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Genres that are dead or dying

JRPGs that have any amount of appeal outside of weird otaku subcultures. Today they just seem creepy and not the pinnacle of technology and role playing design they once were. American RPG budgets blew them out of the water and Japanese dev's slavish devotion to (now) antiquated game design just pushed them to the back of the pack. It's sad, but true.
 
JRPGs that have any amount of appeal outside of weird otaku subcultures. Today they just seem creepy and not the pinnacle of technology and role playing design they once were. American RPG budgets blew them out of the water and Japanese dev's slavish devotion to (now) antiquated game design just pushed them to the back of the pack. It's sad, but true.
I think the biggest contribution to their irrelevance in the West has been their pandering to otaku culture, mostly in the form of sexualized female children. Some people say that the otaku influence caused a feedback loop that led to the current state; I guess that's possible, too. I think that, either way, budgets and technology are secondary contributors to the problem, since so much Japanese media and pop culture in general (not just games) is considered passé and/or disturbing in the West.
 
I think the biggest contribution to their irrelevance in the West has been their pandering to otaku culture, mostly in the form of sexualized female children. Some people say that the otaku influence caused a feedback loop that led to the current state; I guess that's possible, too. I think that, either way, budgets and technology are secondary contributors to the problem, since so much Japanese media and pop culture in general (not just games) is considered passé and/or disturbing in the West.

The long term recession in Japan's economy caused domestic consumption to heavily contract. In general, people are misers and don't really buy that much stuff any more. With the exception of the otaku subculture where the whole lifestyle revolves around the consumption of anime media and merchandise. The feedback loop started when companies realized it was more profitable to be laser-focused on this demographic and their eccentric tastes rather than going for mass appeal. If you take J-Pop idols for example, the only reason the albums top the charts is because otakus purchase several copies of the same album, and they are encouraged to do so to vote for their favorite member.
 
Car combat. I really miss it. Sony had a chance to bring it back with Twisted Metal ps3 but they screwed it up: terrible single player content and a broken online mode yay!

And agreed with OP on arcade style sports games. They were fun even if you didn't care about it that much.


Now that I think about it, this might be the reason I like rocket legue so much. It almost a combination of car combat and arcade sports games
 
Mecha (armor core)

This is so true since From Software are the ones that put it together and now that they see how well the Souls series is doing, they're gonna be crushing those freaking games out every year like they're Call of Duty.

RIP Armored Core, I'll never see your next-gen prowess

From,

A nostalgic fan
 
As an Armored Core fan, I wouldn't count on the series being dead yet, Miyazaki has said he wants to direct another one. At least wait until Dark Souls 3 is out and if he makes another Souls game, maybe it is time to declare the series on an extended vacation.

Try Mercenaries Saga 2 on 3DS. It's like a £4 take on FFT. Well worth a punt. Visuals aren't fantastic but the mechanics are nicely balanced between classes and attacks/spells/skills, with facing, height and formation all factoring in.

I'm going to wait and see what Regalia, Project Phoenix and Liege look like on the Vita before ruling it dead. None of them have chibified art styles.

Thanks for the recommendation, pal. Game looks sweet. So cheap too, geez. I hope to see more of these indie TRPG come to fruition, since so far, they've all been development for a long time. Same goes for Unsung Story too from Matsuno and Playdek.

JRPGs that have any amount of appeal outside of weird otaku subcultures. Today they just seem creepy and not the pinnacle of technology and role playing design they once were. American RPG budgets blew them out of the water and Japanese dev's slavish devotion to (now) antiquated game design just pushed them to the back of the pack. It's sad, but true.

It's sad to see ATLUS fall victim to this now too. I hope Persona 5 brings things back for them.
And I dunno, Square are going to be releasing a good variety of JRPGs now, aren't they? FFVII Remake, Kingdom Hearts 3, FFXV, Nier 2, Star Ocean 5, Bravely Second, Dragon Quest XI, New JRPG IP from a new studio internally. As far as the more niche JRPG devs go, I can definitely see where you are coming from, though. It is sad to see them having to pander to the lowest denominator like that. Still hurt about what happened to Sting, who made such amazing weird and well varied SRPGs last gen. Now they make creepy and bad looking games for Compile Heart, the bane of all existence.
 
As an Armored Core fan, I wouldn't count on the series being dead yet, Miyazaki has said he wants to direct another one. At least wait until Dark Souls 3 is out and if he makes another Souls game, maybe it is time to declare the series on an extended vacation.

If there is another Souls game after 3 before there is a new Armored Core game, I'm gonna be the one nailing the coffin closed while sobbing uncontrollably~
 
Online tactical shooters on consoles are dead. Socom is dead. Rainbow Six is dead. Ghost Recon is dead. There is literally nothing and it sucks. I have no choice but to jump to PC at this point.
 
Thanks for the recommendation, pal. Game looks sweet. So cheap too, geez. I hope to see more of these indie TRPG come to fruition, since so far, they've all been development for a long time. Same goes for Unsung Story too from Matsuno and Playdek.
Yeah, they are all looking like next summer. Unsung Story missed it's portable stretch goals which was a bit unfortunate, too, so I kinda stopped following it.
 
It took a long time to "kill" shmups then.

The genre I miss the most is the more "arcade-y"/"video game-y" type of racing games. You still have the occasional kart racer from Nintendo, but I miss the N64 where it felt like every few months you'd have a new racing game with over-the-top mechanics. It feels like everything aims to be "realistic" these days, which isn't fun to me at all.

Was so disappointed when Sony announced the Motorstorm developer's next game was going to be another dull looking racing sim. I might be considering picking up a PS4 this fall if it had a cool looking arcade racing game.

Arcade racers are the only genre I care about that is dead/dying. Everything else seems to be reinvigorated by the success of steam and kickstarter.

EDIT: Maybe JRPG style SRPGs? I see a few indies, but nothing compared to the heyday. Certainly lacking on home consoles and PC. Dunno about portables and don't care.
 
Yeah, they are all looking like next summer. Unsung Story missed it's portable stretch goals which was a bit unfortunate, too, so I kinda stopped following it.

If the game does well you can bet they will do the port, anyway. Hence why port stretch goals are a bit of a joke, IMO.
 
JRPGs that have any amount of appeal outside of weird otaku subcultures. Today they just seem creepy and not the pinnacle of technology and role playing design they once were. American RPG budgets blew them out of the water and Japanese dev's slavish devotion to (now) antiquated game design just pushed them to the back of the pack. It's sad, but true.

Were you asleep during these last few months perchance?
 
The thing about a lot of dying genres is that given time, advances in technology and changes in what audiences want, they usually come back in some form or another. Just look at point 'n click adventure games - 15 years ago every video game publication out there declared them absolutely dead. Now, we have a new King's Quest. Life is strange like that.

kingsquest.jpg

kings-quest-2015.jpg


That said, RTS games seem to be on the way out (for now) due to the popularity of MOBAs. MOBAs might not even be around for much longer - once Overwatch comes out I bet we'll see a rise in MOBA-style FPS free-to-play games; we're already getting a couple of those all at once with Gearbox's Battleborn and Hi-Rez's Paladins.
 
I actually feel like the gameplay in beat em ups should stay relatively simple. It's a part of their fun, IMO.

I agree with you completely actually. I meant it more as in adding some garnishes on top like Final Fight 3 or Vendetta if you played those. They added some simple special moves, destructive environments and more interaction into the mix and it was fun as hell.
 
Does the "nintendo genres" enter on this ?

Like "3D platformer", "3d zelda", "2d zelda", "kart racer", "microgame collection", "party fighter", "whatever pikimin is" .... you can ALWAYS count on nintendo for doing these ones .... but it is ridiculously rare for others to even try to copy.

Can these be count as "dying" ?
Are they like on coma or life support because if Nintendo does not make one for whatever reason (see : "Futuristic Racer") the genre is basicaly dead


Also, beat em ups
 
When I see people talk about how there's more variety now than there ever has been and look at this topic, I can't help but feel they're being disingenuous when I see all of these cool genres being kept alive by indies and Kickstarter alone. It's a sad state of affairs.
 
Was stealth ever a big genre in the first place? All I can think of is Thief, Metal Gear, Hitman and Splinter Cell which are still around.
 
I don't really know why there isn't more interest in extreme sports games. Skiing pretty much caught up with videogames over the last decade and wingsuits and speed flying have had heaps of exposure recently.

Check out this speed flying named Star Wars:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqkt3iiMn8w

Also check out Sage talking about talking about his 'special gauge' filling up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4OvqusY2YM&feature=youtu.be&t=2m46s

And yeah, a 1080 was a cool enough trick to name a whole game after in 1998, here is a triple cork 1800 (not a typo)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVEzYxI9Ny8
 
JRPGs that have any amount of appeal outside of weird otaku subcultures. Today they just seem creepy and not the pinnacle of technology and role playing design they once were. American RPG budgets blew them out of the water and Japanese dev's slavish devotion to (now) antiquated game design just pushed them to the back of the pack. It's sad, but true.

This hit home when I saw the character and world designs for Phantasy Star Online 2, which are unremarkable compared to the first game. The malaise goes beyond budgets.
 
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