So I've been thinking a lot the past days and being that TGS is going on, my mind wandered to JPRG's and why most of them suck compared to the glory days.  And then I saw a shiny Portal 2 trailer and my attention was diverted.

A while later I got to thinking about the great RPG's of the NES and SNES days and Portal 2 and realized something.

See, back in the NES, SNES, and even to a certain extent the PS the action/popular games didn't really have a story or at most a joke of a story.  The technology really wasn't there to have the gameplay and the story.  Go back to the NES and most games tell their story in the instruction manual or two screens at the beginning of a game.  Look at the SNES and it's largely the same thing except for games like RPG's.  Look at the PS and things are starting to develop but early on it's much the same situation.

Now look at todays games.  Look at your Halos, Gears of War, Killzones, Portals, Bioshocks, Uncharteds, and every other popular action game out there.  Technology has changed so that these games can have gameplay and story.

So where does that leave JRPG's?

During the SNES days, JRPG's didn't have to worry about gameplay and many had terrible gameplay because they could rely on story.  The game itself could be bad but that didn't really matter because the story could make up for it.  Today, since the action games have caught up to RPG's story wise, things have changed.

While action games have changed, JRPG's have not.  They may dabble in new things to make them seem like an action game, but they're still largely the same thing they were 20 years ago.  Even if a JRPG came out today that had a story and characters as strong as your favorite RPG from 15-20 years ago, the game wouldn't compare to the action games of today.

Action games have been able to take the new technology and embrace change.  In what was once a setting where even the most complex stories could be boiled down to a few sentences now have rich narratives and highly polished game play.  JRPG's have not taken that step and are barely willing to take the step to embrace the new game play people actually want.

So in short, action games have caught up to JRPG's in the story department, JRPG's have not caught up to action games in the gameplay department.

That is why JRPG popularity is dying.

And i can say you are wrong, on so many ways.

Care to explain why?

I can come up with example after example after example of games that are on equal playing fields for JRPG's stories and characters but finding a JRPG with gameplay on the same playing field of a good action is pretty rare.

The draw of RPG's are their stories, not the gameplay which is usually an afterthought.  When a game that already has polished and proven gameplay can match the story of an RPG, that's bad for the RPG.

The only thing JRPG's have on action games is they're 2-3 times longer, but that doesn't exactly make them better.

You are wrong from the title and so on

JRPG's are not dying, they evolve too

You really think Portal has a great storyline?

thats just laughable, did you play it? 

and about the "Halos, Gears of War , Killzones...ect "  they're very cliche, even the most cliche JRPG has more storyline into it than any of the mentioned above, yes and i do mean those cliche anime JRPGs,i really don't see why you keep making threads about JRPGs dying each month , we get it already you don't like them.

This topic has been beat to death and it comes from guy that only plays what? Final Fantasy one of  hundreds of different JRPG's

To sum this thread JRPG's have not envoled with technology and are still being created as if its the PS1/SNES age.. yes we know

Have been under a rock? We figured this out years ago.

I swear this site is like a broken record

I would mostly agree, but I like jRPG gameplay mostly as it was (well PS1 era). It is certainly true that you wouldn't expect stories from games, just compare Crash 3 with one of the PS1 FF games, whereas Uncharted 2 was just as, if not more accomplished, in the story telling department than FF XIII and jRPGs don't have that edge.

I see no need to become more actiony like FF XIII was compared to FF IX (the game I have been playing on my PSP), they just need refinements. I think the main issue is there are generally more complicated and a little scary to western gamers, which is why FF is so much more popular than any other jRPG outside Japan. You see the name FF and you kind of get what the game is about but the other games look a little scary and confusing.... And this is more of a problem with bigger budgets meaning more sales needed, which is why jRPGs are doing okay on the handhelds but there have just been a handful on the home consoles

The only thing that I agree with you is about a fact: action games do tell better stories now than in the 8 and 16 bit era.

YeAh I Agree with most these other posters and are going to say I don't agree with you . JRPG arnt dying and are as good as ever, it just depends whether your a fan or not IMO. They are my favourite genre of game and can't wait for the likes of atelier rorona, atelier totori, ar tonelico 3 , ninokuni, disgaea 4, project dark, and hopefully persona 5 and a new digital devil saga.