mrstickball said:
Not quite, sir. Odin Sphere got a 82% Disgaea 2 got a 85% Star Ocean: Till The End of Time got a 81% Tales of Legendia got a 73% Tales of Symphonia got a 85% Every SMT game, sans Persona 3 got under a 83%, with Devil Summoner getting a 74% Rogue Galaxy got a 83%
Here are the main 2 issues I, and probably others have with the western reviews of JRPGs: #1. They are nowhere inline with Famitsu reviews. Ever. Rouge Galaxy (83%) got a 10/9/9/8 from Famitsu. Yet a similarly rated game, that is an ARPG, Dark Chronicle, got the SAME score from Famitsu, but 88% from the West. Why? Because it's an RPG. #2. They base NOT on story, NOT on sound, NOT on graphics but ONLY on gameplay. Go look at the scores of Eternal Sonata and Blue Dragon in the east vs. West. Blue Dragon was hailed as a fantastic game, and got more than 37/40 in Famitsu, but a 76% in the West. Eternal Sonata wound up with a very respectible (but less) 35/40. Yet recieved 79.5% (and initially was around a 83%). And for the record, Eternal Sonata is crap compared to Blue Dragon in terms of 90% of the game. I am a huge RPG fan. East and West. I enjoy both equally, and the West praises innovation, but punishes polishing of a style. The East praises both innovation and polishing. |
The Japanese tend to be more accustomed to JRPGs than West because Western gamers were weaned on shooters and action games while the Japanese are exposed to RPGs of the Japanese variety and even so, very few JRPG not named Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, or Dragon Quest are ever million sellers(even in Japan). Lost Odyssey will no doubt sell better overall than Blue Dragon and Eternal Sonata because it appeals more to Western gamers due to the realistic art direction and serious tone compared to BD and ES(Eternal Sonata) and even than I doubt that will ever become a million seller. If any JRPG has a chance of hitting million seller status that happens to be a new IP, it will be The Last Remnant and/or White Knight Chronicles.
