I bought a DS and tried the majority of games considered great by RPG gamers, and suffice to say, I was not very impressed. I have never even touched a PSP but to my understanding there is very little unique content on it besides Crisis. Even the console RPGs considered sub-par this gen like Lost Odyssey and SO4 provided me with much more enjoyment than the 'best' handheld RPGs.
I get the feeling that many people claiming handheld RPGs this gen are the pinnacle of RPG gaming (apparently...in history?!) really are not playing games for quality, but rather as an acolyte of specific series or genre. I don't know how you can go from playing Tales of Rebirth or Tales of Destiny Remake on PS2 three years ago to playing Tales of Hearts on DS and tell me its a comparable experience. I also don't see the real benefit of rebuying titles like Star Ocean 1-2, Valkyrie Profile, FF Tactics, Chrono Tirigger, and many other re-releases that are not that hard to play through other, cheaper means.
What people this gen are talking about when they say a 'revival' of RPGs is a recreation of the RPG sitatuations from SNES and PSX – where a steady stream of great games came in that offered a decent level of ingenuity and quality without overly relying on cliches and brand names. This may of course be impossible due to the extreme cost of next-gen development, as well as the fact that the American market was targeted due to the 360s dominance (at least up to this point).
I for one hope we can have the revival you're talking about, but it would first require developers to conceive of a real profit to cost ratio on PS3 lead development, which shouldn't be too hard if the user base rises in the coming year – aided of course by the inevitably success of FF XIII.
"Why does everyone ask about Chrono Trigger? (responding to a comment about the title being loved) That's not what the sales tell me! If people want a sequel, they should buy more!" - Square Enix Senior Vice President Shinji Hashimoto
