C2C

There is a small update released that seems to have fixed some of the stuttering on my end. That or the fact that I restarted the game seems have fixed it :P

Short answer: No, JRPGs are not dead and they never were.

Super Long Answer: We really have to define when a genre is officially dead. It can't mean that no games are made in that genre, that would be too strict. If its more of a quality thing, then I might have agreed with you a couple of years back. Right now though, they might be making a comeback.

Last generation was kinda terrible for JRPGs on consoles (the genre never died on handhleds, thanks to the DS). Sure you had a couple of games that bucked the trend like Ni No Kuni, Nier, and XenoBlade but they were the exception on consoles. The 360 kinda looked at first to be the JRPG system when stuff like Infinite Undiscovery, Last Remnant, Blue Dragon, and Lost Odyssey were announced. But none of those games really took off, either because they were not what the JRPG crowd was looking for, or because they were actually kinda terrible. The PS3 didn't see many JRPG releases that really set the world on fire (at least in the west).

Sure there are series that were competent at their niche still going (The Tales and Atelier series come to mind), but those aren't going to be the series that change people's minds about JRPGs. The series that could have invigorated the JRPG base, Final Fantasy, didn't really get the acclaim it needed to pull that off. (Oddly XIII is still a controversial game to talk about for some reason.) Another series that gained a lot of momentum and may have been able to get people excited about JRPGs, Persona (and SMT in general), were nowhere to be seen on consoles until fairly recently.

However, JRPGs are not dead and never were. They keep on getting released implying there is enough of an audience which allows JRPG production. We also tend to ignore the handheld scene for some reason, since that platform has the best selling JRPG series of all time, Pokemon. Friggin Chrono Trigger and some main line Dragon Quest Games were released on DS. Heck I can't believe no one has mentioned The World Ends With You in this thread. Currently, we have stuff like SMT: IV, Fire Emblem: Awakening, and Bravely Deafult.

Are JRPGs ever gonna achieve Final Fantasy 7's status again? Probably not, but that is OK. By my count JRPGs are alive and kicking.

I did. When things went south with the relationship, things got really awkward every time we showed up to work at the same time. Thankfully it was a temporary job so no damage done, but lesson learned. Don't shit where you eat, indeed.

I agree with you there, reviews can only go so far when we are talking about what people like. Also, despite me bashing the Agarest series, I kinda like it in a B-movie sort of way (at least the first one, the others were too much of the same making the repetitiveness issue a series-wide problem). I can see where people can like the game, and can defend it.

But me liking Atellier isn't gonna prevent me from telling it like it is. I am not about to go recommend those games, without a whole mess of qualifications. Cause even if we are being diplomatic about Agarest, there are better SRPGs that came out that generation mechanically speaking. I am not saying a person can't prefer Agarest over other titles, I am just saying it is much harder to recommend that series over something like the Disgaea or FF: Tactics series.

@lyisa: Yeah it will eventually come down to taste, I'll give you that. And playing bad games is something that people tend to avoid, so its understandable why a lot of people haven't played some of these games.

But oh man, is Agarest hard to argue for. It has an interesting generation story concept and a serviceable battle system but is brought down by vanilla plot points and really bland dialogue. The graphics really could have been done on PS2, the pacing of how you get equipment is borked, the pacing of the story makes snail races look like F-Zero, and everything is brought down by how repetitive the game gets. I could see a person that really liked one of those games to place it in mediocre (like any bad game), but I am struggling to see how anyone can call an Agarest game a good RPG.

Holy crap, A lot of you need some perspective about your worst RPGs of the generation. Like FF13, Blue Dragon, and Dragon Age 2?? Disappointing maybe, but no where near the horridness of stuff like the Agarest Series, Two Worlds, or Enchanted Arms.

Well that was my worst. As for the rest of the list, Best is: Dragon Age: Origins, Skyrim, Mass Effect 2, and Dark Souls

Mediocre: FF13, Persona PSP, SMT: Strange Journey, Dragon Age 2

A lot more stuff falls in between mediocre and best, but that would take too long to list out.

I didn't really like episode 2, but I think that this DLC will really depend on how much love you had for the first Bioshock. It did some really great things, but I just wasn't feeling it like I did episode 1.

I thought the stealth sections were broken, even without the peeping tom vigor. The AI was pretty dumb, and you can pop in and out of the vent systems and murder everyone within a large radius. Maybe its just me being spoiled by actual stealth games (MGS), but I was not enjoying the gameplay at all. I will say though, Irrational did a fantastic job of making me really afraid of messing with the big daddy. There were some other nitpicky issues but whatever, I didn't really come to this DLC for the gameplay.

Storywise, I didn't see where it was going but was really disappointed on the payoff of what the ace in the hole was (Even Elizabeth kinda was like "This is it?" when she finds it). I also have a really hard time believing Elizabeth could not figure out a better way of saving Sally, even with the limitation of constants and variables. That and the fact that Elizabeth fit in too well with the lead up to Bioshock 1 bums me out. The Daisy stuff was disappointing, but not a deal breaker. I also really didn't like Atlas being such an important part of the DLC, since his arc in Bioshock 1 was the thing that made me stop playing after the twist. There's probably an argument on how episode 2 nullifies the moral choice in Bioshock 1 (a game all about choice and the lack of it), but I'm not gonna make it since its just getting nitpicky on just thematic stuff.

Episode 2 was well made and I thought the other stuff like visual and audio direction were pretty good.Heck even the scenes taken in isolation were pretty good. I just wasn't feeling the gameplay or the story.

I really liked Brave Fencer Musashi. And I will agree with you that is a well made game, and that the ability to gain abilities from enemies was really rad. I also agree that the soundtrack was also really well composed. I really only disagree with two statements that aren't really about the game.

I think this game wipes the floor with the sorry ass of any Zelda game. That's right, I said it. Okay, in all fairness, I've never been much of a Zelda fan, not that I really have anything against them. In fact, I don't think the series was even on my radar back then.

Not even gonna argue this. I disagree with your opinion on multiple levels, but seeing as you only gave Ocarina of Time about half an hour, I don't think that a debate is warranted on this end.

The sequel isn't really a bad game. It has some neat boss fights and more RPG elements, but has nowhere near the same feel of the original.

Dude, no. That game was not good. The original had a variety of ways that it freshened up gameplay, and had a sort of whimsy tone with the lighthearted story. The sequel really focused on combat and was generally pretty bland with the story. The ending with the white text on the black background was one of the laziest endings I have ever seen. I mean I dug the art style and music, but when Kingdom Hearts 2 came out later almost better than every way I couldn't help but feel a little ripped off.

I will go against the grain here, and say that you should totally give Dota 2 a shot after about a week or two. Everybody is right in that last hitting in Dota 2 is a much greater deal in that game, but it's still free to play and it is much easier to get a party of Giant Bomb duders to help you out than in League of Legends. League is still however the easier game of the two to get into the Moba scene, especially if you want to go at it with random teammates.

However if you are absolutely against last hitting tension, try to get into the closed beta in Strife as they make last hits count for nearby teammates instead of just the last hitter. Its very rough right now since it just got into closed beta, but a major design philosophy in that game is about lessening player toxicity.

Man, Jeff was right. We are doomed.