Yoshi-P: "...the future of the Japanese game industry isn't that bright..."

[IzumiRaito]

The best way to save japanese game market on the west:
1. Keep the classic old school japanese feeling, like from the old FF games.
2. Give western players ability to choose original japanese voiceover.

[Kule]

The only reason I find myself preferring WRPGs to JRPGs these days is there is faaaaar too much angst in JRPGs. That and for some reason, localisation on a lot of them is absolutely horrible, which for an RPG good translations are important.

Yeah this is a big problem. Sometimes it feels like the localisation teams have a warped view of what the fans want and end up using terrible voice actors with bad scripts.

Best recent(ish) work was FFXII and Nier.

[Grizzlebeard]

Also, refrain from making games like Hyperdimension Neptunia ever again.

That probably set the West's perception of JRPGs back a hundred years.

[Roris]

The problem is they try too hard to appeal to the western market, just like Final Fantasy XIV A Realm Reborn does by copying WoW at every chance it gets.

[Eekiki]

While many of us would appear to love JRPGs and their ilk I have to wonder how much of the potential market we represent.

Probably quite a bit, or at least enough to make it profitable. Bravely Default sold I think close to 900k units worldwide. Lots of nostalgic Gen-Y/millennials out there.

Also, refrain from making games like Hyperdimension Neptunia ever again.

But...jiggle physics...

[Nayto]

Also, refrain from making games like Hyperdimension Neptunia ever again.

That probably set the West's perception of JRPGs back a hundred years.

That's actually the main reason why JRPGs are in a decline... because most of them are like hyperdimension neptunia.

And the angst... the teenage angst.

And looking back at how I was playing tales of xillia... might be just me but lately jrpgs have been getting more linear in terms of exploration. Didn't like how that game didn't have much of an over-world.

[RaideDuku]

Yeah, Japanese companies have to stop worrying about what western companies are doing and do their own thing, which pretty much built their houses in the first place. I laughed my ass of with Sqaure-Enix when they said they were surprised that Bravely Default did so well. Well, holy crap, you make...whatever Final Fantasy XIII was supposed to be and it's derided by your fans, but you make Bravely Default like a proper Final Fantasy game, and all your Final Fantasy fans buy it up. HOW CAN IT BE!?

[kidvideo]

Generally I think Japanese games are fun, but could someone please explain this to me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdmsRcsl_xA#t=29

(I love Japanese games, anime, culture & food... spent almost two weeks visiting Tokyo in 2003)

[Ahmbor]

2. Give western players ability to choose original japanese voiceover.

That will change nothing...

[Gormogon]

Personally.

The biggest mistake the Japanese game industry made was trying to appeal to the western market by "westernizing" their games and relying on bought out reviews to market their titles. That direction affected them negatively because they didn't expand the core existence of their creativity but instead they lost their franchises identity which riled up their fanbases because they are actually passionate about what they enjoy. This change in direction affected all those companies that decided to make that change while not bothering to understand their own install base.

FF-FFX were loved because they were what they are at their core, Final Fantasy games. The concept of "westernizing" wasn't present and adamant then. Sure FFX got some bad reception but that's because after FFX a lot of well known content and concepts have been absent and there's been no attempt to implement them again. Airship travel in open world. Limit Breaks aren't what they used to be, materia, sphere grids, license boards, unlockable side character and summons, extra content that shows story relevant lore and how expansive the world is. Class/Job system, advance job system, customization and diversity. List goes on and on.

Did they get bad reviews? Sure and it got good reviews and reception as well but that's because each Final Fantasy was made different which only created a very diverse community that loved each and every FF for what it was.

Personally with the FNC project to me Nomura and Tabata understood that core concept while Kitase and Toriyama did not. Yet both Kitase and Toriyama could have made the FFXIII saga an overall great experience but the approach not just their titles but their fanbase is what hurt them the most and just like FFXIV 1.0 they lost a lot of trust.

While many of us would appear to love JRPGs and their ilk I have to wonder how much of the potential market we represent. I could play games like Valkyria Chronicles for the rest of my days but I know most of my game-playing friends wouldn't touch it with a shitty stick.

Each franchise is gonna have its own set install base and loyal fanbase. So it depends if you mean those that are gonna be loyal to a name brand or actually like the franchise but have standards.

Personally it's something you have to gauge by looking at the first week sales and comparing it to how it sales in a 3 month period. Some fanbases have it easier than others. For the west those numbers are greatly influenced by drawing in the casual consumer, over compulsive buyer, through means of media reviews and scores. Which "westernizing" relied heavily on and backfired horribly.