Atlus announces upcoming 360 games.

[ookaze]

The 360 is the best WRPG console, and it will probably stay that way, but...
The 360 is the worst JRPG console. I understand why XB360 owners are delusional about it, as they tend to overhype every JRPG on it everywhere on the Internet.
But only people that don't usely play or even like JRPG can believe that the XB360 will have the most of them or is the console of choice for them. This can be seen in facts that I suspected long ago, but waited to see them realized, as every single XB360 owners was saying the contrary to what I was suspecting. So now, regarding RPG, I see every XBox 360 owner opinion as completely delusional and wrong. The facts are mostly sales, reviews and the XB360 owners' own behaviour.

Like most RPG lovers, I just can't put what they call ARPG in the RPG genre. ARPG just aren't RPG at all. It's delusional to think otherwise, but I see clearly why they choose to call these games RPG instead of Adventure, as adventure games is pejorative nowadays: they don't sell. They prefer calling a game "sandbox" than adventure. Well...

I just tried to play FFCC (the Gamecube title) and left it alone fast: this is no RPG at all.
But for JRPG at least, putting SRPG and RPG together is no problem, as they're very similar to tabletop in both cases, just with emphasis on different aspects of tabletop RPG. BTW, White Knight Story is not a ARPG, it's a RPG similar to FFXII. Mass Effect is an ARPG, as it's just impossible to reproduce it in tabletop (it requires FPS skills), but it's not relevant, as it's a WRPG. It actually removes lots of so-called RPG from the Wii, as that means I don't count Super Paper Mario or Zelda as RPG either (despite what Miyamoto may say to sell it).

I don't understand why people are suddenly adding these games Atlus will publish just because they're released in the USA. That's just stupid: we don't add each release in another territory than Japan as another game!
It seems like the XB360 owners do everything they can to try to skew reality and say that XB360 is JRPG king. It's clearly not the case. When they can't defend on numbers of JRPG, they switch to sales (where they have NO data), and when they're shamed on sales, they go to the very subjective "quality" (review scores or their perceived quality, which changes with time as we'll see).

But for a JRPG fan (or me at least), the XB360 loses just on every single one of these criteria (even number of RPG, as it was released 1 year earlier than the 2 other consoles). Granted, XB360 got several japanese SRPG, but they are mostly from Idea Factory (IF), which destroys instantly any talk about "quality". IIRC, Agarest Senki on PS3 is from Idea Factory (IF) too, and it's no better (after playing the demo, I'll pass on it). Let's start with Spectral Force 3. It was released in Japan in June 2006. From the Famitsu half year games list, it sold 2532 pieces through July 2006, and it ended there. Yes, that's a bomb. Operation Darkness is from Success, and sold 2818 pieces in october (it was released this October). Yes, it's a bomb too.
According to the same Famitsu, the best selling JRPG on XB360 are Blue Dragon, that sold 202k+ units, and Trusty Bell, that sold 68k- units (yes, a WRPG, Oblivion, outsold it, which tells alot about the XB360 demographic in Japan).
Here are all the XB360 JRPG released in Japan with numbers according to Famitsu:
202,294 Blue Dragon (Mistwalker)
67,671 Trusty Bell: Chopin no Yume (Eternal Sonata) (Namco)
27,494 Culdcept Saga (Bandai)
2,818 Operation Darkness (Success)
2,532 Spectral Force 3: Innocent Rage (Idea Factory)
2,064 Absolute: Blazing Infinity (Idea Factory)

I don't count Diario which is a port from PS2, or other ports from Gamecube or PS2. So that's what we get. 6 games... in 2 years... with 4 of them being poor in every way. And I hear nonsense here, like "The XB360 is the console to get for JRPG, I would never have thought that". Do people believe their own BS?

I also read that "sales of XB360 are poor in Japan, so of course sales are poor, but NA and Europe will make up for it". But the fact is that the 2 big JRPG for XB360 just bombed hard in NA and Europe, and didn't make up for anything, just like I expected. It was delusional to think it would be otherwise, but I saw unreal expectations even here. And now, I hear that in NA, they don't like "cartoon RPG". Just say outright that they don't like JRPG then, or admit that the XB360 demographic doesn't like JRPG.
Anyway, judging by the poor sales of the 2 biggest XB360 JRPG, how can someone hope for the poor ones Atlus will publish to sell? These are SRPG to boot, the niche genre of RPG (they sell less in comparison than regular RPG), so I don't have any hope in them selling.

Veteran JRPG lovers just warned people that Blue Dragon was a barely average old school RPG (with big flaws), but they wouldn't listen. I can understand how it can be entertaining for those discovering JRPG though. But then, people were warned about Trusty Bell being poor (story wise mostly, gameplay wise), but as usual on XB360, people get hyped up about screenshots, which is the worst way to review a RPG: they are not FPS, graphics are one of the less important feature (hence IF SRPG results graphics wise).

I even saw people complain about the camera in Trusty Bell (Eternal Sonata) : poor souls!
The XB360 owners that want to believe it is the console for JRPG, denied that Trusty Bell was poor (except for some JRPG fans that know pretty well what they will get) until it was announced for PS3. Then, the feelings about the games changed right away, more in line with what most JRPG veterans were saying. They even go as far as saying the improvements in the PS3 version won't fix the flaws. Well...

For reference, the released JRPG in Japan for home consoles, with Famitsu numbers when I have them:
470,698 Dragon Quest Sword: Kamen no Joou to Kagami no Tou (Square Enix)
153,397 Fire Emblem: Akatsuki no Megami (Nintendo/Intelligent Systems)
Opoona (no numbers, but it's a bomb)

And for the PS3:
9,024 Agarest Senki (Idea Factory)
7,000 Mist of Chaos (Idea Factory)

There's no doubt the DS is king for JRPG for the time to come. And for home consoles, it's true that the XB360 has the most JRPG for now, which is to be expected with one year headstart. But it's also true that the XB360 is not getting any new game, that's not what Atlus announced. And no, they're not getting an Atlus game at all. It's also true that Wii will soon leave the XB360 in the dust for JRPG numbers wise. Quality wise, it's already equal, with FE and DQSwords. Sales wise, it's already better, despite one of the Wii games being a SRPG (which sell less than regular RPG). The PS3 isn't doing too well for now.

As for the games to be released, most people are still delusional and banking on Mistwalker.
Well, why not? But the Wii line up JRPG wise, just destroys any other consoles, even with their download titles (if their FFCC is not a ARPG, but it doesn't seems like one).
And the PS3 games to come, no decent JRPG lovers could deny they have potential, like I see here. Man, some people even downplay JRPG from Level 5 (Shirokishi Monogatari), for Mistwalker one (Lost Odyssey). Talk about delusional.

For a JRPG lover, it's pretty clear at this very moment which consoles to get : the Wii and the PS3. The first or the only one should be the Wii, by the number of titles and their timeline. But some could take the PS3 only, or in first. But given the games released, that's not likely.

For a JRPG lover, buying a XB360 just for Blue Dragon, which is the sole "worthy" exclusive, is pure nonsense, and doesn't make the XB360 THE JRPG console. Must explain why most japanese owners sold it back with the console after finishing it (or not).

BTW, I still think Mistwalker destroyed their "name" from the start with their "strategy".
I don't care for Sakaguchi, which was retired and has nothing to lose (moneyhats), but Uematsu still has a reputation to maintain.