Phoenix Wright is the perfect example of why I think jrpg developers need to stop focusing too much on the story and focus more on gameplay. Visual novels I must admit have ruined a lot of jrpgs for me. Visual novels are much better suited for telling a story. They are basically interactive anime. Jrpgs on the other hand at the core still consist mostly of combat so at the end of the day, the combat better be good. And if jrpg developers use "story" to compensate for poor gameplay, then well, you're better off playing a visual novel IMO. Two gens ago when jrpg storytelling was a novelty to me, I though of the cutscenes as a "reward" for all the "work" you did in those dungeons. But now that visual novels give you the reward without having to make you go through all that work, jrpgs who rely heavily on story are effectively ruined. I'd take Phoenix Wright, Hotel Dusk or Tsukihime over Xenogears any day. I gotta be honest. I also prefer stories that don't take themselves too seriously. The visual novels I mentioned get that. Xenogears doesn't. The developers of Xenogears tried too hard to make some sort of literary classic. But at the end of the day, game programmer geeks can't measure up to classic literature so why even bother trying? You'd be better off reading a book than going through all that "work" to get to the meat of Xenogears' story anyway.
I want jrpgs to in a sense go back to their old-school roots (more gameplay focus, less story focus, much more non-linearity in exploration) while still innovating GAMEPLAY and tweaking GAMEPLAY so that it has more modern sensibilities at the same time. IMO someone should take the Dragon Quest template, add more depth to the combat, give the user more customizability and depth with regards to skill progression and that's about it. I think Dragon Quest is a good base to work from. The games, especially the early DQs, have more non-linear exploration, less focus on story (and the jrpg stories are getting cliched anyway so that's a good thing). And DQ can be challenging without being too unforgiving (normal enemies whoop dat ass and save points are infrequent in dungeons and even non-existant before DQ7 but if you die, you don't lose all your progress. You keep all your xp but you lose half your gold and have to start all the way back at town. It's punishing, it keeps you on your toes in the dungeons but it's not "throw your controller at the TV in rage" unforgiving) It just badly needs an upgrade combat and skill progression wise.
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