons via cheap DLC but not sure.

cool, thanks for the feedback! for $5 it doesnt sound bad at all. i might have to give it a go

 

[Eddie-Griffin]

All these games I've mentioned sold most in the WEST.

You seem to have poor reading comprehension, the issue was never if the games sold "most" in the west it's what they SOLD in the west. There are games that sold 200k in japan and 300k in the west, are those "great" numbers? No, stop being silly.

And its not like Japan videogame sales are declining as people who only game on PS like to say. Its that markets outside of Japan are growing at a rapid pace. Japan is doing better than ever, assuming said game is good and appeal to their tastes, its just that the markets around the world are bigger... WAYA bigger.

Japans CONSOLE industry is in a pretty bad spot.

My point still stands that MOST Jrpgs don't sell well int he west, that there are only some exceptions to that rule, and it hasn't changed since 1997, Jrpgs have never actually seen any real growth in the west. because some games sold more in the west after selling poorly in japan means nothing. How many Jrpgs sell over 1 million copies in the west? How many sell over 500k?

Half the Jrpgs mentioned by people here and the other forum place don't sell shit.

Nothing has changed since 1997, most Jrpgs outside Japan, don't sell great nmebrs int he west, there are some exceptions, and handful of "wells" and the rest are all worse. It's not about whether very few Jrpgs sell "more" in the west than in Japan, and still not sell that great majority of the time.

No the issue is in Japan, there are several great selling Jrpgs there, and not in the US.

If you read in context, properly, of what I responded to in my first post, it was a comment about remastering Lost Odyssey or Blue Dragon with the user saying "there's an audience for these games these days" which is false, and implied that there is some growth in Jrpg interest in US consumers that would cause more people to legit buy Lost Odyssey if it was rereleased as a remaster. There is not.

As i said at best you could get some additional initial sales due to curiosity and the gamepass format but otherwise, someone actually wanting to go and buy a Lost Odyssey remaster won't do much better than how it sold on the 360 and it's rerelease later.

There's constant ever gen some make believe that there's some significant Jrpgs growth when there isn't in the west, the exceptions that aren't from a staple company like Square, just rotate each gen, nothing actually expands.

This gen will be another rotation, and the biggest great sellers on consoles will once again as usually likely be Square associated games again.

it's not knocking Jrpgs, but consumers here aren't particularly fond of them outside the same exceptions over and over.