Star Ocean 4 - What went wrong with its sales?

[mrstickball]

Vaza said:

outlawauron said:

mrstickball said:
Can someone give me a 'great' example of a high-selling JRPG this generation? Any system is fine. Just want one example of a new IP on a handheld or established one on a console that we're comparing to.

Pokemon, Dragon Quest on DS.

Crisis Core on PSP.

 

I don't think you understood what he said: a new IP on a handheld, eg The World Ends With You and a established IP on a console, eg Tales of Vesperia.

(^ Those aren't my suggestions for "great" selling titles btw).

Correct., Vaza.

For this entire generation - DS, PSP, X360, Wii, PS3, the following games have hit 1 million that are RPGs:

• DS Pokemon Diamond/Pearl - 16.74 million
• DS Pokemon Mysterious Dungeon 2 - 4.32 million
• DS Pokemon Mysterious Dungeon Blue Team - 3.1 million
• DS Pokemon Platinum - 2.4 million (+ NA/PAL)
• DS Final Fantasy III - 2.2 million
• DS Pokemon Ranger: Battonage - 1.9 million
• DS Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker - 1.7 million
  
• DS Dragon Quest IV - 1.3 million
• DS Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings - 1.3 million
• DS Dragon Quest V - 1.3 million
• PSP Monster Hunter Freedom 2nd G - 3.0 million
• PSP Monster Hunter Freedom 2nd - 2.3 million
• PSP Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII - 2.0 million
• PS3 Fallout 3 - 1.3 million
• X360 Fable II - 2.6 million
• X360 Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - 2.5 million
• X360 Fallout 3 - 2.2 million
• X360 Mass Effect - 2.0 million

Now, here's the interesting thing with the list: only one RPG managed over 1 million units sold without a sequel, Mass Effect. Outside of that, every RPG has been a sequel or spinoff.

I don't understand why we decry a lot of the JRPG sales on the 360, when the DS, PSP and every other this-gen system has been pretty bad at selling new JRPGs too. The Last Remnant outsold The World Ends With You - despite TWEWY being much higher rated on a system with 4 times the install base. Where are all the fresh DS/PSP JRPGs that did well? Etrian Odyssey bombed (both have sold under 500,000 units LTD). Magical Starsign? 40,000 in NA. Lunar Knights? 190,000 between NA and JP. Rune Factory? Bombed on Wii, and DS series has sold under 700,000 units between 2 titles.

I must ask: Why are we arguing that these games needed to sell more when there's been a long and pretty bad track record for JRPGs this generation? Everything that's sold this generation has been a high-pedigree RPG that sold well in Japan, and went DOA in the rest of the world. The only 2 JRPGs that have sold well this generation outside of Japan have been Pokemon and Final Fantasy. That's really not a 'great' list to be bashing other JRPGs with, given the fact that every system seems to have a hard time selling good, new JRPGs to the West. Guess what the #1 new JRPG this entire generation is? Lost Odyssey. It's even beat out every other JRPG IP. I think that speaks for itself.